Post by Buffalo Sabres on Sept 19, 2023 10:22:18 GMT -6
The Sabres offseason was a little turbulent during lift off with a few players flirting with retirement. The hope was that Jeff Carter might take his exit along with his nasty contract, and that Joe Pavelski would take in one more run at glory! well the exact opposite came true, Joe called it a career while Carter decided he would hurt the team for one more season at least by continuing his career.
The 2023 entry draft was um, OK, Sabres traded away some picks and ended up with only a 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th and 2 7ths. The highest pick was 29th and with that selection the Sabres picked FWD Daniil But. The only other hopeful was the #108 pick Ethan Miedema, the rest is pretty much cannon fodder.
During the draft period GM Edwards made some deals to bring in some players. Key additions Def John Marino and Fwd Miles Wood. As explained in the next paragraph Sabres needed to fill in some depth adding blueline and to the scoring. Sabres did move goalie hopeful Ukka Pekka luukkonen sending him to NYR in the Wood deal. Prospect Ryan Johnson went to Seattle in the Marino pick up. Adin Hill found a new home in FLA, Hill became expendable.
Next came Free agency, and the Sabres were hit pretty hard. Key departures included Stephenson, Sanheim and Brayden Schenn. Yes all are very serious blows to the Buffalo depth chart but as mentioned previously GM Edwards did his best to back fill via trades. Not finished there the Sabres GM made several offers, but the highest priority was to resign RFA Jake DeBrusk and that he did inking 4yr deal @ $5.7mill per is a bargain. Unfortunately the UFA market was a dog fight and the Sabres GM landed only one UFA of note, Fwd Michael Bunting who will bring some more scoring depth a trait the GM has been seeking this off season. Sabres also acquired farmer Joshua Dakota to help the Amerks.
Lastly the internal progress was decent, 5 kids will have a very good shot at starting the season in the Blue and Gold, forwards Anderson-Dolan, Ruotsalainen and Louis all progressed very well and look ready. Surprise defenseman Nesterov will make it very hard to send him back the to Farm he took some massive steps towards the bigs. And Rookie goalie Devon Levi will most certainly be the back up and heir apparent to Peterson in the cage. Also worth mention is Rookie JJ Peterka who will be a headliner on the Amerks roster, expect big things.
If we had to grade this off season well I think we'd be sitting around a C+ mainly due to the retirement of Joe Pavelski this was an outcome not anticipated by Sabres management and is viewed as a major setback.
The Buffalo Press.
The 2023 entry draft was um, OK, Sabres traded away some picks and ended up with only a 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th and 2 7ths. The highest pick was 29th and with that selection the Sabres picked FWD Daniil But. The only other hopeful was the #108 pick Ethan Miedema, the rest is pretty much cannon fodder.
During the draft period GM Edwards made some deals to bring in some players. Key additions Def John Marino and Fwd Miles Wood. As explained in the next paragraph Sabres needed to fill in some depth adding blueline and to the scoring. Sabres did move goalie hopeful Ukka Pekka luukkonen sending him to NYR in the Wood deal. Prospect Ryan Johnson went to Seattle in the Marino pick up. Adin Hill found a new home in FLA, Hill became expendable.
Next came Free agency, and the Sabres were hit pretty hard. Key departures included Stephenson, Sanheim and Brayden Schenn. Yes all are very serious blows to the Buffalo depth chart but as mentioned previously GM Edwards did his best to back fill via trades. Not finished there the Sabres GM made several offers, but the highest priority was to resign RFA Jake DeBrusk and that he did inking 4yr deal @ $5.7mill per is a bargain. Unfortunately the UFA market was a dog fight and the Sabres GM landed only one UFA of note, Fwd Michael Bunting who will bring some more scoring depth a trait the GM has been seeking this off season. Sabres also acquired farmer Joshua Dakota to help the Amerks.
Lastly the internal progress was decent, 5 kids will have a very good shot at starting the season in the Blue and Gold, forwards Anderson-Dolan, Ruotsalainen and Louis all progressed very well and look ready. Surprise defenseman Nesterov will make it very hard to send him back the to Farm he took some massive steps towards the bigs. And Rookie goalie Devon Levi will most certainly be the back up and heir apparent to Peterson in the cage. Also worth mention is Rookie JJ Peterka who will be a headliner on the Amerks roster, expect big things.
If we had to grade this off season well I think we'd be sitting around a C+ mainly due to the retirement of Joe Pavelski this was an outcome not anticipated by Sabres management and is viewed as a major setback.
The Buffalo Press.
