Atlantic Notes: Meloche, McTavish, Hildeby
Sabres goaltending prospect Samuel Meloche has committed to Northeastern University, he announced on Instagram. It’s unclear if the 18-year-old will join the school for the upcoming 2025-26 season or return to the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, where he emerged as a starter in his draft year, before heading to the college ranks in 2026-27. He was a fourth-round selection in June and checked in as one of the more athletic goalies in this year’s class. The 6’2″, 190-lb netminder had a .900 SV%, 2.90 GAA, five shutouts, and a 30-14-6 record for the Huskies last year – now committing to a school with the same moniker.
Other updates from the Atlantic Division:
- As the Bruins continue to overhaul their center pipeline, swinging a trade for Ducks restricted free agent Mason McTavish may be among the most realistic options they have to add a top-six piece, Conor Ryan of the Boston Globe opines. “If McTavish is actually available, the Bruins likely would need to relinquish a first-round pick or two, along with an intriguing prospect or young NHL player,” Ryan wrote. “There’s plenty of risk involved with moving first-round picks — especially for a retooling team that could land another top-10 pick next June. But a player such as McTavish also represents a high-upside addition with established production and room to grow — especially given his age.“
- After signing a three-year deal this morning, Maple Leafs goalie Dennis Hildeby will have a $945K qualifying offer due upon expiry in 2028, PuckPedia reports. His one-way salary in the final year of the deal will be $900K after earning a $775K NHL/$350K AHL breakdown this season and an $850K/$450K split in 2026-27.
Sabres Face Difficult Decision With Isak Rosen
It was only a few years ago that the Buffalo Sabres selected forward Isak Rosen with the 14th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. Unfortunately, since then, he’s earned very little playing time at the NHL level, despite achieving successful AHL campaigns.
In a recent mailbag from Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News, a question was answered on Rosen, to which Lenzi argued that the Sabres could be better off trading Rosen rather than trying to make him work in the top six. Although Rosen has shown considerable talent with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, he’s unlikely to beat out any of Buffalo’s forwards for a top-six role as the roster is currently constructed.
Still only 22, Rosen has spent the last three years in North America after departing from the SHL’s Leksands IF. Since then, Rosen has recorded 62 goals and 142 points in 194 regular-season games with Rochester, along with 11 additional goals and 16 points in 27 playoff contests.
Despite that track record, the Sabres have only given Rosen 15 opportunities in Buffalo, leading to only one assist while averaging 9:09 of ice time per game. Not having the skill set for a bottom-six role, the Sabres are left with very few options for Rosen if they’re unwilling to give him more ice time.
There are a few teams that could have interest in Rosen for a top-six role, with the Edmonton Oilers standing out as an interesting fit. Given that winger Zach Hyman is unsure if he’ll start the regular season on time, Rosen could be a sufficient stopgap in the Oilers’ top-six, especially if Isaac Howard‘s transition to the NHL is less than ideal.
Although it’s been quiet on the trade front for a few weeks, the Sabres could conceivably get quite the haul in a deal, especially if they’re willing to include Rosen in a Bowen Byram trade. There’s no indication a deal is close, or still being considered, but Buffalo may now have another arrow in its quiver.
There’s certainly no rush for the Sabres to trade Rosen, as they hold his contractual rights for the next few years. Still, they’re getting dangerously close to Rosen simply being a very good AHL piece, without ever having developed the necessary skill to play at the game’s top level.
Alex Tuch Not Expected To Rush Into Extension
Friedman believes players like Tuch and Connor are in similar situations. Both are coming off what could be considered the best seasons of their careers, and both have one year remaining on their current contracts. Tuch matched a career high with 36 goals last season for the Sabres, while Connor finished just three points shy of 100 with the Jets.
Trevor Kuntar Hoping For Turnaround With Sabres Organization
- Forward Trevor Kuntar, 24, signed a one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, seeking not only a fresh start but also the opportunity to follow in his father’s footsteps and play for his hometown team, per team reporter Andrew Mossbrooks. Kuntar, a native of the Buffalo area, signed with Rochester after spending the last two seasons in the Boston Bruins organization. After three seasons at Boston College, Kuntar signed with the Boston and appeared in 124 games with the AHL’s Providence Bruins, posting 13 goals and 32 points. Kuntar is now set to wear the same jersey his father, Les Kuntar, wore for Rochester during the 1996-97 season.
Sabres Won't Bring Back Brett Murray
- Winger Brett Murray has been with the Sabres for the better part of a decade after he was drafted by them back in 2016. However, now that he’s on the open market, he’ll be looking for a new team as his agent Dave Gagner told Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald that the organization has informed Murray that they won’t be offering a contract to him. The 27-year-old played in three games with Buffalo last season and has 26 appearances at the top level under his belt. Murray spent most of last year with AHL Rochester where he had 27 goals and 22 assists in 66 games. However, he now qualifies as a veteran under AHL roster rules which has likely limited his marketability so far.
Chad Ruhwedel Announces Retirement
Longtime NHL defenseman Chad Ruhwedel has decided to hang up his skates. In an announcement from the NHLPA, Ruhwedel has officially retired after a 13-year NHL career.
Ruhwedel’s NHL career began in the 2012-13 NHL season, signing as an undrafted collegiate free agent after a successful tenure with the University of Massachusetts – Lowell. He signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Buffalo Sabres and played in seven games for them down the stretch of the regular season.
He spent the next three years with the Sabres, primarily serving as an immediate injury call-up. Throughout his tenure with the Sabres, Ruhwedel finished with two assists in 33 games, averaging 16:22 of ice time per night. He performed much better with their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, scoring 24 goals and 90 points in 178 games played.
Becoming an unrestricted free agent after the 2015-16 season, Ruhwedel signed with the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh is easily where Ruhwedel enjoyed the most success of his career, even outside of winning the first and only Stanley Cup ring of his career in his first season with the club.
The San Diego, CA native served as a depth defenseman for the Penguins, remaining primarily on the NHL roster rather than being sent down to their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He played nearly 10 times as many games with Pittsburgh compared to Buffalo, finishing with 13 goals and 47 points in 326 games, averaging 15 minutes and 2 seconds of ice time per game. Although he wasn’t known for his offensive capabilities, he managed productive defensive metrics, earning a 51.1% CorsiFor% at even strength and a 91.8% on-ice save percentage at even strength.
After seven and a half years with the Penguins, the team traded Ruhwedel to the New York Rangers during the 2023-24 season for a 2027 fourth-round pick. Despite staying with the team for another year, Ruhwedel only managed one assist in 10 games with the Rangers. He spent much of this past season with their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, scoring three goals and 18 points in 50 games, with a +12 rating.
Over his 13-year career, Ruhwedel retired with 13 goals and 50 points in 369 NHL contests while going pointless in 25 postseason matchups. In the AHL, he finished with 32 goals and 129 points in 261 games, scoring another two goals and five points in five Calder Cup playoff contests.
All of us at PHR congratulate Ruhwedel on his lengthy career and wish him well as he begins the next chapter of his life.
Sabres Won't Resign Brett Murray
- The Edmonton Oilers’ top affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, signed four players to AHL deals, per a team announcement. The team signed forwards Matt Brown and Trevor Janicke and defensemen Mats Lindgren and Luke Prokop. Of note, Propkop was a third-round selection of the Nashville Predators in the 2020 draft, while Lindgren was a fourth-round selection of the Sabres in the 2022 draft.
Sabres Sign Devon Levi To Two-Year Deal
The Sabres announced that they have signed restricted free agent goaltender Devon Levi to a two-year deal. It’s a cap hit of $812,500, presumably paying him a league-minimum salary in each of the next two years on a one-way deal for a total value of $1.625MM.
Levi, 23, was Buffalo’s last unsigned RFA. The promising netminder had little to no leverage in contract talks this summer as a dual-threat 10.2(c) player – not only was he ineligible to file for salary arbitration, he was also ineligible to receive and sign offer sheets.
His time in the Sabres organization has been marked by a clear disconnect between his NHL and minor-league performances. Overall, he has 39 NHL appearances (36 starts) to his name over the last three years, underwhelming with a 3.29 GAA and .894 SV%. Those numbers are even propped up by a strong showing in his first taste of NHL action in late 2023; he only has a .892 SV% in the last two seasons with a subpar .448 quality start percentage.
Combining that with his excellent performance with the AHL’s Rochester Americans over the last two seasons has put him in an odd spot between being a true No. 2 or No. 3 on the Sabres’ depth chart. He’s logged 68 games for the Amerks since the beginning of 2023-24, posting a .922 SV% and 41-19-10 record with seven shutouts. He’s arguably been the league’s best goalie during that time, usurping the Flames’ Dustin Wolf after he landed a full-time NHL gig.
Those numbers come on the back of Levi serving as the best goalie in college hockey for two seasons with Northeastern, making his ceiling all the more tantalizing. Initially a 2020 seventh-round pick by the Panthers from the Carleton Place Canadians of the CCHL, a junior ‘A’ league, he had a coming-out party with Canada at the following year’s World Juniors and was eventually traded to Buffalo in the Sam Reinhart deal. In his two years with Northeastern before turning pro with the Sabres, he posted a .942 SV% and 16 shutouts in 66 games and was given the Mike Richter Award as the NCAA’s top goaltender both times.
The Sabres were hoping Levi could take a significant step forward in his development last season, even waiving veteran James Reimer at the beginning of the year to make Levi the opening-night backup. He had just a .870 SV% through his first seven games before Buffalo was able to reclaim Reimer off waivers from the Ducks, allowing them to return Levi to the AHL. He only made two more NHL appearances the rest of the way for a 2-7-0 record, .872 SV%, 4.12 GAA, and -8.0 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck.
That undoubtedly left a sour taste in the Sabres’ mouth and left them unwilling to dole out a contract with a seven-figure cap hit, something we’ve seen teams do with high-ceiling but unestablished netminders to try and squeeze some value out of them while they’re breaking out into NHL minutes. For Levi, it’s not as if he had much choice if he wants a legitimate chance to fight for an NHL job in camp and leapfrog veteran Alex Lyon, who the Sabres signed in free agency as veteran insurance, as Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen‘s backup to begin the year.
His lack of leverage in talks means a league-minimum deal if he cracks the NHL roster. Still, he’ll at least be much more well-compensated if he returns to Rochester after spending the last two seasons under the two-way structure of his entry-level contract.
Image courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.
East Notes: Cristall, Blake, Sabres
Andrew Cristall was one of the biggest fallers of the 2023 draft, slipping to the Capitals in the second round at No. 40 overall despite some tabbing him as a potential top-10 pick. Concerns about his size – the winger checks in at 5’10” and 183 lbs – outweighed the offensive ceiling he displayed with 95 points in 54 games for the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets in his draft year.
In the two seasons since, the 20-year-old left winger has only improved and now, as he turns pro, will be given a legitimate chance to crack the Capitals’ opening night roster, general manager Chris Patrick told NHL.com’s Harvey Valentine. “He’s going to come in, if he has a camp like last camp, it’s going to be hard on the coaching staff to not keep him on their NHL team,” Patrick said.
His strong training camp showing with Washington last year preceeded an absolutely dominant junior campaign from Cristall in 2024-25, and that may be an understatement. He scored 28 goals and 60 points in just 28 games for the Rockets before a trade sent him to the Spokane Chiefs, where he finished the year with 72 points in only 29 games – a rate of 2.48 per game. That was good enough for the WHL scoring title with 132 points despite only playing in 57 of 68 regular-season games.
Cristall capped off his season with 21 goals and 41 points in 19 playoff games, leading the postseason in goals and being named a CHL First Team All-Star at season’s end. Now eligible for an assignment to AHL Hershey if he doesn’t crack the opening night roster, he’ll look to work his name into competition for a middle-six spot in Washington’s group as they deal with some turnover at the forward position.
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference today:
- There was surprise when the Hurricanes recently announced an eight-year extension for winger Jackson Blake coming off his rookie season, but the organization had its eyes set on a long-term deal ever since the campaign began, GM Eric Tulsky said today. “We knew by mid-October that he was on a trajectory we were happy with,” Tulsky told Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal. “I think we knew all along that he was someone who, you know, had the potential to be a long term fit for us and who we were going to try and get something done with, if there was a way to do it.”
- The Sabres have extended their arena naming rights agreement with KeyBank by 10 years, the team announced today. The KeyBank Center, which was opened as Marine Midland Arena in 1996 and has also been known as HSBC Arena and First Niagara Center, will hold its name through at least the 2035-36 season. The initial naming agreement was signed by Marine Midland and remained in effect up until the coming season, as the name of the banking branch network in question changed hands multiple times over the last three decades.
Sabres Sign Conor Timmins To Two-Year Deal
The Buffalo Sabres have signed defenseman Conor Timmins to a two-year, $4.4MM contract per a team release. Michael Augello of The Hockey News first reported the move. The two sides will avoid an arbitration date with this move, after previous reports claimed they were still far apart on a new deal. Buffalo acquired Timmins and Isaac Belliveau from the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2025 NHL Draft in exchange for Connor Clifton and a second-round pick.
Timmins will double his salary in his new landing space, after spending the last two seasons on a two-year, $2.2MM contract originally signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2023. The deal came on the heels of Timmins’ first full season with the Leafs, though his year was ultimately limited to 25 games by a long-term, lower-body injury. He scored 14 points in those appearances. That was enough to set up a return to the NHL ranks for the 2023-24 season, though Timmins was again limited to 10 points in 25 games due to routine injury.
The battles through health have headlined much of Timmins’ career, but strong play on both sides of the ice have kept him fixed in NHL lineups despite limited minutes. He found a bid of, mostly, clean health in the 2024-25 season – and managed to step into 51 games through the first half of Toronto’s season. He recorded eight points, 24 penalty minutes, and a plus-two in those appearances. But with Toronto tinkering with their blue-line in the Spring, Timmins was shipped out to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Trade Deadline alongside forward Connor Dewar in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick. Timmins finished his year with seven points and a plus-nine in 17 games with the Penguins and will now be set for yet another move in the Eastern Conference.
Buffalo clearly sees potential in Timmins. They shipped out established defender Clifton and a valuable draft pick to land Timmins’ negotiating rights, and will now sign him to a hardy contract relative to his experience in the league. He’s been a stout, two-way defender in his healthy minutes – capable of moving the puck, shutting down opponents, and throwing hits. But he’s yet to appear in more than 51 games with one club in a single season, and has averaged just 27 games per season through his six-year NHL career. A move to Buffalo will mark a chance to truly plant his feet, and break out in the way many expected when he went 32nd-overall in the 2017 NHL Draft.