How will these three young players perform and rank amongst themselves next season? And which one of them will be on the highest line?

[JohnC]

It appears that even if Jarmo makes some additional moves that he will be counting on all three of these young players to not only be on the roster but also be contributors. If I had to predict, I would say that Kulich will score the most goals. And I would think that Östlund would be the most solid and steadiest of the three. And based on a glimpse of what I say last year from Helenius, he will be the most exciting to watch from the group. 

[Cheektorado]

All three are limited in their play.  All three have shown a chance for a bright future.

I will not attempt to "guess" how all will play this year.

It will be exciting to see how many can attempt a big step forward.  Good Luck to all!!!

[LGR4GM]

Helenius has the most upside. Idk what to expect from Kulich. Östlund will have the best year on the stat sheet. 

[JohnC]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Helenius has the most upside. Idk what to expect from Kulich. Östlund will have the best year on the stat sheet. 

I agree with you about Helenius having the most upside. What was impressive about this young fellow last year is that played like he belonged with the big boys. I lean towards Kulich being the best goal scorer. Östlund has a mature balanced game. It's going to be interesting to see how quickly they can up their games and which one of them will leap forward next season. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

17 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Helenius has the most upside. Idk what to expect from Kulich. Östlund will have the best year on the stat sheet. 

This is fair.  It could all depend on where they play and with whom.  What we do know with Lindy is that line assignments can change at any time.  Injuries will also change things.  I believe that Benson played on all four lines last season.

Kulich is the wild card.  Where will his game be after basically missing a year with injury?  

One other note.  All three guys are waiver exempt.  It’s possible if either Helenius or Kulich have a bad camp they could start the year in Rochester.  With 10 top 9 forwards currently on the roster - Benson, Doan, Tage, Norris, McLeod, Zucker, Quinn and the 3 kids, we have more players than jobs.  We also currently have 14 forwards under contract for next season and a decision on Krebs is pending.

If I had to guess at numbers

Helenius - 12g 18a 

Kulich - 18g 15a and will kill penalties

Östlund -  18g 28a and get PP time

Edited June 29 by GASabresIUFAN

[Taro T]

17 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

This is fair.  It could all depend on where they play and with whom.  What we do know with Lindy is that line assignments can change at any time.  Injuries will also change things.  I believe that Benson played on all four lines last season.

Kulich is the wild card.  Where will his game be after basically missing a year with injury?  

One other note.  All three guys are waiver exempt.  It’s possible if either Helenius or Kulich have a bad camp they could start the year in Rochester.  With 10 top 9 forwards currently on the roster - Benson, Doan, Tage, Norris, McLeod, Zucker, Quinn and the 3 kids, we have more players than jobs.  We also currently have 14 forwards under contract for next season and a decision on Krebs is pending.

Personally, wouldn't be shocked if one of the 3 kids starts the year in Ra-cha-cha, gets a call up at the 1st F injury and then never goes back.  (The team risks losing Kozak, or if he's re-signed Dunne when (if) the F's ever become fully healthy after day 1.)

[Hoss]

As of this moment, one or two of these three will be getting a chance in the top six. That’s something not a lot of Sabres prospects have gotten a chance to do early on (at least not in a real, filled-out top six). I think odds are somewhat high we see big production early.

Not suggesting it’s easy to produce at a young age in the NHL, but these are very talented players being put in a position to succeed under the reigning Jacked Adams (😉) Award winner.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Just now, Taro T said:

Personally, wouldn't be shocked if one of the 3 kids starts the year in Ra-cha-cha, gets a call up at the 1st F injury and then never goes back.  (The team risks losing Kozak, or if he's re-signed Dunne when (if) the F's ever become fully healthy after day 1.)

I agree that one of the kids could go down because we don’t have enough top 9 slots. That assumes everyone comes out of camp healthy.  

I doubt Dunne returns and I think Danforth is more vulnerable than Kozak.  

[Taro T]

3 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I agree that one of the kids could go down because we don’t have enough top 9 slots. That assumes everyone comes out of camp healthy.  

I doubt Dunne returns and I think Danforth is more vulnerable than Kozak.  

Danforth.  That's the other one whose name was escaping when writing that post.  He'd also be in Kozak's boat as a possible demotion once all the kids are up.  Agree that there's a good chance Dunne isn't re-signed; (thus the "if he's re-signed" in the original post 😉 ) but if he is, he's the 1st one going down when they need room on the 23 after the initial waiver send down wave if one of the 3 kids went down initially due to not wanting to lose someone else in the top 9 to start the season.

[triumph_communes]

Kozak and Danforth will be waived 

[Carmel Corn]

IMHO - Helenius will get the most ice time and points.  Kulich may bounce between center and wing….assuming he’s 100% to return.  Östlund is maybe the best playmaker in the group, BUT…..I wonder about his ability to stay healthy and be in the lineup (I worry that he is prone to injury).

[Hoss]

Reporting like this is so lazy. It makes it sound like those names are out there because of any reason other than teams are asking for them when the Sabres are inquiring about other players.

 

[JP51]

I feel like Östlund has a few more games in and will probably lead improvement on the stat sheet, I think Helenius is likely to take the biggest leap... Not sure what to think about Kulik and I feel like Mrtka is still a bit away. 

[#freejame]

I’m interested to see what Kulich look like when he gets back. I expected him to be a 2C 60pt guy but I’d imagine there’s going to be some sort of road back for him. I think Helenius is going to be very good. 80+pts best forward on the team good. I’m not sure that happens next season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays 2027 at a PPG level. I’m not sure what to make of Östlund because I don’t know how we can fit all of these guys. If there’s someone to package I think it’s him. 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, #freejame said:

I’m interested to see what Kulich look like when he gets back. I expected him to be a 2C 60pt guy but I’d imagine there’s going to be some sort of road back for him. I think Helenius is going to be very good. 80+pts best forward on the team good. I’m not sure that happens next season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays 2027 at a PPG level. I’m not sure what to make of Östlund because I don’t know how we can fit all of these guys. If there’s someone to package I think it’s him. 

Although the center position is their most suitable position, all of them can also be used on the wing, just like Krebs.

[K-9]

2 hours ago, Hoss said:

Reporting like this is so lazy. It makes it sound like those names are out there because of any reason other than teams are asking for them when the Sabres are inquiring about other players.

 

I doubt Konsta’s name is still out there as he has solidified his worth since the deadline. 

[pi2000]

these questions are pre-mature

[K-9]

Just now, pi2000 said:

these questions are pre-mature

As are nearly all questions this early in the offseason. 

[dudacek]

I’m really getting stuck on the whole “Konsta Helenius is untouchable, Konsta Helenius should not be in our top 6” dichotomy.

I understand that no two players have the same development path, but I wanted to get a better understanding of what is reasonable.

So I took a look at the development path of a handful of mid-first forwards who became top sixers to see how our guys stack up:

D+1

• Zach Benson NHL: 71 games, 30 points
• Jiri Kulich AHL: 62 games, 46 points
• Konsta Helenius AHL: 65 games, 35 points
• Jack Quinn AHL: 15 games, 9 points
• Kyle Connor NCAA: 38 games, 71 points
• Dylan Larkin NCAA: 35 games, 47 points
• Trevor Zegras NCAA: 33 games, 36 points
• Cole Caufield NCAA: 36 games, 36 points
• Mathew Boldy NCAA: 36 games, 24 points
• Josh Norris NCAA: 37 games, 23 points
• Nick Suzuki CHL: 64 games, 100 points
• Matt Barzal CHL: 58 games, 88 points
• Robert Thomas CHL: 49 games, 75 points
• Noah Östlund SWE2: 37 games, 26 points
• Martin Necas CZE: 24 games, 17 points

D+2

• Robert Thomas NHL: 76 games, 33 points,
• Dylan Larkin NHL: 80 games, 45 points
• Zach Benson NHL: 75 games, 28 points
• Trevor Zegras NHL 24 games, 13 points
• Konsta Helenius AHL: 63 games, 62 points
• Jack Quinn AHL: 45 games, 61 points
• Martin Necas AHL: 64 games, 52 points
• Jiri Kulich AHL: 57 games, 45 points
• Kyle Connor AHL: 52 games, 44 points
• Noah Östlund SWE: 38 games, 23 points
• Mathew Boldy NCAA: 22 games, 31 points
• Cole Caufield NCAA: 31 games, 52 points
• Josh Norris NCAA: 17 games, 19 points
• Nick Suzuki CHL: 59 games, 94 points
• Matt Barzal CHL: 41 games, 79 points

D+3

• Matt Barzal NHL: 82 games, 85 points
• Trevor Zegras NHL: 75 games, 61 points
• Kyle Connor NHL: 76 games, 57 points
• Zach Benson NHL: 65 games, 43 points
• Cole Caufield NHL 67 games, 43 points
• Robert Thomas NHL: 66 games, 42 points
• Nick Suzuki NHL: 71 games, 41 points
• Mathew Boldy NHL: 47 games, 39 points
• Jack Quinn NHL: 75 games, 37 points
• Martin Necas NHL: 64 games, 36 points
• Jiri Kulich NHL: 62 games, 24 points
• Dylan Larkin NHL: 80 games, 32 points
• Josh Norris AHL: 56 games, 61 points
• Noah Östlund AHL: 45 games, 36 points
• Konsta Helenius N/A

D+4

• Kyle Connor NHL: 82 games, 66 points
• Trevor Zegras NHL: 81 games, 65 points
• Mathew Boldy NHL: 81 games, 63 points
• Dylan Larkin NHL: 82 games, 63 points
• Matt Barzal NHL: 82 games, 62 points
• Nick Suzuki NHL: 56 games, 41 points
• Martin Necas NHL: 53 games, 41 points
• Cole Caufield NHL 46 games, 36 points
• Josh Norris NHL: 56 games, 35 points
• Noah Östlund NHL 60 games, 27 points
• Jack Quinn NHL 27 games, 19 points
• Robert Thomas NHL 33 games, 12 points
• Jiri Kulich NHL: 12 games, 5 points
• Zach Benson N/A
• Konsta Helenius N/A

D+5

• Robert Thomas NHL: 72 games, 77 points
• Kyle Connor NHL: 71 games, 73 points
• Dylan Larkin NHL: 76 games, 73 points
• Cole Caufield NHL: 75 games, 69 points
• Mathew Boldy NHL: 81 games, 63 points
• Nick Suzuki NHL: 82 games, 61 points
• Matt Barzal NHL: 68 games, 60 points
• Josh Norris NHL: 66 games, 55 points
• Martin Necas NHL: 78 games, 40 points
• Jack Quinn NHL: 74 games, 39 points
• Trevor Zegras NHL: 31 games, 15 points
• Noah Östlund N/A
• Jiri Kulich N/A
• Zach Benson N/A
• Konsta Helenius N/A

Edited June 30 by dudacek

[dudacek]

The first thing you notice is how unusual the Sabres are, with the only 4 players on the list to spend their D+1 year playing pro hockey.

The second thing is Zach Benson is very much on track to be a first-line NHL point producer, right there with Suzuki and Thomas after three seasons

And the 3rd thing to stick out for me is that for Noah Östlund to reach the counting stats of this group, he has a lot of ground to make up. Not sure how many guys on Noah's path turn into first-liners eventually anyway, but he's lagging here.

The other three Sabres are more interesting.

Edited June 30 by dudacek

[dudacek]

Quinn was ridiculously far ahead of the curve in his D+2 year, the Amerk season that got me so excited about him.

His D+3 was mildly disappointing given the previous year, but certainly in the range of the rest. Then the Achilles and the bottom fell out.

You could spot him the D+5 year due to recovery, but that should not have affected him this year.

Like Noah, if he's got a shot of joining this group, he'll be an outlier.

Necas is the one who gives you faint hope.

Edited June 30 by dudacek

[dudacek]

Kulich's injury is another wrinkle, but statistically Sabrespace might be underselling his potential impact.

His first two seasons stand up well to anyone on this list. The third dropped a bit, in that you can kind of expect 40ish points from the comparables and he produced less.

But guys who produced like Jiri in his first three years tended to hit 60 in years 4 and/or 5. 

There's definitely a chance the layoff will hurt him the way it did Quinn. But there always guys like Robert thomas and Dylan Larkin who hit a pothole and came back hard the very next year.

[dudacek]

The big one, in terms of trade talk at least, is Helenius.

It should be noted that he is smack dab between Quinn and Kulich in terms of D+2 production, so that is one way to temper expectations.

Another is to look at all the guys with 40-ish points as NHL rookies in their D+3 seasons and predict that as a likely ballpark for him.

In terms of whether or not he is a Nick Suzuki in waiting, he tracks very much with Suzuki's pace, probably ahead at this point in their careers.

The thing is, Suzuki has gotten better every single season of his career. Very few others here are able to say the same.

The only reasons I see not to make Helenius available in the right trade are hope and fear.

[Porous Five Hole]

50 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The big one, in terms of trade talk at least, is Helenius.

It should be noted that he is smack dab between Quinn and Kulich in terms of D+2 production, so that is one way to temper expectations.

Another is to look at all the guys with 40-ish points as NHL rookies in their D+3 seasons and predict that as a likely ballpark for him.

In terms of whether or not he is a Nick Suzuki in waiting, he tracks very much with Suzuki's pace, probably ahead at this point in their careers.

The thing is, Suzuki has gotten better every single season of his career. Very few others here are able to say the same.

The only reasons I see not to make Helenius available in the right trade are hope and fear.

As a ROC lifer, what sticks with me with all these guys is their AHL playoff performance (and all of these Sabres mentioned had plenty of AHL playoff games). I’m not going by stats, but the games I watched.  The best trait I saw was Kulich on the PP. The best guy on the ice over and over again was Konsta. 
 

Quinn & Peterka didn’t stand out to my memory all these years later. Krebs one playoff run was not good. 
 

The games got harder and Konsta rose to the occasion with physicality and driving play. Sure a small sample size, but it was similar to how he rose to the occasion in 2026. I’m not moving him. He’s important to the future. 

Edited June 30 by Porous Five Hole

[LGR4GM]

11 hours ago, dudacek said:

I’m really get stuck on the whole “Konsta Helenius is untouchable, Konsta Helenius should not be in our top 6” dichotomy.

I understand that no two players have the same development path, but I wanted to get a better understanding of what is reasonable.

So I took a look at the development path of a handful of mid-first forwards who became top sixers to see how our guys stack up:

D+2

• Konsta Helenius AHL: 63 games, 62 points
• Jack Quinn AHL: 45 games, 61 points
• Martin Necas AHL: 64 games, 52 points
• Jiri Kulich AHL: 57 games, 45 points

I just wanted to talk about this for a moment. 

Jack Quinn had 1.356ppg

Konsta Helenius had 0.984ppg

Jiri Kulich had 0.789ppg

Martin Necas had 0.8125ppg

Now that we are comparing equivalent numbers, we need to talk about 1 more thing. You are right, this was their D+2 year but when you are this young age really matters. Jack Quinn was almost elligible to be drafted 1 year earlier. He has a sept 19 birthday meaning that year you are looking at is his full 20yr old season. Necas turned 20 in the middle of his season with a Jan 15 birthday, making him 4 months younger than Quinn. Kulich comes next with an April 14th Birthday making him 7 months younger and really we are looking at his 19yr old season, not 20. Which brings me all the way to Helenius. Born on May 11th, Helenius played that season as a 19yr old and was 8 months younger than Jack Quinn. On top of that Quinn grew up playing NA hockey whereas none Helenius (and the other 2) did not. This is not to crap on Jack Quinn who I think is probably a solid 2nd winger with mediocre defense but 60pt offense in a full season. I just wanted to categorize Helenius and his 0.984ppg to Quinn's 1.356ppg. That 0.372ppg does matter but when I look at their ages, I wonder if Helenius should be more favorably compared to Quinn's D+2 this upcoming year. 

This is a long way of saying I think what Helenius did last year in the AHL is probably as impressive or just a tad more so than what Quinn did. I say this due to age and Helenius playing center. I also think that due to it being only Helenius' 2nd NA season, although that should be tempered as it was his 4th pro season compared to Quinn's 2nd. This has really been a thought exercise on how to think about and compare guys. I think Helenius has higher upside than Quinn, in the 70pt range but idk when he will reach that or if he will. The AHL transition has been great, Helenius was 23rd in the AHL in PPG this past year. He was 3rd for under 21 player behind Bradley Nadeau and Trevor Connelly but had more overall pts than either. I think the Sabres need to be VERY careful about trading a Helenius because there is a lot of underlying counting stats that just scream he's gonna be good. Also he's a center and we need centers.