The Buffalo Sabres have spent the offseason reshaping their roster, and the biggest swing came when they moved Bowen Byram to the Chicago Blackhawks. That deal didn’t just clear the way for other moves - it helped make several of them possible.
In all, the Sabres have made five notable moves, and the chain reaction from the Byram trade sits at the top of the list. It brought back the fourth overall pick, a second-round pick that was later used in the Olen Zellweger trade, defenseman Louis Crevier, and roughly $10 million in cap space, with Jordan Greenway also going back to Chicago alongside Byram.
At first, the move caught people off guard because Buffalo had made it clear it wanted to keep Byram and sign him long term. But once Byram showed no interest in a long-term commitment, the Sabres had to pivot.
That pivot opened the door for the rest of the summer. The second-round pick from Chicago became part of the Zellweger deal, and the cap room helped Buffalo lock up Zach Benson on a seven-year contract. Even after those moves, the Sabres still have about $8 million in cap space to work with, whether that means free agency or absorbing salary in a trade later on.
Benson’s extension belongs near the top of the pile too. The 21-year-old was one of Buffalo’s key priorities after his playoff run, and the Sabres chose to commit long term rather than go with a short bridge deal.
His new contract runs seven years with an AAV of $7.5 million. Benson just posted a career-high 43 points in 65 games this past season, then followed that with five goals and four assists in 13 playoff games.
Right now, he looks like the favorite to open next season on the Sabres’ top line.
The Zellweger trade with the Anaheim Ducks comes in next. Buffalo landed a younger replacement for Byram and then extended him for three years at an AAV of $3 million.
He may not be Byram, but he gives the Sabres a strong option on the second pair with Owen Power. Considering Buffalo only gave up the second-round pick it had already picked up in the Byram trade and a prospect, the price was hard to beat.
Looking back a few seasons from now, this could end up being the best value move of the bunch.
Michael Kesselring’s move to the San Jose Sharks lands fourth. The Sabres knew the restricted free agent situation wasn’t going anywhere after a disappointing season, so they moved quickly and avoided a drawn-out process.
Buffalo only moved up seven spots in the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft, going from 27th to 20th, but that was enough to let them draft the center they wanted in Ilia Morozov. Kesselring could bounce back in San Jose and make the trade look better for the Sharks, but the Sabres took what they believed was the best available offer and moved on.
At the bottom of the ranking is the Alex Tuch sign-and-trade with the Washington Capitals. Buffalo spent nearly a year trying to work out a new deal with Tuch, and as time passed, the odds of a fresh agreement kept fading.
Rather than keep waiting, Jarmo Kekalainen shifted course and extracted a 2027 third-round pick in return. It doesn’t help the Sabres immediately, but it does add another draft asset they could use in a future trade.
It was a busy offseason for Kekalainen and the Sabres, and while the roster still hasn’t been topped off with a headline-grabbing addition, the moves they’ve already made have given them a lot of flexibility moving forward.
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Sabres May Finally Have A Real Answer For Tuchs Lost Offense
Buffalo is still sorting through how to replace the offense it lost when Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram were moved out, and the front office is clearly looking beyond internal fixes. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen is at least doing the homework on the trade market, with the kind of veteran scoring help that could steady a lineup that needs more finish after those departures.
One name that keeps surfacing is a proven winger in Detroit who is entering the final year of his deal, which makes him a natural fit for a team trying to thread the needle between urgency and flexibility. Any pursuit would still come with layers to sort through, from contractual protection to whether other moving parts around the league change the players willingness to consider a new destination, but Buffalos search for a real answer is very much underway. [Read more 🡒]