I’ll be frank: I was not a fan of what the Buffalo Sabres did on Monday, and therefore, the bulk of free agency. Last season, this team struggled to score, so they bought out a contract of one of their better scorers, Jeff Skinner, and ended up signing Jason Zucker as their “scorer” for the 2024-25 season.

Thanks to the moves the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Ottawa Senators made, you can argue that, on paper, the Sabres will enter the 2024-25 season as the seventh-best team in the division. Not every team mentioned above made flashy transactions, but they added necessary players.

That said, it’s not all doom and gloom, as the Sabres did one thing in free agency that will make them an edgier, more intimidating team, and that came with the additions of Sam Lafferty, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and Beck Malenstyn (via trade), will give this team a new identity, but it doesn’t excuse general manager Kevyn Adams from not finding a viable replacement for Jeff Skinner.

Okay, let’s stop the doom and gloom here – I feel like I’ve been picking on the Sabres a lot lately when I’m not talking about the way Kevyn Adams masterfully stacks his prospect pool, and I’ll also say there is still hope out there. Adams has a ton of trade assets in that prospect pool and via draft picks, and the best way to complete the Sabres for 2024-25 is to make that blockbuster move to find that one remaining puzzle piece.