Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams didn’t make any trades on Monday, which means the Sunday trade of defenseman Robert Hagg to the Florida Panthers was his only trade deadline deal.
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Buffalo has players with expiring contracts, including Vinnie Hinostroza, Colin Miller, Mark Pysyk, Craig Anderson, Cody Eakin, Will Butcher, John Hayden and Dustin Tokarski. None of them were moved by Monday's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline.
Adams said with Miller only playing two games after recovering from surgery, it just wasn’t enough time to prove to other teams that he’d be healthy enough to help them.
Last season, it was find places for Taylor Hall and Eric Staal to play, because those moves just didn’t work. Adams says this season was a different approach.
“Everything that we were going to do or not do was going to be based on the development of our young core," the general manager said following Monday's deadline. "You look at every situation, and I made sure teams knew our position from all ways, whether it was players or the potential of being a broker to our own UFAs. But at the end of the day, for me, it was always about what was best for this group, and really wanted to be mindful of putting these player in a position to keep getting better.”
It would’ve taken a lot for Adams to have taken players like Anderson and Pysyk out of the group.
“What those guys do every day and the impact they’ve had on the culture of our team - and certainly the way they’ve performed - but it’s bigger than that for me," Adams said. "It’s really powerful, and if you make a decision to pull those types of people away from it, it’s tough. At the end of the day, would we have been open to doing more? For sure, but we had a plan. We were going to stick to the plan, and we weren’t going to let the emotion of a deadline change our plan.”
We knew much of Anderson’s immediate future was in his hands. He and Adams spoke again Monday morning, just to be clear on where both parties stand.
“He’s done a lot for our organization, so I wanted to make sure one more time we had the conversation," Adams said. "He said if there was an opportunity, maybe it would be great in a certain place. He also said that he loved it here and wanted to be here.”
The Sabres had four moves they could use for call ups from the Rochester Americans, and they used three of them on Monday.
Peyton Krebs, Mattias Samuelsson and Casey Fitzgerald had to go down to Rochester to be eligible for the AHL playoffs, but all three were recalled right away. That leaves Buffalo with one move. Adams also said that all three players are very interested in participating in the playoffs with Rochester.
As far as others that are playing in Rochester, Adams is comfortable that many have had a taste of the NHL, which will make them hungry to work harder to get back.
While speaking with Adams last Wednesday, he said he would be open to taking on dead money if teams were willing to make it worth their while. Adams says that scenario almost happened.
“We had a couple of serious talks about brokering a deal, and in fact on our end, we had agreed on how it would work. Then it didn’t pan out from the other two teams. So that was something we were hoping to take advantage of the cap space, but you need other teams to do it with you.”
Hinostroza has 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points in 43 games this season with the Sabres. That equals 19 goals over 82 games. Hinostroza is 27, and would be a good addition moving forward to the Sabres' bottom-six forward group.
Adams agrees with that sentiment, but says the team hasn’t started talks on an extension just yet.
“I haven’t put a ton of thought into that, because I wanted to get onto the other side of the trade deadline," Adams said. "He’s absolutely a player that I’ve felt has been impactful on and off the ice. I do believe practice habits matter, and Vinnie Hinostroza is going all out. Every drill, every rep, and it all matters to him. I’m definitely open to that, but we’ll see, whether it’s sooner or if we’ll push that into the offseason.”
Adams said Fitzgerald has been cleared by doctors to return, but Hayden is quarantining in Vancouver after being put in the NHL's COVID-19 Protocol.
