The Buffalo Sabres, and all other 29 NHL teams, have until 5 p.m. today, Monday, June 27, to make qualifying offers to their restricted free agents.
As it stands right now, the Buffalo Sabres have several restricted free agents. If those players don’t receive qualifying offers by 5 p.m. today, they’ll become unrestricted free agents.
There are several players who spent last season with the NHL team who fit into this category, as well as a sizable handful of players who spent last season with the Rochester Americans.
Let’s take a closer look at some of these players that Tim Murray and co. have to make some decisions on.
First up: the forwards. Among the NHLers, there are just two RFAs: Marcus Foligno and Zemgus Girgensons.
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Realistically, I can see Murray giving qualifying offers to both of these players. Girgensons, though admittedly not my favorite player, had a tough season last year but still has some value he can bring to the team. Foligno is chippy and is useful in a third- or fourth-line role.
Among the defensemen, there’s Jake McCabe, Casey Nelson and Rasmus Ristolainen.
Ristolainen will almost certainly get a qualifying offer – and likely a lengthy one, at that. It seems like McCabe would likely get an offer as well, while Nelson is the only question mark since we really haven’t seen that much of him yet.
But again – I’d expect the three of them to all get qualifying offers from the Buffalo Sabres.
Here is where things get fun – with the prospects.
Your RFAs are: Dan Catenacci; Alexander Guptill; Colin Jacobs; Jason Kasdorf; Nathan Lieuwen; Andrey Makarov and Jack Nevins.
Three goaltenders in there, so let’s start with that. First up: Makarov. Per reports from Elite Transfers this morning, he’s already signed with Spartak Moskva, so that pretty much takes care of itself.
The Buffalo Sabres should absolutely put out a qualifying offer to Kasdorf. He hasn’t really had his chance with the organization just yet, but he appears to be a promising option down the line.
As for Lieuwen, that’s a tricky one. His injuries over the past years are an unavoidable topic to consider, and in the end, I guess it comes down to what else Tim Murray has planned in terms of AHL goaltending. If it were me, I’d probably skip on Lieuwen this time around.
For the rest – I’d qualify Catenacci and Guptill and at least consider giving an offer to Nevins. Jacobs seems to have been mostly an ECHLer over the past few years, and at this point, he could probably sign with the Elmira Jackals rather than be on contract with the Sabres/Amerks.
Next: Buffalo Sabres Free Agent Frenzy: Defensemen
We’ll see what happens. Qualifying offers have to be filed by 5 p.m., so it may take some time after that before we find out who’s received one — and who hasn’t.