While the expansion draft is set to headline a busy NHL offseason, there are still several other storylines for each team in the months ahead. Here is a closer look at what lies ahead for the Buffalo Sabres.
After another disappointing season, the Sabres cleaned house, letting both head coach Dan Bylsma and GM Tim Murray go. Earlier this week, they filled the latter vacancy with the hiring of Jason Botterill away from the Penguins. While hiring a coach will be a main focus (Botterill plans to have a new bench boss in place by the draft in June), here are a few other key decisions that are worth watching for out of Buffalo this offseason.
Time To Commit To Lehner?
Two years ago, the Sabres dealt a first round pick to the Senators to get what they hoped was their core goalie for the present and future in Robin Lehner. The results have been a bit of a mixed bag. Over the last two years, he has played in just 80 games, posting a 2.63 GAA and a .921 SV%. Both of those are decent but not towards the top of the league either.
Lehner is coming off of his bridge deal and is only a couple of years away from unrestricted free agency. The decision needs to be made as to whether or not he’s still the goalie of the future.
If Botterill believes that is the case, he’ll likely look to lock him up long-term on a deal that could double his current $2.25MM cap hit. (His qualifying offer comes in at $3.15MM so any new deal, long-term or short, is likely to start at that amount at a minimum.) If not, they could become part of what’s likely to be a very busy offseason in terms of goaltenders changing places. However, most of the goalies that will be available in this shuffle are shorter-term fits and thus, only a temporary solution.
Rebuilding The Defense
Buffalo spent over $24.75MM on their blueline in 2016-17 between their regulars and injury recalls and didn’t get a whole lot of bang for their buck. While Rasmus Ristolainen continues to be one of the more impressive young defenders in the league, other veterans such as Josh Gorges, Dmitry Kulikov, Cody Franson, and Zach Bogosian all underachieved.
Fortunately for Botterill and the Sabres, the team will have an opportunity to reshape their back end this summer. Both Kulikov and Franson are unrestricted free agents and carried a combined cap hit of just over $7.65MM this season which is more than enough money to go after the big fish in free agency if they so desire. If not, it’s still enough cap space to put towards a couple of veteran free agents (or trade additions) who should be a better fit for the team moving forward. Either way, it seems likely that some changes will be coming on the blueline.
Extension For Eichel?
Just prior to the departures of Bylsma and Murray, reports surfaced that Jack Eichel wouldn’t be willing to sign a contract extension if Bylsma remained behind the bench. Both Eichel and his agent denied the report but the firings were made just one day later.
Eichel, the second overall pick back in 2015, was Buffalo’s leading scorer this past season despite missing 21 games due to injuries. He’s well positioned to be their franchise player for years to come and has five years of team control remaining.
While he’s signed through June of 2018, Botterill will likely kick off extension talks with Eichel and agent Peter Fish in the hopes of getting him signed as soon as they can (no deal can be struck until July 1st). Not only would that get their star player locked up long-term, it would also provide them with some cost certainty and send a strong message to the rest of the team and fan base. While there’s no real rush to get something done (since they have more than a year to sign another deal), it wouldn’t be surprising to see this wrapped up pretty quickly once the calendar turns to July.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.