Projecting which Sabres players will receive contract extensions in the 2024 offseason
The Sabres will have a few players eligible for contract extensions on July 1st, and if recent history says anything, look for a few of them to sign a deal.
The Buffalo Sabres have a few notable players from last season’s group who will be eligible to sign a contract extension come July 1st, and each has provided value to the team when they suited up last season. Of course, because of potential cap restraints that will catch up with the Sabres in future seasons, not everyone will sign on the dotted line this summer, but general manager Kevyn Adams has been adamant in the past about retaining his current talent.
Tage Thompson, Mattias Samuelsson, Owen Power, and Rasmus Dahlin all received extensions either during the summer or shortly before the regular season began, so perhaps two more players from the list below and in the following slides will hear their respective names called.
Just one word of note: This article will not include players who are currently in Rochester, so those who spent time with the big club but would technically be eligible, like Devon Levi, for example, won’t be listed. It will also only include players who will be eligible for an extension starting on July 1st, 2024.
Jordan Greenway
We saw a much better version of Jordan Greenway this past season, and it would be easy to see Kevyn Adams bringing him back to the team at some point. His points total increased to 28 this season, a 17-point difference from what he accrued in 2022-23, when he spent 45 games with the Minnesota Wild and 17 with the Sabres.
Greenway also became the physical force that helped the Sabres dramatically increase their physicality from 14.2 hits per game in 2022-23 to 21.7 per this past season, and that’s huge for the team going forward. The Sabres also trusted Greenway with much more ice time, as he finished with a career-best 17:15 per game, and he also stood up for numerous teammates.
But Greenway doesn’t provide the game-changing impact that a few other names gave the Sabres this past season. So he’s likely on the low-priority list this summer, though it’s impossible to rule out a potential extension at some point in the season if he keeps playing well.
Jack Quinn
Jack Quinn would be a shoo-in to receive an extension in the summer of 2024, or at least shortly before the season began, but it would be a bad idea for him to sign anything more than a bridge contract following a season full of injuries. Sure, he looked stellar when healthy, and it shows us a preview of what we will see from Quinn in his age-23 season, but he must prove he can stay healthy for all of 2024-25.
We don’t need to worry about Quinn’s productivity, as it will be there next season, and it shouldn’t surprise any of us if he exceeds expectations once more. If that’s the case, but he struggles with injuries again, Kevyn Adams will likely keep him around on a bridge deal. Yet if he stays healthy, that’s when a potential long-term deal will factor in.
But you can also put an asterisk beside ‘long-term’ in some scenarios since if the Sabres sign another forward and keep the rest of the team intact, sooner than later, their cap space will dwindle at least for a season or two. If that is the case, Quinn may find himself in a battle with a teammate for who will snag that extension, a struggle he isn’t winning just yet.
JJ Peterka
If anyone’s receiving an extension this offseason, it’s JJ Peterka, thanks to the stunner of a campaign he pulled off this season. Peterka’s 28-goal eruption may look modest next season once he figures out how to consistently score in this league, but he may not even need to prove himself a second time.
Peterka has more than shown he can be part of this team heading into 2024-25 and beyond; we shouldn’t be surprised if he gets what is now an inevitable extension this summer. But, as mentioned in the previous section, Jack Quinn did enough when healthy to at least stick around this race if it doesn’t become feasible to keep both players around on long-term deals early on.
Remember, we’re also factoring in signing current free agents, re-signing current high-end restricted free agents like Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and even looking at those who will need new contracts two or three years into the future. That said, if Peterka isn’t the next Sabre to sign an extension this summer, we also shouldn’t be surprised.
The likeliest scenario is that Peterka will sign long-term if he outperforms Quinn or if the latter continues to struggle staying healthy. But that won’t happen until well into the 2024-25 season, so let’s project no extension for Peterka this summer, or at least he wouldn’t sign something until the latter stages of the preseason.
Bowen Byram
Bowen Byram came to the City of Good Neighbours in the Casey Mittelstadt trade in what was more of a swap between a pair of young, talented players. Byram put together a phenomenal sample size and made much more of an impact throughout his 18 games in Buffalo than he did during 55 contests with the Colorado Avalanche.
He had just 20 points and eight goals in those 55 games before scoring three times and logging nine points across 18 games with the Sabres. Byram also brought even more physicality with 34 hits while recording just 60 in Denver, and he stole the puck seven times. Finally, Byram’s average total ice time sat at 21:51, two full minutes more than what he was getting with the Avs.
You look at these numbers, and it’s safe to say Byram is on the right track, but because he’s also injury-prone and has a small sample size of games with the Blue and Gold, let’s not expect Adams to sign him to an extension just yet.
Byram would need to enjoy an outstanding season to sign long-term, especially if someone like JJ Peterka likely has the first priority here. But if Byram continues where he left off when last season ended, the pending 2025 restricted free agent will sign a new deal, likely a bridge.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)