The Buffalo Sabres didn’t make much noise on the opening day of free agency, and that was hardly a surprise after a season that ended with the Atlantic Division title and a trip to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Most of the work on July 1 was about tidying up the roster rather than chasing headlines. Buffalo traded goalie Devon Levi to Edmonton for a draft pick, signed recently acquired defenseman Olen Zellweger, and reunited with a pair of former Sabres in free agency.
Levi is headed to the Oilers along with a 2028 seventh-round pick in exchange for Edmonton’s 2028 third-round pick. The 24-year-old had spent nearly all of the last two seasons in AHL Rochester, and his path in the organization changed once Buffalo claimed Colton Ellis off waivers from St.
Louis last October and kept him on the NHL roster all season. Levi was in the second year of a two-year, $1.625 million contract, and he would not have waiver exemption next season.
Zellweger’s new deal gives the Sabres a little more certainty on the back end. The 22-year-old, acquired from Anaheim in a trade for a 2026 second-round pick and minor league forward Anton Wahlberg, signed a three-year, $9.3 million contract. He should begin next season in a bottom-pairing role, though Buffalo clearly believes he has the skill set to climb higher in the lineup.
There had been some expectation that GM Jarmo Kekalainen might swing bigger, especially after the departures of defenseman Bowen Byram and winger Alex Tuch. The Sabres were linked to a possible run at Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck, but that never materialized. A thin free-agent market and Buffalo’s limited cap space helped explain why the team stayed quiet on Wednesday.
The other moves were more familiar faces returning to the fold. Buffalo signed defenseman Dennis Gilbert and forward Conor Sheary to one-year, $850,000 contracts.
Gilbert, a 29-year-old Buffalo native, played 25 games for the club in 2024-25 before being included in the Dylan Cozens-Josh Norris trade in March, 2025. Sheary, who played 133 games for Buffalo from 2018 to 2020, is back after spending the last season with the New York Rangers.
Over 11 NHL seasons, he has played for four other clubs.
Both are expected to provide veteran depth in AHL Rochester, with the chance to get called up instead of younger players still working their way through the Amerks.
Buffalo also added AHLer Jason Polin on a one-year contract and signed Buffalo native Trevor Kuntar to a two-year, $1.75 million two-way deal.
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For Buffalo, the appeal is straightforward: a modest commitment, a player with NHL experience in the background, and a forward who has spent time at both the pro and college levels trying to force his way into a bigger role. McDonough was a Canucks draft pick in 2019 and has already had a small taste of the NHL, but the next step now is less about resume and more about whether he can turn another strong year in the minors into a longer look. [Read more 🡒]
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What makes this round more interesting is that Buffalo is not the only name in the mix. Kanes next move is still being debated, with Detroit and even Chicago lingering as possibilities, and that keeps the whole thing from settling into anything concrete. For a Sabres team whose fan base is always searching for a true needle-moving addition, the buzz is enough to stir hope again, but not enough to call anything close to finished. [Read more 🡒]