The Buffalo Sabres were able to make lemonade out of lemons when faced with the prospect of losing Bowen Byram in free agency next summer after GM Jarmo Kekalainen found out that the Stanley Cup winner would not sign an extension. The club got back what most observers believed was an excellent return in the fourth overall pick (Daxon Rudolph), Louis Crevier and a second rounder that was flipped to Anaheim for Olen Zellweger, but the loss of winger Alex Tuch and the inability thus far of Kekalainen to replace the veteran forward’s production and leadership are the primary reasons why the Sabres were ranked 32nd overall by The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn on their Most Improved teams this offseason.

With the departures, Buffalo is down 44 goals from last season. The replacement of Byram with Zellweger and Crevier is adequate, although neither provide Byram’s high-end offensive talent. The loss of Tuch has to this point not been addressed by Kekalainen, other than what is being assumed by Luszczyszyn, that they are relying on the improvement of Zach Benson, Josh Doan, Noah Ostlund, Konsta Helenius, Jiri Kulich, and Jack Quinn to improve.

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Relying on youngsters to improve off of last season is a risky proposition for the Sabres, because last season nearly everything went right and that cannot be a realistic expectation next season. In goal, the three-headed monster of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Lyon, and Colten Ellis worked out perfectly (as even Kekalainen admitted after the season) with one veteran covering for the other when injuries popped up. 

On defense, the club’s top-four had no serious injuries, with Mattias Samuelsson nearly doubling his career goal total in one season, and up front, after getting Josh Norris back in December, they did not have any serious injuries the rest of the campaign. 

If everything falls into place again, the loss of Tuch and Byram may have the Sabres competing for a Eastern Conference wildcard spot instead of another Atlantic Division title. Luszczyszyn thinks the Sabres are best prepared for addressing those losses internally, but if the club runs into goaltending or injury problems, or does not have the expected success from their young group, Buffalo could be right back to being on the outside looking in when playoff time comes around. 

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