Buffalo Sabres: 5 players that need to leave in free agency – 2022
With a younger influx of talent coming aboard for the Buffalo Sabres, we will look at five players they need to cut ties with to make room on the roster
The Buffalo Sabres are still a team in transition, despite their winning ways in March and April 2022. Over the offseason, expect the Sabres to get younger with an influx of prospects looking to make the jump from the AHL to the NHL.
The Sabres have five young defensemen that will be on the roster next season, and that number will turn into six if they re-sign Jacob Bryson. While you can expect them to sign an older, more experienced defenseman to pair with Owen Power, that’s about the only advanced age you will see on the roster outside of Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo.
With new players coming in, it also means that the Sabres will be parting ways with several veterans from this season. And really, the following players will have little impact on the team if and when they do part ways with them.
Five Buffalo Sabres that need to go, Player #1: Will Butcher
I previously wrote an article that it would make no sense for the Sabres to re-sign Butcher, given his $4.1 million base salary and $3.733 million cap hit. The only plausible way to keep Butcher around is to pay him significantly less than the above figures, but there is no guarantee he will take it.
Even then, it is hard to justify keeping Butcher around. In 37 games this season, he logged just 16:29 of ice time, often seeing action on the third pairing. He showed little aggression on the defensive side of things, recording a career-low in blocks per game.
Butcher’s career started off with a bang with the New Jersey Devils when he earned a spot on the All-Rookie Team and finished ninth in the Calder Memorial Trophy voting. He also showed potential to be a two-way player. Since then, Butcher has performed drastically below expectations.
Cody Eakin
Let’s give Eakin credit: He was great with winning face-offs. Over his two seasons with the Sabres, he won 55 percent of them, which is more than what most centers in Buffalo’s lineup can account for.
The downside is that he was virtually a non-factor everywhere else. Eakin’s 13:35 of average ice time was the second-lowest of his career, better only than his 12:56 of ice time last season. His 5.4 shooting percentage also marked the second-lowest of his career and his worst since 2016-17, when he was a member of the Dallas Stars.
A journeyman, Eakin is one of those players you sign and plug into the lineup when you have no one else available. He’s an experienced stopgap who will provide value on the fourth line. Which was something the Sabres needed this season. However, they will have better options in October with players like Zemgus Girgensons and if he returns, Vinnie Hinostroza.
Anders Bjork
Bjork is signed through 2022-23, but that doesn’t mean the Sabres won’t part ways with the part-time fourth-liner. He is due to earn a base salary of $1.8 million next season, but the Sabres need to ask themselves whether it is worth paying someone who often ended up as a healthy scratch so much money.
In 58 games this year, Bjork averaged just 12:02 of average ice time, his lowest since 2018-19. Bjork’s eight points were also his lowest totals since then, when he logged just three. However, he played in just 20 games that season, and he averaged 0.15 points compared to the 0.137 points per game in 2021-22.
Bjork, who also displays more physicality than your average forward, recorded just 11 hits, by far his lowest career total when called upon to play 30 games or more. Overall, it was underperformance after underperformance across the board for Bjork. And it makes sense for the Sabres to just let him go somewhere else.
Dustin Tokarski
Tokarski, a lifelong cast-off at the NHL level, logged a respectable season considering the fact he received very few chances to succeed throughout his career. In 27 starts, he logged a respectable 10-12-5 record, averaging a 3.27 GAA and an 89.9 save percentage.
While Tokarski’s respectable performance could motivate the Sabres to take another look at him, the truth is that Craig Anderson is their guy moving forward if he decides to stick around. If not, expect the Sabres to re-sign and promote Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to the NHL level while they go out and find a respectable backup puzzle piece.
There are just better options out there than Tokarski, and the Sabres may even opt to keep the younger Malcolm Subban. While Subban did not perform well, he was also forced into the net when a rush of injuries and COVID-19 hit the Sabres. Even a Ryan Miller in his prime couldn’t have saved that situation.
Tokarski, like Cody Eakin listed in a previous slide, is nothing more than a journeyman player you insert as a stopgap. He’s good enough to warrant a spot on an NHL roster. At least until more proven options become available.
Mark Pysyk
Of the three older defensemen who finished the season with the Buffalo Sabres, Mark Pysyk makes the most sense to keep around from a financial standpoint. He is also a versatile player who can also line up at forward if needed.
However, looking at things purely from a productivity perspective, Colin Miller would make more sense to keep around than Pysyk. Yes, Pysyk is a fan favorite and a locker room favorite. He was the healthiest of the older defensive trio that included himself, Will Butcher, and Miller.
But Miller is, when healthy, a more effective player than Pysyk. Not that Pysyk didn’t do some good things this season. His puck control improved dramatically over the past two years while his 85 blocks were his highest since 2018-19 when he was a member of the Florida Panthers.
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Pysyk costs far less to keep around than Miller. That’s if the Sabres decide to keep any of them around. But from a productivity standpoint in games played this season, Pysyk pales in comparison to Miller.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)