With free agency a little over a month away, GM Kevyn Adams has decisions to make on resigning their core players to help the Buffalo Sabres end their 14-year playoff drought come next season.
Adams has acquired abundant young talent since taking over as the GM in late 2020, early 2021, and he should be counting his blessings. Owner Terry Pegula brought him back for his sixth season with the organization.
A big responsibility for Adams will be to maintain most of that young talent without spending too much on the cap and to have leftover money to sign some more cost-effective veteran leadership to the team as well.
Let’s examine the vital restricted and unrestricted free agents that the Sabres’ brass will deal with.
The gradual rise of Peterka in just his first three years in the NHL has been remarkable and outstanding for Sabres fans to watch. Under his first contract, he scored a career-high 27 goals while collecting 68 points in 77 games.
The 23-year-old was playing first-line minutes with another guy who had a career year in veteran Tage Thompson, as he scored 44 goals with 72 points in 76 games.
The Sabres are still looking for that postseason blueprint, and if they absolutely want to do so next season, it starts with resigning Peterka to his well-earned second contract.
McLeod was quite the find for the blue and gold last year. They only had to give up top center prospect Matthew Savoie to the Edmonton Oilers, and he paid the Sabres back quite nicely. He, too, broke out, scoring 20 goals and collecting 53 points in 79 games this past season.
While the 25-year-old may not be the best center in the NHL, he plays a two-way style of center, which is needed in today’s fast and skilled league.
Also, with Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittlestadt being traded at the last two trade deadlines, maintaining a talented center in McLeod is a must, even if it means having to overpay to keep him.
Quinn had a rough 2023-24 season, resulting in Achilles surgery from a lower-body injury. His season last year started out slow, as a healthy scratch, but then he bounced back after the Four Nations Face-Off.
The 23-year-old recorded six goals and 19 points in 27 games, which should still be enough for him to stay with the Sabres beyond this season.
His inconsistency remains a question mark, and he may not be worth keeping for a $2 million, one-year deal, just to prove himself.
Obtained from the Ottawa Senators via the Cozens-Josh Norris deadline deal, the first-round pick in 2018 was attempting to plant himself as an everyday do-it-all defenseman after missing half the season with an Achilles injury.
While playing in scarcely minutes paired on the third-line defense, he made the most of it. The 24-year-old posted four points and a plus-three rating in only 15 games as a Sabre. He’s a big defenseman that the brass needs to keep their eyes on.
Look for Bernard-Docker to earn an extension for about $2 million.
The Sabres were banking on the fact that the number four overall pick in 2019 would transform into a number one defenseman after trading for him at last year’s deadline.
Buffalo was where he finally played a full 82-game season after enduring many injuries, and Sabres fans were thankful to have him.
The 23-year-old did play well enough to earn a long-term deal with the Sabres, but he recently requested a trade. If he doesn’t want to be a Sabre, he can earn his payday elsewhere, and Adams can reset the salary cap by moving the talented defenseman.
Reimer had a very productive season for a backup goalie. He spent the majority of the year as the permanent backup to Ukko-Pekka-Luukkonen.
The 37-year-old finished this season with a 10-8-2 record with an .899 SV% and a 2.90 GAA.
He may not return next year with Devon Levi excelling in Rochester, but they can bring Reimer back for another year for insurance purposes.
The Sabres are finally going into an offseason out of salary cap hell and have exactly $23.2 million in cap space to spend this offseason.
The hope is that GM Kevyn Adams will spend most of that money wisely on long-term deals for current players while using the rest to sign one-year deals for veterans and keep building through the draft.
This is not the popular opinion in the Sabres’ echo chamber, but it’s the one that fans of the struggling team need to hear.
Let’s see what Adams will do in less than a month from now.
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