Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams left a few clues over what kind of roster moves he plans on making in the offseason
The Buffalo Sabres have a lot to celebrate following their 2021-22 campaign. No, you can’t call a season without an eleventh straight playoff berth a successful one. But for the Sabres, who earned 35 points over their final two months of the season and finished with a 16-9-3 record in that span, it was a season of growth.
Especially when you consider the fact that the Sabres started the season 16-30-8, including an abysmal 11-28-7 run between November 2021 and February 2022. It was a period where just about everyone either contracted COVID-19 or found themselves on injured reserve.
But the Sabres bounced back and, once fully healthy, proved that despite their youth, that they really were capable of playing against and defeating some of the NHL’s best. They still struggled against the likes of the Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins, and Tampa Bay Lightning, three of the top four teams in the NHL Atlantic Division.
However, wins over the Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs (three times), Pittsburgh Penguins, and Calgary Flames further proved how dangerous of a hockey team the Sabres can be. And now that the offseason is among us, they need to fill in a few more gaps.
Their goaltender situation remains null, with not a single viable puzzle piece under contract for next season. They also have way too much youth at defenseman, and they would do well to re-sign one of their older players or look for experience in free agency.
Finally, they need to continue adding youth through the NHL Draft. Because as the Sabres learned this past season when COVID and the injury bug struck: You can never have too much depth in the organization. Let’s look at three moves that make perfect sense.