Kekalainen is interested in extending both Byram and Tuch

Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - Buffalo Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen had his end of the season press conference on Wednesday after meeting with all the players. The GM covered a broad range of topics,

Kekalainen liked what he saw from the team from the way they banded together to start playing the game the right way which vaulted them up the standings. He said,

“I’m just real proud of the whole group and what we went through and how much we learned, obviously we’re not where we want to be right now, and the disappointment will take a little while, but we did the exit meeting with Lindy together and I just can’t emphasize enough to them how excited I am about the future of this group and the potential we have.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of young men that have so many potential center icemen in the group, (Noah Ostlund, Jiri Kulich, Konsta Helenius), but I’ve always believed in building from the back end and I would put our defensemen against anyone in this league. (Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power both first overall picks, Bo Byram was fourth overall, Mattias Samuelsson 32nd overall), the goaltending was solid all year and it’s just the beginning.”

Kekalainen very rarely talks about being excited about something, but when it comes to the fans of the Sabres he said,

“It was so great to see how this city came together, I get chills even thinking about it, the atmosphere in the building, the electricity around the whole city.”

It sounds like Kekalainen is being very careful when talking about an Alex Tuch extension. He said,

“He’s been an important part of our success he’s always getting some of the most ice-time of any of the forwards, killing penalties, playing power play, he’s a consistent goal scorer, he’s a valuable part of our team, but just like I’ve told him and I tell everybody in the same situation, we make our decisions based on how can we make our team better and we have to come to an agreement that this is the type of contract where we can still make our team better and hopefully we can do that.”

Bo Byram will have one year left on his contract next year which makes him eligible for a contract extension. Kekalainen sounded more excited to get this player wrapped up because he wants to keep that top four intact,

“It’s very important, and I said that to Bo Byram today, I’d like to lock him up for a long time. I think the top four of our defense is our drive, our engine and their mobility and ability to move the puck, ability to support offense and also play good defensively and there’s a lot of untapped potential there too, I think Bo’s still a young defense and he can get better.”

With every team having to have an EBUG goalie at the game, it seems like teams can solve that by carrying three goalies. That makes a lot of sense because the EBUG can’t have any NHL experience. If Buffalo waives Colten Ellis, the St. Louis Blues would likely claim him, so it seems like we will see three goalies on the team once again.

Unless there’s a trade, one of them will not be Devon Levi. Kekalainen said,

“He’s a talented goalie and he’s played some great hockey at the American League level, he’s played some games in the NHL, and I think almost every goalie in the league has gone through the process of when they need to develop and play games they need to play in the minors because it’s the most demanding position and you don’t get better by sitting on the bench, so he’s just getting through that process now and next year he’ll need waivers and we’ll see how he keeps developing.”

So the Buffalo Sabres off season has officially begun. It’s going to be interesting to see how Kekalainen navigates his first off season as Sabres GM.