Good news! Sabres not the youngest NHL team but...

[LGR4GM]

Good news, the Buffalo Sabres are no longer the youngest NHL team. They currently sit 31st just one ahead of Montreal. Buffalo is 25.7yrs compared to 25.35yrs. 

BUT... Buffalo is dead last in the NHL by experience. 5,881 total games played. Next closest is 644 more games played with 6,525 (also Montreal).

To help compare this, the Oilers are 8th with 10,991 games played and the Panthers are 3rd with 12,384gp. The Winnipeg Jets are first with 13,020gp.

So we are not the youngest but we are least experienced team in the entire NHL. 

Source: https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/teams-physical-stats/2025-2026

[LGR4GM]

Michael Kesselring has played 10 more NHL games than Zach Benson. 156 to 146. 

[bob_sauve28]

Does this number include playoff games? 

 

Oh, just kidding 

[GoPuckYourself]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Good news, the Buffalo Sabres are no longer the youngest NHL team. They currently sit 31st just one ahead of Montreal. Buffalo is 25.7yrs compared to 25.35yrs. 

BUT... Buffalo is dead last in the NHL by experience. 5,881 total games played. Next closest is 644 more games played with 6,525 (also Montreal).

To help compare this, the Oilers are 8th with 10,991 games played and the Panthers are 3rd with 12,384gp. The Winnipeg Jets are first with 13,020gp.

So we are not the youngest but we are least experienced team in the entire NHL. 

Source: https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/teams-physical-stats/2025-2026

It’s the built in excuse they can keep using every year.

[inkman]

Honestly, I’m not sure they’ll ever be competitive until they get into the upper half of the league in experience. It means something. In every walk of life, I have to imagine, sports even more so.  Sheer talent isn’t just going to translate into winning.  They need guys who have been there and done it.  

[Archie Lee]

I guess Montreal getting in last year is evidence to support it could happen.  Also, the Sabres missing by a point 2 years ago is similarly evidence that it is possible.  Adams continues to try to accomplish the unlikely though. 

The hockey DB page lists a player's age at the start of training camp as their age for that season (at least it seems that is what they do). Connor Timmins is the oldest of our d-men who are likely to be the 6 roster players for game one (injuries aside). He will be listed on the Sabres 25-26 roster page on the hockey DB site, as being in his age 26 season.  Dahlin, Samuelsson, and Kesslering will be in their age 25 years.  Byram 24.  Power 22. 

Looking back at the last 5 years, the only playoff team with a D that young is the 20-21 Avalanche.  They of course, had elite level forward talent.

Obviously our defenseman as individuals, are all capable of helping a team into the playoffs. Byram and Timmins were on that Avalanche team. I don't understand what Adams has against bringing in additional veteran players though. He certainly is not acting like a GM who is under any pressure from the owner to get in the playoffs any time soon. 

 

[triumph_communes]

I view the lack of emphasis on experience as a consequence of obsession on statistics. As teams tried to find types of players that could project to be players from the past, and manage the cap station, they lost the mentorship and culture players needed to grow into those projections.

 

Then we had ‘development’ focused coaches which doubled down on making things worse. Coaches who never understood a damn thing about building culture, but teaching each player they are a special snowflake and the grass is always greener on your next team.  The thing players need to hear in a summer camp, not in the big league
 

Now we are in the ‘everyone is 28’ time period, where the hope is guys are competing to be in their prime as a way to ensure there’s motivation for leadership and accountability to develop in the room. I agree this is way better than hand selecting 22yos and expecting ***** to pan out, but there’s still maturity outside of the room. 
 

Matt Moulson and Okposo were just the wrong kinds of leaders. They’re good people, just not the cut throat accountability Nazi the team needs out of a vet. The guy who is only there because he works hard, not because he has raw talent. Yet he’d go to war if someone cheap shotted the rookies he hazes day in and out. We just didn’t have that latter part. And didn’t even try to cover the gap with a goon. We just let the kids wallow in no accountability and positive reinforcement useless development coaches.  And did nothing when the evander kane, Zach Bogosian bad influences rotted out the room. 
 

At least there’s a shred of hope that ‘tougher to play against’ isn’t only measure in height and weight, but attitude as well. The kid Doan and the obsession with Bensen is my hope Lindy at least knows it right. Those 4th liners last season had none of it tho. 
 

Average age can be thrown off too much by a couple players. Give me the median

Edited yesterday at 07:02 PM by triumph_communes

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Michael Kesselring has played 10 more NHL games than Zach Benson. 156 to 146. 

By trading Peterka he put a lot of eggs into the Kesselring basket, he is expected to not just play in the top 4, but to improve the top 4. 

I sure hope he can kill penalties and give us 20-21 minutes.   

[oddoublee]

The average age of the defense is the most damning part of this roster...imo

[inkman]

2 hours ago, oddoublee said:

The average age of the defense is the most damning part of this roster...imo

How many teams have had two first overall picks under 25 as their top 2 defenseman?  The team won’t succeed this way.  There is a reason 35 year old dmen are still a thing.  Experience matters.  Every season teams grab one or two grizzled vets at the deadline just for this reason.  The Sabres almost make it impossible unless they a supplement with more veterans.  Is Bowen Byram an ideal player for Dahlin?  Kesselring might the right kind of player for Power but he could use another 5 seasons under his belt. The whole process is flawed.  You can’t win with a bunch of kids. 

[PerreaultForever]

I read somewhere on twitter that this D of Dahlin Byram Power Kesselring Samuelsson Timmons is the youngest D in the league. Don't know if that's true or not. 

I think if Zucker, Greenway and Norris all go on IR at some point the roster would be one of the youngest if not the youngest again. We definitely still lack veteran experience and leadership. Their plan is stupid. 

[DarthEbriate]

What is the likelihood that Montreal gets back in this season without a substantial improvement in goal differential— like a +25 in goal differential?

Of note: GM Holland went to Edmonton and built the oldest team in the league (including Perry) around McDavid and Draisaitl. Their only flaw is they ran into a better and more balanced team in back-to-back years. I’d say hire Holland, but the Sabres do not have two MVP centers, nor could they afford to pay Holland and the final year of those coaching contracts. 

1 minute ago, PerreaultForever said:

I read somewhere on twitter that this D of Dahlin Byram Power Kesselring Samuelsson Timmons is the youngest D in the league. Don't know if that's true or not. 

I think if Zucker, Greenway and Norris all go on IR at some point the roster would be one of the youngest if not the youngest again. We definitely still lack veteran experience and leadership. Their plan is stupid. 

Someday, there’s a good chance all of the Sabres current top 6 d-men play games in their age 30 season. There’s a good chance that none of them play that age 30 season for the Sabres. 

[Thorny]

10 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Good news, the Buffalo Sabres are no longer the youngest NHL team. They currently sit 31st just one ahead of Montreal. Buffalo is 25.7yrs compared to 25.35yrs. 

BUT... Buffalo is dead last in the NHL by experience. 5,881 total games played. Next closest is 644 more games played with 6,525 (also Montreal).

To help compare this, the Oilers are 8th with 10,991 games played and the Panthers are 3rd with 12,384gp. The Winnipeg Jets are first with 13,020gp.

So we are not the youngest but we are least experienced team in the entire NHL. 

Source: https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/teams-physical-stats/2025-2026

This will be the 4th year straight they are one of the 4 youngest teams 

Edited 18 hours ago by Thorny

[Thorny]

7 minutes ago, Thorny said:

This will be the 4th year straight they are one of the 4 youngest teams 

It’s funny they’ve basically proceeded to get younger instead of older until maybe now haha 

[Sidc3000]

19 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Good news, the Buffalo Sabres are no longer the youngest NHL team. They currently sit 31st just one ahead of Montreal. Buffalo is 25.7yrs compared to 25.35yrs. 

BUT... Buffalo is dead last in the NHL by experience. 5,881 total games played. Next closest is 644 more games played with 6,525 (also Montreal).

To help compare this, the Oilers are 8th with 10,991 games played and the Panthers are 3rd with 12,384gp. The Winnipeg Jets are first with 13,020gp.

So we are not the youngest but we are least experienced team in the entire NHL. 

Source: https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/teams-physical-stats/2025-2026

They still have time to regain that title. It just takes Norris to sneeze the wrong way in training camp, BOOM youngest team in the league again

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Sidc3000

[Pimlach]

17 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

I guess Montreal getting in last year is evidence to support it could happen.  Also, the Sabres missing by a point 2 years ago is similarly evidence that it is possible.  Adams continues to try to accomplish the unlikely though. 

The hockey DB page lists a player's age at the start of training camp as their age for that season (at least it seems that is what they do). Connor Timmins is the oldest of our d-men who are likely to be the 6 roster players for game one (injuries aside). He will be listed on the Sabres 25-26 roster page on the hockey DB site, as being in his age 26 season.  Dahlin, Samuelsson, and Kesslering will be in their age 25 years.  Byram 24.  Power 22. 

Looking back at the last 5 years, the only playoff team with a D that young is the 20-21 Avalanche.  They of course, had elite level forward talent.

Obviously our defenseman as individuals, are all capable of helping a team into the playoffs. Byram and Timmins were on that Avalanche team. I don't understand what Adams has against bringing in additional veteran players though. He certainly is not acting like a GM who is under any pressure from the owner to get in the playoffs any time soon. 

 

He can’t seem to get the vets that have mileage left.  Zucker may be the exception so far.  

[Weave]

7 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

He can’t seem to get the vets that have mileage left.  Zucker may be the exception so far.  

I think it is more unwilling than can’t.  He’s building a team that is all 22-27.  

[DarthEbriate]

28 minutes ago, Weave said:

I think it is more unwilling than can’t.  He’s building a team that is all 22-27.  

We just have to wait 2 more seasons until that core is 24-29. Then we'll reap all the reaped benefits of... this....

[LGR4GM]

Some of you love to focus on the wrong thing. The age of the roster isn't the problem, the experience of the roster is the problem. Their 2nd most experienced defender is Jacob Bryson and he has half the games played that Rasmus Dahlin does. They should dump Bryson and sign Grzelcyk, adds 527 NHL games to the roster and he push Samuelsson down the lineup. Bring in David Savard and his 870 NHL games, sure he might not be the best anymore but even with 70% def starts for a rebuilding Montreal team, he was decent. He also shoots right and would be cheap. 

My point is that they should be looking to bump Bryson to #8 on the depth chart and they should be bringing in a veteran NHL defender to add to that room. None of these guys are going to cost you more than 2-3million for 1-2yrs, which is easy to fit under our cap. Being content with this level of inexperience on the defense is negligent at best. 

Byram - Dahlin

Power - Kesselring

Grzelcyk - Timmins OR Savard - Timmins

Samuelsson

Edited 8 hours ago by LGR4GM

[Archie Lee]

The Sabres will have $5 million in cap space, give or take a bit, after Timmins is signed. Take the salaries of Kulich, Quinn, and Samuelsson and they could have $14 million in space. Imagine replacing those 3 players with two veteran middle 6 forwards and a veteran 3rd pair d-man who make a combined $12-14 million. The Sabres would still be younger than average. They would still have a better than average prospect pool.  

[LGR4GM]

*****, does Ryan Suter wanna play 1 more year? Imagine adding a guy with 1373 NHL games to your roster. He would be the perfect #6 defender and perfect type of adult to add to that room. You hear that Kevyn! Go get Suter so our D room doesn't have the experience level of a noob in call of duty. 

[JohnC]

4 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

The Sabres will have $5 million in cap space, give or take a bit, after Timmins is signed. Take the salaries of Kulich, Quinn, and Samuelsson and they could have $14 million in space. Imagine replacing those 3 players with two veteran middle 6 forwards and a veteran 3rd pair d-man who make a combined $12-14 million. The Sabres would still be younger than average. They would still have a better than average prospect pool.  

It would be a mistake to deal Kulich and/or Quinn for veteran players. If that should happen this would be another repeat tormenting scene where the players that were in our system and developed here ended up thriving wearing someone's jersey. The two players that you listed are players that we are counting on to make enough improvement where they will be positive contributors to this team. It seems to me that they have shown enough potential where we should stick with them. At least for these two players I would stay the course. 

[Archie Lee]

33 minutes ago, JohnC said:

It would be a mistake to deal Kulich and/or Quinn for veteran players. If that should happen this would be another repeat tormenting scene where the players that were in our system and developed here ended up thriving wearing someone's jersey. The two players that you listed are players that we are counting on to make enough improvement where they will be positive contributors to this team. It seems to me that they have shown enough potential where we should stick with them. At least for these two players I would stay the course. 

No it wouldn’t. It would be a mistake to trade them for nothing or give them away. But trading them for veterans who help us get over this streak and into the playoffs would be a win. A huge win.  I’m not suggesting they be traded for junk.

Edited 8 hours ago by Archie Lee

[JohnC]

1 minute ago, Archie Lee said:

No it wouldn’t. It would be a mistake to trade them for nothing or give them away. But trading them for veterans who help us get over this steak and into the playoffs would be a win. A huge win.  I’m not suggesting they be traded for junk.

I wasn't suggesting the return wouldn't be immediately helpful. However, I still disagree. I just believe that these two players have a lot of upsides that would turn into production. Especially for Quinn, I see him producing next season. And with Kulich, I see a lot of potential that will be realized soon. 

[Archie Lee]

21 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I wasn't suggesting the return wouldn't be immediately helpful. However, I still disagree. I just believe that these two players have a lot of upsides that would turn into production. Especially for Quinn, I see him producing next season. And with Kulich, I see a lot of potential that will be realized soon. 

You can’t add good players without trading good players. If there is a flaw in my idea, it’s that Quinn and Samuelsson are not likely viewed as being good players by the rest of the league.