Top quotes from Sabres locker cleanout 

The Buffalo Sabres players are continuing to meet with the the media on Saturday for their end-of-season press conferences.

Check back here throughout the day to watch the interviews in their entirety and read top quotes as the Sabres look back on the 2024-25 season.

Jason Zucker

On how the team’s culture evolved:

“I think culture is earned. I think it’s something that, ultimately throughout the season, you earn it by doing the right things with your teammates and doing the right things throughout the league. And I think that ends up changing the way teams play against you. It turns into a lot of things that ultimately help you win games. I think we took a step in the right direction, especially this last month, but again it wasn’t good enough. And I’m going to put that on me. That’s going to be something that I’m gonna look myself in the mirror and see what I can do better to help the young guys, help the older guys, the leadership group and see if we can take a big step this offseason.”

On what inspired him to sign a two-year contract extension ahead of the trade deadline:

“Ultimately, I don’t feel I did a good enough job here this year in helping and teaching what I was lucky enough to have the old guys teach me when I was coming up, and I think that was a big piece for me. I think I want to take a deep dive into what I did as a leader and didn’t do as a leader, quite honestly, and hopefully be better at next year. I think it’s an exciting task for me.

“Everything you do in your career goes through transitions. It's no different for hockey players than it is for you guys (in the media) and it is for everyone else in this world. You go through transitions in your life, and I think for me, I still absolutely love playing this game. But I’ll say I was just as excited seeing Ryan McLeod scoring his 20th goal last night as when I look back in my career, in my first year scoring 20. Like, it’s so fun to see that type of stuff now. And again, I think I just want to keep building myself and helping this team and this organization. And I think the guys are just a great group of guys, and I think they all care and they all want to win. And for me, I’d just love to be a part of it.”

Alex Tuch

On the potential of signing an extension with Buffalo (Tuch has has one year remaining on his current deal and is eligible for an extension beginning on July 1):

“I haven’t given it too much thought, honestly. I was really focused on this year. I mean, I had some goals in mind for this year, playing 82 games, and I try to grow as a player each and every day. But I haven’t given it too much thought. The CBA, I don’t even think that they can talk to my agent until July 1 or anything like that, and when it comes to that, I’m hands off. I let my agent do all that.

“I love it here in Buffalo. I’ve really enjoyed my time here, and I would like to win here in Buffalo. But I haven’t even really talked to my wife about it, honestly – that's the first person I'm going to have to talk to. So, we’ll see if they say anything.”

On his personal season, which saw him match his career high with 36 goals while playing all 82 games for the first time and setting the NHL record for blocked shots by a forward:

“Playing 82 games was a big thing for me. Just trying to be healthy and trying to be as consistent as possible. And I think that I wasn’t as consistent as I wanted to be. Going into the second half of the year, I really felt that I did a better job of being a little hungrier, maybe just sprinting a little bit more, just maybe bearing down in certain areas. … When you’re scoring, confidence gets up a little bit, so I was trying to keep my confidence as high as possible, being the game changer each and every night. I try to do it defensively, I try to do it the entire length of the ice there. So I think just trying to look for little things in my game to give me confidence and to be better in I think, at times, helped my success.”

Jordan Greenway

On his middle-body injury, which limited him to 34 games and forced him to miss the final 17 contests of the season, and whether it will affect his offseason:

“I think I’ll be pretty much good to go. That was the thought process for me just in the rehab that I’ve done and the workouts that I’ve done to where I can go into the offseason ready to train, ready to do what I need to do to come back and be 100-percent effective at training camp.”

Rasmus Dahlin

On his overall assessment of the season:

“Overall, disappointed, obviously. The last 20 games we got better, but it hasn’t been good enough. We’re sitting here this year again with no playoffs. It’s not good enough.”

On how his leadership evolved during his first season as captain:

“Everything was so new in the beginning of the season. I learned a lot throughout the year. I just realized that being myself is the best way for being a captain, and it’s a new role. It took some time to get comfortable with it.”

On his belief in the team:

“I believe in the group. I believe in the players we have. We have so much talent in that group, like, it’s such a young group, and I think you need experience to become a winning hockey team, and we haven’t had a lot of experience. That's why I’m saying I really believe in this group. But now we've had a couple years now when the same team has been together, so I think it’s time now to take the next step.”

Ryan McLeod

On his first season with the Sabres, which saw him reach career highs in goals (20) and points (53):

"Obviously a frustrating year as a group. I think we had a little bit higher expectations as a team, and it sucks when you don’t meet those. The goal is to make the playoffs, and when you don’t do that that’s a pretty frustrating way to end the season.

About my own game, I think I took some good steps this year. Nice to get that 20th (goal) last night. I have a lot more confidence and kind of got to grow into my role a bit more, so it was nice."

On hitting restricted free agency this summer:

“I’d love to be back here and be here for a while and help us take that next step to make the playoffs and do something special here. Yeah, I love it here.”

Tage Thompson

On how the team improved over the final 20 games, during which it went 12-7-1:

“I think just a little more maturity in our game. Obviously we’ve got a lot of young guys who are chasing personal goals and achievements. I have them just like everybody else. But I think at the same time, there needs to be a time and place to do the right thing with the puck and away from the puck. I’m a huge part of that, too. I haven’t been nearly good enough at that and need to continue to get better.

“But I think when you get together every handful of days to kind of reinforce that as a mentality, I think that kind of carries over into the games. I think we just made a decision that we were mathematically eliminated and we were going to try to get something out of these remaining games and not let them go to waste.”

On the power play, which ranked 24th in the NHL:

“I think when you let that frustration carry over, it can … snowball into something. And then when you get a power play and you’re jumping over the boards, you’re thinking about not messing it up or is it going to work? I think for us, we were definitely fighting an uphill battle every time we got on the power play this year, just with frustration.

“I think once we simplified and just tried to get pucks to the net and crashed and get rebounds and not try to do too much – I think you have a tendency to overcomplicate things and try to do too much and force stuff when things aren’t going your way instead of simplifying. And I think that’s kind of the situation we got ourselves into is we didn’t start hot, and to try to get ourselves out of that mess I think we tried to overcomplicate things when we were on the ice and wait for that perfect play instead of just putting pucks to the net, making them make a save and winning a rebound race and reloading so you can get it back to the top for another shot.”

On accountability:

“I thought the accountability was better. I think there's always room (for growth), and, especially with accountability, it starts with looking in the mirror first before you can hold someone else accountable. I thought we had a lot of guys that do take these losses and these losing seasons very hard and that want to try to fix it.

“I thought you saw that a lot this year as we were going through that tough stretch – that 13-game losing streak. Guys trying to dig their way out of it, doing extra stuff that you guys don’t get to see. I won’t get into details but doing extra, trying to find ways to better themselves to help the team. I think a lot of that accountability isn’t seen in-game, it’s seen behind the scenes. But yeah, I do think there was a lot of it.

“… I think it's kind of an environment where if you're not willing to take criticism or get called out by a guy, then you're in the wrong business. I think being able to be brutally honest with a guy if you don't think he's doing his best to help the group, you should hear it. I think if you’re not receptive of that, then you're not helping the team, but I don't think we had any of that. There were multiple times throughout the year -- I'll be brutally honest, I think me and (Dahlin) give it to each other more than anybody and I respect that because I know that he wants to win and I know that's his way of saying he needs more from me, so, I think that's kind of the accountability you're talking about and I appreciate when he does that.”

On his confidence in Sabres leadership:

“Well, I think If you don't have confidence, you shouldn't be here, right? I believe in Kevyn and Lindy and everyone up front making the decisions. They're going to put together what they think is the best team and best roster and it's our job to go out on the ice to do it. Obviously, it's been 14 years, and we haven’t won so ultimately it falls on the guys playing the game so we’re back to the accountability thing, looking in the mirror. I have a lot more I can do to help our team win and be more consistent and so do a lot of other guys in that room. I do have full faith that management and the coaches are going to make the right decisions that they believe are going to help our team win and it’s our job to go out on the ice and do it.”

Josh Norris

On injury that limited him to three games after the March 7 trade:

“It was a torn oblique, but I’m feeling good now. That happened originally, then when I got here, it kind of just kept getting worse. I probably came back a little early, originally, back in February, and just didn’t really get better. But I’m feeling good now."

Norris estimates he initially injured his oblique in early February, when he played for the Senators.

“It’s just something where, I think if you play with that, especially at this stage of the season, then you can really mess your summer training up. I just didn’t think it was worth that, especially given my history the last couple of years – not being able to train properly and things like that because of my shoulder. I thought it was important that that this summer was a healthy one and one that I can not have to worry about."

On getting to know his teammates despite limited ice time:

"I moved in with Ryan McLeod, so that was great. He offered to take me in right away, so it was nice to get out of the hotel; that's not the funnest place to be for a whole month, so I'm glad he brought me in, and it's been great. A lot of dinners with guys and just spending time away from the rink too. So, yeah, I’ve gotten to know everyone really well."

Bowen Byram

On his assessment of the season:

“First thought’s always disappointment. I look at our team and I do think that we should be playing the next few days in a playoff series. But that’s on us as players. Yeah, it sucks, but all in all, I enjoyed my year.

“We have a great group of guys in the dressing room, we all get along, and we’re all trying to figure this thing out together. It’s tough. It’s never fun losing and whatever. But I know that everyone’s committed to trying to figure this out and that’s what we’re going to try and do.”

On seeing himself as a long-term fit in Buffalo (he is a restricted free agent this summer):

“I’ve been lucky enough to come in and get a really good opportunity and play important minutes and meaningful minutes and I’ve really enjoyed that. I’ve taken some strides in my game and I’ll continue to try to improve and determined to be the best version of myself as possible.

“In terms of the contract thing, for sure. Like I said, we have a great crew of guys in the locker room and a lot of great players. It’s tough when things don’t work out in terms of success for the team. We’ll regroup and come back next season ready to go. And in terms of my contract, I think I’ll talk to my camp and talk to Kevyn and we’ll figure out what the next step is. I’m excited for that process. Kevyn’s great to work with and very communicative of what he wants and what he thinks is best for myself and the team.”

Owen Power

On receiving a second opinion regarding his lower-body injury, which ended his season on April 12:

“It went very well. Was able to avoid the surgery route and should be a couple months and then be ready to go for next year.”

On his end-of-season conversation with Lindy Ruff and areas needing improvement:

"I think we’re on the same page. It’s just, for me, filling into my body and getting stronger."

On ways to improve the power play, individually and as a team:

"I think for me, a lot of it is my shot. Adding velocity to my shot and being able to score on the chances that I get. ... That’s something for sure that needs to get better.

"As a unit, I think we just need to do a better job of, when we don’t score, creating momentum and not allowing the PK to build momentum off it. We gave up way too much on the power play and allowed teams to build momentum, when really you should be using the power play, whether you score or not, to build momentum."

JJ Peterka

On his next contract (he is scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer):

“I have my agent taking care of this. I worry about having a good offseason. I’m excited to be in Munich this summer again. I work hard and I fully trust him to handle all that stuff. I stay away from that.”

On the message from Kevyn Adams and Lindy Ruff on how he can improve:

“I think just be a more impactful player. I mean, for me it's the same thing. I hold myself accountable and I want to make a difference out there and I think that's going to be a main focus this offseason just to improve my overall game that much that I do that on a daily basis.”

Mattias Samuelsson

On learning from the team’s response to New Jersey forward Stefan Noesen’s hit on Tage Thompson on Feb. 2:

"Yeah, learned a lot. Obviously not my proudest moment or anything like that. Would change a lot about how everything was handled. I do think myself and the group learned a lot and grew from it. I think you felt a little bit of a shift in the team toughness attitude after that. So yeah, obviously it wasn’t positive moment in the season, but I do think there was some positives to take in the aftermath of it."

On his first season as alternate captain:

“I think at the beginning of the year it was a little weird. Obviously never wore a letter in the NHL, so I think there was a lot of new at the start of the year - new coaching staff, all that. Obviously Ras wearing the C, I think he would even tell you it was a little new for him as well, but I think once you get comfortable you realize you just have to be yourself.

“You’re not given a letter to become a captain, it’s because of who you were beforehand. I think once I got back from my injury, I stopped worrying about that stuff, and just tried to be myself every day, and come to the rink and not worry about what letter you have on your shoulder.”

Jack Quinn

On the difference between the first and second halves of his season:

"I guess there could be a few factors, but at the end of the day, just was not anywhere near good enough (in) the first half. So, got to figure out a way to have a great start next year."

"I think maybe just a little more confidence. Finding a little more consistent role and producing a bit more. I guess there’s a lot of things. I think I started to skate a little bit better and move my feet more. Stuff like that."