The French Connection line of Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert gave Buffalo's identity its shape soon after the Sabres joined the NHL in 1970. The club has played at KeyBank Center since the arena opened under a different sponsor name in 1996, wearing a royal blue and gold that nods back to its earliest years. Deep playoff runs still define fan expectations.
As of Oct 31, 2026, here are the most recently projected forward lines, defense pairings and power-play units for the Buffalo Sabres. On the top line, the Buffalo Sabres are currently projected to run left wing Peyton Krebs, center Tage Thompson and right wing Zach Benson together, a trio expected to log the heaviest 5-on-5 minutes on the roster, though without last change on the road it does not always draw the other team's top shutdown pairing. On the blue line, the top pairing is Mattias Samuelsson and Rasmus Dahlin, who typically log the heaviest 5-on-5 minutes on the back end and face the toughest zone starts, though the team's primary penalty-kill pairing is not always the same duo. On the power play, the PP1 unit runs Jack Quinn, Zach Benson, Noah Ostlund, Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin, the unit most teams send out first on a power play, though a delayed-penalty scramble already in progress or a late matchup change can put a different five over the boards. These combinations reflect pre-game reporting rather than real-time tracking, and can change between games and even between periods, so check the today's lines tool for the most current deployment before puck drop.
| # | Player | Off | Def | PP | PK | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rasmus Dahlin | 85 | 54 | 63 | 62 | 95 |
| 2 | Tage Thompson | 75 | 45 | 56 | 48 | 92 |
| 3 | Josh Doan | 74 | 64 | 59 | 0 | 90 |
| 4 | Alex Tuch | 61 | 46 | 44 | 47 | 85 |
| 5 | Dylan Cozens | 59 | 52 | 63 | 51 | 83 |
As of Oct 31, 2026, the most recently projected lineup for the Buffalo Sabres includes 4 forward lines, 3 defense pairings and 2 power-play units, updated whenever a new pre-game lineup is reported.
As of Oct 31, 2026, the top line projected for the Buffalo Sabres is left wing Peyton Krebs, center Tage Thompson and right wing Zach Benson.
These projected lines are drawn from Daily Faceoff's pre-game reporting, typically beat writers covering morning skates and warmups before puck drop. They reflect the coaching staff's intended deployment rather than shift-by-shift tracking collected once a game is already underway, and can still shift between a morning skate and the opening faceoff.
Lines can change from game to game, and sometimes within a single game, as a coaching staff reacts to matchups, injuries, scoring droughts or chemistry. Check back before each Buffalo Sabres game for the latest projected combinations, or browse the historical lines archive to see how often this team's lines have shifted recently.
