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The Buffalo Sabres made one of the biggest trades of the NHL trade deadline. They sent center Dylan Cozens, defenseman Dennis Gilbert, and a second-round pick to the Ottawa Senators for Josh Norris and Jacob Bernard-Docker. They also extended veterans Jordan Greenway and Jason Zucker. None of those moves are going to be the ones that drag the Sabres out of the basement. That is just one of the reasons that Buffalo fans should be concerned.
It may be hard for the general American sports fan to have too much pity for Buffalo fans. Josh Allen just signed one of the richest deals in NFL history to stay as the Bills quarterback. But the Queen City is a hockey town too. The IIHF brings the World Juniors there for a reason. And the Sabres have not made the playoffs since 2011, the longest streak in the NHL. So another trade deadline without loading up on futures is a missed opportunity.
Zucker signed a two-year deal worth $4.75 million per season, a $250,000 annual pay cut. With the cap rising, paying a veteran with familiarity with the organization is not a bad thing. But the Sabres are not even spending to the cap this year so them paying $95.5 million for a roster feels unlikely.
Greenway is a similar story, but he only has 55 goals in 429 games which is not a lot for a $4 million player. If fans had any faith they were going to spend to the cap, it would not be a huge deal. But spending an extra $1 million on Greenway next year actively takes away from the cap space they need.
The Sabres could have traded Zucker and Greenway for mid-round picks that they could flip in other trades. But instead, they are locked into this poor roster.
The Sabres need a complete reset
The Sabres have some really good players locked in long-term. Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Mattias Samuelsson, and Tage Thompson are all signed through the end of this decade. That is a solid core to build around but general manager Kevyn Adams has not successfully identified the right surrounding players.
That is why the Sabres made the Norris-Cozens trade. They thought they had another star center in Cozens after he scored 31 goals in 2022-23. That is when they gave him a seven-year contract paying him $7.1 million per season. What he failed to notice, or did and ignored, was that he shot 14.7% that season. The league average is around 10% and numbers above that are usually seen as good luck over elite skill.
Zucker and Greenway are NHL-caliber players. Past that, you cannot say much about their fit for the long term. They are bottom six players getting over $8 million per season to fill those roles. The trade market should be active this offseason as bad contracts become decent ones with the $7.5 million increase.
The Sabres fans should be concerned because the front office and ownership do not appear to have a direction picked out. Running this season back should be unacceptable. But so far, outside of a second-line center swap, they are going to do that. The NHL trade deadline was the perfect opportunity to do more to set up a better future.
How would you fix the Sabres after a quiet NHL trade deadline? The team is continuing to head downward and needs a refresh to finally break the playoff drought.
