The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the Die By The Blade community. It was a combination of staff writers and over 200 readers that ranked Buffalo Sabres players under the age of 25 as of August 1, 2024. Each participant used their own metric of current ability and production to rank each player. Staff votes counted equally with reader votes.
Owen Power
Drafted: 2021 – 1st overall
Position: Defenseman
Born: November 22, 2002 – 21 years old
2023-24 Stats: Buffalo Sabres (NHL) 6-27-33 in 76 GP
2023 T25U25 Ranking: 3
2022 T25U25 Ranking: 1 (tied)
On a team filled with polarizing players that might have hit their ceilings or are still flashing their potential, Owen Power is certainly the torchbearer. The former #1 draft pick is often painted with that same tarred brush that swiped across Rasmus Dahlin in his developmental years with the Buffalo Sabres. But how much of that is from poor coaching by not putting young players in positions to succeed, and how much comes from a player’s own inability to develop is not quite clear, especially in one as young as Power.
The issues in his game are pretty obvious. He tends to have some glaring giveaways, especially in very dangerous areas of the ice. However, he’s not the only Sabre who does that, with even veterans often doing the same thing. I will also argue that his turnovers often come from him trying to force the puck into spaces where he is anticipating his teammates to be in, and I would rather applaud the initiative than beat down the error.
And then there’s the whole issue with his lack of physical play. Too often we’ve seen him fail to clear the ice in front of goal only for the opponent to then get a decisive pass or shot off, resulting in a goal against. Power is a gentle giant, and no matter how much we want, he is not going to turn into Tom Wilson, possibly ever. So expecting that he will suddenly improve his xSnarl/60 is quite unrealistic.
A comparable often drawn for the defenseman is another former first rounder in Victor Hedman. The Swede, even after over a decade in the NHL, still has his doubters who claim he’s not a good defenseman because he doesn’t lay the lumber on opposition forwards. Hedman’s innate ability to be where the puck goes and not necessarily where the player will be is pretty clear to see, and as long as Power can channel that same positional awareness, he will be just fine. He’ll only turn 22 this fall and all the talk on cutting bait with him is ridiculous.
His Corsi For (CF) numbers for last season were at 51.55%, about the same range as Hedman, Ryan Suter or even his own teammate Mattias Samuelsson, in the top quartile for defensemen who logged over 500 minutes at 5v5. When Power is on the ice, he makes things happen, basically.
Unfortunately though, when he’s on the ice, things happen for the other team too. For any defenseman pairing to have played over 300 min at 5v5 last season, Power and Henri Jokiharju were dead last (!!) out of 104 such d-pairs in High Danger Scoring Chances (HDCF%) at 35.33% (basically, they only generated 35 shots for and faced 65 shots against whenever they were on ice). For comparison sake, Dahlin was about 50% with both Jokiharju and Samuelsson.
Power signed a big contract at the beginning of last season, the final year of his rookie minimum deal. The seven-year, $58.45 million contract begins this season at an average annual value of $8.35 million which does put him in the tier of highest paid players on the team, so the expectations will continue to mount this season.
The kind of nuance required to play the blueline usually comes with experience, so if all Power does this coming season is bump up his offensive numbers without taking a step back defensively, I will be satisfied. Of course, when you are an 8-mill player, the spotlight does tend to shine much brighter on you, so if you’re hoping the clamor around the player will die down, the opposite is likely.
The 6′6″, 221lb behemoth is great at opening things up with the puck on his stick breaking out of the zone, but seems to get bogged down with the ice compressed in power plays. It’ll take some innovative power play coaching to utilize him best in those situations.
The arrival of Lindy Ruff behind the bench might well help Power take the next step as both his basic and advanced stats seemed stagnant last season. He didn’t drop off in his sophomore season, but it’s also safe to say that he didn’t step it up either. The defenseman got officially engaged to his partner this summer, so things appear to be stabilizing for the player on all fronts.
2024 Buffalo Sabres Top 25 Under 25
#25: Adam Kleber
#24: Tyson Kozak
#23: Maxim Štrbák
#22: Prokhor Poltapov
#21: Aleksandr Kisakov
#20: Viktor Neuchev
#19: Vsevolod Komarov
#18: Nikita Novikov
#17: Anton Wahlberg
#16 Isak Rosén
#15 Peyton Krebs
#14: Noah Östlund
#13: Konsta Helenius
#12: Ryan Johnson
#11: Ryan McLeod
#10: Mattias Samuelsson
#9: Jiri Kulich
#8: Devon Levi
#7: Zach Benson
#6: Bowen Byram