D · BUF · NHL id 8484305
Zach Metsa has played 1 game for the Buffalo Sabres in 2026-27, scoring 0 goals and 0 assists (0 points) on 0 shots while averaging 12:54 a night (11:31 at even strength, 0:00 on the power play and 1:05 shorthanded). At 5v5 he has skated 76% of his 5v5 minutes with Matt Grzelcyk and 61% with Peyton Krebs in his only game so far, and the Sabres have controlled 62% of shot attempts with Metsa on the ice (0-0 in goals, 100% offensive-zone starts). In the Sabres' most recent game against CBJ he was on D3 with Matt Grzelcyk and off the power play.
Right now
From the Oct 1 game vs CBJ, detected from shift data
- On-ice xGF/60 0.67 (was 2.54)
- 37% of 5v5 TOI with top players (was 67%)
Deployment timeline
2026-27 · per-game ice time by strength, with line and power-play unit changes
Usage: 1 games, 12:36 average time on ice, PP1 in 0 games, 0 line changes.
- Even strength
- Power play
- Penalty kill
- 5-game average
- Did not play
- ▲ promoted · ▼ demoted
NHL EDGE tracking
2025-26 percentiles among skaters at his position
Only 1 GP in 2026-27; showing 2025-26 NHL EDGE data.
Season-level NHL EDGE puck and player tracking, refreshed nightly. The percentile is the league rank among skaters this season; the label at the right is the raw value.
Shot map
2026-27 · 1 attempts, 0 on goal, 0 goals · dots are equal size until the xG model lands
Shot map, OPP at BUF: 1 attempts, 0 on goal, 0 goals, 0.00 expected goals; best chance Zach Metsa at 0.00 xG.
- Even strength
- Power play
- Penalty kill
- Goal
- Shot on goal
- Missed
- Blocked
Luck
2025-26 · 43 GP · 6 points vs 5.8 expected
Last 20 games: +14. Positive means running hot (sell), negative running cold (buy).
- 8.3%
- 109.1
- 24.0%
- G vs xG
- 2 / 1.4
- • Role rose over the last 10 games (TOI up 5:07 a game, 4 promotion events): some of the heat may be real.
- Actual goals
- Expected
- ±1σ
- Above expected
- Below expected
Player analytics
Compare with another player →2025-26 regular season. Rank is among all qualified players; the bar is his percentile among defencemen. Each stat links to its explainer.
- 2026-27 so far: 1 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 PPP, 0 SOG.
Fantasy box score
- Games played43
- Goals2578th of 715
- Assists4620th of 715
- Points6639th of 715
- Power-play points0437th of 715
- Shorthanded points0227th of 715
- Shots on goal24673rd of 715
- Hits5709th of 715
- Blocked shots31441st of 715
- Plus/minus+1664th of 715
- Penalty minutes8640th of 715
- Faceoffs won0451st of 715
Possession & shot quality (5-on-5 on-ice)
- Corsi (CF%)46.3%565th of 719
- Fenwick (FF%)46.5%568th of 719
- Expected goals (xGF%)49.2%369th of 719
- Sequence xG (sxGF%)49.0%377th of 719
- High-danger chances (HDCF%)50.0%347th of 719
- Scoring chances (SCF%)44.6%627th of 719
Transition, turnovers & faceoffs
- Transition attempts /600.27637th of 719
- Turnover Ledger /60−0.044381st of 719
- Forecheck xG /60 (on-ice)0.22570th of 719
Usage
- Ice time per game10:58642nd of 715
- Power-play time per game0:02609th of 715
- Offensive-zone start %49.1%395th of 719
Special teams & discipline
- Net penalties drawn /600.00267th of 719
Luck & trend
- On-ice PDO10911st of 719
- Goals above expected+0.6249th of 715
- Luck Meter+41113th of 828
- Ascension score42317th of 428
NHL EDGE tracking
- Top skating speed21.1668th of 715
- 20+ mph bursts9674th of 715
- Hardest shot92.0185th of 715
- Offensive-zone time40.7%474th of 715
Unranked rows are below the sample minimum (20 GP, 200 five-on-five minutes, 100 draws or 10 goalie games).
Beyond the box score
2025-26 regular season · 37 of 43 games through the sequence engine (more fill in as games are reprocessed)
- −0.069
- Season net
- −0.52xG
5-on-5. Each takeaway is credited, and each giveaway charged, at the league xG value of the zone.
- Per 60
- 0.27
- Attempts
- 2
- 0.016
5-on-5 shots within 10 seconds of winning the puck outside the offensive zone.
How his goals happened
3 goals since 2023-24 with NHL EDGE tracking: press Replay to watch the tracking animation
| Game | Play | Entry | Passes | Shot mph | Notes | Replay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 16, 2026 @ MTL | Cycle | — | 4* | 24.2 | one-timer | |
| Feb 28, 2026 @ TBL | Forecheck turnover | — | 0 | 60.9 | — | |
| Jan 6, 2026 vs VAN | Forecheck turnover | — | 0 | 33.2 | — |
* includes a royal-road (cross-slot) pass. Derived from NHL EDGE puck and player tracking.
Linemates
2026-27 · 5v5 time together and how each pairing performs with and without Metsa
| Teammate | Pos | GP | Share | CF% together | GF% together | CF% Metsa apart | CF% mate apart | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Grzelcyk | D | 1 | 8:13 | 76% | 55.6% | — (0-0) | 75.0% 2:34 | 25.0% 5:08 |
| Peyton Krebs | C | 1 | 6:34 | 61% | 62.5% | — (0-0) | 60.0% 4:13 | 0.0% 7:54 |
| Konsta Helenius | C | 1 | 4:35 | 43% | 66.7% | — (0-0) | 57.1% 6:12 | 10.0% 7:35 |
| Ryan McLeod | C | 1 | 4:19 | 40% | 60.0% | — (0-0) | 62.5% 6:28 | 23.1% 8:07 |
| Josh Doan | RW | 1 | 2:48 | 26% | 25.0% | — (0-0) | 77.8% 7:59 | 76.2% 11:47 |
| Tage Thompson | RW | 1 | 2:39 | 25% | 25.0% | — (0-0) | 77.8% 8:08 | 80.0% 12:11 |
| Josh Norris | C | 1 | 1:52 | 17% | 0.0% | — (0-0) | 72.7% 8:55 | 76.2% 10:15 |
| Beck Malenstyn | LW | 1 | 1:51 | 17% | 100.0% | — (0-0) | 58.3% 8:56 | 33.3% 5:48 |
| Sam Carrick | C | 1 | 1:48 | 17% | 100.0% | — (0-0) | 58.3% 8:59 | 28.6% 5:33 |
| Owen Power | D | 1 | 1:48 | 17% | 100.0% | — (0-0) | 54.5% 8:59 | 56.7% 18:57 |
| Noah Ostlund | C | 1 | 1:39 | 15% | 100.0% | — (0-0) | 50.0% 9:08 | 66.7% 11:02 |
| Jack Quinn | RW | 1 | 1:30 | 14% | 100.0% | — (0-0) | 54.5% 9:17 | 72.2% 12:04 |
| Jiri Kulich | C | 1 | 1:21 | 13% | 100.0% | — (0-0) | 58.3% 9:26 | 42.9% 6:40 |
| Zach Benson | LW | 1 | 1:20 | 12% | 100.0% | — (0-0) | 54.5% 9:27 | 68.4% 11:58 |
Game log
1 game in 2026-27, newest first
| Date | Opp | Result | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | HIT | BLK | EV | PP | PK | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1 | @ CBJ | L 3-6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | — | 12:54 | 11:31 | — | 1:05 |
Season splits by strength
2026-27 regular season · on-ice numbers from shift and play-by-play data
| Strength | GP | TOI/GP | SA | GF | GA | GF% | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All situations | 1 | 12:54 | 12:54 | 8 | 7 | 53.3% | 50.0% | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0% | 0.1 | 0.9 | 100% |
| Even strength | 1 | 11:31 | 11:31 | 8 | 5 | 61.5% | 62.5% | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 0.1 | 0.2 | 100% |
| 5v5 | 1 | 10:47 | 10:47 | 8 | 5 | 61.5% | 62.5% | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 0.1 | 0.2 | 100% |
| Penalty kill | 1 | 1:05 | 1:05 | 0 | 1 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0.0 | 0.2 | — |
Career by season
Seasons in Edgehalla's data (2025-26 is being backfilled; earlier seasons follow)
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | HIT | BLK | TOI/GP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | BUF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 5 | 0 | — | 0 | 2 | 12:54 |
| 2025-26Playoffs | BUF | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 100.0% | 0 | 1 | 7:52 |
| 2025-26 | BUF | 43 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +16 | 8 | 24 | 8.3% | 5 | 31 | 10:58 |
Zach Metsa news
- Sabres' Lindy Ruff after Zach Metsa fight: 'I don't even know what Olivier was thinking' - The AthleticThe New York Times
- Zach Metsa Homenhl.com
- Zach Metsa | Sabres Livenhl.com
- Zach Metsa StatsNHL.com
- Zach Metsa Bio, Awards & Draft InfoNHL.com
- Video - Sabres Sign Defenseman Zach Metsa To Contract ExtensionThe Hockey News
- Zach Metsa Signing: Undrafted D-Man Earns a One-Way Dealginohard.com
- Zach Metsa News: Inks one-year extensionRotoWire
Headlines via LineupExperts. Links open the original publisher.
On-ice and deployment numbers are derived by Edgehalla from NHL play-by-play and shift data. Tracking percentiles are from NHL EDGE. Data updates after every game.