The Sabres have spent the last few years building one of the deeper prospect pools in the NHL, and Trevor Kuntar fits the kind of bet that can pay off when an organization has a sharp eye for value. Buffalo’s developmental track has already produced real results, with 2023 first-round pick Zach Benson making an impact in the playoffs and 2024 top selection Konsta Helenius emerging as one of the AHL’s top prospects over the last two seasons.
Kuntar, a 25-year-old Buffalo native, is part of that next wave of organizational depth. He’s the son of former Amerk and brief NHL goalie Les Kuntar, and he spent two years with the Buffalo Jr.
Sabres before moving on to USHL Youngstown. Boston took him 89th overall in the COVID-delayed 2020 NHL Draft.
The 6-foot, 205-pound center went on to play three seasons at Boston College. As a junior, he ranked behind only NHLers Cutter Gauthier and Nikita Nesterenko in team scoring, which was enough to get him signed by the Bruins to a two-year entry-level contract.
His first AHL season in Providence looked encouraging: 20 points, including 10 goals and 10 assists, in 70 games, along with 113 penalty minutes. But the next year was a step back.
In 2024-25, he managed just three goals and did not receive a qualifying offer from Boston last summer.
That opened the door for Rochester. Kuntar signed a one-year AHL deal with the Americans and made the most of it, putting up nine goals in his first 24 games before earning an NHL contract for the rest of the 2025-26 season. He finished the year with 21 goals and 37 points in 70 games, and also made his NHL debut against Vancouver on December 11.
After that season, the Sabres locked him in with a two-year, two-way extension at the NHL minimum of $875,000.
In Other News...
Three Sabres Suddenly Carry Huge Pressure To Prove Last Year Was Real
With Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram no longer in the mix, the Sabres are heading into camp with a little less margin for error and a lot more attention on the players who can help replace what those departures leave behind. Mattias Samuelsson, Jack Quinn and Josh Doan all come out of last season with legitimate momentum, and Buffalo needs those gains to look real again if it is going to push back toward the playoff race.
Samuelssons jump in production, Quinns emergence as a top-nine option and Doans growing role give the roster some needed upside, but they also raise the bar for what comes next. The Sabres do not just need those seasons to be remembered as a nice stretch, they need them to become the new standard, especially with the lineup thinner than it was a year ago and the pressure to prove last season was no fluke hanging over a key part of the forward group. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres May Finally Be Circling The Top Six Scorer Fans Want
Kirill Marchenko has quietly become one of the more intriguing names in the summer trade market, and Buffalo is at least being mentioned as a possible fit if Columbus decides to move him. The Blue Jackets winger has given teams plenty to think about after a strong season and a productive two-year stretch, and for a Sabres club still looking to add more scoring punch, that kind of player naturally lands on the radar.
The wrinkle is timing, because the chatter around Marchenko has not settled into anything concrete yet. Buffalo can keep monitoring the situation while sorting through its own forward group, and if the market does shift later in the summer, the Sabres look like the sort of team that could jump in when the price and the fit line up. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Single Game Tickets Are Here And Fans Will Feel It
The first chance to see the Sabres at home this season comes Oct. 3 against the Chicago Blackhawks, and single-game tickets are already on sale with even the cheapest seats carrying a hefty price tag. For fans eyeing the home opener, the market is reflecting more than just a date on the calendar - it is also showing the buzz around a team coming off a playoff run and the added pull of marquee home dates.
VIPTix president and CEO Nick Giammusso said the opener and holiday games are drawing the highest prices because demand is strongest for those nights, while the rest of the schedule should be more fluid as the season gets closer. For anyone not locked in on being there from the start, there is at least a chance the numbers soften later, once the market has time to settle. [Read more 🡒]