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The Buffalo Sabres have just one restricted free agent left to sign after the team announced a two-year, $4.4 million contract for recent trade acquisition Conor Timmins on Sunday.
The 26-year-old was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins, along with fellow defenseman Isaac Belliveau, on June 28. Buffalo sent Connor Clifton and a second-round pick back to Pennsylvania in the swap.
“He's a solid two-way player that is big, a right shot, and I think it just really solidifies our D corps moving forward,” Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams said of Timmins shortly after the trade.
Adams continued to say that the front office targeted Timmins as part of its offseason objective to revamp the right side of the blue line. The St. Catherines, Ontario native should slot in on the third pairing alongside Mattias Samuelsson in 2025-26.
With Bowen Byram getting a two-year contract extension of his own, and Michael Kesselring joining the club in the trade that sent JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth, Buffalo's blue line looks to be set for the foreseeable future. Byram should join Rasmus Dahlin on the top pair, while Owen Power and Kesselring will likely make up the second pair.
Timmins was selected in the second-round of the 2017 NHL Draft, No. 32 overall, by the Colorado Avalanche. He spent a few seasons split between the Avs and Arizona Coyotes before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in November of 2022.
He broke into the NHL full time with the Leafs, playing parts of three campaigns in Ontario between 2022-25. Hest best season came in 2022-23, when he played 25 games for Toronto but managed an impressive 14 points.
Sabres' Conor Timmins just enjoyed first injury-free season
Entering his final season under contract with the Leafs in 2024-25, Timmins played on Toronto's third pair and enjoyed his first year without any significant injuries. He played a career-high 51 games, and was traded to the Penguins in March in exchange for Connor Dewar.
The 6-foot-3 rearguard finished the campaign with seven points through 17 games for the Pens, ending up with 15 points in 68 games overall. He also saw a career-high 18:43 of average ice time after the trade from Toronto to Pittsburgh.
“With Timmins on the ice at 5-on-5, his teams owned positive shares of goals (56.5%), expected goals (52.2%), shot attempts (51.6%), and scoring chances (51.9%),” wrote the official release.
The Sabres are hoping that Timmins' injury woes are firmly in the past, and that he can help the squad in another third-pairing role for at least the next two seasons.
With Timmins locked up, Buffalo is now nearly ready for training camp in September. The only remaining restricted free agent on the team is 23-year-old goaltender Devon Levi, who could be sent to the American Hockey League after the free agent signing of Alex Lyon earlier this month.
As it stands, the Sabres have just over $5 million in cap space to work with, per PuckPedia, with 13 forwards and eight defensemen under contract for 2025-26.
