Sabres Slashes: Offseason WishList
The Buffalo Sabres finished another disappointing season without making the postseason, which led to the firing of head coach Phil Housley. The Sabres took care of hiring a new head coach and getting a coaching staff in place well before the upcoming NHL Draft. Ralph Krueger will be the new bench boss for the Sabres, who look to get out of the NHL’s basement and into the postseason. The associate coach to Krueger will be Davis Payne. The three assistant coaches are Steve Smith, Chris Hajt and Tom Ward.
The Sabres had so many problems last season that it was tough to know where to begin with this wish list. They were a one-line team with little depth production, the defense was disastrous at times last season and the goaltending duo of Carter Hutton and Linus Ullmark was just flat out inconsistent. The team as a whole has a lot of needs, but will General Manager Jason Botterill be able to get rid of some of the dead weight and cap space to improve this team enough to finally get to the postseason? We shall see, but for now here is some of what Botterill and company should be looking for to improve the roster.
1) Top Line Scorer
Jason Botterill took care of this one early in the offseason by not letting Jeff Skinner get away from the team. Skinner signed his eight year, $72 million extension late Friday night. Yes, the cap hit is a bit high for someone who has only played one season with the team, but the Sabres have some wiggle room with the cap. Buffalo couldn’t let Skinner get away since he was the leading goal scorer last season with 40 goals and developed good chemistry with Jack Eichel.
The $9 million cap hit is a bit high for Skinner, but he is ultimately going to be a top line scoring winger on this team so the team had to pay up if they wanted to keep him. If Eichel can manage to stay relatively healthy next season then these two could wind up having career highs and Skinner may even be able to hit 50 goals. This wasn’t the only thing that needed to be fixed on the offensive side of the puck, but it is a solid start for the Sabres to the offseason to keep one of the bigger free agents with the team.
2) Second Line Center
The organization needs to find a way to land a solid second line center, whether it be via trade or a free agency signing. The Sabres were a one-line team last season, which cost them from being nothing close to consistent after their hot start. It seemed that if the Eichel line didn’t produce in any single game then there was a good shot the team wasn’t picking up the two points, night in and night out. The second line center by the end of the season wound up being Evan Rodrigues, who is not the best option for a second line center in the League. If the Sabres can land a solid second line center then Casey Mittelstadt can stay on the third line and Johan Larsson can be the fourth line center.
The biggest free agent center out there is Matt Duchene, who will be a highly coveted player for a lot of teams. Duchene helped the Columbus Blue Jackets to make it past the first round of the playoffs after coming over in a trade. Kevin Hayes, who is likely the second best center option, could already be locked up by the Philadelphia Flyers by the time free agency rolls around since they acquired his rights from the Winnipeg Jets on June 3. Some other free agent options could be Derick Brassard, Marcus Johansson or Jason Spezza. I doubt the Sabres would go after Spezza because of his age but he is an option. The other option would be to try to land one via trade, but that would most likely require giving up someone on the current roster.
3) Solid Wingers
The Sabres should add some wingers that can play two-way hockey and put the puck in the net. The biggest problem was that the team just didn’t compete most nights. It would be nice if the Sabres could add a veteran winger with some leadership skills, but not at a costly price. Botterill will have some cap space but he needs to think down the line too, and not go out and trade for, or sign, an older veteran player that is on the decline.
There are some options for solid wingers in free agency but some are pricier than others. Carl Hagelin could be an option because he would be able to give the team production and he would be an excellent addition to the penalty kill. Hagelin like Anders Lee would be the more expensive options in free agency. Brandon Tanev had 29 points in 80 games last season so he could be more of a bottom six option for the Sabres. Joonas Donskoi, who played for the San Jose Sharks the past few seasons, would likely be the cheapest wing option in free agnecy, and would be a good one. There are always kids that could come out of camp, impress and make the team or the Sabres could even make a trade because there will be teams looking to move players to get younger and better.
4) 3rd Pairing Defenseman
The Sabres are in a decent spot with the top four defensemen, but they definitely need to add a depth defenseman or two. The top four will likely include Rasmus Dahlin, Brandon Montour, Rasmus Ristolainen and Zach Bogosian, if he can stay healthy. The defense was a weakness of the Sabres almost all of last season. There were too many giveaways and misplays that led to goals or great offensive chances, which usually meant the goalies were left hung out to dry. The goalies did allow a good amount of soft goals, but they also had to make their fair share of odd man rush saves.
There aren’t a ton of good defensemen out there in free agency, but there are a few that if Botterill can get under contract at good terms and cheap then it’s worth a risk. Michael Del Zotto is younger and could be a cheap fit for the bottom pairing. A couple of older, more expensive free agent options could be Ron Hainsey, Braydon Coburn or Brooks Orpik. It will be interesting to see what the team does or doesn’t do to improve the blueline.
5) Get Rid of Dead Weight
There is definitely some dead weight throughout this Sabres lineup, and it needs to be shed. The Sabres need to start with not re-signing Jason Pominville to another contract because he will just take up a younger player’s spot. Vladimir Sobotka absolutely needs to go because he did nothing but take a roster spot from a younger player last season, and didn’t contribute much when he was on the ice. It wasn’t his fault that the coaching staff seemed to like to have him in the lineup for whatever reason last season. Sobotka is under contract for one more season, but the best option would be to buy him out in the offseason.
Zemgus Girgensons is a restricted free agent and is artbitration eligible, but he still needs to go even though he is young. Girgensons hasn’t really done anything in his time with the Sabres and is really a bottom six player. On the blue line, the two veterans that need to go are Marco Scandella and Matt Hunwick. Scandella was brought over in a trade with the Minnesota Wild a few seasons ago and hasn’t done much since, but he only has one more season left on his current contract. Matt Hunwick could go either way because if the Sabres decided to keep him, his salary is affordable and he could be the seventh defensemen option, but paying him $2.25 million to sit in the press box seems like a lot.
