PITTSBURGH – One year and just 27 games later, Buffalo Sabres center Josh Norris is happy, healthy and geared up to potentially experience the postseason for the first time in his six-year NHL career.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time (in Buffalo),” Norris said prior to Tuesday’s 3-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at KeyBank Center. “The locker room is unbelievable, and it’s honestly so much fun coming to the rink every day.”
Still, his first year in Buffalo – he arrived on March 7, 2025 in a blockbuster trade with the Ottawa Senators before the deadline – has often been trying.
The oft-injured Norris played just three games for the Sabres last year before a torn oblique ended his campaign.
Then on opening night this season, he suffered an upper-body injury that cost him the next 24 games. He has been sidelined two other times, most recently missing the final 12 contests before the Olympic break with another upper-body injury.
During his healthy stints, Norris, 26, has been at the top of his game, scoring nine goals and 22 points for the Sabres entering Thursday’s game against the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.
He has emerged as one of their drivers for more than his offensive ability.
To wit: in Saturday’s 6-2 road win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, he scored two early goals, helping the Sabres jump out to a 4-0 lead just after the 15-minute mark.
Then in the final minute of the first period, the puck squirted away from the Sabres during a scoring opportunity and the Lightning quickly transitioned up the ice.
Norris, who was trailing his teammates a bit on the play, quickly turned around.
“There was so much ice between the next two guys,” he said. “I was like, ‘I better bust my (butt) to get back.’”
So Norris said he put his head down and skated as hard as he could to get back. He roared into his own zone and thwarted a two-on-one by knocking the puck away from Gage Goncalves.
“I talk to the team that tracking (back) is an indicator of how bad we want to win,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “And when we’re coming back like that, like he did, it might be a video clip that he gets to see.”
Ruff said a tenacious backcheck like Norris’ illustrates he wants to be hard to play against.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a little bit tired, you got enough in you to track back and help break stuff up,” he said. “I think at different times, you’ve seen unbelievable tracks from different guys on the team, almost everybody.”
Norris believes plays like his backcheck against the Lightning have become the biggest part of the Sabres’ identity. Yes, over the last three months, they’ve consistently scored goals and excelled in essentially every facet of the game.
But everything unfolds from their effort.
“I think that’s why we’ve had success, all that buy-in for that mentality,” he said. “And it’s up and down the lineup. It doesn’t matter who it is.”
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Colton Parayko won’t be joining the Sabres. The St. Louis Blues defenseman, who has a no-trade clause, has rejected a deal that would’ve sent him to Buffalo, according to multiple reports.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman first reported the veteran’s decision.
Parayko, 32, would’ve beefed up the Sabres’ blue line before Friday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline.
On Wednesday afternoon, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported the Sabres and St. Louis Blues were finalizing a trade that would send Parayko, a right-handed shot, to Buffalo in exchange for defense prospect Radim Mrtka, the ninth overall pick in 2025, and a first-round pick.
Victory+’s Frank Seravalli reported the framework of the deal was in place.
Even without Parayko, the Sabres possess one of the NHL’s deepest and most talented defense corps.
Parayko has registered 78 goals, 309 points and 214 penalty minutes in 781 career NHL games over 11 seasons. He won the Stanley Cup in 2019 and has played 89 career playoff games.
He has compiled one goal, 15 points, 16 penalty minutes and a minus-14 rating in 58 contests this season. He won the silver medal for Team Canada last month at the Olympics
Parayko has four years remaining after this season on his eight-year, $52 million contract.
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In center Tyson Kozak’s absence Thursday, the Sabres turned to the versatile Josh Dunne, one of their biggest surprises this season.
Kozak aggravated something and is day to day, Ruff said, so for the third time in the last five games, Dunne earned duty on the fourth line.
After beginning the season with the Rochester Americans, he has emerged as what Ruff called “a real good depth option.”
Dunne, 27, centered Zach Benson and Beck Malenstyn against the Penguins.
“He’s filled in on wing. He’s been at center,” Ruff said. “There were stretches on the road where, really, our fourth line scored some key goals, a heavy line that was able to control play down low.
“We’ve used him in some penalty-killing situations. His physicality is good for us. He’s stepped in for teammates. So he’s been a real good role guy.”
The 6-foot-4, 208-pound Dunne had registered one goal, four points and 36 penalty minutes in 30 games this season entering Thursday’s game.
Notes: Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen is scheduled to talk to the media about the trade deadline Friday at 4 p.m. … The Sabres also scratched defenseman Jacob Bryson and goalie Alex Lyon (both healthy). … The Penguins played without superstar Sidney Crosby, who suffered a lower-body injury in the Olympics.