BUFFALO – Free agency, with its limited crop of talent and exorbitant asking prices, likely won’t help the Sabres much as general manager Jarmo Kekalainen works to improve a roster that has recently lost two of its best players.
The offseason kicks into high gear again Wednesday when the market opens at noon.
What could Kekalainen, who’s in his first summer as GM, do to keep the Sabres atop the ultra-competitive Atlantic Division?
He has $10,883,236 of projected salary cap space, according to Puckpedia.com, and assets at his disposal.
Right now, the Sabres have 15 NHL forwards under contract for next season. They likely can’t keep them all. They have a handful of high-end defense prospects.
Trades could be coming.
How far might Kekalainen go? Does he simply want to make a couple of small additions? Or could he take a big swing and try to pry a superstar like, say, the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck, a goalie the Sabres are reportedly interested in?
The Sabres, fresh off a 109-point campaign, have Stanley Cup contender status. While they used both of the first-round picks Friday at the NHL Draft, they’re in go-for-it mode.
Since their season ended with a Game 7 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, trades have weakened their roster.
Dealing Bowen Byram, who with the Chicago Blackhawks has the opportunity he coveted to become a No. 1 defenseman, and dishing winger Alex Tuch to the Washington Capitals in a sign-and-trade deal, has left two huge holes in the lineup.
It appears Olen Zellweger, the defenseman the Sabres acquired Friday in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks, will replace Byram. Buffalo’s blue line, still one of the NHL’s deepest and most talented, might be set other than some depth additions.
While Zellweger, 22, isn’t a budding star like Byram, he possesses similar talents and has loads of potential. He could certainly grow into a bigger role.
Filling the huge void created by Tuch’s departure will be difficult. The Baldwinsville native averaged 32 goals over his four full seasons in Buffalo and ranks among the NHL’s best two-way forwards.
Yes, there are some interesting, albeit graying, free agent wingers available. But there’s no one as dynamic or young, for that matter, as Tuch, who recently turned 30.
South Buffalo native Patrick Kane, 37, is nearing the end of a Hall of Fame career but produced 57 points in 67 games with the Detroit Red Wings last season.
Anders Lee, 35, appears to be heading to the market after spending the last eight seasons captaining the New York Islanders. Despite scoring 19 goals last season, his lowest total in a full campaign in 10 years, his advanced numbers illustrate he creates offense. He had an NHL-high 25.99 expected goals at five-on-five.
Claude Giroux, 38, registered 49 points for the Ottawa Senators last season.
Jaden Schwartz, 34, mustered just 11 goals in 50 games with the Seattle Kraken last season but scored 26 times in 81 outings in 2024-25.
The Sabres’ best options to replace Tuch might already be on the roster.
Kekalainen said last week some of the young forwards – Jiri Kulich, Konsta Helenius and Noah Ostlund, all of whom are 22 or younger – can assume more responsibility with Tuch gone.
Kulich, the most experienced of those youngsters, has played 75 NHL games and is recovering from a blood clot that ended his season Nov. 1. Helenius, counting an impressive stint in the playoffs, has played just 13 contests. Ostlund has played 68 games.
They’re all natural centers who should enjoy long careers. They can likely absorb some of Tuch’s production.
Still, they’re raw, and as they adjust to the rigors of the NHL, they will certainly struggle at times.
Kekalainen must make some difficult decisions as he tries to improve the Sabres.
The Sabres have five notable unrestricted free agents: defensemen Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn and forwards Josh Dunne, Tanner Pearson and Trevor Kuntar.