Noah Ostlund is early in his second season in the NHL but is already making an impact for the Buffalo Sabres. Head coach Lindy Ruff recently went so far as to call him "a coach's dream."
Last season, Ostlund appeared in 60 games and had 27 points as a rookie. The Sabres saw enough to commit to Ostlund shortly before the season by signing him to an eight-year extension, and after hearing what Ruff had to say about him, it is easy to see why they did.
"He can be involved in both sides of the special teams, power play and penalty killing," Ruff said. "His five-on-five is right at the top of any of our forwards. He sees the ice great, and I think he is just feeling more and more comfortable with every game."
The Sabres' head coach went on to say about Ostlund, "He's a coach's dream when you have a guy that can defend as well as he defends. His awareness of where the puck is going and the next play is almost always spot on. Some guys can defend physically, and some guys can defend positionally really well. I think his reads and positional defending is right up there at the top."
Noah Ostlund might be the most underrated forward the Buffalo Sabres have right now
As Ruff noted, Ostlund ranks near the top of the Sabres' players in several categories to begin the season. According to Natural Stat Trick, Ostlund has the second-best CF% in 5v5 situations at 57.54% and has the fourth-best xGF% at 56.34%.
Ostlund has also been helping on an improved power play as of late, being one of three forwards on the Sabres with multiple power-play goals this season. He joins Jack Quinn and Tage Thompson, with each player accounting for two goals.
This season, players like Thompson, Quinn, and even Zach Benson have really stood out but as Ruff notes, Ostlund is a big part of this team. The way that he can impact a game, offensively and defensively, is important for Buffalo, especially when considering that they are looking for someone to replace what Alex Tuch brought in past seasons.
One of the reasons Tuch was so valuable was his defensive ability and Ostlund certainly could fill that critical role for the Sabres.
Early this season, Ostlund has had a major role as the center on their second line alongside Jack Quinn. Originally, it was Zach Benson on the other side of Ostlund, but Lindy Ruff made the decision to get some more balance as they weren't getting enough from the other lines and needed to move Benson up with Tage Thompson.
Over the past few games, it has been Josh Doan on that second line, and Ruff is probably hoping that Ostlund and Quinn can help Doan get past a slow start to this season. It remains to be seen if that will work out but one thing is clear and that is the Sabres' head coach already has a lot of trust in Noah Ostlund and he has carved out a big role on this team.
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