The NHL’s off-season free-agent and trade frenzy has now died down, which means it’s time to evaluate how each squad has done so far.
We’re kicking off The Hockey News’ NHL summer splash rankings. Day by day, we’re ranking which teams did the most to improve, based on acquisitions, departures, hirings and firings.
The general criteria is examining which teams improved, stayed the same or got worse. There are exceptions for teams that kept star players off the market by re-signing them and clubs that didn’t necessarily get much worse but did significantly less than what was expected.
The last-place squad in this series fits into one of those exceptions – you can guess which one.
The NHL summer splash rankings begin with Team No. 32 – the Buffalo Sabres.
Additions
Josh Doan (RW), Justin Danforth (RW), Michael Kesselring (D), Conor Timmins (D), Alex Lyon (G)
The Breakdown: The Sabres made their defense corps deeper by adding Kesselring (via the JJ Peterka trade) and Timmins (via the Connor Clifton trade). Kesselring has potential as a top-four defenseman, but neither D-man can be considered a massive difference-maker.
Similarly, young winger Doan has shown promise in his game, scoring seven goals and 19 points in 51 games while splitting this past season between the NHL and AHL. But he’s a depth player, as is 32-year-old former Columbus Blue Jackets winger Danforth, who gives experience to Buffalo’s bottom six forwards.
Lyon signed as a free agent to compete with youngster Devon Levi for the supporting role behind starting goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Departures
JJ Peterka (RW), Sam Lafferty (C), Connor Clifton (D), Jacob Bernard-Docker (D), James Reimer (G)
The Breakdown: Peterka was traded to the Utah Mammoth, where he quickly signed a five-year deal with an average annual value of $7.7 million. Clearly, either Buffalo wasn’t willing to offer that contract, Peterka wasn’t willing to sign the same deal with the Sabres or both.
Meanwhile, depth center Lafferty was dealt to Chicago, Clifton was shipped off to Pittsburgh, Bernard-Docker signed a free-agent deal with Detroit, and Reimer, 37, remains unsigned.
The Bottom Line
The Sabres’ off-season moves are extremely underwhelming. They lost a dynamic point-producer in Peterka and ostensibly used his cap space to re-sign young defenseman Bowen Byram.
But while Buffalo’s defense corps now has solid depth, its overall offense has taken a hit, and that’s not good news in the highly competitive Atlantic Division. They scored the 10th-most goals-for this past season, and Peterka was their second-top scorer, with 68 points.
The Sabres have about $7.39 million in cap space, but a chunk of that will have to go to RFA goalie Levi and RFA blueliner Timmins. All in all, Buffalo hasn’t improved, and they’ve gotten worse in the grand scheme of things.
Sabres fans don’t need to be reminded, but their team hasn’t made the playoffs in 14 years. They were one win away from making the playoffs in 2022-23, with 91 points, and subsequently finished with 84 and 79 points in the following two seasons. How patient can a fan be?
If the Sabres extend their playoff drought to 15 years by missing out on the post-season in 2025-26, the Sabres should be radically remaking their front office and starting over to at long last come up with a team that can compete with the best organizations in the NHL.
They haven’t done nearly enough to go toe-to-toe with top Atlantic teams like Florida, Toronto and Tampa Bay, and Buffalo’s lack of improvement this summer is probably dooming them to another letdown season. That's why they're last in the NHL summer splash rankings.
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