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Buffalo Sabres Head Into Free Agency

By Melissa Kania

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Good morning, Buffalo Sabres fans, and Happy Canada Day to all you folks up there in the Great White North. Today is a glorious day, as the NHL free agent period opens at 12 noon. There’s no saying what could happen on this day. Tim Murray could sign five guys, or none. Many of the big-name free agents could sign somewhere today — or not.

As the Buffalo Sabres prepare to enter the 2015 NHL free agency period, there are several players on the team who have not been signed to a contract for the upcoming 2015-2016 season and, it seems, will become free agents as of noon.

Those players are:

  • Patrick Kaleta – Kaleta has been with the Sabres for a long time. But the Angola native’s time with his hometown team has been riddled with injuries and suspensions, and this time, it seems like it may be the end of the road for Kaleta in Buffalo. If nothing else, he was sent off by his teammates on a high note when Mike Weber gave Kaleta his “A” for the last few games of the season, allowing him to wear a letter with the team he grew up cheering for. Could the Sabres still offer Kaleta something? Maybe, but at this point, it seems doubtful.

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  • Andre Benoit/Andrej Meszaros/Tyson Strachan – Even with the recent loss of Nikita Zadorov to trade, the Sabres still have a solid number of defensemen under contract for next season, including Zach Bogosian, Josh Gorges and Rasmus Ristolainen.  GMTM has said the team will use free agency to look for a left-shot defenseman. With no mention of these players at all, it seems to hint that these guys will be allowed to test the free agent market.
  • Anders Lindback – With the recent trade acquisition of Robin Lehner to seemingly be the Sabres’ new starting goaltender for the 2015-2016 season, it seems pretty clear that Lindback will not be re-signed by the Sabres. Instead, he’ll hit the free agent market, which (in my opinion) is too bad — I would’ve liked to see what he could do with a full season in Buffalo.
  • Matt Hackett – Hackett has spent time in both Buffalo and Rochester over the past few years; he didn’t play enough games last season in the NHL to become an RFA, so instead becomes a UFA-IV. With Lehner and Chad Johnson likely your goaltending tandem in Buffalo, and Andrey Makarov – and possibly Nathan Lieuwen – in Rochester, Hackett would have to be one of the trio of rotating netminders for the Amerks. Instead, it seems like he’ll sign elsewhere.
  • Zac Dalpe – Dalpe was set to become a restricted free agent this summer, but was one of three players who didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Sabres. He fared pretty well in the AHL last season and made his debut with the Sabres as well, but it seems pretty clear that the team has decided to move on.
  • Jordan Samuels-Thomas – Another one who didn’t get a qualifying offer. This was a bit surprising, as JST has provided a big body on the Amerks roster, a physical presence that will surely be missed in Rochester and one that the team will have to work to replace.
  • Kevin Sundher – Sundher has been back and forth between the AHL and ECHL the past few seasons, but now instead of getting a qualifying offer from the Sabres, he’ll get the chance to move on and look for a contract with another team.
  • Drew Bagnall – Though Bagnall has never actually played for the Sabres at the NHL level, he’s been a solid contribution in the American Hockey League, even serving as captain of the Rochester Americans. He’s a solid veteran presence on the blueline in Rochester, and provided he doesn’t get an NHL deal elsewhere, could be signed to (at least) an AHL deal to return to the Amerks.
  • Matt Ellis – What to say about Ellis? Everybody seems to like him, and he’s been with the Sabres organization for a long time. He even played as captain of the Amerks here and there over the past few seasons. But GMTM could decide that it’s time to move on, forcing the 33-year-old Ellis to look for a contract elsewhere; GMTM could also decide to sign Ellis to an AHL contract only and allow him to return to the Amerks, at least for now, and upgrade that to a two-way deal if call-ups are needed or earned.

Which – if any – of these players do you think could return to the Buffalo Sabres next season?

Next: 2015 NHL Draft After-thoughts

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