Jarmo Kekalainen’s first offseason running the Buffalo Sabres didn’t unfold the way a lot of fans probably pictured, but it still came out looking like a strong piece of work.
This was the first summer with Kekalainen in charge after he joined the organization last offseason and then took over as general manager in December, replacing Kevyn Adams. The expectation around Buffalo was pretty straightforward: add to the roster, build on the momentum of finally getting back to the playoffs, and keep the good feeling going after ending the drought. That didn’t happen in the exact way many expected, but the Sabres still came away with an offseason that deserves a lot of credit.
Grade for the Buffalo Sabres 2026 offseason: A-
A big chunk of Kekalainen’s work centered on future value, not immediate help. Buffalo picked up three draft picks in the trades involving Bowen Byram and Alex Tuch, and there’s a fair argument that the roster sitting here today isn’t stronger than the one that finished last season.
Still, the Sabres were boxed in by their salary cap situation. They weren’t in position to bring back Tuch and extend Byram to the kind of deal he signed, while also locking up Zach Benson on a new seven-year contract and getting new contracts done with restricted free agents Peyton Krebs and Olen Zellweger. In that light, avoiding the loss of Byram and Tuch for nothing matters a lot, and it reflects well on Kekalainen’s handling of the situation.
There’s still room for this offseason to climb even higher.
Most of the heavy lifting is done, but there’s still time before the 2026-27 season gets here, and Kekalainen already showed leading up to the NHL Draft that he’s willing to be aggressive when the move makes sense for Buffalo. The one addition that could push this from a very good offseason to an A+ is a trade for goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
The chatter hasn’t cooled off. If anything, it sounds like it’s only gotten louder, and it’s hard to picture Hellebuyck back with the Jets next season.
If Buffalo can land him without giving up Konsta Helenius or even Noah Ostlund, that would be a massive swing. It would also put the Sabres right back into the conversation in a difficult Atlantic Division.
In Other News...
Sabres Fans Have Every Right To Be Furious Over Konsta Helenius
Konsta Helenius has already done enough in his young career to make Buffalos front office feel pretty good about the 2024 first-rounder. He has produced in the AHL, held his own in the NHL, and even chipped in two goals in a playoff series, the kind of early offensive footprint that usually gets a prospects stock moving in the right direction. For a Sabres system that also includes Daxon Rudolph, Radim Mrtka and Noah Ostlund near the top of The Athletics latest list, Helenius has every reason to be part of the conversation near the front.
So when he landed at No. 42, it was fair for Sabres fans to bristle a little. The ranking says one thing, but Helenius track record suggests a player whose ceiling may be higher than that slot implies, especially if his scoring touch keeps translating against better competition. Buffalo has spent years waiting for young talent to turn promise into production, and Helenius is already making it harder to dismiss him as just another promising name in the pipeline. [Read more 🡒]
One Sabres Draft Miss Still Haunts What Buffalo Could Have Been
The Sabres 1986 draft still offers one of those what-if moments that lingers because the miss was so close to the top of the board. Buffalo used the fifth overall pick on defenseman Shawn Anderson, and while he did get to the NHL and log time with the club, he never came close to becoming the kind of cornerstone the franchise needed as it tried to build around its late-1980s core.
What makes the decision sting is the player who went just a few picks later, Brian Leetch, who became the sort of defenseman that can change a teams trajectory for years. For Buffalo, the frustration is not just that Anderson fell short, but that a player with Leetchs ceiling might have fit perfectly with the talent already in place and given the Sabres a far different path in the seasons that followed. [Read more 🡒]
Kevyn Adams Just Landed A New NHL Front Office Role
The Bruins made a round of hockey operations changes this week, and the ripple effects reached back to Buffalo. Along with promoting Dennis Bonvie and Jeremy Rogalski to assistant general managers and naming Alex Gimenez director of hockey operations, collective bargaining agreement, Boston also continued reshaping the front office under general manager Don Sweeneys watch.
For Sabres fans, the most notable name in the mix is Kevyn Adams, who has now landed a senior advisor role in Boston. It is his first NHL job since Buffalo moved on from him early last season, closing a chapter that saw the Sabres postseason drought stretch to 14 years before the team finally broke through after his dismissal. [Read more 🡒]