2017 first-rounder leads the Sabres with 39 points this season
2017 first-rounder leads the Sabres with 39 points this season
The Buffalo Sabres have been disappointing so far this season, as expectations were that they would be competing for an Eastern Conference playoff spot after missing the postseason by one point last year. Despite appearing to be on the way towards missing the playoffs for the 13th straight campaign, one of the few players who has reached or exceeded expectations has been Casey Mittelstadt.
The 25-year-old has followed up a career-high 59 points (15 goals, 44 assists) in 2022-23 by leading the Sabres in scoring with 39 points (11 goals, 28 assists) in 47 games, in spite of going up and down the lineup filling in for the injured Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens, as well as shifting from center to wing.
The dilemma that Sabres GM Kevyn Adams will face this summer is similar to the one that the Philadelphia Flyers resolved on Friday by signing winger Owen Tippett to an eight-year, $49.6 million extension. The 25-year-old Tippett was selected in the same draft as Mittelstadt, was in the final year of a two-year bridge deal, but was two years away from unrestricted free agency.
Mittelstadt is in the final year of a three-year, $7.5 million bridge deal and is eligible for salary arbitration this summer, but will qualify for unrestricted free agency in July 2025. Based on his nearly 70-point pace, the Minnesota native will likely double his $2.5 million cap hit on a one-year arbitration award or settlement, but it is uncertain whether Adams is willing to pay Mittelstadt in excess of Tippett’s $6.2 million AAV with both Thompson and Cozens signed long-term and the extensions of defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power kicking in next season.
There has been some speculation that the Sabres might be willing to listen to offers with the center market for the March 8th trade deadline very thin, or that they may wait until the summer to move him before they risk losing him for nothing in 2025. With a relatively low-cap hit, Mittelstadt could draw significant interest from contending clubs, but Buffalo has to decide whether they want to pay a third center a high salary.
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