One major weakness the Buffalo Sabres must still address this summer

I’ll be frank: I was not a fan of what the Buffalo Sabres did on Monday, and therefore, the bulk of free agency. Last season, this team struggled to score, so they bought out a contract of one of their better scorers, Jeff Skinner, and ended up signing Jason Zucker as their “scorer” for the 2024-25 season. 

Thanks to the moves the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Ottawa Senators made, you can argue that, on paper, the Sabres will enter the 2024-25 season as the seventh-best team in the division. Not every team mentioned above made flashy transactions, but they added necessary players. 

That said, it’s not all doom and gloom, as the Sabres did one thing in free agency that will make them an edgier, more intimidating team, and that came with the additions of Sam Lafferty, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and Beck Malenstyn (via trade), will give this team a new identity, but it doesn’t excuse general manager Kevyn Adams from not finding a viable replacement for Jeff Skinner. 

Okay, let’s stop the doom and gloom here - I feel like I’ve been picking on the Sabres a lot lately when I’m not talking about the way Kevyn Adams masterfully stacks his prospect pool, and I’ll also say there is still hope out there. Adams has a ton of trade assets in that prospect pool and via draft picks, and the best way to complete the Sabres for 2024-25 is to make that blockbuster move to find that one remaining puzzle piece.

The Buffalo Sabres can still further improve for the 2024-25 season

And yeah, I said ‘complete the Sabres’ in the above section because they’re one big-time scorer away from being a more complete hockey team than they have been in a while. There are also several solid scorers who could be traded at some point between now and the time the puck drops in October, including some trade candidates we mentioned earlier in the year. 

One name you can scratch off from that list, however, is Pavel Buchnevich, as he’s staying in St. Louis for the long haul. Trevor Zegras is still out there, and I still wouldn’t rule out Joel Farabee, even if the Sabres circumstances have changed since the beginning of July. 

Both the Anaheim Ducks and the Philadelphia Flyers would be in line for prospects and draft picks. And while neither Zegras nor Farabee are anywhere near as established as Buchnevich, you can argue both would play well on the Sabres top-six, preferably on a second line. 

You got two players who, when healthy, have shown they can put up 20-plus goals in a season, and playing top-six minutes is something they’re already used to. Plus, as young players and since the Blue and Gold are fifth in the NHL in cap space as of July 3rd, it means trading for any one of these two should be more than on the table.    

Plus, as Zegras and Farabee get more established, their overall scoring prowess and ability to contribute a 200-foot game will only increase, all amidst what is still one of the NHL’s younger teams. That said, if I were Kevyn Adams, Zegras and Farabee would grace the top of my to-do list.