Notebook: Adams exploring trade market for Victor Olofsson, qualifying offers, and could there be an extension for Casey Mittelstadt?

NASHVILLE – The end of the season wasn’t easy for Victor Olofsson.

He was a healthy scratch for the first time in his NHL career in mid-March and then sat for five straight from April 4-11. He scored a career-high 28 goals but struggled in his play without the puck despite having shown improvement in that area in 2021-22 after being hampered by a wrist injury.

Olofsson admitted at locker cleanout that it was frustrating to not play as the team pushed for a playoff spot. Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams acknowledged they could have done better on their end as well.

“I think he knows he could’ve maybe performed at certain times better but also that maybe we need to make sure that we’re helping him be put in situations where his gifts can come out and perform better,” he said. “So, it’s all really positive with Vic.”

With his scoring ability and one-year left on his contract, at a $4.75 million cap hit, he’d be an attractive option for teams looking to improve their offense.

“We're open to kind of looking at everything,” Adams said. “And that's what I told him. I promised him I would do and see what's out there. But I also think that we really liked Victor Olofsson and if we get back, we're starting at training camp, we need to make sure that we're putting him in a position to succeed. So that's kind of the give and take of it. But the way I handle these things are just open honesty and make sure that we're all doing the best we can to kind of move forward.”

No extension talks yet for Casey Mittelstadt

The Sabres have not had any extension talks with Casey Mittelstadt’s representatives, Adams said.

The forward set career highs across the board last season, with 15 goals and 44 assists for 59 points in 82 games. He was the only Sabres player to appear in every game.

Mittelstadt has one year left on a three-year contract, at a $2.5 million cap hit.

“It's not from a lack of that we're not interested in doing that,” Adams said of the lack of talks. “We definitely are, in terms of what he means to our group and the leader that he's emerged as and just certainly the way he performed down the stretch. … This last season was a really good step for him to kind of put a really strong year together and now take the next step, but he knows how we feel about him, and I think that it's mutual. I think he really likes what we're building and he would like to be part of it long term as well.”

Qualifying offers for restricted free agents not yet finalized

The Sabres continue to work through qualifying offers for Tyson Jost and Kale Clague. Each is a pending restricted free agent and is eligible for arbitration.

The deadline to extend a qualifying offer is Friday.

“We’re going to have conversations leading right up to it,” Adams said. “But we’re definitely prepared. Especially with Jost, we’ve talked to them for the last number of weeks about how he’s someone we’d love to have back and kind of the ball’s in his court a little bit now.”

New assistant coaches for the Rochester Americans could be hired soon

Rochester Americans coach Seth Appert is in need of two new assistants after Michael Peca and Mike Weber were hired by the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues, respectively.

Adams has begun the process of finding their replacements and could have them in place in the near future.

“I'd say hopefully with one of them soon and then the other one potentially soon or within the next few weeks,” he said.