Last season, the Buffalo Sabres finished fifth in the NHL in scoring as a team but only had two players inside the Top 70 in goals scored. It highlights how deep this roster was and one of the reasons they were so tough to defend.
Even with losing one of those players this offseason (Alex Tuch), this group has a chance to be even better this upcoming 2026-27 season if they are able to improve their power play.
Last season, the Sabres finished with 283 goals, which was one goal ahead of the Edmonton Oilers and only three goals behind the Tampa Bay Lightning. The leader last season was the Colorado Avalanche with 298.
While a 15-goal difference seems like a lot, the Sabres this past season improved by 18 goals, so it certainly is possible. Their challenge will be to not only improve but also do so while replacing Alex Tuch's 33 goals.
It remains to be seen exactly where those goals might come from, but they have a lot of young players ready to take that next step. They likely find those goals from a combination of Zach Benson, Jiri Kulich, Noah Ostlund, and Konsta Helenius.
Buffalo Sabres could lead the league in goals with improvements on the power play
Among the teams in the Top 5 last season, the Sabres had the second-fewest power play goals with 48 due to the fact that they had the second-fewest power play opportunities (246) and the second-worst power play percentage (19.51%).
The Sabres did a good job of drawing penalties last season, as those 246 were the ninth most in the NHL. However, they couldn't convert and finished 20th in the league in power-play percentage.
The easy answer for where this production would need to come from is Tage Thompson, who had 30 power-play goals between 2021-22 and 2022-23 but has had only 22 over the past three seasons. After six power-play goals last season, if he can double that number, then it helps close that gap.
Another player that might help in this area is Josh Doan, as he was second on the team with nine goals in his first season in the NHL with extended time on the man advantage. It is not unreasonable to see him add three or more goals to his total.
While Thompson and Doan may improve, the biggest gains likely come from Konsta Helenius and Jiri Kulich. Both players are essentially new additions to this year's roster, and both have shown to be excellent on the power play down in the AHL. Last season, Helenius led Rochester with nine, and in 2023-24, Kulich's last full season in Rochester, he had seven power-play goals.
The Sabres last season, had only three players score seven or more power play goals, so these two additions could be immediate upgrades for these units. If they can do that, then finishing the season first in goals is certainly possible for Buffalo.
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