Expansion Draft Preview: Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are coming off a miserable season.

They finished dead-last in the league with a paltry 15-34-7 record and now they’re dealing with a frustrated Jack Eichel. It’s difficult to see how the Sabres, who have now missed the playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons, are going to turn things around.

Before general manager Kevyn Adams can start rebuilding his roster, he’ll have to give up a player to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft. Who might that be? Let’s go through the players that Buffalo will have to protect…

Eligible Forwards

@Jack Eichel, @Jeff Skinner (NMC), @Kyle Okposo, @Sam Reinhart, @Victor Olofsson, @Cody Eakin, @Zemgus Girgensons, @Anders Bjork, @Tage Thompson, @Casey Mittelstadt, @Rasmus Asplund

Eligible Defencemen

@Rasmus Ristolainen, @Colin Miller, @Jake McCabe, @Rasmus Dahlin, @Henri Jokiharju, @William Borgen, @Lawrence Pilut

Eligible Goaltenders

@Carter Hutton, @Linus Ullmark, @Dustin Tokarski

Exempt Players

@Jack Quinn, @Dylan Cozens, @Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, @Mattias Samuelsson, @Jacob Bryson, John-Jason Peterka, @Ryan Johnson, @Linus Weissbach

What should they do?

The Sabres obviously aren’t a good team so they aren’t overflowing with quality players that they need to protect.

The challenge for Buffalo will be choosing between middling players, such as Zemgus Girgensons and Anders Bjork, and struggling young talent, such as Casey Mittelstadt and Henri Jokiharju.

Another thing to consider is a possible Jack Eichel trade. It appears as though the Sabres’ captain might be looking to move on this summer. If Buffalo does pull the trigger on a deal, they would have to be cognizant about not taking on multiple players who need to be protected. An Eichel trade probably makes the most sense after the expansion draft.

I suspect Buffalo will go with the standard seven forwards, three defencemen, one goalie scheme for protecting players. This is who their list will likely include: Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner (NMC), Sam Reinhart, Victor Olofsson, Anders Bjork, Casey Mittelstadt, Rasmus Ristolainen, Rasmus Dahlin, Henri Jokiharju, Linus Ullmark. The play here is protecting the young players on the roster who could actually have a long-term future with the club.

That would leave defenceman Colin Miller as the likely choice for Seattle.

He was taken by the Golden Knights from the Bruins back in 2017 and had two good seasons in Vegas before getting dealt to Buffalo as a cap dump. Miller is a solid, veteran defenceman with one year left on his contract at $3,875,000. He’s somebody that the Sabres wouldn’t be thrilled to lose but they’ll likely prioritize protecting younger players.