What Could've Been For Buffalo: Looking Back At The Sabres' 2020-21 Roster
GM Kevyn Adams and the Buffalo Sabres have moved on from another promising player before they reached the pinnacle of their career. On Wednesday night, JJ Peterka was traded to the Utah Mammoth for Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan.
With Peterka gone, the Sabres have just six players remaining from their 2020-21 roster. That team didn't have success in the regular season, as they finished last in the NHL. However, looking back at the makeup of their roster, they had an impressive group of players.
That 2020-21 team included Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Casey Mittelstadt, Taylor Hall, Brandon Montour, Dylan Cozens, Jake McCabe and Linus Ullmark. All those players now play elsewhere, and some of them have gone on to win Stanley Cups and NHL awards.
In addition, that Sabres team had Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, three players who remain on Buffalo's current roster.
Among the ex-Sabres listed and including their former captain, Kyle Okposo, there are five Stanley Cups between them. Not just that, all those players experienced playoff hockey after moving from Buffalo.
Eichel and Reinhart have transformed themselves into some of the best players in the league since they were traded away from Buffalo.
The Sabres traded Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights in the middle of the 2021-22 campaign. There was a disagreement between the player and the team regarding his health and how to manage Eichel's injury.
Nonetheless, he became a different beast once he moved to Nevada, especially last season. Eichel reached a new career-high of 94 points, including 28 goals in 77 games. The 28-year-old finished in the top five in voting for the Hart, Selke and Lady Byng Trophies.
Reinhart is a back-to-back Cup champion with the Florida Panthers and is a key member of the team. On top of that, he had a 57-goal season in 2023-24 and has been a top-five Selke Trophy candidate twice since joining Florida.
With that, Eichel and Reinhart were selected to Team USA and Team Canada's preliminary rosters, respectively, for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in February.
Even Jeff Skinner, who never made a playoff appearance before this past season, went all the way to the Stanley Cup final with the Edmonton Oilers. He was bought out by the Sabres and signed with the Oilers as a free agent last July.
It's worth mentioning that the Sabres hold the joint-longest playoff drought among the four major sports in North America. They share a 14-year playoff drought with the NFL's New York Jets, and it's the longest drought in NHL history.
Even those players who haven't gone on to win the Stanley Cup they turned out to be solid players, making a difference on their respective teams.
For example, Ullmark has won a Vezina and William M. Jennings Trophy one season after he signed with the Boston Bruins in the 2021 off-season. Now, he's a true No.1 goaltender and was a key piece to pushing the Ottawa Senators to the post-season for the first time since 2017.
Defenseman Jake McCabe is another player who has found a new home. He's been a force with the Toronto Maple Leafs, heading into his fourth season with the team, and depending on the game, McCabe is sometimes the best D-man on Toronto.
Only time will tell if Peterka becomes yet another player that Buffalo may regret moving on from.
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New York Times
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- New York Times
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But there are nonetheless players who fit those needs available. So, on the eve of chaos breaking loose, here's our updated free agent targets list, tiered by how impactful — and how realistic — they could be, plus a handful of top potential trade targets if the free agent market dries up quickly. Aaron Ekblad, RHD, Florida Panthers When you factor both Detroit's needs and the potential to land one of the players in this top group, Ekblad comes out on top. He's a clear top-four defenseman coming off a strong playoff run for the Stanley Cup champion Panthers, and happens to be from just across the river in Windsor, Ontario. There are fair questions on how he will age on the back half of a long-term deal, as a big body who has logged a ton of minutes and plays with an edge. But he remains highly effective, can make an impact at both ends of the ice and would immediately elevate the blue line. That's a lot to like. 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Vladislav Gavrikov, LHD, Los Angeles Kings By pure fit, Gavrikov's defensive prowess, left-hand shot and familiarity with head coach Todd McLellan make him an obvious potential target. But I haven't gotten the sense that Detroit will be a serious contender for him. That said, watch Gavrikov on Tuesday anyway — if he were to land with, say, the Rangers, could that give New York a nudge to trade another potential fit in 25-year-old lefty K'Andre Miller? Mitch Marner, RW, Toronto Maple Leafs Marner's the top player on the market and accordingly would be the single-biggest difference maker for Detroit as a 100-point winger with Selke-level defensive play. So we have to include his name somewhere here. But he feels like a pipe dream more likely to land on a team closer to contention. Brad Marchand, LW, Florida Panthers Marchand likewise feels unlikely to land in Detroit, and may not even make it to July 1 if he decides to stay with the defending Stanley Cup champions. 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Joel Armia, RW, Montreal Canadiens Like Tanev, Armia would be an identity add with some offense. He'd also be a nice addition to the penalty kill on the league's worst short-handed team. Brian Dumoulin, LHD, New Jersey Devils Dumoulin is on the older side, as he will turn 34 in September, but on a short-term deal, he's an interesting option who has still turned in respectable defensive metrics over the last few seasons. Playing him in legitimate top-four minutes might be a slight stretch at this stage, though. Connor Brown, RW, Edmonton Oilers Brown isn't necessarily physical, but he brings offense as a third-line scorer who can produce in the harder areas of the ice. His experience in the playoffs the last two years certainly has some appeal, too. Andrew Mangiapane, LW, Washington Capitals Mangiapane profiles as a true middle-six scorer on the wing, good for a respectable 15 goals or so, and had three straight seasons of 40-plus points before a down year in 2024-25. 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New York Times
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What I'm hearing about Pius Suter's market, Canucks' approach to free agency
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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
The Flyers are pivoting on the rebuild. How aggressive might they be this week?
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — It's possible that the most captivating portion of the Philadelphia Flyers' offseason is already over. The club made a significant splash in acquiring Trevor Zegras from Anaheim last Monday, drafted a potential future top-line winger and second-line center in Porter Martone and Jack Nesbitt on Friday and added seven more players with a nice blend of size and competitive skill Saturday, earning them high marks from our experts. Advertisement With the start of the free-agency signing period looming Tuesday, the Flyers could approach this week simply in search of veteran depth to supplement their young core, particularly at the center and goaltender positions. If they want to be meaningfully more competitive next season, as is the plan, that's probably the minimum. It seems likely they will add at least one or two more players, even if they may not be the kinds of names that will get the phones ringing off the hook in the season ticket office. That said, the possibility for more headline-grabbing moves for high-end impact players remains very real. Flyers management, led by general manager Daniel Briere, has shown an ability to operate in the shadows. Most of their major transactions have caught the hockey world by surprise, from the Jamie Drysdale-Cutter Gauthier trade in January 2024 to the Zegras deal last week. Even Nesbitt acknowledged he didn't have much of a sense that the Flyers were interested in him before they selected him in the first round. The Zegras acquisition was notable in that it represented the first real pivot in the rebuild to what management hopes to be a perennial playoff team in as little as two or three more years. So the question is: how aggressive will the Flyers be when the market opens? Briere has said that the 2023, 2024 and 2025 draft classes would form the core of the farm system. That's why, for example, in his comments following the Zegras trade, he noted he was not willing to part with any of the team's trio of 2025 first-round selections to push that deal over the line. They were just too important. That was backed up by his packaging the 22nd and 31st overall picks to move up to 12th and grab a prospect they're high on in Nesbitt. It's much too early to draw any broad conclusions about those three draft classes, but there's no question the Flyers have a nice crop of prospects with the potential for some to emerge as regular, or even high-end, NHL players. The Flyers added a dozen prospects in the first two rounds alone over the last three years, with five first-rounders and seven second-rounders. One of them, of course — 2023 No. 7 selection Matvei Michkov — is already in the NHL. Martone could have an abbreviated path to the NHL as arguably the most NHL-ready prospect in his class. Jett Luchanko, No. 13 last year, has already played a few games in the league, and at just 18 years old, has the potential to become a top-six NHL center, while 2023 draftees Oliver Bonk, Carson Bjarnason and Denver Barkey will all turn pro this coming season. Advertisement It's a nice foundation. And the Flyers still have a virtually full complement of picks in the years ahead, with all of their own selections in the top three rounds in each of the next three years, as well as Toronto's first rounder in 2027 (top-10 protected) from the Scott Laughton trade and the Kings' 2027 third-rounder from the Andrei Kuzmenko trade. It's worth noting, though, that Briere has stopped short of calling the 2026 draft a vital one. They've already traded their fourth- and fifth-round picks in that draft, too. Might they be willing to part with more, in the right deal for a young player that could help them now and in the future? Briere left that possibility wide open two months ago when asked about the Flyers potentially pursuing restricted free agents via offer sheets. 'It is a tool that we are going to look into,' he said on April 21. 'It has to make sense, and the thing is, when you go down that route, you have to overpay for a player. I don't know if we are that flush with money that we can really be all that aggressive, but we are certainly going to take a look at it. If it makes sense, we will consider it.' According to PuckPedia, the Flyers are one of 12 NHL teams that can sign a restricted free agent to a deal between approximately $7 million and $9.36 million annually. It would cost them their first-, second- and third-round picks in 2026. That might be too rich considering they want to remain flexible for the 2026 offseason, but they're also one of 19 teams that can sign an RFA to a contract between a $4.68 million and $7 million AAV, which would force them to give up their first- and third-round picks in 2026. A signing of either magnitude (if it wasn't matched) would essentially make next year's draft a near wash, leaving them with no picks (or only a second) until the sixth round. But if it's for the right player, perhaps it's something they're willing to do, considering how many players they've drafted in the last three years, coupled with having five picks in the first three rounds in 2027. Maybe one solitary black-hole draft in a five-year span would be palatable at this stage, as long as it lands them a young player who could fit for now and the future. Advertisement As for potential targets, we speculated a couple of months ago that Mason McTavish might make sense, but the Ducks dealing Zegras probably takes him off the board. There are a few other pending RFA centers who could pique the Flyers' interest, though, whether it's the Winnipeg Jets' Gabe Vilardi, the Buffalo Sabres' Ryan McLeod or the Boston Bruins' Morgan Geekie — all young and, to varying degrees, still developing. The 25-year-old Vilardi, especially, is an intriguing player, considering his 6-foot-3, 216-pound frame and his ability to play center or wing. Vilardi posted 27 goals and 61 points in 71 games for Winnipeg last season. On defense, Bowen Byram, 24, has been a hot name in trade speculation around the league. If a trade doesn't materialize before Tuesday, might the talented, offensive-minded left-shot defenseman be enticed by an offer sheet? What about the New Jersey Devils' Luke Hughes or the New York Rangers' K'Andre Miller? The Flyers could also go for a more marginal player or two, too: An offer-sheet signing between $2.34 million and $4.68 million annually would only cost them their 2026 second-round pick, for example. Regardless, the steadfast refusal to deal future assets is seemingly over. Even if the Flyers don't go the offer-sheet route, just being open to it suggests they're willing to part with some of their 2026 picks in the right trade situation. Maybe they'll target a player already thought to be available. Or, perhaps it comes out of left field — just like the Drysdale and Zegras trades did. A team source said the Flyers 'are not too far off' on a contract extension for defenseman York, who is a pending restricted free agent. Might that mean they have already come to an agreement and are just waiting to announce it until after July 1? Hard to say, but I've also been told the club isn't worried about York signing an offer sheet with another club. As for Jakob Pelletier, the only other notable pending restricted free agent, Briere is already on record saying the club is going to qualify him. It's probably safe to assume the winger, who looked much more effective after John Tortorella was fired, will stick around for at least another season, too.
