Breakout Candidate: Zach Benson, LW<\/p>\n
Benson had had 10 goals, 28 points, 60 PIM, 120 shots and 35 hits across 75 outings with the Sabres in 2024-25, numbers like his rookie 2023-24 campaign. He is penciled in next to Thompson at even-strength. If that ends up being the case, look for a rise in numbers. But the bigger key will be if he receives additional time on the power play. A 40-50 point campaign is in reach<\/p>\n
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Buy Low Candidate: Josh Norris, C<\/p>\n
Injuries have impacted Norris nearly every season in the NHL. Last year was no different, as he saw just 56 games of action. Norris has plenty of potential as a multi-category, top-six forward if he avoids getting hurt again. Doing so and having a strong campaign would certainly help make the Norris-Benson deal look better, not great, but better.<\/p>\n
Riser: Bowen Byran, D<\/p>\n
Dahlin and Power give the Sabres a solid 1-2 punch on the left side of the defense. Another healthy and strong campaign from Byran would make that port side take a step forward in the league rankings. Byrum showed last season what he can do when healthy. Now in year one of a two-year deal, he will be looking to show he warrants a long-term contract, possibly results in 40+ points.<\/p>\n
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Faller: Ryan McLeod, C<\/p>\n
McLeod posted a career-high 53 points in 79 games, including racking up 35 points over his final 38 games. His fine play earned McLeod a four-year, $20 million deal to remain in Buffalo. The Sabres certainly won that trade with Edmonton. While I don\u2019t expect McLeod to take a major step back, if Jiri Kulich lives up to his talent, McLeod could slide to the 3C, which would adversely affect his production. Look for a decline of 10 points or so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breakout Candidate: Zach Benson, LW Benson had had 10 goals, 28 points, 60 PIM, 120 shots and 35…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5100],"tags":[1107,229,5133,31057,5,5345,4,4466,1108,4293,4023],"class_list":{"0":"post-179907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-sabres","8":"tag-buffalo","9":"tag-buffalo-sabres","10":"tag-buffalosabres","11":"tag-campaign","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-josh-norris","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-ryan-mcleod","16":"tag-sabres","17":"tag-the-sabres","18":"tag-zach-benson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115142952494256244","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}