Locked On Sabres - Daily Podcast On The Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres found themselves down two goals heading into the 3rd period against the Minnesota Wild, and then Owen Power took over. Power and Rasmus Dahlin, paired together, dominated the Wild and helped carry the Sabres to tie the game in regulation. Power, especially, controlled the flow of the game and created tons of opportunities. It was only fitting that he then gets the overtime game-winning goal!

Also, Tage Thompson's strong finish, after a really tough start to the game, Colten Ellis bounces back from a difficult second period, and the officiating almost costs the Sabres with...

The Buffalo Sabres head into a matchup with a very strong Minnesota Wild team led by Colten Ellis in goal, who gets his first start of the season after an impressive rookie campaign. What Ellis has been doing during the offseason should give Sabres fans confidence that he can take the next step as a player. Lindy Ruff is making changes, not just in goal, but also to the forward lines and the powerplay. Justin Danforth is expected to make his season debut, and Noah Östlund gets promoted to the first powerplay unit. Sneaky Joe believes the powerplay struggles h...

The Buffalo Sabres win their home opener over the Chicago Blackhawks, a game in which the Sabres thoroughly outplayed a bottom-feeder team, but almost blew it. However, both Jack Quinn and Peyton Krebs were dynamic creating tons of chances and big goals.

Plus, UPL's up and down game, Ryan McLeod's demotion to the fourth line and Jiří Kulich's promotion, coupled with his gamer winning goal! All around it was a fantastic night to be at KeyBank Center.

 

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The Buffalo Sabres look to bounce back from their season opener with a home opener against Bo Byram and the Chicago Blackhawks, a team that the Sabres are heavily favored against. Without Connor Bedard, Chicago is struggling a lot, being outscored 11-2 in their first two games. And their new top pair defenseman isn't helping.

In their most recent game against Utah, Byram and Alex Vlasic, Chicago's top pairing, were thoroughly dominated by the Mammoth. An early sign that Byram might not be up to being a team's #1 defenseman.

Plus, what to expect from the Sabres...

The Buffalo Sabres open their season with a 6-3 loss in Columbus with five goals allowed by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and an 0 for 5 start for the powerplay. The powerplay especially let the team down after Mathieu Olivier acted like an idiot and drew Zach Metsa, who he has 40 pound on, into a fight. Despite Olivier's selfishness putting Columbus at a huge disadvantage with a 5-on-3, the Sabres couldn't take advantage.

Plus, Konsta Helenius gets his season rolling with a goal, Louis Crevier struggles in his first appearance after a four year extension, and who starts now on Saturday between...

The Buffalo Sabres season begins in Columbus likely with both Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Mattias Samuelsson ready to return to the lineup! However, we'll have to wait to see Olen Zellweger's debut. A look at the Sabres and Blue Jackets lineup shows a massive advantage for the Sabres in the middle-six.

Plus, a look at last year's matchups between these two teams and how the Blue Jackets will want to play the Sabres high cycle. The Blue Jackets are riding high after making a huge trade acquiring Matthew Knies from the Maple Leafs. And finally what the odds say...

Entering the Buffalo Sabres 2026-27 season, expectations are a lot higher than they have been in past seasons, but still not as high as some fans would like. Exploring the Sabres betting lines for this season shows a team that should be on the playoff bubble, and one that is the 5th best team in the Atlantic Division. Is 95.5 points as an over/under too little?

Plus, why the over bets on Josh Doan this season are Sneaky Joe's favorite bets of the season, now that he'll be playing on the top line withTage Thompson. And a look...

The Buffalo Sabres are two days away from opening their regular season against the Columbus Blue Jackets and some of the big injury questions are being answered. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was at practice in the starters net, so it seems likely that he is good to go for the start of the year. Even Alex Lyon is just days away from making the Sabres goalie room totally healthy. Mattias Samuelsson meanwhile skated on his own on Tuesday and Lindy Ruff sounded like he is getting really close. However, Conor Timmins could be awhile. We break down all the different blueline...

The Buffalo Sabres came out of nowhere to win the Atlantic Division in 2025-26. Now there are expectations to contend for that crown again, and make the playoffs. Before the Florida Panthers, Montréal Canadiens, and Toronto Maple Leafs take the ice on opening night, Sneaky Joe has his Atlantic Division predictions for 2026-27!

With a clean bill of health and Brady Tkachuk now on the team, it's hard to see the Panthers not contending for the top of the division. Could the Tampa Bay Lightning fall back this year with a paper thin roster and Victor Hedman's a...

In the Buffalo Sabres preseason finale against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen left in the 3rd period and Lindy Ruff says he "tweaked" something. With that, now Alex Lyon and Luukkonen are both injured with mystery timelines for return. If neither will be ready by Thursday, Colten Ellis is entering the regular season as the Sabres #1 goaltender. Ellis' play in the preseason combined with his rookie season should give Sabres fans confidence that he can start the first few games of the season until UPL or Lyon return.

If UPL and Lyon's injuries go long however, the...

We are less than one week away from the Buffalo Sabres opener and we have some positive news on the injury front. Lindy Ruff says Olen Zellweger should be ready for opening night coming back from a concussion and Mattias Samuelsson says it won't be that long for his injury! Despite this, the Sabres are adding veteran defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to the mix, more of an indictment on Dennis Gilbert and Ryan Johnson than any of the guys in the top-six.

Plus, Noah Östlund and Konsta Helenius look strong in the Sabres preseason loss to the Red Wings, l...

The Buffalo Sabres have injuries on the blueline to Mattias Samuelsson and Olen Zellweger, leaving the defense core paper thin. With Dennis Gilbert likely entering the lineup on the third pair, is it a terrible idea to consider bringing back Logan Stanley? Stanley is still available after not signing with a team during free agency, a surprise as it was reported his market was $4-5M per year. A look at last year shows Stanley wasn't as bad as fans thought, but he did not bring that intimidating physical factor that everyone was hoping for. The Stanley idea only...

The Buffalo Sabres first home preseason game featured a total NHL lineup and they dominated an AHL heavy Blue Jackets roster 5-1. However, the story of the game is the team losing two of their top-four defensemen in Mattias Samuelsson and Olen Zellweger. Samuelsson left the game after blocking a shot with what looked like his ankle, and Zellweger was knocked out of the game by a monster hit by Carson Soucy. If the two players are going to miss time, what will the Sabres blueline look like? Pairings from practice give us the answer.

Plus, Noah Ös...

The Buffalo Sabres opened up their preseason with a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, filled with a lineup of AHL guys, AND Jiří Kulich. Kulich, who has not played a hockey game in almost a year, played big minutes in Pittsburgh and looked up-and-down, as one would expect. There were some nice offensive plays and we saw Kulich's shot power on display, but there were some sloppy plays in his first game action too. Some of that can be explained by him being surrounded by AHL players, playing against many NHL players in the Pens lineup. The hope would be...

The Buffalo Sabres powerplay had some abysmal stretches last season and it's almost amazing they ended up ranking 20th in the NHL. However, the powerplay did begin to turn it on at the end of the season, trying to get the puck down low. Are the Sabres ready to do that again? Josh Doan and Zach Benson could be enormous in the Sabres powerplay taking a big step forward.

With Alex Tuch walking out the door, the Sabres biggest piece to replace on special teams is his penalty kill spot. The combination of Ryan McLeod and Tuch was...

The Buffalo Sabres held their Blue & Gold Scrimmage at KeyBank Center ahead of the preseason and the line of Benson-Östlund-Quinn showed out scoring two goals and looking like the best trio on the ice. Which should be no surprised as any line Zach Benson goes on ends up looking good. It was also our first look at Owen Power and Olen Zellweger as a pairing, which Sneaky Joe has the review of. Lindy Ruff believed the two looked good, but also maybe too fancy at times.

Also, Radim Mrtka struggles again. Should we be getting worried about M...

Lindy Ruff met with the media after the Sabres practiced on Friday and along the way mentioned he believes this team has the best center depth he's seen in his entire career, with 9 NHL centermen. Is this the deepest center group we've seen, even more so than the 2006 Sabres? The depth has pushed Jiří Kulich, Konsta Helenius, and Ryan McLeod to the wing for the time being.

Is Kulich capable of playing on the wing? Plus, a breakdown of all the new lines Lindy has put together, including a very interesting Benson, Östlund, and Quinn line. And a Ukk...

With Buffalo Sabres training camp opening up, GM Jarmo Kekäläinen and head coach Lindy Ruff met with the media for the first time this season! Of course, the subject of Connor Hellebuyck came up, who is not reporting to Winnipeg Jets training camp. Neither Jarmo nor Lindy said anything to make it sound like the Sabres are closed to the idea, and they definitely could've.

Plus, Jason Zucker has a sports hernia injury that will impact the opening night lineup. How will lines look without him? Also, an update on Louis Crevier and Lindy unveils where he...

The Buffalo Sabres joined the party as NHL teams are racing to get 8-year contracts in, while they're still allowed to do so, signing Noah Östlund to an eight year extension! This is a big bet on a player who hasn't even played 70 games in the NHL yet, but Östlund is a good bet to take. Lindy Ruff loves him. He's got almost every tool in toolbag. And the cost isn't that much at $6.6M per year. Östlund has shown elite vision and passing, has a good shot, and is already mature and responsible enough to be put in any...

Training camps are about to open around the NHL, including the Buffalo Sabres' camp which have have tons and tons of battles for roles in their lineup before the start of the regular season. The most interesting of which will be who plays on the top line with Tage Thompson. Much of that will depend on whether Tage is a center or wing. If he's a winger, like he was to start last year, Jiri Kulich could be a darkhorse to open the year as the Sabres #1 center. Konsta Helenius is also an option to open the season on...

The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off their worst season in years, and it sets up a big question about Auston Matthews' future in Toronto. Will a poor start to the season cause Matthews to push his way out? The Leafs amazingly won the draft lottery and selected Gavin McKenna, who could be their savior.

However, the hire of Jim Hiller as head coach presents a new style of play for Toronto. Likely an ultra-defensive, conservative style of hockey that should keep the Leafs competitive, but limit their ability to win big.

If they decide to...

The Buffalo Sabres are the defending Atlantic Division champions, but the Florida Panthers are still the gold standard of the division. The back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions had a forgettable season in 2025-26 due to countless injuries to Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart, and several other important players. It didn't help that Sergei Bobrovsky had the worst season of his career behind an injured squad.

The Panthers had a big summer, trading away three 1st round picks to acquire Brady Tkachuk, pairing him with his brother in their forward ranks. The Tkachuk brothers will be...

The Buffalo Sabres soared past the Detroit Red Wings last season, ending their 14-year playoff drought, while the Red Wings collapsed to extend their playoff drought to 10-years, now the longest in the NHL. Detroit now owns the second longest drought in NHL history, and their offseason makes it seem like catching the Sabres record is very realistic.

Dylan Larkin wants out and maybe the only reason he hasn't been traded yet is the Red Wings don't have a General Manager. With Steve Yzerman being fired this offseason, are the Red Wings looking at baseball people to take...

Sneaky Joe picked the Ottawa Senators to win the Atlantic Division last year. They did not. However, they showed to be an elite level team, that just happened to have historically bad goaltending at the same time. The result was Ottawa squeaking into the playoffs and getting swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champions. The thing that did Ottawa in, was the first truly bad season of Linus Ullmark's career. You'd think this season all Ottawa needs is to get a better Ullmark and they'll challenge for the division. But with Brady Tkachuk demanding out this offseason, the Senators...

The Boston Bruins fell to the Buffalo Sabres in the playoffs last season, showing they were not a great team, getting run over in most of the six games of the series. The Bruins defense core could not handle the pressure from the Sabres forwards, and the depth could not go four lines with the Sabres. Their answer? Add three former Sabres. JJ Peterka, Will Borgen, and Connor Clifton. None of which seem to help the Bruins with the things they struggled with against the Sabres. Sneaky Joe believes the Bruins will be closer to the bottom feeder team...

The Buffalo Sabres and Montréal Canadiens might be the best two teams in the league for signing their best players before the salary cap jumped way up, meaning both are set up to be really good for a long time. The Canadiens might not have been a team worthy of the Conference Finals last season, but that doesn't mean their season overall was a fluke. Led by Lane Hutson, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield the Habs have a core of incredible young players.

Were the Sabres the better team when the two teams met in the s...

The Buffalo Sabres finished ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division last season by three points, and went one round further. A huge reason for this was the Lightning being the most undisciplined team in the NHL led by their fraud of a head coach Jon Cooper. Will the Lightning improve on this next season? They will need to to finish first in the Atlantic. The Lightning did lose their top defenseman this offseason in Darren Raddysh to Toronto. Is adding 36-year old John Carlson enough to replace him? The Lightning still look like a slow...

Winnipeg Jets star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has gone public with his trade request after months of not seeing a deal get done, as training camp gets closer! Hellebuyck pushing the Jets to get a deal done comes as excellent news to any hockey fan hoping their team acquires him, including Buffalo Sabres fans! The Sabres reportedly came the closest to acquiring him at the NHL Draft, but a deal did not get done. Now that Hellebuyck is making it clear he will not stay in Winnipeg, the price should come down, making a deal more likely.

The...

The Buffalo Sabres have a couple years to think about what they will want to do in the next round of NHL expansion drafts, as it seems to be almost a certainty the league will add a second team in Texas and a team in Atlanta. When that does happen, the Sabres will likely have six easy decisions to make at forward, but the seventh forward to be protected could be really debatable. Jack Quinn, Peyton Krebs, Josh Norris, and Ryan McLeod could all be options to be protected, but multiple will be exposed. Plus, why the Olen Zelleweger...

The Anaheim Ducks are the most vulnerable team in the NHL right now, with just over $9M in salary cap space, and a star forward in Cutter Gauthier turning down contracts worth $13M per season. Are the Ducks going to have to make multiple trades to create room to pay him? Or will they trade Gauthier away? If the latter ends up being possible, the Buffalo Sabres should be VERY AGGRESSIVE sending offers to Pat Verbeek.

Would Daxon Rudolph, Jack Quinn, and a 1st round pick be enough to tempt the Ducks? If possible, Gauthier would provide...

Sabres twitter is besides itself at Zach Benson being ranked 124th among NHL players drafted, many not even in the league yet by one prospects analyst, which is an insane ranking that you have to question a person's motivation after seeing. No Benson is nowhere near that amongst players of his age, but where does he rank on a list of Sabres young guys? Sneaky Joe ranks his top-seven Sabres under-23, including Konsta Helenius, Radim Mrtka, and more. The ceilings for Benson and Helenius are much higher than they've already showed and should be considered the elites of the...

Colten "Chaos" Ellis was claimed on waivers to be the Buffalo Sabres third goaltender last fall, and did very well playing a very inconsistent schedule. His wild, athletic style was effective, and chaotic at times, but with more work on his composure and technique, the Sabres could have a very solid young goalie on their hands. With just 14 starts under his belt, the time is this season to see Ellis become a more regular piece of the goalie picture, rather than just the guy who plays when one of the top two guys are injured. At 25-years old, coming...

Lindy Ruff utilized a goalie rotation last season that got his team to the playoffs and into Round 2. Despite even regular seasons from Alex Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, previous seasons and the playoffs show that Lyon is the best goalie on the Sabres roster. Even if he isn't treated like it. Lyon has been an NHL regular now for four years and his numbers blow UPL's out of the water. Lyon's playoffs were solid in totality, but the lasting image many fans have of him is giving up three consecutive goals to the Canadiens in Game 6, a game the...

The Buffalo Sabres have a pretty clear cut top-five defensemen heading into the 2026-27 season, but who will be the sixth? There will likely be a competition between Zach Metsa and Conor Timmins in training camp and into the regular season. Metsa provides some really solid play at 5-on-5, but offers nothing on special teams. Timmins can be a liability at even-strength, but is a core penalty killer. Which role will the Sabres need more? Was Metsa's incredible run of not allowing a goal last season total luck? Plus, could prospects Radim Mrtka, Daxon Rudolph, or Adam Kleber factor...

Owen Power has always been a polarizing player for Buffalo Sabres fans, ever since he was the 1st overall pick in the NHL Draft. He may have never been more polarizing though then right after the playoffs ended, after great series' against the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens. Power played through a horrible ankle sprain, and played well in Games 6 and 7 of the second round. After that run, is it fair to say Owen Power has finally arrived? Sneaky Joe takes a look at Power's 2025-26 season, and how much room he still has to grow as a shooter...

Mattias Samuelsson had one of the most improbable breakouts in Buffalo Sabres history in 2025-26, going from a legitimate buyout candidate that couldn't stay healthy, that also wouldn't hit anybody, to a tremendous top-pair defenseman who was bullying opponents on the ice, and scored more goals than he had in his entire career combined! The Samuelsson story is one of the most incredible we've ever seen. You can now say he is one of the best big-man defensemen in the NHL. The offense showing up for Samuelsson was something he hasn't done since he was 15 years old, and he...

Louis Crevier was not the focal point of the Buffalo Sabres trade with Chicago this offseason, but he has the potential to be the second success story as a throw in to a deal, following in Josh Doan's footsteps from last season. Crevier is a monster defenseman at 6'8'', 228 pounds, who will bury a forward into the boards and in front of the net. He also just happens to have a bomb of a slap shot, while also being one of the fastest skating defenseman in the NHL. Crevier has all the tools you could want as a...

Rasmus Dahlin has become a premier, tier-1 defenseman in the NHL, finishing as a Norris Trophy finalist in 2025-26, following career highs. Dahlin's story of last season was incredible, leading the Buffalo Sabres out of their playoff drought after dealing with so much off the ice with his fiancé. Dahlin's season cements him as the best Sabres defenseman of all-time already. Yes, over Phil Housley and Mike Ramsey. Sneaky Joe goes back and watches all of Dahlin's shifts in Game 7 against the Canadiens, a game the Sabres lost, but Dahlin took over and did almost everything he could to w...

Jiří Kulich missed all but 12 games last season due to a blood clot, making it easy to forget the potential he has for the Buffalo Sabres. It also would be easy to forget how much he struggled early last season, playing with Tage Thompson and Zach Benson. So far in his career, Kulich has showed an elite shot release, but has struggled as a playmaker. As a center, it'll be tough for him to thrive without improving that. If Kulich can become a better passer and two-way player, he may have a future as a top-six center on the Sa...

The Buffalo Sabres forward group has more than twelve good options for the 2026-27 season, meaning there will be lots of competition on the fourth line. Sam Carrick, Peyton Krebs, Tyson Kozak, and Justin Danforth will all compete for the fourth line center spot, all providing different skills. Carrick is a faceoff specialist that penalty kills, while Peyton Krebs gives energy and offense. Kozak played great for the Sabres in the postseason, and is the cheapest of all the options. Danforth might be too far back with just a little too much salary committed to him to see making...