Entering last season, the Buffalo Sabres' blueline was talented, but it had yet to come together with questions for players like Mattias Samuelsson and former first-overall pick Owen Power. However, this past season, this group put a lot of questions to rest and now has one of the best Top 4 groups of defensemen in the league.
The group of Rasmus Dahlin, Samuelsson, Bowen Byram, and Power was able to be a reliable presence in the defensive end. While Jarmo Kekalainen looks ahead to next season and how to add to this roster, he needs to resist the urge to take from this group to improve the offense.
Recently, David Pagnotta with The Fourth Period mentioned some teams are curious if the Sabres are going to make Power available in a trade to replace the potential departure of Alex Tuch. It is a logical stance from other teams around the league, but the Sabres have such an advantage with their Top 4 that it doesn't make sense for them to move Power this summer.
Right now, three of their Top 4 (Dahlin, Samuelsson, and Power) are under contract through the next four seasons. Bowen Byram is entering the final year of his two-year contract, but Kekalainen has already made it clear that they want to extend him this offseason.
If they are able to do that, having their Top 4 in place for the foreseeable future is a huge advantage for the Buffalo Sabres. If they were to move Power and then not re-sign Byram, what is a strength quickly becomes a weakness for them.
Buffalo Sabres in a better position to replace Alex Tuch than Owen Power
When looking at the roster and the prospects they have, certainly Radim Mrtka looks like a player who has Top 4 potential, but the question is whether he can step into that role next season? They still have Conor Timmins under contract, but Michael Kesselring is a restricted free agent, while Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn are unrestricted free agents.
If the Sabres were to trade Power, they would almost certainly need to find another defenseman to replace him in the Top 4, with not many options currently in the franchise to replace him. In fact, the Sabres are in a much better position to replace Tuch internally than Power.
The Sabres have a young core of Noah Ostlund, Konsta Helenius, and Jiri Kulich ready to step into full-time roles for Buffalo. On top of that, players like Zach Benson and Josh Doan appear poised for bigger roles than they had last season.
While it might make headlines for the Sabres to trade Owen Power for Mason McTavish as Pagnotta speculates on a potential trade, where the Sabres roster currently stands, they have better options to replace Tuch than a potential departure of Power.
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