Six ex-Buffalo players will be playing in the Stanley Cup Final between Florida and Edmonton
The Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers has a decidedly Buffalo feel to it, as six ex-Sabres (Sam Reinhart, Brandon Montour, Evan Rodrigues, Dmitry Kulikov, Kyle Okposo, and Evander Kane) will be playing for the NHL’s ultimate prize.
The performance of some of the former Sabres players has made some of the Buffalo fanbase bemoan their departure, but the circumstances surrounding their trades and the return they garnered have to be considered factors of whether they were beneficial.
Over the next few days, we will look at each player’s departure and grade how Buffalo did.
Sam Reinhart – traded to Florida in July 2021 for goaltender Devon Levi and the Panthers' 2022 first-round pick (Jiri Kulich)
Reinhart was coming off four consecutive 20+ goal seasons, was arbitration-eligible, and one year from heading to unrestricted free agency, and being among the core group assembled after the 2015 tank season (Jack Eichel, Rasmus Ristolainen) that had not won and had grown frustrated with the lack of winning.
The deal made by GM Kevyn Adams gave the Sabres a top-flight goaltending prospect in Levi (who is likely to split time with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen) and Adams turned the Panthers late first-rounder into Kulich, who posted two 20+ goal seasons in the AHL before turning 20 years old.
Reinhart has reached a new level with the Panthers, scoring 33 and 31 goals in the first two years of a three-year, $19.5 million deal, but the 2014 second-overall put it in overdrive in his contract year, finishing only behind Auston Matthews in the NHL with 57 goals.
It is impossible to calculate whether Reinhart would have reached the heights he has in Florida had he stayed with Buffalo, but the team surrounding him was a contributing factor. It is likely that he was not going to re-sign in Buffalo unless he was overpaid, and at that point the last place Sabres were headed in the direction of another rebuild.
Grade - A
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