Checking in with our resident Buffalo Sabres fan, Colby Kephart, about his expectations (or lack thereof) for Owen Power, what other undrafted college players might go pro, what’s considered good goaltending these days, as well as an Eastern Conference rundown and Colby’s “Off the Cuff” debut.
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2020-21 record 15-34-7, 37 points
8th in the MassMutual NHL East Division
Missed the postseason for the 10th-straight year
Additions: F John Hayden, F Vinnie Hinostroza, D Will Butcher (acquired from NJD), D Robert Hagg (acquired from PHI), D Ethan Prow, G Craig Anderson, G Aaron Dell, G Devon Levi (acquired from FLA)
Subtractions: F Jean-Sébastien Dea (signed with MTL), F Steven Fogarty (signed with BOS), F Sam Reinhart (traded to FLA), F C.J. Smith (signed with CAR), D Will Borgen (expansion, SEA), D Matt Irwin (signed with WSH), D Jake McCabe (signed with CHI), D Casey Nelson (retired), D Rasmus Ristolainen (traded to PHI), G Michael Houser (signed with Rochester, AHL), G Carter Hutton (signed with ARI), G Stefanos Lekkas (signed with Fort Wayne, ECHL), G Linus Ullmark (signed with BOS)
Still Unsigned: F Dawson Dipietro, F Casey Mittelstadt (RFA), F Tobias Rieder, F Riley Sheahan, D Rasmus Dahlin (RFA), D Henri Jokiharju (RFA)
Re-signed: F Rasmus Asplund, D Brandon Davidson, D Casey Fitzgerald
Offseason Analysis: Apparently the Buffalo Sabres have never heard the phrase “don’t count your chickens before they hatch” except in this case it’s not even about making the playoffs– it has everything to do with the makeup of their roster this offseason.
For starters, the 1st overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, Owen Power, is sticking around at the University of Michigan for another season, which is honestly for the better. He can develop as a defender at his own pace and avoid wracking up an insurmountable minus-rating.
When it seemed like Sabres General Manager, Kevyn Adams, could count on somebody, anybody, wanting to stay in Buffalo, well…
Turns out after an 18-game losing streak last season, a lot of players don’t want to be back.
After a disastrous 2020-21 season that featured six goaltenders making at least one appearance in a Sabres uniform, including Linus Ullmark, Michael Houser, Carter Hutton, Dustin Tokarski, Jonas Johansson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Adams was left with some difficult decisions to make as only one goaltender recorded a goals-against average below a 3.00.
Ullmark had the only winning record for the Sabres last season– amassing a 9-6-3 record in 20 games, while posting a 2.63 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage in that span.
He was interested in signing an extension during the season, despite Buffalo’s defensive struggles and offensive inefficiency, but the Sabres wouldn’t budge and opted to kick the can down the road for a renewal in the offseason.
Adams didn’t want contract negotiations to distract his only productive goaltender, it seemed.
That didn’t sit well with Ullmark, though, as the Boston Bruins courted him away on a four-year contract worth $20 million shortly after Hutton departed Buffalo for the Arizona Coyotes on a one-year, $750,000 deal earlier in the day when free agency opened on July 28th.
Going into free agency, the Sabres could afford to lose Hutton as he struggled through 13 games in 2020-21, with a 3.47 goals-against average, an .886 save percentage and a 1-10-1 record in that span.
Hutton never really made the jump from being a backup with the St. Louis Blues to being a legitimate starting goaltender for Buffalo, but with Luukkonen as the “goaltender of the future” for the franchise, Adams probably thought he could lose Hutton and keep Ullmark around for the transition of power in the crease– until they couldn’t.
With Hutton and Ullmark now out of the picture, Adams passed on re-signing Houser, who made his NHL debut and played similar to Hutton in that he had a 3.46 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage– though Houser had a better record (2-2-0) in four games played.
Houser will still be in upstate New York for the 2021-22 season, though, as he signed an AHL contract with the Rochester Americans.
Johansson was dealt to the Colorado Avalanche ahead of the trade deadline and Tokarski couldn’t hold things down in the NHL, but still has a year left on his contract with the Sabres.
The Seattle Kraken landed Philipp Grubauer. The Avalanche traded for Darcy Kuemper. Toronto and Carolina swapped goaltenders even though it wasn’t a trade– it was just a product of free agency!
But don’t worry, the Sabres didn’t forget to sign a goalie in the offseason– they actually remembered to sign two goaltenders.
Both received one-year deals worth $750,000 and one of them put off retirement to play for Buffalo.
That’s right, Craig Anderson and Aaron Dell are the new guys in the crease for the Sabres for 2021-22.
At 40-years-old, Anderson isn’t as limber as he used to be, but he managed to put up a 2-1-0 record in four games played with the Washington Capitals last season. He also had a 2.13 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage in that span.
Meanwhile, 32-year-old Dell had a rough time rotating as the third-string goaltender with the New Jersey Devils last season– amassing a 1-5-0 record in seven games and a 4.14 goals-against average, as well as an .857 save percentage.
Given the league’s COVID-19 protocols and taxi squad rules for last season, both goalies were a safety net option in the event of an injury or COVID-19 outbreak.
The two goaltenders played a combined 11 games last season in a 56-game schedule and that’s the only big story out of the Sabres this offseason.
Yep. Nothing else going on between the end of 2020-21 and the start of 2021-22.
Surely Jack Eichel is happy with– wait, what?
That’s right, Buffalo still has to work on trading Eichel– their once cornerstone player turned injured and fed up modern-day Matt Duchene at the end of his tenure with Colorado saga (part 2, kind of).
Plus, Adams shipped out Sam Reinhart to the Florida Panthers and Rasmus Ristolainen to the Philadelphia Flyers via trades this offseason.
Reinhart became a casualty of a rebuilding team still going through another rebuild, but at least the Panthers gave Buffalo a 2022 1st round pick and goaltending prospect, Devon Levi, in return.
Ristolainen had been wanting out of Buffalo for at least a year or two now and finally got his wish, while helping the Sabres rob the Flyers of a 2021 1st round pick (Isak Rosén), a 2023 2nd round pick and defender, Robert Hagg.
Draft day trades and free agent defenders went for a premium this year.
The Sabres also added Will Butcher and a 2022 5th round pick in a salary cap dump move from the Devils in exchange for future considerations while New Jersey went on to sign Dougie Hamilton to a long-term deal in free agency.
Butcher should be an upgrade on the blue line (think Colin Miller, but better), though there’s not much else around him– especially with Rasmus Dahlin still waiting on a new contract.
Offseason Grade: D
The Sabres should receive an “F” for not having cashed in on Eichel yet, but the return on Reinhart and Ristolainen in separate trades is promising.
At the very least, Adams knows he can command a high-value yield for young players that have shown NHL-caliber talent (at the very least) and are in demand– albeit Ristolainen in Philadelphia is a reclamation project, but we’ll save that for the Flyers preview.
Since Eichel is a star player, Buffalo automatically loses out on an inevitable trade, but anything less than what they got for Reinhart or Ristolainen is worthy of firing Adams this early in his tenure as GM.
Nothing– absolutely nothing– went well for the Sabres last season. An 18-game losing streak will do that to you.
The good news is that it appears they’ve reached rock bottom. The bad news is that they could still be at rock bottom this season.
Buffalo can only go up, but it’s a question of when.
Round 1 of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft was held virtually Friday night for the second-straight year as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic delayed the league’s plans for a draft at Bell Centre in Montréal until 2022 at the earliest.
Coverage of this year’s first round began Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2 in the United States, as well as SN and TVAS in Canada. Rounds 2-7 will be televised on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. ET on NHLN in the U.S. and Sportsnet in Canada.
As always, there were plenty of surprises and (possibly) a lack of trades. Here’s how it all went down.
1.Buffalo Sabres –> D Owen Power, Michigan (NCAA)
2. Seattle Kraken –> C Matthew Beniers, Michigan (NCAA)
3. Anaheim Ducks –> C Mason McTavish, Peterborough Petes (OHL)
4. New Jersey Devils –> D Luke Hughes, USA-U18 (USHL)
5. Columbus Blue Jackets –> C Kent Johnson, Michigan (NCAA)
6. Detroit Red Wings –> D Simon Edvinsson, Frölunda HC (SHL)
7. San Jose Sharks –> LW William Eklund, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
8. Los Angeles Kings –> D Brandt Clarke, Barrie Colts (OHL)
9. Arizona Coyotes (from Vancouver Canucks) –> RW Dylan Guenther, Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL)
10. Ottawa Senators –> RW Tyler Boucher, USA-U18 (USHL)
11. Arizona Coyotes –> Forfeited pick
12. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Chicago) –> C Cole Sillinger, Sioux City Musketeers (USHL)
13. Calgary Flames –> RW Matthew Coronato, Chicago Steel (USHL)
14. Buffalo Sabres (from Philadelphia Flyers) –> RW Isak Rosen, Leksands IF (SHL)
15. Detroit Red Wings (from Dallas Stars) –> G Sebastian Cossa, Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL)
16. New York Rangers –> LW Brennan Othmann, EHC Olten (Swiss League)
17. St. Louis Blues –> C Zachary Bolduc, Rimouski Océanic (QMJHL)
18. Winnipeg Jets –> C Chaz Lucius, USA-U18 (USHL)
19. Nashville Predators –> C Fedor Svechkov, HC Lada Togliatti (VHL)
20. Minnesota Wild (from Edmonton Oilers) –> G Jesper Wallstedt, Luleå HF (SHL)
21. Boston Bruins –> RW Fabian Lysell, Luleå HF (SHL)
22. Edmonton Oilers (from Minnesota Wild) –> C Xavier Bourgault, Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL)
23. Dallas Stars (from Washington Capitals via Detroit Red Wings) –> C Wyatt Johnston, Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
24. Florida Panthers –> RW Mackie Samoskevich, Chicago Steel (USHL)
25. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Toronto Maple Leafs) –> D Corson Ceulemans, Brooks Bandits (AJHL)
26. Minnesota Wild (from Pittsburgh Penguins) –> D Carson Lambos, Winnipeg Ice (WHL)
27. Nashville Predators (from Carolina Hurricanes) –> LW Zachary L’Heureux, Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)
28. Colorado Avalanche –> RW Oskar Olausson, HV71 (SHL)
29. New Jersey Devils (from New York Islanders) –> RW Chase Stillman, Sudbury Wolves (OHL)
30. Vegas Golden Knights –> C Zach Dean, Gatineau Olympiques (QMJHL)
31. Montréal Canadiens –> D Logan Mailloux, SK Lejon
32. Chicago (from Tampa Bay Lightning via Columbus Blue Jackets) –> D Nolan Allan, Prince Albert Raiders (WHL)
Trades made during the first round of the draft:
Trades made earlier in the day prior to the first round of the draft:
Down the Frozen River 
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