Buffalo Sabres’ Owen Power Primed for Big Step Forward – The Hockey Writers – Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are coming off their best season in a generation in 2025-26 and expect to contend rather than take a step back in 2026-27. There are plenty of reasons to believe in the team, who have one of the most exciting young core groups in the league.

While the Sabres will be depending on a youngster or two, fans will be watching one name closely: Owen Power. Though he is not short on critics, now may be the time to jump on the bandwagon as he prepares to put everything together and jump into the upper echelon of NHL defensemen.

Power’s Solid Underlying Defensive Metrics

The first critique was that Power took a step back offensively last season. While he scored one more goal, he fell from 40 points to 29 from the season prior. However, a look beneath the hood is encouraging.

Power faced heavy criticism for his poor defensive game throughout the first three seasons of his career. However, last season, he had his lowest on-ice goals against per 60 (2.9), more than a half-goal per game better than the season before. In the second half, he hit a career high in expected goals share.

Power found a way to use his size and skating to take better angles, limit space and make life tougher on defenders without necessarily having to punish them physically. He still needs to work on his net-front presence, but Power took a clear step forward defensively in 2025-26.

Power Must Find Balance

To take a leap forward, Power has to find better balance. Last season, he noted that he was often caught bailing out of the offensive zone prematurely to ensure that he was back covering his own zone. Naturally, offensive numbers will suffer when that happens. Then, in the playoffs, we saw exactly what kind of impact Power can have. In 13 games, facing the toughest minutes of the season, he tallied six assists and was an impressive plus-5.

Watching him all season, it is easy to see flashes of what the Sabres saw when they drafted him first overall in 2021. It seems he figured out how to be effective defensively and is now trying to create a better balance between both ends of the ice to maximize his effectiveness.

Sabres Must Use Power

One of the biggest factors to help Power take a step forward this season would be an increase in usage. Bowen Byram is now with the Chicago Blackhawks, and it will take time for new arrival Louis Crevier to earn head coach Lindy Ruff’s trust.

Ruff leaned heavily on his top four defenseman a season ago. Power clearly has that trust, and his growing confidence was visible as the season wore on. He will be given more opportunities to contribute at both ends of the ice in 2026-27.

With Byram gone and an anemic power play, Power could earn more opportunities on the second unit, giving him even more chances to grow his game offensively. Just gaining those reps will play a critical role in helping him exceed his previous offensive totals.

Unlocking Power’s Game

The Sabres will be depending on many young pieces this season, but a leap forward offensively from Power will help offset the departure of Alex Tuch and push the team forward. His offensive abilities are apparent just watching him nightly, and greater confidence in his defensive game will lead to growth offensively.

Though he may never be a bruiser, Power has become a lot better defensively and needs to follow those offensive instincts he flashed in the first few seasons of his career to become a top-pairing defenseman and one of the better bargain contracts in the NHL.