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Buffalo Sabres: 3 reasons bargain shopping is the way to go – 2022

By Sion Fawkes

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - APRIL 21: Jeff Skinner #53 of the Buffalo Sabres celebrates his goal with teammates Victor Olofsson #71 and Tage Thompson #72 during the third period against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on April 21, 2022 in Newark, New Jersey. The Buffalo Sabres defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-2. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - APRIL 21: Jeff Skinner #53 of the Buffalo Sabres celebrates his goal with teammates Victor Olofsson #71 and Tage Thompson #72 during the third period against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on April 21, 2022 in Newark, New Jersey. The Buffalo Sabres defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-2. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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The Buffalo Sabres will not sign a big-name free agent. Nor will they trade for a big-time player. Instead, they will engage in bargain shopping.

Lance Lysowski of Buffalo News provided some sound insight in his latest mailbag regarding the Buffalo Sabres and their projected approach to free agency in 2022. He made it clear that general manager Kevyn Adams is looking to set this team up for the long haul, which is the right view.

Teams in the Sabres position have two options: Stick to the plan and build this thing long-term or go all-in and end up with eventual salary cap issues. And after 11 seasons of starts, stops, sputters, and stalls, why not keep taking the long route and put yourself in position for long-term success?

Makes sense, right? Below and in the slides that follow, you will find three in-depth reasons why Kevyn Adams will not spend money on outsiders besides bargain talent to fill the roster where necessary this free agency period.

Buffalo Sabres
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – APRIL 28: Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins and Rasmus Dahlin #26 of the Buffalo Sabres battles for control of the puck during the first period at TD Garden on April 28, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Why bargain shopping is the way for the Buffalo Sabres: Reason #1: Young talent

Everyone wants to see the Buffalo Sabres keep their young talent. Projected franchise cornerstones like Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson will eventually require huge contracts if they continue to perform well. However, they also don’t want to overpay too soon as the Sabres made that mistake with Jack Eichel.

So expect the team to sit on their homegrown talent until their contracts either expire or are about to expire before they wind up giving them huge paychecks. They will be coming within the next season and beyond. But to pay their players the amount that they deserve, the Sabres need to resist the urge to spend their money on big-name, proven free agents.

Regardless of how well a player performed elsewhere, spending big money for a newcomer is always a risk. This can cause two unfortunate events for a franchise that I’ll explain in the next slides.

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