Ten thoughts on Sabres offseason: Trading Matt Savoie, betting on Lindy Ruff and more
Two weeks into the NHL offseason, we now have a much better idea of what the 2024-25 Sabres will look like.
www.nytimes.com
Two weeks into the NHL offseason, we now have a much better idea of what the 2024-25 Buffalo Sabres roster will look like. General manager Kevyn Adams was busy, adding five forwards to the roster and bringing in some needed depth at goalie and on defense. He might have another big move up his sleeve, but Buffalo’s roster looks close to set at this point. Here are 10 thoughts on what the Sabres have done so far.
1. Trading Matt Savoie is a risk, but it’s one worth taking for Adams and the Sabres. Adams has said he’s open to trading prospects and draft picks to help the team win now. One of those trades materialized over the weekend with Savoie, the No. 9 pick in 2022, going to Edmonton in exchange for Ryan McLeod and AHLer Tyler Tullio. Moving Savoie is a big price to pay for McLeod, who projects as a third-line center. But as the Sabres have been stockpiling prospects over the last few years, it’s become clear they wouldn’t have room for all of them to play.
Savoie made some sense as an odd man out among the top prospects. Injuries have slowed him down the last couple of seasons. First, it was the shoulder injury in his draft year, then he had shoulder and elbow injuries wipe out his training camp last season. Given the way Buffalo’s organizational depth chart looks, Savoie’s future was likely on the wing. He had a chance to come to camp and steal a roster spot, but it didn’t seem like a strong chance. Before the draft I asked The Athletic’s prospect writers, Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler, how they would rank the Sabres’ trade assets, between their first-round pick, Savoie, Jiri Kulich and Noah Ostlund. Pronman said Savoie was fourth and wrote, “I also don’t think Savoie’s trade value is all that high in the NHL based on my survey of teams.”
So maybe getting a third-line center for him isn’t a bad return. Savoie could absolutely blossom into a legitimate top-six NHLer. He knows how to play with top-end talent and has been a prolific scorer in junior hockey. He still needs to develop the playing strength to win puck battles and make plays on the walls. He’s going to have a great chance at success if he gets to play with some of Edmonton’s top players. And the Sabres have plenty of depth in their prospect pool to withstand this loss.
2. Savoie’s potential is high, but the Sabres needed the immediate impact McLeod can provide. He’s a big and fast player who immediately can play third-line center, which has been a big hole in Buffalo’s lineup since the Casey Mittelstadt trade. McLeod may not have the offensive upside that Mittelstadt does, but he’s a faster skater, better on faceoffs and arguably better defensively as well. Over the last two seasons, the Oilers have had 55 percent and 56 percent of the expected goals when McLeod is on the ice at five-on-five. He also won 51 percent of his faceoffs last season. He’ll contribute on the penalty kill, too, something Mittelstadt didn’t do. The Oilers didn’t allow a power-play goal in the playoffs while McLeod was on the ice. Essentially, he fits the role of a third-line center more seamlessly and at a cheaper cost. He’s still 24, so he fits the age of Buffalo’s core, too.
3. It remains to be seen whether McLeod can bring more offense than the 30 points he had last season. He said his main focus is on shooting more and getting to the net more consistently to create more offense. Even if his ceiling is in the 45-point range, that would be fine production for his role. McLeod hasn’t been the best net-front player in his time in the NHL and isn’t always the most engaged physically. Luckily, the Sabres have added some players who can hit and play at the front of the net, so there will be options to build a strong third line around McLeod.
4. With all of the additions the Sabres have made in their forward group, they haven’t dramatically raised the bar in terms of their offensive upside. Jason Zucker is the only new player who has scored 20 goals in a season. Adams is making a big bet on Lindy Ruff. The hope is Ruff can produce a faster, more direct playing style that will lead to more offense. Adams is also thinking players like Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and Dylan Cozens can rebound. There’s a lot of “ifs” baked into that equation. But it’s encouraging that Ruff and Adams identified the type of players the Sabres needed to change their bottom six and now have a group that should be harder to play against. There is a much clearer identity in the bottom two lines. Some positive regression from the top players and an improved power play should get Buffalo’s offense closer to where it was in 2022-23.
Jason Zucker, 32, should help fill the veteran leadership void left by Kyle Okposo. (Bob Frid / USA Today)
5. Every forward the Sabres added this summer comes to Buffalo with playoff experience. This is going to be a much more mature locker room than the one the Sabres had a year ago. Zucker, in particular, seems like someone who can fill part of the veteran leadership void left by Kyle Okposo. And he seems ready for that. He said his time in Pittsburgh taught him the importance of confidence and consistency right from the start of the season.
“For me, when you come into a season as the Buffalo Sabres, you need to say, ‘We’re going to go make the playoffs,’” Zucker said. “In the east, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find eight teams that shouldn’t make the playoffs. That means there’s going to be a lot of really good teams that are missing the playoffs. So we just need to have that confidence and that swagger from Day 1 and make sure every single game we’re going into with that swagger and that confidence and it’s just going to build.”
6. Peyton Krebs is going to have to earn everything he gets in 2024-25. The addition of McLeod means Krebs isn’t playing in the top nine unless he’s moving to the wing, a possibility Adams alluded to after the first wave of free agency. With Sam Lafferty in the mix, the fourth-line center spot might not even be open for Krebs when everyone is healthy. Adams talked a lot about accountability at the end of the season. The best way to create that is to build a lineup of competent and competitive players who don’t make it easy for everyone to win and keep jobs. This is a big summer for Krebs, who is a restricted free agent, as he tries to earn a role in Buffalo’s lineup in the fall. I’d be interested in seeing him on the wing again now that he’s developed his defensive game and shown a willingness to battle. With some more strength, he could handle that role better than he did a couple of years ago.
7. The addition of James Reimer is more than likely for him to be the organizational No. 3 goalie. But he is getting $1 million on a one-way deal, which means he’ll make that $1 million whether he’s in the NHL or the AHL. He also hasn’t played in the AHL since 2010-11. Last season, Don Granato and Adams were aligned in their belief that Devon Levi should be in the NHL. Will Ruff be as eager to lean on a young goalie as his backup, particularly when starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is still young himself? Maybe he wants Levi to take more time to develop in the AHL the way Ryan Miller did. Or maybe he at least wants him to have to earn it. Reimer being here ensures that will be the case.
8. The Sabres signed Konsta Helenius to his entry-level contract this week and he’s yet another highly touted prospect who could be playing in Rochester this season. He has a year left on his contract in Finland but could still make the jump to North America. The Sabres could add Helenius to a group of prospects in the AHL that already includes Kulich, Ostlund, Isak Rosen and Anton Wahlberg at forward. Of those, Kulich and Rosen are closest to the NHL, but with each addition the Sabres make, it’s becoming tougher for one of those players to crack the NHL roster. I’m still interested to see how Kulich looks when he gets to camp because he could provide a nice power-play boost if he’s ready for the NHL. The Sabres have built the roster up to the point where they don’t need to force it, though.
9. I’m curious how Ruff will put this blue line together now that Henri Jokiharju is back on a one-year contract worth $3.1 million. You could conceivably have any one of Jokiharju, Mattias Samuelsson, Bo Byram or Owen Power play with Rasmus Dahlin. It’s a depth chart heavy on lefties, so someone will be playing on the off side. Given the price it took to acquire Byram, you would think he’ll be playing in the top four. But there’s only so much ice time to go around, especially on the power play. That could mean Samuelsson ends up on the third pair with Connor Clifton. Or maybe there’s another move in the works. So far the only addition on the back end is Dennis Gilbert, who will likely get NHL time given his toughness and physicality. He gives the Sabres depth they needed, but there’s a lot to sort out in terms of who will play with who.
10. Adams has added five new forwards to the depth chart, increasing the Sabres’ team speed and toughness. Adding some depth on defense and in net was necessary, too. As much as a boost to the top six or another experienced defenseman would have been ideal, this has been a productive offseason for Adams. He came in with a lot to accomplish and checked most of those boxes. The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn has the Sabres as the ninth most improved team this offseason, according to his model. And there’s still time for Adams to improve the team more. We’ll see if that’s enough to make the playoffs.