Two in the Box

After Tyler took his turn in the Mock GM chair, I’m trying my hand at the exercise, laying out my vision for an offseason that might just break Buffalo’s playoff drought.

Our aim with these mock rosters is to remain somewhere in the vicinity of reality (read: no trades for Connor McDavid) in terms of the deals we swung both via trade and free agency. Some latitude was necessary for the sake of conversation, for example, pursuing trades including players with no trade protection. But overall, the hope was to put together an offseason plan that was realistic.

One thing that both Tyler and I did was sign Alex Lyon as our backup goaltender. Lyon should be affordable (coming off a $900,00 contract) and has proven to be a reliable backup in both Florida and Detroit. Offering him a slight raise hopefully gets him to buy in on a job in Buffalo, playing in tandem with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. My contract for Lyon is one year and $1.3 million. He can slot in behind Luukkonen without the need for a contract term that would potentially affect Devon Levi’s long term outlook. On Levi, I’d extend him for two years and $1.15 million, with the expectation that he will play the vast majority of the games in Rochester in 2025-26.

The other free agent I’d pursue is Joel Kiviranta. He’s had solid underlying numbers and would be a great option for Buffalo’s bottom six. I’d try and bring him in at $800,000 in a similar signing as last year’s Nic Aube-Kubel acquisition. If you’d prefer a player with more beef, I’d look at Justin Brazeau for the same cap hit. I like Kiviranta’s utility a bit better as a rotational piece with Greenway and Malenstyn, but I wouldn’t argue much if you felt the bigger body was a better option.

Beyond the basic RFA work of extending qualifying offers, I’d get Jacob Bernard-Docker extended for two years at $1.25 million and getting Ryan McLeod locked up for five years at $5.3 million. I’d also bridge JJ Peterka. I played around with a few trade avenues with little that really felt impactful. One thought was exploring if there is a deal to be made with Minnesota and Marco Rossi. Instead, I’ll give Peterka two years and $6.3 million and work on determining his long term future next summer. My big takeaway was that it was very difficult for the Sabres to get better by trading Peterka. Short of a legitimate blockbuster, I think the most likely result is a lateral move that maybe gains them a bit more contract certainty but not much more.

Those RFA moves eat into a fair amount of the available cap space the Sabres have entered the season with. In order to produce a bit more wiggle room, I’d move to shed a couple of difficult contracts. The first would be Connor Clifton. I’m shipping him to San Jose to offer them a bit of additional defensive depth in exchange for Colorado’s 2025 5th round pick. I’d then package Buffalo’s 5th with Sam Lafferty and send him to Columbus to pull his contract off the books.

My thought process on each is pure cap flexibility. I’m planning to rebuild the right side of the blueline and Clifton’s hit creates a fair bit of space. He’s also useful enough that he should offer several teams value for this season. I opted for San Jose as their blue line is still quite thin and they’ll need some veteran help with that unit. On Lafferty, I’m paying Columbus to take his deal. Pure and simple. The bottom of their lineup looks poised for a fair bit of turnover and he’d check a box for them while gaining a late round lottery ticket.

For my bigger swings, I started with Michael Kesselring in Utah. I’m offering up 52 overall and Anton Wahlberg for the righty. I have another trade later that brings in a higher second round pick which may be necessary if Utah doesn’t really value Wahlberg. But this is a team that’s expressed a desire for more size and Wahlberg is close to earning an NHL role and at 6’3” he offers the Mammoth good size near the top of their pipeline.

Kesselring slots in next to Owen Power on paper as a steady option on the backend. Ideally that pair gels and he allows Power to play freely on a nightly basis. I also like that Kesslring has a bit of jam to his game, he would help make up for what they lost in the Clifton deal.

I’m also dealing Bowen Byram, sending him and Isak Rosen to Philadelphia for Cam York and the 22nd pick that originally belonged to Colorado. York has quality underlying numbers and has played his off hand at times with Travis Sanheim. Even though he’s not a righty, I’d be very confident putting him with Rasmus Dahlin and letting that pair eat big minutes. York would need a contract and I have him down for a four year pact at $5.325 million per year. This package may be a touch light if the 22nd pick is to bee included. It’s possible that a more valuable prospect would be needed to balance the trade, or a quality pick from the Sabres. My general approach here is to balance whatever difference in value exists between Byram and York with the pick from the Flyers. Rosen, a former first rounder in need of a better opportunity, ought to carry some value around the league and seems like an adequate makeweight here. If an extra pick or different prospect would be needed to justify the inclusion of that pick, so be it.

These first two moves reshape Buffalo’s blueline with two well rounded defensemen who will complement Power and Dahlin. I also gain an extra first round pick that I can play with in another trade or hold, if (when) I move ninth overall. I’d be looking at Logan Hensler, among others, at pick 22.

By signing Peterka, I don’t have much room in the forward ranks, but it wouldn’t be wise to run back the same group and expect different results. Therefore, I would package the ninth pick with Jack Quinn to acquire Jared McCann and the 38th pick from Seattle. Like the York trade, this deal might require another piece (either a pick or prospect) but the general framework seems close. McCann is a play driver who can flex between wing and center as needed. He offers an established two-way profile to Buffalo’s forward group and would start with Jason Zucker and Ryan McLeod on a promising third line.

The final roster isn’t a spectacular overhaul of last year’s group. But I’m confident that I’ve added more responsible players who should help shore up Buffalo’s shortcomings. Especially in their own end. I’m betting on the likes of Peterka, Jiri Kulich and Zach Benson to pull their weight offensively, but I’ll take that bet if the two-way acquisitions I’ve targeted pay off.  

Benson-Kulich-Thompson

Peterka-Norris-Tuch

Zucker-McLeod-McCann

Malenstyn-Krebs-Greenway

Kiviranta/Kozak

York-Dahlin

Power-Kesselring

Samuelsson-Bernard-Docker

Bryson

Luukkonen

Lyon