NHL Expansion Draft 2017: Buffalo Sabres Protection Strategy
The Buffalo Sabres have a lot of youth to protect, and not much else. For a rebuilding team aiming at the playoffs sooner rather than later, what is worth protecting come the Expansion Draft? Veteran leadership or young players?
As part of our continuing series ( the last article was the Boston Bruins) let’s now take a look at the Sabres, ahead of the 2017 expansion draft.
The Buffalo Sabres are facing a dilemma: who do you protect in the expansion draft? Jack Eichel is exempt, so that’s a sigh of relief. But besides him, do the Sabres focus on protecting veteran leadership like Josh Gorges? Or on young players like Jake McCabe and Zemgus Girgensons?
Let’s address this important question, as the Sabres will eventually have to.
Buffalo Forwards
The Buffalo Sabres don’t have a bunch of potentially exposed forwards. They might even have trouble meeting the minimum required two forwards if they don’t re-sign some of their free agents before the draft. But before that, out of their seven still vulnerable players, who remains?
Kyle Okposo has a No Move Clause. That’s fine because the Sabres really shouldn’t move on from Okposo anyway. The man put up 45 points, tied with Rasmus Ristolainen for fourth on the team. He also only did it in 65 games. Imagine what he can do with a healthy season. Okposo is the only Sabre forward with a No Move Clause.
The Buffalo Sabres also keep Ryan O’Reilly, Matt Moulson, and Evander Kane. These are the only three still under contract I view as being too valuable to expose. O’Reilly came in second on the team with 55 points. Kane came in sixth with 43. While Kane has been in a little bit of off-court trouble, he’s still too valuable to just let walk. Moulson came in eighth with 32. He’s a great depth player.
Not under contract, the Sabres protect restricted free agents Marcus Foligno, Zemgus Girgensons, and Johan Larsson. All three contributed meaningfully this season and remain good depth for the Sabres, especially as they drive towards the playoffs.
That means that Buffalo exposes the following players: Tyler Ennis, William Carrier, and Nicolas Deslauriers. Ennis is a third liner who couldn’t stay healthy this year. At 4.6 million, he’s also very expensive for a third liner. Deslauriers and Carrier are young players who didn’t produce.
Sabres Defensemen & Goaltending
The Buffalo Sabres, therefore, have three slots open for defensemen. One of them, of course, goes to number one defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. Rasmus is just 22 and has a brilliant future ahead of him with the Sabres. They’re going to need him on any upcoming cup runs. Especially considering he tied for fourth on the team in points with 45.
The Sabres should also keep Jake McCabe. McCabe put up 20 points in 76 games and isn’t an RFA until 2019. He’s only making 1.6 million, and for a defenseman with his capabilities at just 23, it’s going to be important to keep McCabe happy.
Which leaves Josh Gorges, Zach Bogosian, and Justin Falk. Out of these three, Bogosian had the most points. Bogosian also played the most minutes and is the youngest of the three. He’s also the most expensive. Still, Bogosian is the one the Sabres are likely to keep.
Anders Nilsson is an unrestricted free agent. That makes the goaltender problem easy, and Robin Lehner remains on the Sabres, though they’re going to have to sign him to a new contract. If Nilsson was re-signed that’d be great for the Buffalo Sabres.
Next: NHL Daily: Pastrnak, Leafs, Blackhawks
There’s actually two great goaltenders on this squad. In 58 starts, Lehner posted a 2.68 GAA and .920 SV%. In 23 starts, Nilsson posted a 2.67 GAA and .923 SV%. Nilsson’s only two years older. However, one can see how a goaltender battle could develop in Buffalo with only one protection slot.
Exempt Players & Vegas’s Selection
The Buffalo Sabres actually have a few important exempt players in this expansion draft. One of them, of course, is future captain Jack Eichel. Alex Nylander also remains exempt from this expansion process, along with Sam Reinhart, Evan Rodrigues, Brendan Guhle, and Justin Bailey.
That leaves Vegas with a few options. There are guys like Gorges, who can come in and provide
Vegas instantly with veteran leadership. Tyler Ennis can be a good middle-six center which Vegas may actually need amongst all their bottom six forwards. They can also draft young and cheap with Carrier and Falk in this expansion draft.
If I’m Vegas, though, I’m taking a good long look at Tyler Ennis before deciding he’s too expensive and moving on to Carrier, who can still develop into quite a player, especially in terms of physicality. In 369 minutes on ice in Buffalo this season, Carrier had 112 hits.