Ryan McLeod's 'whirlwind' trade has new Sabres center 'excited' to get to Buffalo
McLeod went from one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup in 2025 to a franchise with one of the longest active postseason droughts in North American professional sports. "I’m excited to get down there and meet everyone,” he said of joining the Sabres.
Ryan McLeod was posing for photos at a friend’s wedding last week when his cellphone rang.
The only NHL team he’s really known, the Edmonton Oilers, were calling to deliver life-altering news that McLeod wasn’t expecting to hear, especially so soon after an emotional end to his season. The 24-year-old was only 11 days removed from losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers, and he still had one year left on a contract that cost just $2.1 million against the salary cap.
Ryan McLeod played 219 regular-season games with the Edmonton Oilers before his trade to the Buffalo Sabres last week. Alex Gallardo, Associated Press
Yet McLeod learned Friday night that he was leaving superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl because the Oilers had traded him to the Buffalo Sabres. McLeod went from one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup in 2025 to a franchise with one of the longest active postseason droughts in North American professional sports.
“Emotional but super excited,” McLeod told reporters during a video conference call Wednesday afternoon. “A little bit of a whirlwind. You really don’t know what’s going on or anything. I think it’s a great opportunity. They have a great group there and it seems like a great group of guys. I’m excited to get down there and meet everyone.”
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams and coach Lindy Ruff called McLeod after the blockbuster trade, which sent top prospect Matt Savoie to the Oilers, but neither wanted to overload their newest player with information or expectations. They expressed excitement to add someone with his track record and skill. He’s a significant part of their plan to snap a playoff drought that reached 13 years.
McLeod will slot in as the Sabres’ third-line center, filling the void created by the club trading Casey Mittelstadt to Colorado for defenseman Bowen Byram, and McLeod’s role in Buffalo will be like the one that he excelled in with the Oilers. The Sabres will need McLeod to play shutdown defense, win faceoffs and kill penalties. He wants to accomplish more entering his fourth full year in the NHL, though.
McLeod plans to use what’s left of his brief offseason to try to contribute more offensively after he produced 11 and 12 goals in 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. He’s among the fastest skaters in the NHL and exceptional at carrying the puck out of the defensive zone to start his team’s 5-on-5 offense, but he, like Mittelstadt, wants to shoot more and get to the net more often to finish the scoring chances that he helps create.
“It’s been great to play with a lot of those guys,” McLeod said of his time in Edmonton, where he was a winger next to Draisaitl and proved at center that he makes his teammates better. “I think my game, I try to play with a lot of speed and on the defensive side of the puck but still working on that offense. Having the confidence of playing with Draisaitl, such a demanding player and wants to make so many great plays. You have to do those if you want to play with him. That experience really helped me.":
The Sabres parted ways with a prospect they drafted ninth overall just two years earlier because they view McLeod as someone who fits their short- and long-term plans. He’ll bring the wisdom and hindsight culled from 56 playoff games in which he’s appeared the past three seasons. McLeod was in the Oilers’ lineup in 24 of their 25 games this spring as they came within one win of the club’s first Stanley Cup since 1990. Buffalo lost more than 4,000 games of experience since March with the departures of Mittelstadt, Kyle Okposo, Jeff Skinner, Zemgus Girgensons and Erik Johnson.
Last season showed McLeod the perseverance and unwavering confidence needed for an NHL team to rally from a miserable start to become Western Conference champions. Edmonton had to win Games 6 and 7 to beat the Canucks in the second round, then the Oilers won three straight in the conference final to eliminate the Stars before they overcame a 3-0 deficit in the Cup final to force a Game 7.
McLeod’s skill and talent are why the Sabres made the deal, though. He’s a double-digit goal scorer who won 50% of his faceoffs last season and became one of the best penalty-killing forwards in the NHL. McLeod had the seventh-best mark in power-play goals against per 60 minutes among all players with at least 100 short-handed minutes of ice time in the regular season, and he was not on the ice for a power-play goal against during the Oilers’ run to the Cup final. This isn’t a rental for Buffalo, either.
McLeod won’t be this cheap for much longer, but he’s only a restricted free agent in the summer of 2025. He’s someone who may be with the Sabres long-term if it’s a fit for both sides.
“You know, it’s tough to win,” said McLeod, who had four goals while averaging 13:12 of ice time in the playoffs. “You kind of learn that. Obviously, it’s tough to make the playoffs, especially win each round. It’s really tough and it gets harder every time. So, just kind of how much it takes, how hard it is. I think the biggest thing that we did in Edmonton is we tried to keep our confidence as high as we could. We were trying to make plays through the whole playoffs. And I think I could try to bring that into next season more.”
The Sabres want McLeod to be the playmaking, versatile, left-handed center that they lost by trading Mittelstadt. Some of McLeod’s most impressive moments in the regular season were as a winger next to Draisaitl, however, the data shows that McLeod elevated his linemates when he was at center. According to Evolving-Hockey, Edmonton had at least 57% of the expected-goal share at 5-on-5 when McLeod centered several different combinations of wingers, including Warren Foegele, Derek Ryan, Corey Perry, Connor Brown, Dylan Holloway, Evander Kane and Mattias Janmark.
No one in that group is known for their goal-scoring at this stage of their respective careers, yet McLeod was fourth on the team in primary assists per 60 minutes at 5-on-5. The latter figure ranked in the 82nd percentile among NHL forwards, according to AllThreeZones, and McLeod should help the Sabres’ improve their in-zone offense, which took too long to develop under former coach Don Granato.
Tage Thompson, right, and Ryan McLeod, formerly of the Edmonton Oilers, are now teammates on the Sabres. Derek Gee, Buffalo News
McLeod is shooting more often – his regular-season total increased from 78 in 2022-23 to 106 – and he’s going to help the Sabres attack with more speed, which also became a glaring issue while they finished with seven fewer points in the standings.
There are deficiencies in McLeod’s play that made him the odd man out on an Oilers team that had to clear cap space. He was criticized in Edmonton for not getting to the net, and he was scratched for Game 3 of the Western Conference finals as he dealt with a 19-game point drought. McLeod responded with a goal in Game 4 against the Stars, then he scored three in the Cup final.
McLeod doesn’t play a physical game, which does not fit with Adams’ goal for the Sabres to become “harder to play against,” but the 6-foot-2 center can use his speed to help them accomplish that mission in a nontraditional sense, whether it’s by helping on the forecheck or wearing out an opponent with his ability to extend a possession in the offensive zone.
“A lot of skill on that team,” McLeod said of the Sabres. “A lot of skill on the back end too, so it’s going to be fun to play with that. A lot of good puck movers and guys who can skate. Just have to see how I can fit in. They’re a younger team than what I had in Edmonton. It’s super exciting. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
