The 2024 offseason for the Buffalo Sabres has proven to be one of the strangest they’ve ever had, putting their fanbase through a veritable gauntlet of emotions. It started in April when former longtime head coach Lindy Ruff was rehired, but it didn’t stop there. Jeff Skinner was bought out of the remainder of his contract and franchise cornerstone Zemgus Girgensons finally threw in the towel and departed in free agency.
The Sabres were therefore forced to overhaul the roster and enter the 2024-25 campaign a very different-looking team thanks to a number of transactions. Three of those in particular were outright puzzling and left fans scratching their heads, especially considering they weren’t for high-profile players. It’s tough to tell at this point if those three pieces will fit coherently, if at all. Let’s break them down individually and assess what impact each player has the potential to have.
Jason Zucker
The Skinner buyout was a surprising enough move in its own right but it was what occurred after that may have been even more of one. The move freed up a significant amount of salary cap space for the Sabres and the expectation was that they would make a big signing to fill the considerable hole they now had in the lineup, but that didn’t happen. Instead of being aggressive at the annual opening of free agency on July 1, the Sabres were very reserved and made only one real signing of note, Jason Zucker, a move that admittedly doesn’t scream “Stanley Cup, here we come.”
Skinner was one of the team’s biggest producers and without him, the offense is far less formidable. It’s evident that general manager Kevyn Adams is taking the Moneyball approach by replacing him collectively rather than with a single player, which is a gamble, to say the least. Zucker isn’t a bad signing by any means, as he’s been a solid middle-line contributor for most of his career and his presence may actually help a lot. The problem is that, even if he has a very productive season, his efforts alone won’t be anywhere near enough to fill the void and several others will also have to step up.
With that in mind, it’s not encouraging that the Las Vegas native is coming off perhaps the worst season of his career which saw him record just 32 points in 69 games. However, the Sabres still have a decent amount of forward depth and he’s projected to be placed on the second line with Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn. If so,…
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