Buffalo Sabres 2025 FREE AGENCY ROUNDUP

Buffalo Sabres 2025 FREE AGENCY ROUNDUP

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Buffalo Sports Center here with another video. I am Don and today we are going to recap and round up everything the Sabres have done up to this point. It’s been a week plus of free agency thus far. We’ve had the draft already. All of those move moves have been discussed in prior videos, but for the purposes of today’s video, we’re going to look at every single major move the Sabres have done to their NHO roster, and we’re going to see how everything fits together. What is Kevin Adams master plan? Hint, he doesn’t have one. But anyways, folks, make sure to hit that like button and subscribe. And on day two of the NHL draft, Connor Clifton, the Sabres third pair right shot defenseman was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Connor Timonss, another right shot guy who is from not too far away up on Niagara on the lake, I think, or St. Catherine’s, one of the two. And then defensive prospect Isaac Belliv was the other piece. Now, unlike the Burka trade, this Connor Timids trade is much better, I think, for the Sabres on paper. Clifton, it really felt like his time was running out here in Buffalo. did not look great under Lindy Ruff’s system last year and he was oftentimes scratched towards the end of the year. Now with Connor Timids, you had someone that’s a little faster, very good on the penalty kill and has a little bit of more of an offensive flare than Connor Clifton does. Now, of course, Connor Clifton was sent to the Penguins, I forgot to mention, alongside the 39th overall pick, which the Penguins did end up keeping and drafted a player with. Let’s keep on moving, folks. Let’s actually get into the day one of the NHL free agency. Alex Lion here first. He signed a two-year $3 million deal. He will get 1.5 mil per season. As much as I criticize Kevin Adams, Alex Lion is actually a sneaky good signing. He can be a 1B backup option, but right behind Uka Lucin and it’s likely that Lucinan will go on a downturn and not have a good stretch at some point this season. That’s where you need a guy like Alex Lion to step in and be a plugandplay kind of guy. And he was exactly that in Detroit the last two seasons and then Florida prior to that. Last season, Lion won 149 and one with Detroit. He had a 2.81 goals against average, 896 save percentage. And most notably, and as many people have already pointed out, he was a member of the Florida Panthers team that beat the Sabres late in that season and helped the PL Panthers get into the playoffs over the Buffalo Sabres. He was the goalie that took them on that run to get in. And well, let’s look at how each team has done since then. Not great. A little painful. Now, let’s keep on moving, folks. Let’s talk about another trade that the Sabres made on during the draft. Actually, let’s rewind a bit, go back a few days, and talk about Sam Laughafer. The Savers cleared some dead money off their books by getting rid of Sam Lafery. They traded Lafery to the Chicago Blackhawks in in exchange for a 2026 sixthround pick. Why would Chicago want a guy like Laferty? I’m not sure. But for the Sabres and for Kevin Adams, this is another W move. Now, who did the Sabres replace Laferty with? Well, they didn’t really need to, but Kevin Adams did anyways by signing a Yarmmo favorite, Justin Danforth. He’s a bottom six gritty forward who’s actually been in the Sabres system before. Played for the Cincinnati Cyclones way back when and the Rochester Americans as well before finally getting his break in Columbus. He played in Columbus for a few years. Last year, he put up nine goals, 12 assists for 21 points. And the Sabres have signed him now to a 2-year, $1.8 8 million per year contract. Isn’t that basically what they were paying Sam Laferdy? Are we just trading in one Laferdy for another? I don’t know. Probably. Let’s conclude now here, folks, by talking about the Sabres extensions. The Sabres made a few big moves to keep guys within their system. Most notably, the Sabres resigned Ryan Mloud to a 4-year, $20 million deal. Of course, Mloud has had his breakout season last year with Buffalo. He looked phenomenal. I was hoping that maybe they give him a little more term, maybe a 5×5, but in the end it was a 4×5. Still a very good deal for Kevin Adams. I like this contract a lot. What I don’t like is Kevin Adams signing Jack Quinn to a 2-year $7 million deal in which Quinn is being paid 3.5 mil per season. What has Quinn done to earn this? Not really anything. He was pretty disappointing last year and before that he’s of course had a lot of injury problems. just terrible luck. But with all of that being considered, Jack Quinn should not be on this team anymore. Did the Sabres really need him? And if so, where are we gonna play him? Is he going back into the top six, top nine? He certainly can’t be a fourthline player at this point. But this is a really big bet by Kevin Adams. Now, if Jack Quinn returns to what he was showing before all of his injury problems, then this is a great contract for Buffalo. If not, if he continues to show that his skating just isn’t what it used to be, this could be really bad. Again, another poor contract on the books for Buffalo. Fortunately, it is only a 2-year deal. And finally, the Sabres resigned a couple of their RFAS, Tyson Kak and defenseman Ryan Johnson. Each of them got signed to three-year 2.325 million contracts. Each of them will be getting paid $775,000 per season. Kak. This is well earned, welldeserved. He looked very good in fourthline minutes last year. He’ll probably be the 13th forward for the Sabres this year. As for Ryan Johnson, this is an opportunity for him to now take this contract and make the NHL roster. It’s been six years since the Sabres have drafted him, and he hasn’t really made an impact here in Buffalo. He looked okay in stretches in Rochester last year, but not consistent enough to make me think he’ll succeed and thrive at the NHL level. And now folks, let’s just quickly look now to the Sabres depth chart. And when you look at this depth chart, is it a playoff team? Does this scream playoff team? Not really. At best, I think this team gets the 85 to 90 points. And these are all the players. This including all the new signings. This is the big picture that Kevin Adams and his front office are looking at right now. And when you see this, when other teams see this, they’re not scared. Maybe the decor is marginally better. If you include Byron in that top four, then it definitely gets a lot better. Then I think maybe, just maybe, this team is a playoff team. Problem is Byron wants $9 million in that. We, the Savers, just can’t afford that or won’t afford that because they have an internal cap. So again, this team keeps spinning its wheels, stuck in the same position that they were a few seasons ago where they’re just right above mediocre, but also not good enough to make the playoffs. It’s purgatory. It’s hell. Kevin Adams at this point, he’s worked around the edges. Hasn’t made a huge addition, huge signing. He needs to do something. Kevin, do something. Flip Byron for a couple good forwards. Do it, please. Sabres Nation is begging you. We don’t give you a lot of credit, but if you’re able to pull off a good buyarm trade, this team with inserting a top six forward plus maybe another top six forward, probably not. Maybe another top nine or defenseman, left shot defenseman to go on that third pairing. Now you have yourself a pretty solid team. But anyways folks, I am Don. This here is Buffalo Sports Center. What are your thoughts on the Sabres offseason additions and moves thus far? Let me know in the comments section down below. And I’ll see all of you in a video very, very soon. Goodbye.

The Sabres entered into this offseason needing to make a plethora of moves. However, at this point, Buffalo has only made moves around the edges of this squad. Today, Don breaks down some of these moves (excluding the Peterka trade & Byram rumors).

What are your thoughts on the Sabres’ offseason thus far? Let us know in the comments below!

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