
Sorting through the Sabres' defense depth chart and who fits next to Rasmus Dahlin
Does the club have the right blend of talent, skill, puck-moving ability, physicality and defensive awareness?
Kevyn Adams’ yearslong search for a top-four defenseman involved painstaking trade negotiations, fruitless talks with unrestricted free agents and eventually cost the Buffalo Sabres one of their best forwards.
Casey Mittelstadt’s trade to the Colorado Avalanche in March landed the Sabres a young, cost-controlled defenseman to grow with Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson. Bowen Byram isn’t past his prime or near unrestricted free agency. He turned 23 years old in June and is two years removed from playing a prominent role for a Stanley Cup champion.
The blockbuster move stripped the Sabres of their depth at center – though Adams filled the void this summer by acquiring Ryan McLeod from the Edmonton Oilers – but strengthened a blue line that should be considered one of the most promising in the NHL.

Which defenseman will pair with Sabres star Rasmus Dahlin? That’s a question coach Lindy Ruff must answer. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
Amherst’s Dennis Gilbert joined the group in July when the 27-year-old signed a one-year contract, but it’s unclear how the Sabres’ new coach, Lindy Ruff, plans to deploy the eight defensemen under contract for 2024-25.
Will Samuelsson regain his spot next to Dahlin on the top pair? How does Ruff plan to use Byram after the 2019 first-round draft pick struggled late last season? Will Gilbert surpass Jacob Bryson on the depth chart? Where does Henri Jokiharju fit entering the final year of his contract? How will Power benefit from the structure that Ruff plans to bring to the Sabres’ 5-on-5 play? Can Connor Clifton skate higher in the lineup if needed? And will Dahlin take another step after a season in which he produced 20 goals and continued to show improvement defensively? Does the club have the right blend of talent, skill, puck-moving ability, physicality and defensive awareness?
Competition for ice time and roles will be sorted out in training camp next month and, as Adams reminded reporters in July, the defense pairs are bound to change throughout an 82-game season. His goal was to give Ruff trustworthy options with complementary skill sets to build a winning lineup. It’s unclear, though, how the lineup will look when the Sabres open the season against the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 4 in Prague.
By the numbers
Any conversation about the defense begins with the prominent question of who will skate next to Dahlin on the top defense pair? Data from the past two seasons illustrates that Ruff will have a few options. According to Natural Stat Trick, here’s how the Sabres fared last season when Dahlin was on the ice at 5-on-5 with his most common partners:- Samuelsson: 51.2% shot-attempt differential, 50.15% shot-quality share, negative-9 goal differential (12-21) and 53.96 offensive-zone start percentage in 438:02 of ice time.
- Jokiharju: 54.99% shot-attempt differential, 56.22% shot-quality share, plus-2 goal differential (14-12) and 52.57 offensive-zone start percentage in 496:09 of ice time.
- Power: 60.18% shot-attempt differential, 54.76% shot-quality share, plus-4 goal differential (15-11) and 69.5 offensive-zone start percentage in 254:07 of ice time.
- Byram: 45.37% shot-attempt differential, 46.08% shot-quality share, minus-1 goal differential (10-9) and 48.94% offensive-zone start percentage in 138:33 of ice time.

How will Sabres coach Lindy Ruff use defenseman Bowen Byram (4), who was acquired in a March trade from the Avalanche for Casey Mittelstadt? Buffalo News file photo
Ruff is going to love Samuelsson if the 24-year-old can avoid the injuries that have cut short each of his past two seasons. And, according to Adams, the Sabres’ internal data shows that Dahlin has produced better results when skating on the right side with his left-handed shot.
Former coach Don Granato used to call Samuelsson an “antidote” for the Sabres when they must face a superstar forward such as Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews, and Samuelsson produced better results next to Dahlin in 2022-23 when Buffalo was much better offensively at 5-on-5. Ruff also will have the option to use Dahlin with Power, though Granato did not use the duo as a regular pairing until late in the regular season.
The pair of No. 1 draft choices were typically together for offensive-zone starts or anytime the Sabres were down by a goal late in the game, which was frequent last season when the club had the worst first-period goal differential in the NHL. The lineup may be stronger with Dahlin and Power skating apart because it would protect Buffalo on the road when the other team can dictate the matchups.
It’s also important to not overanalyze the small sample size of Byram following the trade. He was exceptional at the start, then struggled as the coaching staff began to push him to follow their systems. Byram skated with Power at 5-on-5 for fewer than 63 minutes and saw more ice time with Jokiharju, even though the two did not seem to have chemistry. Buffalo had only 35.53% of the shot-attempt differential and 33.6% of the shot-quality at 5-on-5 when Byram was with Jokiharju for 95:18.
Would Ruff give Byram an opportunity with Power if Samuelsson settles in next to Dahlin? The Sabres didn’t give up Mittelstadt to use Byram in a lesser role, and the team will want to see if Samuelsson is ready to realize his potential as a top-four defenseman nearly two years after he was given a seven-year contract with a $4.285 million annual cap hit.
Third-pair options
Using some combination of Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson and Byram in the top four would leave Buffalo with four options for its third defense pair: Jokiharju, Clifton, Bryson and Gilbert.Clifton and Bryson had surprisingly strong results together despite 35.9% of their shifts beginning in the offensive zone, but Jokiharju is going to earn a spot in this lineup if he plays the way that he did during the second half of last season. He elected to return on a one-year contract that will bring him to unrestricted free agency next summer.
Jokiharju has rarely skated on his off-hand side, and Clifton played his worst last season when Granato used him on the left with Erik Johnson on the right of the third pair. The limitations with Jokiharju and Clifton likely will prevent Ruff from using them together, which creates an opportunity for Gilbert or Bryson to force their way into the lineup.
Bryson, at 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds, is excellent on the breakout but tends to struggle when defending in areas where his opponents can take advantage of what he lacks in size and strength. Gilbert (6-foot-2, 216 pounds), meanwhile, is a physical, abrasive player who will stick up for teammates and make opponents pay a price to get to the front of Buffalo’s net. The competition between the two may come down to who is better on the penalty kill.
Would the Sabres sit Clifton when he has two years remaining on his contract, especially after they had a plus-13 goal differential when he was on the ice from Dec. 8 until the end of the season? It depends on whether he fits with the way that Ruff wants this team to play. Clifton will need to be better on the breakout, and more consistent defensively, to have a consistent role for Buffalo.
The state of the depth chart, as well as Buffalo committing 39.6% of its total cap space to the position, suggests that another roster move may come before its first game against New Jersey. Jokiharju and/or Clifton may be mentioned in trade rumors in the coming weeks and months, especially if 2019 first-round draft pick Ryan Johnson has a strong training camp. The third pair won’t matter, though, if Ruff and his coaching staff don’t find the right way to use Dahlin, Power, Byram and Samuelsson.