The Buffalo Sabres’ prospect pipeline keeps drawing attention, and Patrick Geary is one of the players giving that system more depth.
Geary comes in at No. 29 on the Sabres’ top 40 prospects list, a ranking that highlights a player the organization chose in the sixth round of the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas. The Sabres leaned into familiarity with that pick, taking the Hamburg, NY native after he spent his amateur years with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres and then two seasons with Waterloo of the USHL before moving on to Michigan State.
Now 22, Geary has already built a steady college resume with the Spartans. He is also a teammate of Buffalo’s 2023 second-round pick Maxim Strbak.
His first season at Michigan State was his most productive offensively, when he played mostly in a shutdown role and posted 13 points, including five goals and eight assists, in 32 games. His sophomore year brought a drop in scoring, with seven points, one goal and six assists, across 37 games.
Last season, Geary’s offense ticked up a bit again. He finished with 11 points, scored twice and added nine assists, while also piling up 70 penalty minutes, nearly matching the total from his first two seasons combined in the sin bin.
The defensive side of his game is what stands out most. According to the Elite Prospects Draft Guide, “the defining dimension of Geary’s game remains on the defensive side of the puck…..In the neutral zone, he closes on opponents early, sets up a tight gap, surfs inside-out, takes away the center lane with his stick, and then closes on the puck carrier with force.”
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Sabres Organization Faces Another Amerks Coaching Shakeup
Another familiar name is out of the Sabres developmental pipeline, as a former Buffalo player and assistant coach with the Rochester Americans has departed after 17 seasons in the organization to become head coach of the Youngstown Phantoms in the USHL. For Buffalo, it is another change to track on the farm side, where stability matters as much as results for a franchise trying to keep its prospects on a steady track in Rochester.
The move leaves the Sabres filling a vacancy on the Amerks coaching staff for the second time this offseason, a reminder that the organizational depth chart is still in motion behind the scenes. Youngstowns coaching change also set off the domino effect, with Ryan Ward leaving the Phantoms to take an assistant role with the Providence Bruins, but the more immediate concern in Buffalo is making sure the Amerks bench is settled before the season turns more serious. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Could Face One Painful Core Decision If Expansion Returns
Any talk of NHL expansion always sends teams back to the same uncomfortable exercise, and for the Sabres that means imagining a protection list before any new franchise actually exists. The scenario discussed around possible additions in Atlanta and Houston would force Buffalo, like everyone else, to sort through its roster, weigh contracts against upside and decide which pieces are too important to leave exposed in an expansion draft.
On the blue line, the clubs direction is fairly easy to map out, with its top young defense talent expected to be treated as untouchable if that day comes. The harder part is up front, where Buffalos mix of proven scorers, developing players and cap considerations could turn a theoretical exercise into a real front-office dilemma, especially if the roster keeps shifting before expansion ever becomes more than a possibility. [Read more 🡒]