The Buffalo Sabres are shopping Jack Quinn, and they’re doing it with purpose.
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported that Buffalo is “actively dangling” the forward in trade talks, a sign the club is pushing hard to reshape its roster this summer. Quinn has become one of the Sabres’ most valuable chips, especially after the team used the No. 4 overall pick in the 2026 draft - acquired in the Bowen Byram trade - on WHL defenseman Daxon Rudolph instead of moving that selection for immediate help.
Quinn’s value is obvious. He scored 20 goals and finished with 51 points last season, making him one of the more appealing names Buffalo can put on the market. And with the draft only a few days in the rearview mirror, it may be simpler for teams to build deals around players rather than picks, which could explain why Buffalo’s focus on Quinn has sharpened.
Money may be part of the picture too. The Sabres have already committed meaningful cap space in recent weeks, locking up players like Zach Benson and Beck Malenstyn to long-term extensions.
Quinn is headed for restricted free agency next summer and will almost certainly be looking for a hefty raise from his current $3.75MM cap hit. If Buffalo doesn’t believe it can fit that kind of contract into its future plans, moving him now - with one year left on his deal - could be the cleanest path, especially if the club wants to hand his role to a younger, cheaper option such as Konsta Helenius or Jiri Kulich.
Elsewhere in the East, the New Jersey Devils are close to getting something done with Arseni Gritsyuk. James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now reported that the team is nearing a contract extension with the pending RFA forward, and that the new deal “should be wrapped up soon,” possibly within the next few days.
Gritsyuk, 25, was a fifth-round pick in 2019 and spent five years in the KHL before finally making the jump to North America. After starring for SKA St. Petersburg, he delivered 13 goals and 31 points in 66 games for New Jersey last season, putting himself in line for a strong bump from the $925K cap hit on his entry-level deal.
The Ottawa Senators also have a goalie situation to sort out. Even though the club did not give Samuel Ersson a qualifying offer before today’s deadline, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reported that Ottawa still wants to re-sign him for the 2026-27 season and beyond. Garrioch added that it “would be surprising if [Ersson] doesn’t get signed.”
The reason for skipping the qualifying offer appears to be tied to arbitration. If Ersson had been qualified, he would have been eligible to file for it, giving him more leverage in negotiations and taking some control over compensation out of the club’s hands. Ottawa’s move suggests the Senators still want to keep the goalie after trading a fifth-rounder for him last week, but prefer to avoid the risk that comes with an arbitration filing.
In Other News...
Devils May Have Just Made Jack Hughes Biggest Problem Harder To Fix
The Devils went into the draft needing more than just another prospect, and Sunny Mehta made sure they at least kept one premium chip in the pocket. New Jersey held onto the 12th overall pick and used it on Swedish forward Alexander Command, a move that kept the front office in position to keep searching for a top-six answer around Jack Hughes rather than spending every major asset in one swing.
Even after the roster shuffle, the larger issue is still staring back at Mehta. New Jersey wants a legitimate scoring wing to ease the burden on Hughes, but the path to landing one keeps getting narrower, and the clubs remaining trade currency is not as clean or simple as it looked before the draft. If the Devils are going to chase a real difference-maker, they may have to decide whether to keep waiting for the right market or finally push harder on a deal that can change the look of the top of the lineup. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Face A Massive Connor Hellebuyck Or Jacob Markstrom Decision
The Devils offseason has a familiar shape to it: Jack Hughes needs more help up front, and the goaltending situation has not settled the way the front office hoped when Jacob Markstrom arrived. New general manager Sunny Mehta inherits both problems at once, and the pressure to upgrade in goal could push New Jersey into a bigger swing than a usual summer shuffle.
One name hovering around that conversation is Connor Hellebuyck, a target whose availability could reshape the market if the Devils decide to press forward. The path there is not simple, though, because moving Markstroms contract may be part of the equation, and it is unclear how much extra value New Jersey would have to attach to make that kind of deal work. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Draft Weekend May Have Revealed A Bigger Plan
The Devils draft weekend already came with a clear headliner in Alexander Command at No. 12, but the rest of the class suggested New Jersey was chasing more than one type of future contributor. General manager Mehta kept coming back to the idea of adding productive players with dynamic qualities, and the later-round picks fit that broader search for skill rather than simply filling out a board.
For a team trying to keep building around a stronger talent base, that approach can matter just as much as the first name off the board. The draft also left enough room to wonder whether the Devils are keeping an eye on bigger roster movement elsewhere, with Winnipeg at least willing to hear trade ideas on its side of the goalie market, even if the full shape of that situation is still unclear. [Read more 🡒]