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What Went Right for the Sabres This Season

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The 2024-2025 Buffalo Sabres season is one that fans will want to forget. The result: a 14th straight year of missing the playoffs. General manager Kevyn Adams announced last summer the team was in “win mode now.” They finished with 79 regular season points and a 36-39-7 record. Their worst finish in the past three seasons. The team placed seventh in the Atlantic division and 14th in the Eastern Conference. A far stretch from the playoffs, and far from restoring hope into a now heartbroken fanbase. Although the season went far from expected, it wasn’t a complete waste for the team. Some things went well, others did not. In this article, we’ll break down the good things that happened for the Sabres in 2024-2025.

What Went Right

Established Superstars

Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin have officially made their case to be NHL superstars. Tage Thompson finished the season with 44 goals on the season. This year is the second time in his career he surpassed the 40-goal mark. He’ll finish the season with 72 points in 75 games played, just shy of a point-per-game player.

Rasmus Dahlin doesn’t get enough credit for how good he is. Finishing the year with 68 total points, second on the team. He also will finish the year with a +11 rating. Now the plus minus statistic can be tricky given there aren’t any parameters for when the plusses and minuses come. However, Dahlin plays in almost all situations, power play and penalty kill, as well as end of game scenarios with the goalie pulled and overtime. For a player to be involved in all scenarios like that and end a plus 11, that’s very good.

Lindy Ruff

In game 82 of the regular season, the Sabres notched a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. The win marked 900 total wins for Ruff in his career. Ruff will be back next season, he brings experience and poise behind the bench. After years of Don Granato being soft on younger players, Ruff’s accountability is a breathe of fresh air that Sabres fans will be happy to see behind the bench next year.

Alex Tuch

The Sabres are wasting years of having Alex Tuch on a friendly contract. The guy is a menace. This season, Tuch scored 36 goals. Six of those goals came while shorthanded. With 112 blocked shots, Alex Tuch becomes the all time blocked shots leader by a forward. He’s fantastic defensively, he scores goals, he kills penalties, there is probably not a more well rounded forward in Buffalo than Alex Tuch right now. The Sabres will have one more year of him on a 4.75 million deal. After, that price tag will skyrocket.

Promising Young Players

JJ Peterka is the most promising young player in Buffalo right now. He’ll round out his third full year with the Sabres scoring 27 goals and a career high 68 points. At just 23 years of age, he saw minutes on the top line with Thompson and Tuch this season. Peterka is a RFA in need of signing this offseason, it’ll be interesting what cap hit he will bring to the roster next season.

Jiri Kulich might not return to the American Hockey League after this season. Despite just 24 points in 61 games, he passes the eye test. Strong on the puck with a wicked release, the 2022 28th overall pick should be starting with the Sabres next October.

Zach Benson didn’t quite have the sophomore jump people were hoping to see this season. He bounced around the lineup a lot and mustered a mere 28 points in 74 games. However, there were flashes of nice offensive playmaking late in the season. He found himself on a line with Tage Thompson late in the year and made an impact. One thing all Sabres fans respect about this 19 year old’s game is his tenacity. Benson is not shy from conflict. He isn’t a fighter by any means but he will not back away from a scrum and be the first to jump in and defend his teammates. The future is bright for this young man, it will be interesting to see what next season has in store for him.

Ryan Mcleod

Last summer, the Sabres traded Matt Savoie for Ryan Mcleod and Ty Tullio. Fans were split on the trade. Savoie was a ninth overall pick in 2022, and Mcleod hadn’t had more than 30 points in a season. This season, Mcleod put the doubters to rest. Scoring career highs in all statistical categories, 20 goals and 33 assists for 53 total points. Change of scenery, an increased role, whatever factored into his success paid off big time. Mcleod will cash in off this, his performance made him a top priority for the Sabres front office to resign as he hits restricted free agency this summer.

This season was far from perfect, and no fan is calling it a success. But these things were all successes for the organization. Moving forward, the Sabres will need to build off the performances of these coaches/players, and hopefully break the drought in 2025-2026.

Main Photo: Timothy T. Ludwig- Imagn Images

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