The Buffalo Sabres have already crossed one item off their to-do list with Louis Crevier’s extension, but the bigger contract questions are still sitting right in front of them.
The next deals that matter most in Buffalo could come for Jack Quinn and Jiri Kulich. Both are set to become restricted free agents at the end of the season, and both are viewed as key pieces of the Sabres’ future. That makes their next contracts more than a simple numbers game.
Quinn has already shown what he can do at the NHL level when he’s healthy, and Buffalo has put plenty into his development. Injuries have been part of his career, but the Sabres still believe he can be a major offensive piece for them going forward.
Kulich is in a similar spot. He’s still young, still developing, and clearly part of the group Buffalo is trying to build around. His next contract should give the Sabres a better sense of how he fits into the long-term roster picture.
That’s why one of these two could be next in line after Crevier. The extension for Crevier takes care of one player, but Quinn and Kulich are much bigger decisions because of what they mean to the future of the team.
Which one gets done first is hard to say. A lot could depend on how the season develops - Quinn is off to a fantastic start - and on what each player is seeking in a new deal. Buffalo also has to weigh how much term it wants to hand out and how those contracts will mesh with the rest of its young core.
Still, the Sabres have made their priorities pretty clear. They want to keep locking up young talent, and there should be a similar urgency around Quinn and Kulich.
There’s an old line that Elliotte Friedman says about betting on talent. Buffalo has never been shy about doing that.
The Mattias Samuelsson deal was viewed by some around the league as an overpay at the time, and now he’s a vital part of the organization.
So when Buffalo gets around to Quinn and Kulich, it won’t come as a shock. It’ll look like the next step in the Sabres’ plan to keep their young core together.
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Ellis now has a real chance to press his case for the job, especially with Alex Lyon sidelined by an upper-body injury and the door open for a change. Buffalo does not need a goaltending debate this early, but that is where the conversation has landed, with Luukkonen fighting to steady himself and Ellis waiting for an opportunity to prove the Sabres may have a different answer than they expected. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Got Their First Win But One Problem Still Looks Dangerous
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Buffalo heads next to face the Wild, who have opened with two straight wins, and the margin for error already looks slim. The bigger concern is in goal, where Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had enough help to earn the win but not enough consistency to make anyone comfortable yet, leaving the Sabres with questions to sort out quickly if they want that first victory to turn into a real stretch of momentum. [Read more 🡒]