The Buffalo Sabres have had one of the better scouting departments in the league, which has led to Sabres general manager (GM) Kevyn Adams drafting well since being hired in 2020.

A big name came off the market late Monday afternoon as Aaron Ekblad got an eight-year term and took a hometown discount to stay with Sam Bennett in Florida for $6.1 million per season. Then the Panthers signed Brad Marchand to a six-year deal for a reported $32 million. They went 3 for 3. Bill Zito doing some GM wizardry there.

Along with the NHL additions of Kesselring and Timmins, the Sabres have defense depth in two-way defensemen such as Rathbone, Jones, and Metsa along with upcoming prospects in Rochester including Johnson, Nikita Novikov and Vsevolod Komarov, among others.

Sabres GM Kevyn Adams makes a firm statement on a potential Bowen Byram offer sheet, but does that mean there won't be a trade?

General manager Kevyn Adams still has work to do. Defenseman Bowen Byram will be going to arbitration if he isn’t traded before then. Alex Tuch is eligible to sign a contract extension. And the team still has more than $13 million in salary-cap space with only Byram and defenseman Conor Timmins unsigned.

The Buffalo Sabres should be in the market for an impact top-six forward after dealing winger JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth for defenseman Michael Kesselring and winger Josh Doan, but the opening weeks of free agency did not provide GM Kevyn Adams with an opportunity to replace Peterka’s production,