There are some very good players available in NHL free agency this summer. Toronto Maple Leafs stars Mitch Marner and John Tavares are looming UFAs, as is Vancouver Canucks star winger Brock Boeser. But with that said, let’s be honest — this year’s group of free agents isn’t particularly deep with high-end talent. And that may result in some teams waiting until the summer of 2026 to spend the bulk of their salary cap space. But the Buffalo Sabres can’t afford to be patient and wait until then to improve their lineup. The change for the Sabres has to come right away.
To be sure, it will be tempting for the Sabres to punt the ball down the line and take bigger swings at free agents a year from now. The 2026 class of free agents is much more tantalizing, including superstars Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, Jack Eichel and Artemi Panarin. But who’s kidding who — the Sabres aren’t going to be a destination for players of that caliber. For various reasons — the lack of winning paramount among them — Buffalo will be a distant second (or worse) in the minds of star players and their agents. So pretending that waiting a year will somehow lead to a gold mine of talent is about as disingenuous as it gets.
This is why the Sabres have to get off their wallet and use every dollar available to them this summer. Buffalo currently has $23.2 million in salary cap space, and while some of that will go to restricted free agents J.J. Peterka and Bowen Byram, there will still be more than enough cap space to add more skill and experience to the roster. Whether they acquire that in free agency or trades is immaterial. The bottom line is the status quo in Buffalo is not an option. And skimping on their payroll is only going to fuel the fire of Sabres fans who believe the team will never succeed with its current ownership.
By the time the free-agency race kicks into high gear on July 1, the Sabres have to be aggressive and persistent when it comes to the players they target. Nobody wants to hear excuses about the things that hamstring Buffalo management in making the team better. This rebuilding plan cannot wait another year, or another minute, for that matter. There has to be legitimate progress, right away.
Maybe that means kicking the tires on someone like Calgary Flames center Nazem Kadri. Maybe it means checking on the availability of Anaheim Ducks center Trevor Zegras, or maybe it means pursuing New York Rangers RFA defenseman K’Andre Miller. We’re not suggsting any of those players would welcome a deal to Buffalo.
But doing nothing? That’s bordering on an unforgivable offense. The Sabres aren’t going to end their 14-year-playoff-free streak by sitting back and hoping their current cast can get the job done. They need to alter the chemistry and show players that losing will no longer be tolerated. And you don’t do that by bringing back the same group of players to try again.
Sabres fans have been through enough calls for patience. The NHL is a results-driven business, and positive results are the only metric Buffalo supporters will be happy with.
And while throwing money at a problem isn’t a guarantee that the problem is going to be addressed, doing something on the cheap isn’t a guarantee things will get better, either. And waiting for the class of 2026 isn’t an assurance of anything. Many of the aforementioned superstars could sign long-term contract extensions long before then.
It may be a comfort to some to envision a day where the Sabres will be an attractive destination for NHL players. But that day isn’t going to be in 2026, and it definitely isn’t going to be today. Buffalo has to take the bull by the horns, own where they are in the NHL food chain, and do whatever possible to improve right away.
Any other philosophy will almost assuredly going to lead to more disappointment and more fan anger. And whatever money they save in the short term by not spending to the cap ceiling will be lost in the areas of public relations and customer content.
The Sabres need to spend their money right away, and any argument to the contrary is not going to go over well with those long-suffering Buffalo fans. The team’s pocketbook needs to be wide-open, and it needs to be so until further notice.
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