Sabres have the 6th-best 1st line in the NHL

[dudacek]

I’ve been thinking that lost in this painful season has been the fact that Tage Thompson has been having a fine year.

Apparently it’s been better than I thought.

The Athletic has published a piece ranking the NHL’s best first lines based on 5-on-5 goals for and against differential over 60.

As the thread says, Buffalo ranks 6th.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6160282/2025/02/27/nhl-top-lines-2024-2025-analysis/

Buffalo Sabres

It is almost hard to believe the Sabres rank this high and are still nowhere close to the playoff race.

Buffalo’s first line has piled up 3.91 goals for per 60, which is the second-highest rate among all top lines. Tage Thompson’s huge bounce-back has been the main driver — he leads the NHL with 22 five-on-five goals despite having played several fewer games than the players right behind him.

Thompson’s linemates have fluctuated — Alex Tuch, JJ Peterka, Jason Zucker and Jiri Kulich have all gotten looks — but most have supported him well.

The Sabres’ underwhelming second line (Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn have had miserable years), woeful 27th-ranked power play, poor defensive play, subpar goaltending and below-average penalty kill are some of the reasons the club is so far out of the playoff conversation despite its top line clicking at a strong level.

 

Edited 2 hours ago by dudacek

[inkman]

This and $5 will get you a nice coffee 

[bunomatic]

The sixth best first line in hockey is nothing to sneeze at but there’s the problem. It takes so much more to build a team.

Edited 2 hours ago by bunomatic

[inkman]

1 minute ago, bunomatic said:

The sixth best first line in hockey is nothing to sneeze at but there’s the problem. It takes so much more to build a team.

[Slack_in_MA]

[mjd1001]

Not too surprising to me at all.

I posted this yesterday about Tage, but he is the best in the league in even strength goals per 60.  Tops. No one is more dangerous goal scoring even strength than him. And that is even with him missing a few games and playing a few coming back from an injury.

The issue with this team is the production/lack of defense so far this year form Cozens and Quinn. That is most of it.

The rest of the team minus those 2, they are positive in goal differential, their low level and high level metrics are mostly positive. 

When Cozens DOES play even a little better (the last few weeks) the team has won 5 of 6.

Tage is an elite goal scorer.  This team IS a playoff level team when Cozens doesn't play, or if/when Cozens actually plays with his head on straight.

[DarthEbriate]

I'd be curious to see how the top 10 first lines compare in PP%. One-line teams can make it to the playoffs regularly, but that top line is probably also dangerous with the man advantage.

[Doohicksie]

46 minutes ago, inkman said:

This and $5 will get you a nice coffee 

Have you been to a Starbucks lately?

[inkman]

7 minutes ago, Doohicksie said:

Have you been to a Starbucks lately?

No I make my coffee at home like a grown ass man 

[Archie Lee]

Tage is our Kaprizov. Dahlin is a stud. There are lots of good pieces here. 

The Minnesota Wild have almost $15 million in dead cap. They are currently tied for 7th overall. Marcus Johansson is a middle-6 winger for them.  

It cannot be overstated how badly our GM misfired on his roster construction and coaching decisions this past off-season.