Total Season Stats: 1-8-9 in 59 Games
Age: 25
Contract Status: Signed through 2023-2024, $1.85 million AAV, RFA at the end of next season
Last offseason, Jacob Bryson signed a two-year deal with the hope that he could become a reliable puck moving defenseman on Buffalo’s third defensive pair. He is an excellent skater with good transition speed. However, he is a defensive liability that doesn’t provide enough positives offensively to cover up for his defensive woes.
After earning a full-time role in Buffalo during the 2021-2022 season, Bryson started this year in the Sabres top 6. He was pushed into a more substantial role on the blue line after early season injuries to Mattias Samuelsson and Henri Jokiharju. He surpassed 20 minutes of time on ice in 8 of his first 14 games. In that stretch, he noted 6 of his 9 total points on the season. However, he would only eclipse the 20-minute mark once more in the next 45 games and typically didn’t see the ice for more than 15 minutes in a night. Following a two-assist night against Columbus on December 7th, Bryson only produced one more assist over his final 37 games played. He struggled to get into the line up as offseason signing Kale Clague and trade deadline acquisition Riley Stillman were given opportunities down the stretch. With the season on the line, Bryson only played two of a potential 7 games in April and only skated a combined 16:38 in those contests. That includes the home finale where Samuelsson was shut down due to an injury. A far cry from the prominent role Bryson served early in the season.
It was no secret that the Sabres struggled to prevent goals against this past year. They gave up the 7th most in the league with 297 but were third in goals for with 293. Even with this relatively even split between goals for and goals against, Jacob Bryson found himself in the minus column more than any other Sabre this year. He was dead least on Buffalo with a -24 rating in 59 games played. Only Victor Olofsson had a comparable +/- this year with a -23 in 75 games.
Although using a players plus/minus stat can be misleading, it does exemplify Bryson’s main weakness. He is a defenseman that struggles to prevent opponents from scoring when he’s on the ice. At only 5’9”, he is one of the smaller defensemen in the league. Opponents took advantage of Bryson’s size this season by forcing him to battle in the corners and in front of the net. More times than not, Bryson was not able to effectively defend against the larger, stronger forwards he was facing off against. This opened the door for Clague to usurp Bryson’s role on the 3rd pair as the season went on. Undersized defensemen are more than capable of being effective NHL defenders. For example, Samuel Girard (5’10”) has been a fixture in Colorado’s top 4 for the past 5 seasons. The biggest difference between him and Bryson is how they skate. Bryson is very quick and agile but doesn’t generate much power in his stride. Conversely, Girard has similar top end speed but generates significantly more power in his stride. This makes him harder to knock off the puck and a formidable opponent in puck battles. This strength on the puck is something sorely lacking from Bryson’s game and limits his effectiveness.
Coming into this season, Bryson looked poised to solidify his role as a 3rd pair defenseman. However, this season went about as badly as it could have for the young defender. He saw his ice time diminish, other defensemen pass him on the depth chart, and watched the Sabres final playoff push primarily from the press box. With one year left on his contract, he will need to significantly improve his defensive play to prove he can be a top 6 NHL defenseman. Otherwise, he might find it difficult to remain on an NHL roster.
Season Grade: F