The Buffalo Sabres made their long-suffering fans happy in the 2025-26 season, winning first place in the Atlantic Division, then winning their first-round Stanley Cup playoffs series against the Boston Bruins before falling to the Montreal Canadiens in Round 2.
Buffalo's solid season means TheHockeyNews.com 's grades for Sabres players this past season will be mostly in the 'A' and 'B' area. And in this "Sabres Grades" submission, we're focusing on center Josh Norris.
Norris has been in Buffalo since the Sabres acquired him from the Ottawa Senators in March of 2025. The Sabres didn't pay a huge price for Norris, as he was a bit of a distressed asset after failing to stay healthy with the Sens. Norris is still only 27, so his best years still could be ahead. But it's also safe to say Buffalo needs more from him than he's produced thus far.
Josh Norris
Position:Center
Grade:B
The Skinny:With 13 goals and 34 points in 44 games last season, Norris was projecting to be a 25-goal, 65-point player. But that's the issue with Norris – he can't stay healthy. Playing essentially only half-a-season last year dilutes any positive effect Norris had when he was in the lineup. Norris hasn't played more than 56 games in any season since 2021-22.
If he'd had one or two seasons of poor luck on the health front, that would be one thing. But when you're 27 years old and you've played only 283 regular-season games, that's a huge red flag about your ability to stay in the lineup.
Meanwhile, Norris' post-season performance was nothing to write home about, as he posted only two assists and three points in 10 games. You can argue Norris was getting only his first taste of playoff action, but given that Norris is Buffalo's highest-paid forward at $7.95-million per-season , he's going to be held to higher expectations.
Norris isn't being asked to put the Sabres on his shoulders and carry them to a championship. But Buffalo absolutely needs Norris to stay healthy and contribute at the level he's capable of. Because if he can't do that, Norris is essentially untradeable. And that would be catastrophic to Buffalo's playoff aspirations.
Norris came into the NHL as a highly-touted youngster drafted by the San Jose Sharks in 2017, but his body has betrayed him since then, and you can't fault him for something ultimately out of his control. But there's no escaping the fact that the Sabres desperately need him to stay healthy. And if he can't do that, Norris will leave a hole in the lineup that Buffalo GM Jarmo Kelalainen won't easily fill.
When Norris is healthy, his offensive creativity puts the Sabres on another level. When he's not healthy, the Sabres are on their heels. Norris is that important to Buffalo's cause, and if he wants an 'A' grade at this time next season, Norris is going to need some better luck on the health front and his best season yet on offense.
