Benson, Doan may be key to Sabres turnaround

The Buffalo Sabres earned their first win of the 2025-26 season Wednesday night, defeating the Ottawa Senators 8-4 in a game that saw forward Zach Benson, playing his first game of the season, recording four assists.

Josh Doan, acquired with Michael Kesselring in the JJ Peterka trade, had a night of his own, recording three assists in the win. Forwards Ryan McLeod, Jason Zucker and Jack Quinn all had two-goal efforts for themselves.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss the Sabres’ big win and if this could be the start of something special in Buffalo.

Tyler Yaremchuk: If you had to chart a path forward for this Sabres team finding a way to just be competitive and win a few games, and get back to that .500 mark, I think you look at the guys from last night.

Zach Benson: this is a top-10 pick from a couple years ago, a guy who cracked that roster out of training camp last year and was one of the better stories in the league to start the year. You look at Josh Doan, if Doan pans out and Michael Kesselring comes back and looks like a top-four defenseman, maybe that JJ Peterka trade with Utah doesn’t look all that terrible for the Sabres.

My point is: they might have a 50-point guy in Doan, a 60- or 70-point guy in Benson. Jack Quinn scored twice yesterday. Maybe this is finally the year he takes that step forward towards being a 30-goal guy. Maybe there is a path for Buffalo not being a complete joke this year.

Carter Hutton: You cast that with your Rasmus Dahlin, with Tage Thompson, with Alex Tuch, even a healthy Jordan Greenway coming back who can eat up minutes and play more of a shutdown role.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…