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In Sunday morning, the Sabres confirmed the signing Cody Eakin for two years at $2.25M AAV.
I like this signing a lot. Eakin is gritty, skilled and tough to play against.
#Sabres confirm Eakin signing pic.twitter.com/BtEldVQcn3
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) October 11, 2020
In a move that surprised many of the furrowed-browed loyalists in Sabreland, the Buffalo Sabres avoided being taken to salary arbitration by signing restricted free agent defenseman Brandon Montour to a contract extension.
Montour's name was conspicuosly left off the NHLPA-generated list of 26 players that have opted for salary arbitration. Shortly thereafter, Pierre LeBrun tweeted that Montour agreed to a contract with the Sabres just before the arbitration filing deadline.
Montour, 26, just completed a two-year, $6,775,000 contract the he signed while with the Anaheim Ducks. Montour's qualifying offer was $3.525 million.
Montour reportedly has agreed on a one year bridge deal with thee Sabres. He will be eligible for unrestricted free agency at age 27.
The new one off is for $3.85M AAV.
Monty’s back! 👊
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 10, 2020
We have signed defenseman Brandon Montour to a one-year deal with an AAV of $3.85 million.
Details: https://t.co/036JLCjaeA pic.twitter.com/hVDOFadOb7
I have been a proponent of Montour signing a bridge deal with an average annual value of $4 million to $4.25 million. On Friday, Chris Tanev left Vancouver for Calgary where he signed for four years and $4.5M AAV.
Montour, Rasmus Ristolainen and Henri Jokiharju make up Buffalo's right defense batallion.
In February 2019, Anaheim traded Montour to the Sabres in exchange for a first-round pick and defenseman, Brendan Guhle. Montour had been a key component of the Ducks top 4 D corps.
In 74 games played with the Sabres, Montour has scored 8 goals and 20 assists.
Last season, Montour scored 5 goals and 13 assists in 54 games played. He was +13 and skated 19:30 ATOI.
In 243 career regular season games, the Ohsweken, Ontario native has scored 24 goals and 67 assists.
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Elliotte Friedman reports that the Buffalo Sabres have signed veteran center Cody Eakin a two year, $4.5 million contract.
The 29-year-old forward scored 5G,10A in 49 games with Vegas and Winnipeg last season.
Eakin was acquired by the Jets from the Vegas Golden Knights at the 2020 NHL trade deadline. Eaken played just eight games with the Jets before the season was shut downdue to the COVID19 pandemic. Eakin scored one goal and four assists for the Jets.
Kevyn Adams likes Western Conference players in Eric Staal, Toby Rieder, Cody Eakin, Brandon Davidson and Matt Irwin. Adams and Ralph Kreuger seemingly tired of havng their team be too easy to play against. The lineup certainly looks heavier today than it did a month ago.
In 2018-19, Eakin scored a career high 22 goals and 19 assists for the Vegas Golden Knights where he centered the fourth line for Alex Tuch and Will Carrier.
Might the Eakin signing be a sign of a trade to deliver Alex Tuch to Buffalo?
I like this trade a lot.
Eakin is gritty and can be a pain in the ass to play against. He protects the puck well and forechecks hard. When he doesn't have the puck on his stick he dogs his opponents relentlessly to gain possession.
The Buffalo center depth right now looks like this:
Jack Eichel Eric Staal Cody Eakin Curis Lazar
Kevyn Adams has fortified an area of weakness into an area of strength.
Buffalo's roster is beginning to look like:
Olofsson-Eichel-Reinhart Skinner-Staal-Cozens Girgensons-Eakin-Thompson Rieder-Lazar-Okposo
Where will Casey Mittelstadt fit?
Perhaps Mittelstadt will be traded in a package for a scoring winger like Alex Tuch, Brock Boeser, Tyler Johsnon, Rickard Rakell or Chris Kreider.
After signing 29 y/o C Cody Eakin 2 years $2.25M, the #Sabres have $25.5M cap Space w/ 18 Players (10F/7D/1G).
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) October 10, 2020
RFA: Ullmark, Montour, Pilut, Reinhart, Olofssonhttps://t.co/vMD4Ln8mBZ
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The National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) announced that 26 players have elected Salary Arbitration. Three of the players are from the Buffalo Sabres:
Boston Bruins
Matt Grzelcyk
Buffalo Sabres
Victor Olofsson
Sam Reinhart
Linus Ullmark
Calgary Flames
Andrew Mangiapane
Carolina Hurricanes
Clark Bishop
Haydn Fleury
Warren Foegele
Gustav Forsling
Colorado Avalanche
Ryan Graves
Detroit Red Wings
Tyler Bertuzzi
Florida Panthers
MacKenzie Weegar
Minnesota Wild
Kaapo Kahkonen
New York Islanders
Joshua Ho-Sang
Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews
New York Rangers
Tony DeAngelo
Alexandar Georgiev
Brendan Lemieux
Ryan Strome
Ottawa Senators
Connor Brown
Christian Jaros
Nick Paul
Chris Tierney
Toronto Maple Leafs
Ilya Mikheyev
Vancouver Canucks
Jake Virtanen
The deadline for Club-Elected Salary Arbitration notification is October 11 at 5 p.m. ET. Salary Arbitration hearings will be held from October 20 to November 8.
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* Brandon Montour has not elected to go to arbitraton. He can sign the $3.525 qualifying offer he was given by the Sabres. He and the team can also choose negotiate a new deal.
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The six year union between the Buffalo Sabres and Johan Larsson appears to be over.
Reports out of the desert claim that the Arizona Coyotes will be signing the UFA fourth line center to a new two year contract. Coyotes assistant coach Phil Housley coached Larsson while in Buffalo.
Larsson is a grinder's grinder and an adept penalty killer. He loves to burrow himself under the skin of his opponents. Larsson has the will to compete, however, his foot speed has become a concern.
In 392 career games with the Sabres, Larsson scorfed 38 goals and 59 assists.
I knew the hand writing was on the dry erase board for the 28 year old Larsson when earlier this week, the Sabres re-signed bottom six center Curtis Lazar and energy forwards Zemgus Girgensons and Tobias Rieder.
Larsson was acquired by the Buffalo Sabres along with goaltender Matt Hackett, a first-round pick in 2013 (Nikita Zadorov) and a second-round pick in 2014 (Brycen Martin) from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Jason Pominville and a fourth-round pick in 2014 #Sabres
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) October 10, 2020
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It's Day 2 of unrestricted free agency and Buffalo Sabres fans are feeling like they've been ripped off.
While all other teams in in the hyper-competitive Atlantic Division have been acquiring new assets, the Sabres have stood pat on making roster upgrades save the signings of Tobias Rieder, Brandon Davidson, and Matt Irwin.
Atlantic Division 2020-21 as of right now:
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) October 9, 2020
Bolts
Bruins
Canadiens
Senators
Leafs
Panthers
Red Wings
Sabres pic.twitter.com/1k1fjqnjLm
Sabres fans are lamenting the lack of A-list player acquisitions to the Sabres.
While the Sabres have been on "pause" the past two days, their Atlantic foes have made roster moves.
The Stanley Cup champion Lightning don't have the resources to add new players to their roster. On Friday, Tampa GM Julien BriseBois waived center Tyler Johnson. On Saturday, Johnson cleared through waivers and is now mulling over his list of teams that he will accept a trade to. The Bolts need to move Johnson's $5M AAV (times four years) off their salary cap and Johsnon holds a no trade clause and can choose which team he want to be traded to. Why not Buffalo where Sabres GM Kevyn Adams has been desperately seeking a top six scoring winger since taing over for Jason Botterill in June. Adams has ample salary cap space and quality assets to make a trade for a scorer the caliber of Johsnon who in 534 regular season games has scored 153 goals and 186 assist 339 points. Jihnson also has scored 28 goals and 30 assists in 93 Stanley Cup playoff games during his career in Tampa.
The Biston Bruins lost defenseman Torey Krug to unrestricted free agency after he signed with the St. Louis Blues on Friday night. The Bruins will fill the void created by Krug's departure with Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo. On Saturday, the Bruins signed sniping UFA winger Craig Smith, a five time 20-goal scorer, from the Nashville Predators. The Bruins also signed defenseman Kevan Miller to a one year contract after he was sidelined with an injury for that caused him to miss the last 18 months.
Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin dropped jaws when he traded Max Domi to Columbus for hulking power winger Josh Anderson. The Blue Jackets were not willing to ante up for Anderson, who won teh lottery in Montreal by signing a seven year coontract in excess of $38.5 million ($5.5M AAV). The Canadiens also re-signed the own free agent defensemen Victor Mete and Xavier Ouellette.
Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has been active in free agency buy signing defenseman T.J. Brody and forwatd Wayne Simmonds. Tyson Barrie signed with the Edmonton Oilers.
Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion has spent the past five days dunking on his Atlantic Division rivals. The Sens had three selections in the foorst round of the 2020 NHL Draft and selected winger Tim Stutzle with teh third overall pick, defenseman Jake Sanderson at number five, and center Ridley Greig with pick #28. On Friday, the Sens acquired defenseman and Ottawa native Erik Gudbranson from Anaheim. The Senators also acquired two-time Stanley Cup champion goalie Matt Murray then signed him to a lucrative four year contract extension. The Sens also signed energy winger Austin Watson. On the minus side of the ledger, the Sens lost wingers Bobby Ryan and Tyler Ennis, defenseman Mark Borowieecki.
Florida Panthers GM Bill Zito added defenseman Radko Gudas, as well as wingers Alex Wennberg, Carter Verhaeghe, Vinnie Hinostroza and Ryan Lomberg. The Cats lost defenseman Mark Pysyk to the Dallas Stars.
Detroit Red Wings GM planned his work and is working his plan in free agency by signing 2019 Jennings Trophy recipient Thomas Greiss to a two-year contract. Stevie Y also signed forward Bobby Ryan and defensemen Troy Stecher and Jon Merrill.
Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams has fortified his bottom six forward group by re-signing Zemgus Girgensons and signing free agent forward Tobias Rieder, and defenseman Brandon Davidson and Matt Irwin.
The NHL goalie market has been a veritable game of musical chairs. The music has finally stopped and for whatever reason, the Sabres don't have a goalie seat to sit down on.
Step right up! Step right up and pick your new #Sabres starting goalie here! pic.twitter.com/5cgXQIe5Jh
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) October 10, 2020
The Sabres continue to search for a starting goalie upgrade but now will likely have to shift their attention to the trade market. Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo can be had IF the price is right.
Today is the 50th anniversary of the first game in Buffalo Sabres franchise history. On October 10, 1970, the Sabres defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on the road when Gilbert Perreault scored the game winning goal.
Its a nice day for Kevyn Adams to reward the loyalty and patience of his passionate fan base by pulling the trigger on a trade that will deliver a top six forward (Brock Boeser, Alex Tuch, Tyler Johnson) and a starting goaltender (Joonas Korpisalo) to Buffalo.
On this, the 50th Annivesary of the first game in @BuffaloSabres franchise history, it would be wise of the GM to reward their loyal fan base by adding legitimate scoring winger. This team needs an infusion of offense. It’s time #Sabres
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) October 10, 2020