The Buffalo Sabres’ push for Connor Hellebuyck didn’t begin at the NHL Draft, and it didn’t even start in 2024. According to Elliotte Friedman, Buffalo and the Winnipeg Jets had already spent serious time on Hellebuyck talks in the summer of 2023, well before the goalie’s long-term extension in Manitoba.
Friedman said the draft chatter was real, but it wasn’t the first round of negotiations.
“It’s been widely reported that Buffalo and Winnipeg were deep in Hellebuyck discussions at the draft, but someone told me last weekend that wasn’t the first time the Jets and Sabres discussed him. In the summer of 2023, before the goalie signed his long-term extension in Manitoba, the two teams took a looooooooooong look at it. Person wouldn’t say why it fell apart.”
That timing matters for Buffalo. The summer of 2023 lined up with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s rookie season, when he posted a 3.61 goals against average and a .892 save percentage. It also came during Devon Levi’s NHL debut, and Levi finished 5-2 down the stretch for the Sabres.
Even then, Buffalo had the kind of prospect pool and draft capital that could have made a real run at a deal. Friedman didn’t identify which names were actually discussed or what derailed the talks, but the Sabres had options. Luukkonen or Levi could have headlined a package, and Buffalo also had one of its three first-round picks from the prior year in Matthew Savoie, Noah Ostlund, or Jiri Kulich.
A first-round pick from that year likely would have been part of the equation too, and Buffalo held the 13th overall selection. That pick became Zach Benson, who has since become a key piece for the team and would be a major loss if he weren’t on the roster now.
The Sabres also had a young core on the NHL roster, though players like Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin, and Owen Power probably would have been off-limits. Other skaters were still just getting started in the league, including Dylan Cozens, Casey Mittelstadt, Jack Quinn, and JJ Peterka.
At the time, Hellebuyck was already carrying serious hardware: one Vezina Trophy, plus a finalist finish in another season. He had just turned 30 and was entering the final year of his contract.
Buffalo clearly had enough pieces to build a competitive offer. The bigger question is whether Kevyn Adams got the sense Hellebuyck wouldn’t commit long term to the Sabres. If that was the read, then it would have made little sense to pay a premium for one of the league’s top goalies.
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