What’s Next For The Buffalo Sabres? 2025 Off-Season Plan

What’s Next For The Buffalo Sabres? 2025 Off-Season Plan

In today’s video, we continue on with our NHL offseason plan series. We’re now on the 26th ranked team from the regular season, the Buffalo Sabres. It feels like this team has been rebuilding way too long. They’ve missed the playoffs way too long. How can they get over the hump? What should we expect from them in this off season when it comes to the draft, free agency, trades, and more to make this team hopefully get over the hump finally? We’ll discuss that coming up next. Welcome back to another video here at TopShelf Hockey. As I mentioned, today we analyze the Buffalo Sabres and take a look at their 2025 offseason plan or at least what it should be. Uh obviously another, you know, underwhelming season to say the least. They ranked 26th in the league. Uh of course near the bottom of their division. Uh we saw a couple years back they just missed out making the playoffs and then we saw them take another step back here again. So, like the the last couple years, um, really it was gone in their opposite direction that they’d want. You know, you you thought this team was building up towards getting into the playoffs and like I said, the last two years we’ve seen um regression. Uh, and there’s really not a lot of room for regression when you’re already out of the playoffs and, you know, supposedly continuing on a rebuild. But, let’s take a look at the 24-25 season. We’re going to first recap how everything went and then we’re going to take a look at uh you know what we should expect from them this offseason. Look at their cap space. Uh you know internal business, expiring contracts, the draft trades, free agency. What do we expect the Sabres to do? So let’s first recap last year. Uh like I said 79 points again not nearly good enough. 26th in the league. Uh second last in their division. 36 39 and 7 was the record. Uh they scored 265 goals which actually wasn’t too bad. uh scoring was not a big issue this year. Uh that he actually scored 19 more goals this year than last year. Uh which was a good step in the right direction, but goals against was a major problem. It’s been a problem for a while, but it got drastically worse this year. Uh they allowed 287 for 30th bat, so near the bottom of the league. The year before goals against was at 244. Uh so that’s a minus43 differential from year to year. Uh so yeah, they scored more, but they let in way more than they ever did anyway. So really all those extra goals were erased and then some. Uh power play was not overly great, 18.8%. Uh the penalty kill was was okay, not not great either. 76.4. So both the special teams there, 24th and 23 uh third in the league, respectively. So again, lots of work to do. The only thing that like the main positive here is that they had a lot of offense. Uh they were able to score a good amount of goals. We saw them uh have some some good seasons from some of their offensive players, but you know, they need more uh on the other side of the puck for sure if they’re going to take a step forward. Looking at the goalending, uh we got Ukapeka Lucinan who played the most games between the pipes this year. Uh had a record of 24 and five. Uh 3.2 two goals against and an 887 save percentage. James Rhymer came in and played uh got 22 decisions for you 10 and two. Um with a 304 and an 897, so slightly better than UPL, but not fantastic. And Devin Levi, of course, who spent the bulk of the year in the Miners, 2-7 record at the NHL with a 4.12 and an 872 save percentage. Now, I think they were hoping at this point that Levi would be further along. I think they were hoping that uh UPL would be a stronger starter by now as well after the year before uh his numbers were better. He earned himself a good contract extension and this past season did not quite live up to the hype. Although I don’t think you can put all of this on him. I think the team in front of him played a role in that. But I do think that they expect it more from him too. It’s not, you know, fair to put it all on him, but he certainly shares his share of it. I think that’s fair to say. Now, looking at this team’s scoring leaders this past year, they were led by Taige Thompson, who had a a much better season goal scoring wise, 44 goals and 72 points. Uh JJ Perturka had another good season as well, 27 goals and 68 points. He’s quickly become uh one of the stronger players in especially offensively on this team. Rosalene was tied with Purka with 68 points and veteran Alex Tuck with 67. So, ideally, you’d like to see Thompson, I think, get a few more points, and his goal totals are quite high, but not a lot of assists there to go along with it, but you you need more players up in that 60 70 or or more range. Like, you don’t even have a player averaging a point per game. Uh it’s tough to get into the playoffs like that. But the the good thing here though is that where they were a higher scoring team, that just shows that everything was kind of spread out a little bit more and not as reliant on, you know, one or two players like some teams certainly are. Of course, we saw them make a significant trade near the trade deadline as well, trading Dylan Cousins and Dennis Gilbert to the Senators in exchange for Josh Norris and Jacob Bernard Docker. Uh, right now this trade look pretty good for Ottawa with Cousins playing um definitely some pretty good hockey for them and being pretty well a point per game player through the stint between the regular season and uh into the few playoff games. Uh, however, we don’t really we can’t say this is a a one-sided trade right now. Josh Norris had been battling injuries, which unfortunately I think is the main reason the Senators were wanting to part with him. Not so much from the hockey side of it because I think this is a player that they really liked and he was really starting to grow into a a really good two-way player. Former 35 goal man. Unfortunately, he’s had some tough injuries and it certainly affected his ability to be in the lineup and his ability to um I think put up a little bit more points than than we’ve you know than we’ve seen in the past. But he came over to Buffalo, only played a couple of games, aggravated an injury he was already dealing with and was basically shut down the rest of the year. So until we can see the big question around Norris, can he remain healthy and, you know, be that 30 goal guy that they rely on in a two-way role, you know, and be the player that they’re hoping he can be. Um, you know, that’s going to be the big question. It’s too early to tell just yet. But for right now, the trade looks more favorable to Ottawa because we saw a lot more out of cousins, but we’ll see. I think JBD definitely has, you know, more long-term upside than Gilbert does as well. So, um, again, a player who just couldn’t stay consistently in the Sun’s lineup. And obviously, it’s a good opportunity for for him. Uh, going into the offseason here, the Sabres have $21.4 million in cap space. So they have 74 million committed to 18 players next year. So that means they have a maximum of five roster spots open. They do have a bunch of um players that are eligible for extensions, but they don’t have a lot of guys that are expiring, but some of the ones they do are certainly interesting and important pieces. Uh so let’s take a look at their internal business here first with their RFAS and UFAS. The UFA side is well, it’s quite simple. It’s one guy. That’s it. one pending UFA and that’s veteran goalender James Rhymer. Um, will he be back? Maybe. Uh, it’s kind of hard to say to be completely honest. Uh, it really feel depends on how they feel about Levi. Um, but I I do think that there’s a possibility, we’ll get into this here in the next segment, that we could see a very different goalie tandem in Buffalo next year, but uh, hard to say what the future holds for Rhymer. Uh, it’s going to boil down to some other moves. I think they’re maybe open to it, but they’ve got some bigger things to take care of before they make that decision. On the restricted free agent side, we’ve got Ryan Mloud, who of course came over in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers last off season. Uh he’s definitely getting resigned for sure. He’s proven to be a pretty good player uh for them. Good speed, good two-way two-way game. Uh JJ Perka, uh restrictive free agent coming out of his rookie contract, has had a couple of solid years now for the Sabres. So again, uh the only question is does he get a long-term bigger money contract or does he get a bridge deal? But Purka’s definitely getting signed. Jack Quinn, um less certain about Quinn. He has potential and I still think that he’s a player that very well could be, you know, a bigger piece for the Sabres, but I wouldn’t be completely shocked if he was used in a package to bring in another upgrade. I think he’s a player that they’re kind of on defense with. So, we’ll see. Uh Bo Byum, another player, and Jacob Bernard Docker. Bernard Docker shouldn’t be too difficult to sign. I can see him getting a two or threeear deal, you know, under 2 million. Like, it’s not I don’t think it’s going to cost him a ton of money. And I think he’s so, you know, likes the opportunity there in Buffalo compared to what he had in Ottawa. So, I don’t see that being a big deal. By on the other hand, will be the more complicated one, and we’ll talk about him. He’s definitely going to be getting an NHL contract. He’s definitely going to get paid. Well, the question is, is it going to be in Buffalo, and we we’ll talk and tackle that here in the next segment as well. Uh players that are eligible for contract extensions doesn’t mean you’re going to necessarily see it. Some of these players they can take their time with. The main one’s Alex Tuck. Uh I think they probably want to get ahead of this one if they can. We know Tuck local product came over from Vegas and the EL trade was quite happy uh to be in Buffalo. And I know that at times they’ve had players that maybe have struggled to want to be there. I don’t think that’s an issue with Tuck, but um you know at the same time after number of years there now and he hasn’t get a chance to get in the playoffs and really do any serious winning. What is he feeling like? Does he if he wants to stay you sign him? He’s been a good productive player. I think the only reason an extension doesn’t get worked out is if he’s not sure. But if I’m the team I think that I would like to extend him. He’s been a good player. like I said, wants to be there, productive, uh, lots to like about his game. So, that’ll be probably the main player you see. Otherwise, you got guys like Sam Laughaferty, Payton Krebs, Beck Balenstein, uh, Zack Benson, Isaac Rosen, uh, Connor Clifton, Jacob Bryson, all eligible for extensions. But again, like Benson and Rosen, like, you know, they’re coming out of their rookie contracts. There’s really no rush. They’re going to be RFAS. I’m not sure the team really knows their long-term where they fit and value that yet. So, it wouldn’t be shocked if if they waited on those. Uh Malenstein, they they paid a decent price to bring over from Washington at a bottom six like fourth line role. Um you know, it’s possible he gets extended. Wouldn’t be shocking, but at the same time, I could see them holding off. Krebs is another player I don’t know that they’re sold on longterm yet either. Um not like, you know, decent player, but very replaceable. So, I don’t know we’re going to see a lot in the way of contract extensions. I think the main one would be Tuck, but we’ll see. Now, the top questions facing this franchise in the off seasonason. So, what are we going to expect from this team and comes, you know, trades in the draft and free agency and all that? Well, as we just looked at internally, there’s going to be a few new contracts likely get done, but there’s uh not a ton of, you know, shocking uh news to be waiting on in that front. Now, we know we finally got word uh that we’re not going to see any changes uh between Lindy Ruff behind the bench and Kevin Adams in the front office as the general manager. However, they did add Eric Stall as a adviser to the general manager. So, he’s going to be coming into the Sabres now. Again, another guy with no experience. I know Adams knows him well, but again, like he’s just recently ended his playing career. Hasn’t worked in that kind of role before. So while you respect his opinions and things be being around the game and being a longtime player, you know, he is new to his role. So I’m not sure what the what a fair expectation is. Although there’s expectations are and rumors are that they are likely going to be hiring a president of hockey operations, which could be a go between between ownership and Kevin Adams and somebody with more experience to kind of be a good support lead for that front office and try to help the team get over the hump. We’ve heard names like Ken Holland, but we’ve also heard Ken Holland’s in the mix with the Islanders as well as the Los Angeles Kings. Now he’s currently working for the league after leaving the Oilers last off season. And really when it comes to Holland um you know to me the rumors there was rumors he did he was reluctant to go to the Islanders wasn’t real thrilled with where the team was at and even though they had first overall pick and all this. So I’m like well if he feels that way about the Islanders you’d suspect he would feel similarly about the Sabres who’s been out of the playoffs you know for over 14 years right? So, I’m not sure what they do there, but somebody along those lines, an experienced executive uh to come in and provide extra support and level of experience that they don’t have. So, we don’t know for sure who that’s going to be. We can’t say 100% that is going to happen, but right now expectations are that ownership is seriously considering adding a role like that. So, we’ll see. Uh, another big question, as I mentioned earlier, is where does Josh Norris really fit in this lineup? And to me, that’s a big question. It’s not just can he stay healthy, although that is a question, but you’re going to have to have no choice but to wait and see on that front. Uh we don’t we can’t really figure out the answer to that this off seasonason. But to me, uh when they traded Dylan Cousins for Josh Norris and listening to the comments from Adams, I suspected that they see Norris as a really good two-way centerman, and he is a centerman, but when he was playing with the Sabres before he went off injured, he was primarily playing with Ta Thompson on the wing. So, I’m like, okay, where do you really see him? Because knowing where he fits in this lineup will determine what your holes in the lineup that you’re going to try to fill. Um, so, you know, I think that’s a big question they need to figure out is where they want him. Uh, another big question is the future of Bo Byum, as I mentioned, is a restricted free agent. We’ve seen some speculation from reputable sources, including Craig Rey, saying that uh supposedly Byum’s packed up his house and has left town with not expecting to return. Um so you know the feeling in the Bayroom side of things that a trade is more likely. We know he wants an opportunity to be you know the top defenseman want to play top pair of minutes be the top guy and get paid as such. He feels he’s you know capable of handling that kind of role and um and succeeding in that role. So, you know, having guys like Power and Dene already there, um, you know, does it make sense for them to offer a big money deal to Byum or does it make sense to try to move him for a different kind of player that they feel might be able to balance things out better? So, to me, right now things are probably trending more likely that we see a Bo Byron trade, but what they target, it’s difficult to say. Do they get another defenseman? uh maybe that you know possibly uh you know more of a a balanced approach here you know like we saw Ottawa last year trade a guy like Cherin for Nick Jensen in a pick you know is that maybe that type of deal I mean we saw how Nick Jensen really balance out Thomas Shabbat in Ottawa. So like you know do they bring in a guy like that they feel real comfortable compare well in the top two whether it be with Dalene or Power in that sense uh that’s a possibility you know a guy like Byum as young as he is and offensively talented as he is they may be able to bring in um you know more than one piece. It’s really difficult to say but it’s trending towards a Byum trade things look that way and we could see further trades and changes to the decor as well. Uh, it doesn’t sound like you’re going to see like the biggest names like Dene or Power move along. I suspect we won’t, but Matias Samson’s a name that’s been out there as well. Again, not a given. A couple of things that complicate this trade is the fact that he’s signed long-term. Uh, he’s had some injuries that probably shy teams away a little bit. And I know this year his character came into question. They want to see more toughness. He’s a really big guy, but he doesn’t always play like it. and they’d like to see him have a little bit more of a, you know, mean streak, a little bit more of a nature to jump in and defend his teammates. Um, you know, and that’s something that he get called out for this year and would like to be better at, but I his name has been out there in the rumor mill as well. So, you know, not a given, but it is a possibility that a guy like Samson could be on the move, too. When it comes to goalies, as I mentioned, the decision on whether or not you try to bring back James Rhymer isn’t your most important one. Um, with the UPL stats this year and how he played, you know, there is some speculation that they could look to be having some second thoughts here on that contract they gave him and that maybe a trade could be in order. If they do trade him, I suspect that they would try to bring back either in that deal or a separate deal another veteran goalender. Um, and you know, it’s possible next year that they could sign Rhymer and have Rhymer and whoever’s brought in be the tandem or do they say, you know what, we Levi’s put in enough time. He’s got to sink or swim with the NHL and see what the tandem looks like. It’s it’s not real certain. I mean, I don’t think Rhymer is a big priority for them at the moment. Uh, but UPPL could very well be a player that has moved. They need stability back there. And like I said, they thought they had it and then this year now they’re questioning that. So, not a given he gets traded. Um hard to say, you know, what other teams would think of the contract based on the numbers and performance this year. So, it might not be easy to do, but um I know it’s something that they’re at least going to look at for sure. But the goalending tandem next year could be UPPL and Levi. Uh it very well could be completely different. Uh I I don’t suspect Levi to go anywhere, but the other two I’d say is questionable for sure. Now, of course, at the 2025 NHL draft, they have the ninth overall pick. They didn’t have any extra luck in the draft lottery to move up any more than that. Um are they going to make that pick or could they trade it? you know, there’s going to be some players um that are going to be available there, but to me, um you’re probably looking at the ceiling for some of those most likely guys either being a number two center or a second pair of defenseman. You know, you’re looking at Matthew Schaefer probably most likely going first overall right now. After that, there’s like a run-on forwards for probably, it’s quite possible that run-on forwards could go as, you know, to as deep as pick 8, 9, 10. Uh, it’s hard to say. Depends on how other teams feel and a lot of them are centers. There’s a few wingers in there. Um, so it’s hard to say. U, but no matter who they pick at that spot, they’re probably at least a couple years away from really getting a chance to play regularly and having an impact. The Sabres certainly want to make improvements as fast as possible. If they can find themselves a youngerish player that’s already a little bit more established, maybe in their early 20s that they feel can fit with this team and stay for an extended period of time. I would not be the least a little bit shocked if they did make a trade involving this first round pick. You know, imagine if they trade it or they packaged up the pick with Byum. you know, maybe they do they move up in the draft or they try to see if one of the teams ahead of them that might be, you know, in the I don’t know if you’d get a top two or three, but maybe like the four five four five range. Is it possible they try to talk to them about moving up to get a much higher pick? Um, you know, that’s a possibility or, you know, it could be it could be even more than that pick involved. It’s you just don’t know. But there’s options and I’m not 100% convinced that they pick at nine whether they try to move up or they try to uh to the trade to pick involved in a package for uh you know a youngerish um you know top um like I said top four defenseman or top six forward that can fit with this team would be something ideal. Uh cuz like I said they don’t need help in a few years they need it now. Um, so I suspect if they’re going to make that trade, they’re probably looking at a top six forward. Um, because I think if you’re trading for if you’re bringing in another D, especially if you’re trading by, you’re probably trying to bring in more of a complimentary piece like the finding a a great partner for your, you know, your your top guys like Dalene and and Power, right? So, not really sure that that has to be such a flashy trade. Um, so we’ll have to wait and see, but I do suspect that the Sabres are going to be busy. Like I said, you have this draft pick that could be in play. You’ve got Byum that could be in play. You’ve got UPPL that could be in play. Uh, I wonder about Jack Quinn. And then you got some big contracts to take care of like Purka, Mloud, you maybe an extension on Tuck. What do they do outside of the, you know, does JPL go? If if he does go, does another goalie come back? Lots of moving parts here. We do know that when we saw the trade deadline with Cousins and Norris, it’s certainly they’re acknowledging they need a different mix and they need to make a few changes and um they have lots of young players that are still, you know, cutting their teeth. They’re on their way up that they have they have a pretty good prospect base and draft pick base. If they want to make a bigger splash, they have some options to do that. And of course, they have some cap space as well. But you know if depending on what they pay Mloud Purka like that number is going to obviously drop and then you know from there you have to go. But Buffalo is going to have a tough time I think getting into the playoffs next year. If you look at the fact that they’ve been having this problem and been out of the playoffs for so long and then you saw teams like Ottawa and Montreal not only surpass them but get into the playoffs this year. It’s going to be tough to imagine that those teams are going to get worse, you know. And then you look at is Toronto, Tampa or Florida. Are they going to get worse enough to fall out of a playoff spot? The Bruins are going to be trying to fight to get back in. You got Detroit right there with you with the with Buffalo. Like it’s not going to be easy. So they need to be very strategic here and see what they can do. So I expect them uh in the case of Adams and some of these guys too, I suspect their jobs are kind of on the line. If they have another bad year, I suspect significant changes. So they’ll be coming out swinging making some big moves. Should be interesting to watch and see what they do. Let me know your thoughts on all today’s news and rumors in the comments. We’ll discuss further. If you’re new to the channel, of course, make sure you subscribe and stick around. We’ll keep you up to date with all the news, rumors, and analysis of all 32 NHL teams. Thanks for watching. I’ll catch you next time. [Music]

What’s Next For The Buffalo Sabres? 2025 Off-Season Plan
How will The Buffalo Sabres attempt at moving forward and making their team more competitive in 2025-26? How can they bounce back and move back into a playoffs spot after not making the 2025 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. I examine the past season, team roster and determine their best plan to improve the team. We address NHL Trade Rumours regarding Buffalo Sabres trade rumours and how they should proceed on that. We analyze their 2025 NHL Prospects and deals they may try to make at the draft. They are in good shape with draft picks in the 2025 NHL Draft. We discuss the 2025 NHL Draft prospects they could select as well. There have been plenty of NHL Trade rumours 2025 regarding this team and I am sure there will be some changes. We address the Buffalo Sabres rumours and whether they stand a good chance at making some off-season moves. We discuss other NHL free agents 2025 that they could explore signing as well. We will see if any of the Buffalo Sabres trade talk will come to be or what direction this team will head in. In a market like Buffalo Sabres

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