Sabres Facing Big Off-Season Decisions Amid Free Agency

Much like the other 31 teams in the NHL, on July 1st, the Buffalo Sabres will be deciding who will suit up for them next season, as they'll hope to end over a decade-long playoff drought.

The team led by forwards Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville that lost in seven games to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round is long gone. Since then, the Buffalo faithful have seen a lot of their homegrown talent come and go with no success to show for it. 

From 2011 to 2024, the Sabres have had 23 first-round picks, including their back-to-back second-overall picks in Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel in the 2014 and 2015 drafts. Reinhart, and especially Eichel, who was the consolation prize to Connor McDavid, signified a new and exciting era in Buffalo.

It was then that Leaf's fans didn't overrun Key Bank arena like it is today, sorry Sabres fans, but it's the truth. 

The Eichel-Reinhart era in Buffalo ended in a messy breakup. Particularly with Eichel and Sabres management. After Eichel suffered a serious neck injury during the 2021 regular season, Eichel and management butted heads over how the star center would make a recovery. 

The feud between Eichel and management lasted months until Eichel requested a trade out of Buffalo. Buffalo obliged by trading him to the Vegas Golden Knights for a first — and second-round pick in the 2022 and 2023 NHL drafts, along with forwards Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch, who are still with Buffalo. 

Reinhart's tenure as a Sabre didn't end so ugly. He simply requested a trade after not liking the direction of the team, a trade in which the Sabres would receive a first-round pick in 2022, and goaltender Devon Levi, who played mostly for Buffalo's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate (Rochester Americans) last season. Who's one of four Sabre RFA's that general manager Kevyn Adams will have to decide whether they can help end a league-worst 14-season playoff drought. 

So, with that in mind, let's examine each player's situation heading into their final year under team control and what we can expect regarding contract specifics. 

JJ Peterka

Age: 23

Draft: 2020, Buffalo, 34th overall pick

According to Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff, Peterka is the most likely candidate to get traded this off-season. Teams came calling at this year's Trade Deadline for Peterka, but Adams rejected all offers and indicated to the media that he has no plans to part ways with the 23-year-old German. 

If that's the case, then he may have to act soon because you can count on the teams interested at the deadline to still be interested at the end of this month, but this time with an offer sheet, and how could they not? 

Peterka's got a shot that's in the league's 94th percentile in terms of average shot speed, according to NHLEdge.com, it's what got him north of 25 goals for back-to-back seasons now. 

Peterka is also tied for the second youngest player on a rebuilding Sabres team, which is saying something, and it didn't stop him from finishing the season tied for second in team scoring. 

It's also not like general managers around the league just noticed Peterka. He really started to take off last season when he got what is now a career-best 28 goals and 18 more points than he had a year before. 

This year, he set a new career high in points, and yes, you can attribute his success to playing on Buffalo's best line in the expected goals per 60 minutes department with Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson, according to MoneyPuck.com, but in some ways, that should make him more attractive to teams.

Let's just say, for argument's sake, that Adams keeps his stance on not trading Peterka but doesn't sign him by the time free agency opens. An offer sheet comes Peterka's way. Is he rejecting the offer to waste another 25-goal season in Buffalo? 

Like everyone else in hockey, he's probably seen teams like Anaheim, Montreal, and Columbus make effective rebuilds, who could use his scoring touch to play meaningful hockey in late April. 

If Adams wants to keep Peterka, he'll have three weeks to do so because the interest in March probably hasn't faded. Chances are that if Peterka gets offer-sheeted, it's by a team that has loads of cap space, and if Adams matches the offer, it could be an overpay for Peterka, and unless Adams wants to let go of one of the best pieces of his rebuild, he should offer an attractive extension.

When looking at similar players who have signed deals coming off similar goal seasons to Peterka, Detroit's Lucas Raymond stands out. 

Raymond scored 31 goals the season before signing his eight-year deal with an AAV of $8 million dollars, according to PuckPedia.com.  Peterka would be lucky to get that kind of money, but again, due to the fact that offer sheets tend to be overpays, Peterka could see a contract close to that range. 

Bowen Byram 

Age: 24

Draft: 2019, Colorado, 4th overall pick

Along with Peterka, Byram's future in Buffalo also seems uncertain. Seravalli ranked Byram as the fourth most likely player to get traded this off-season.

Notice how Byram just turned 24. He's been eligible for a contract extension for almost a year now while also requesting a trade out of Buffalo. So why isn't he signed? Well, there's a reason for it: the former 4th overall pick out of Colorado was traded last March in exchange for Buffalo first-round pick Casey Mittelstadt, mostly due to his inability to stay healthy.

Until this season, where he appeared in all 82 regular season games, the most amount of games Byram played in a single season was 55, but now that he's shown he can log a healthy amount of NHL games in a single season, teams will be interested, as they should be. 

At just 20 years old, he was the third highest-scoring defenseman on a Stanley Cup-winning Colorado Avalanche team; that alone will turn heads, but it's his offensive game that's never faded, even with injuries. 

Byram's ability to break his team out single-handedly is why he'll spark interest, paired with the fact he finished last season with a career-high in points (38) in front of a below-average forward corps to work with.

When looking at Byram's case, you have to believe teams will be interested in what he can do for them on the ice because he's got the talent; that's not the question. It's whether that talent can stay on the ice. So, when looking at what Byram's next deal could look like, chances are the term won't be high due to injuries, but expect the number to be promising. 

Jack Quinn

Age: 23

Draft: 2020, Buffalo, 8th overall pick

Like Byram, Quinn's biggest issue is his ability to stay healthy, but unlike Byram, even when he is healthy, his numbers do not pop out at you. 

Quinn had a career year last season in goals (15) and points (39), and If there was an award for the nicest-looking snipes in the NHL, Quinn would be in contention for it.