Why the Buffalo Sabres keep Isak Rosen and Noah Ostlund on the NHL roster: a 2025-26 reset built on speed and skill

The decision arrived without fireworks, yet it may echo louder than any summer blockbuster trade. On the eve of roster finalisation, Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams confirmed that Swedish forwards Isak Rosen and Noah Östlund will open the 2025-26 season on the NHL roster, burning the first year of their entry-level contracts instead of returning them to Rochester or Färjestad. The move is equal parts promise and pressure: two teenagers, a combined 40 games of North American pro experience, asked to help drag a franchise that has missed the playoffs for 14 straight seasons back into relevance. Inside KeyBank Center the bet is viewed not as a publicity stunt, but as the only palatable path left after last spring’s late collapse once again exposed the organisation’s scoring deficit beyond the top line.

How we got here: the numbers that forced Buffalo’s hand

Buffalo finished 25th in goals-for last season and 28th in five-on-five scoring. The power play, despite Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson, slipped to 18.4 %. Worse, the Sabres scored two or fewer goals in 42 of 82 games, a ratio that makes any modern system look antiquated. Adams and head coach Lindy Ruff studied the data, then studied their pipeline, and arrived at an uncomfortable truth: the safest prospects were no longer the best ones. Rosen, 20, led the AHL in shots per 60 (14.3) and recorded 12 goals in 28 games for Rochester. Östlund, 19, posted a 56.2 % expected-goals share in Liiga and was the youngest forward at the World Championship to average more than 14 minutes for Sweden. Neither profile screams “over-ripe,” yet both possess the one attribute the roster most lacks—quick-strike finishing from the middle six. Rather than marinate them in a minor league that can’t replicate NHL pace, the Sabres chose acceleration, believing early adversity will speed the learning curve the way it did for Thompson when he jumped from the OHL in 2021.

Scouting report: what Rosen and Östlund bring today

Isak Rosen – right-shot wing, 5’11”, 183 lbs

Rosen’s calling card is a lightning release that needs minimal space. He scored eight of his 12 AHL goals from below the dots, often on catch-and-shoot sequences that suggest he already thinks one pass ahead of the defence. His stride is deceiving: short, choppy steps that camouflage strong edge work, allowing him to pull up in traffic and locate late trailers—exactly the scenario Jeff Skinner and Dylan Cozens have begged for on the second line. Defensively, Rosen hunts turnovers; Rochester’s coaches trusted him to kill penalties in the second half of last season, a rarity for a rookie European skill player.

Noah Östlund – left-shot centre, 6’0”, 185 lbs

Östlund is less flashy but more complete. He dominated junior matchups with cerebral layer changes: delaying at the blue line, curling back to create overloads, then slipping seams that turn possession into immediate offence. His 38 assists in 45 SHL games tied the league record for U-20 players. In transition he already mirrors the league’s modern centre—head up, puck in front, numbers available for late support. Face-offs remain a project (46.1 % in pre-season), yet Ruff has sheltered him with 55 % offensive-zone starts, betting that possession time will offset the occasional draw.

Cap mechanics and roster math behind the Buffalo Sabres keeping Isak Rosen and Noah Ostlund on the NHL roster

By keeping both Swedes, Buffalo slides $1.85 million in combined performance bonuses onto the 2025-26 cap, nudging the club within $350 k of the upper limit. That sounds reckless for a market that rarely spends to the max, but Adams front-loaded Ryan McLeod’s extension last March, creating an extra $2.1 million cushion in 2026-27 when the cap is projected to jump $6 million. In plain terms, the Sabres are borrowing from tomorrow’s space to solve today’s scoring crisis, confident that if either rookie hits the full Schedule A bonuses—20 goals or 35 points—the on-ice value will outweigh the accounting headache. The demotion of Zemgus Girgensons to the fourth line and the LTIR placement of injured defenceman Henri Jokiharju opened the final two roster spots, meaning no waiver gamble was required. Buffalo enters opening night with 21 healthy bodies, leaving flexibility for a mid-season add without the convoluted paper transactions that haunted previous regimes.

What early preseason tape already shows

Ruff wasted no time experimenting, stapling Rosen to Cozens’ right flank and giving Östlund a rotating carousel of Skinner and Alex Tuch during the exhibition slate. The returns were immediate:

• Rosen-Cozens-Skinner averaged 3.4 expected goals per 60 across four games, tops among NHL trios with 25-plus minutes.
• Östlund’s line surrendered zero high-danger chances at five-on-five in back-to-back wins over Columbus and Pittsburgh.
• Both rookies ranked top-five on the team in possession exits, a Sabres weakness that fed countless counter-attack goals against last year.

Team radio from the Pittsburgh victory caught an exuberant Cozens after Rosen wired a one-timer past Tristan Jarry: “Kid doesn’t need a screen—just give him the puck and duck.” The clip already has 1.2 million views on the team’s social channels, evidence that fan fatigue is thawing.

Projected lines and special teams impact

Forwards
Skinner – Thompson – Tuch
Rosen – Cozens – Greenway
Östlund – McLeod – Peterka
Girgensons – Robinson – Okposo

Power play
Unit 1: Dahlin, Thompson, Skinner, Tuch, Cozens
Unit 2: Power, Östlund, Rosen, Peterka, McLeod

Ruff’s staff will shelter Östlund’s face-off deficiency by starting power plays on the fly; Rosen’s one-timer replaces the predictable point shot that ranked 31st in conversion rate last season. On the penalty kill, Rosen pairs with Robinson on the second unit, using his anticipation to disrupt zone entries—Rochester data had him forcing 5.2 dump-ins per 60, best among forwards.

Development vs. winning now: can the Sabres thread the needle?

History warns that teenage forwards on entry-level deals rarely drive playoff berths—only six clubs since 2015 have qualified with two rookies playing 70-plus games. Yet Buffalo’s core is no longer green: Dahlin is 25, Thompson 27, Cozens 24. The organisation believes the time to surround them with cost-controlled skill is precisely when the window cracks open, not once it swings wide. Assistant GM Jason Karmanos articulated the philosophy in a recent Sabres development summit covered by NHL Insight: “We’re done waiting for perfect. We need players who tilt the ice for 12 minutes a night and grow into 18-minute guys while our stars are still in their prime.” The quote underscores why Rochester’s safer veterans—e.g., Mason Jobst—were passed over in favour of higher upside.

Comparables around the league: cautionary tales and success stories

• 2019-20 Vancouver: Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes accelerated a rebuild, but the Canucks still missed the next two postseasons once depth eroded—proof that rookie impact must coincide with veteran health.
• 2021-22 Detroit: Moritz Seider alone couldn’t drag the Red Wings into contention; surrounding talent matters as much as the phenom.
• 2023-24 Chicago: Connor Bedednar’s 61-point debut kept the Hawks relevant into March, showing markets embrace a rebuild if the story is authentic.

Buffalo hopes to replicate Chicago’s enthusiasm while avoiding Vancouver’s cap crunch; the difference is the Sabres already locked up their stars, leaving ELCs as the lone pathway to cheap production.

What success looks like by the trade deadline

Internally, the club set a 55-point pace (roughly .550 points-percentage) as the playoff cut-line in a re-balanced Atlantic that added four games against Utah. Translating that to individual bars:

1. Rosen: 15 goals, 35 points, 150 shots—essentially Viktor Olofsson’s 2023 line at one-third the price.
2. Östlund: 12 goals, 40 points, 52 % expected-goals share—mirroring early Joe Pavelski as a middle-six driver.
3. Collective rookie impact: +22 goal differential at five-on-five, lifting Buffalo from 28th to 18th in that category.

Hit those marks and Adams gains flexibility to weaponise his $6 million in deadline space for a veteran goalie or a playoff-tested fourth-line centre without mortgaging first-round equity.

The last word: why the Buffalo Sabres keep Isak Rosen and Noah Ostlund on the NHL roster could define a decade

The Sabres have tried every shortcut—big-ticket free agents, blockbuster trades, coaching carousels—only to watch the drought extend like a western New York winter. Keeping Rosen and Östlund is not a shortcut; it is an acknowledgement that organic growth, painful as it may be, remains the only road untravelled. If the pair blossoms, Buffalo suddenly owns six forwards aged 23 or younger who can move the puck north, a prerequisite for playoff series that no longer feel like fantasy. If they stumble, the organisation will at least gain clarity on who can handle the glare and who cannot, information worth more than an extra year of waiver-exempt control. Either way, the decision plants a flag: the rebuild is over, the real build has begun, and two Swedish teenagers are being asked to hammer the first nails. For a fan base that has heard every promise since 2011, the action itself is the message—one that finally speaks louder than the scoreboard.