Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – At around 11 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 8, the buyout period begins in the NHL and goes through Tuesday, July 27. Unless Terry Pegula changes his mind about saving money, the Buffalo Sabres are no longer a team that will carry dead money, which means there will be no buyouts.
Buyouts make no sense when it comes to the salary cap, because it just makes it twice as long to get rid of bad contracts and bad players.
In my mind, Cody Eakin would be the exception to that. Eakin will cost $2.25 million against this year's salary cap. If Buffalo were to buy him out, he’d cost $583,334 against this year’s cap and $833,334 against next year’s cap. That’s not a big deal.
In actually dollars, Pegula would pay Eakin $1.67 million to leave. That’s where I think he would object.
If the Sabres want to ask Jeff Skinner to waive his no-movement clause for the Expansion Draft, the request must be done by Tuesday, July 13. Skinner would have three days to decide.
On Saturday, July 17, the NHL trade and waiver freeze begins and goes through Thursday, July 22.
Adams must also submit his protected list for the Seattle Expansion Draft on July 17. Buffalo has its list set, but Adams is looking at many options for trades, which could change that list drastically. I know they’d prefer not to lose Rasmus Asplund, Tage Thompson, Anders Bjork or Will Borgen.
The Seattle Kraken can start interviewing restricted and unrestricted free agents on Sunday, July 18. These are players that aren’t on teams' protected lists.
The deadline for the Kraken to finish up is Wednesday, July 21 when the results of the Expansion Draft will be announced. If you’re wondering, Buffalo lost Will Carrier to the Vegas Golden Knights in the last Expansion Draft in 2017. It cost the Sabres a sixth round pick to get Vegas not to take goalie Linus Ullmark.
The first round of the 2021 NHL Draft is Friday, July 23, where the Sabres are expected to take defenseman Owen Power with the first overall pick. Buffalo is also hoping to get another high pick in the first round thanks to a potential Jack Eichel or Sam Reinhart trade.
Teams have until Monday, July 26 to make qualifying offers to their restricted free agents. For the Sabres, that would include Reinhart, Asplund, Casey Mittelstadt, Borgen, Rasmus Dahlin, Henri Jokiharju and Casey Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, Reinhart and Borgen have arbitration rights.
In the past, expiring contracts would end on June 30, but this season it’s July 27. That’s because free agency begins on Wednesday, July 28.
Unrestricted free agency is a fool’s game, and most NHL general managers put on their "stupid hats" as soon as it begins. It’s amazing how many free agent contracts are regretted within two or three years after being signed.
For Buffalo, it’s an epidemic of horrendous contracts or bad players. This list includes Christian Ehrhoff, Ville Leino, Matt Moulson, Kyle Okposo, Eakin, Tobi Rieder, Marcus Johansson, John Scott, Andrej Meszaros, Andre Benoit, Cody Franson and Jeff Skinner.
This is one of the biggest reasons for this franchise’s demise in the last 10 years. Pegula has had a hand in many of these decisions, and that has to stop. Leave it to the people you pay to make these signings.
I don't think it would be a bad idea to sign a few players for the bottom-six. The types of players I have in mind are Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow from the two-time Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lighting, or Casey Cizikas from the New York Islanders. These are players that can contribute to the offense and play the style of game that would make Buffalo a tough team to play against.
Of course, it’s impossible to predict where this month will go for the Sabres.
There are so many things this franchise needs to do, it will be interesting to see how it goes.
