Alright, earlier in the summer, I teased fans with a ‘way too early’ projection of the Buffalo Sabres lines for 2024-25. After nearly two months, it’s time to expand on those predictions to see if I changed my mind anywhere or if I kept everything as they were then.

Below, you’ll find my projection for the first line and a detailed look at why I rolled with the following three players, plus a nominal outlook for each.

Projecting Tage’s numbers, I don’t quite see him reaching 47 goals again as he did two seasons ago. Even if it’s not out of the question, it’s also hard to believe his numbers will tank for a second consecutive year.

But he’s one player who will impress everyone in the preseason as he’s done in years past. And even if he didn’t, it’s still hard to see him losing his spot on the first line to other centers on the Blue and Gold like Ryan McLeod or Dylan Cozens.

Getting off hard shots and finding lanes that allow him to skate behind opponents make up Tage’s game, and it’s why fans expect him to score every time the puck lands on his stick. It’s something we started seeing again late last season, and it should give fans more than enough optimism to believe Tage will stay on form for all 82 games.

Alex Tuch has been a focal point of the Sabres top line for two-and-a-half years and that won’t change in 2024-25, but which version of Tuch will we see? In 2021-22 and 2022-23, Tuch totaled 117 points in 124 games and he notched 48 goals, none of which are bad numbers.

But that changed last season when, amidst a dysfunctional season for the Sabres, Tuch scored just 22 times and ended the year with 59 points in 75 contests. Tuch, one of the more physical players on the Sabres top-six, will be productive in all three zones, but he must maximize productivity this season if he plans on resembling the player he was a couple of seasons back. .