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Buffalo Sabres Retain Tyson Jost

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The Buffalo Sabres have retained unqualified RFA forward Tyson Jost on a one-year deal worth $2MM, per the team.

It’s the exact same cap hit Jost played last season on, and he acquitted himself well in Buffalo after a disappointing tenure with the Minnesota Wild. The 2016 tenth-overall pick isn’t the player he was once touted to be during his days as a BCHL or NCAA star, but he has become a versatile, capable bottom-six forward who provides value on both ends of the ice.

Jost scored 22 points in 59 games for the Sabres even saw time on head coach Don Granato’s penalty kill. Still just 25 years old, Jost now gets some year-to-year continuity thanks to this deal and will look to establish himself as a do-it-all bottom-six forward in Buffalo.

Buffalo Sabres Still Negotiating With Tyson Jost

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  • While they didn’t qualify him today, it may not be the end of Tyson Jost’s time in Buffalo. The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski reports the Sabres are continuing to negotiate with his camp in hopes of working out a deal for the forward, who the team claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Wild earlier in the season. His presence at the beginning of the 2023-24 season was made more valuable by the news of Jack Quinn’s Achilles injury, which will keep him out for at least the first few weeks of the campaign. He could slip to a press box role, however, upon Quinn’s return – especially if the team adds another forward on the free agent market (which they have ample cap space to do).

Sabres Notes: Jost, Draft, Rochester

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With the deadline for tendering a qualifying offer now less than 24 hours away, Sabres GM Kevyn Adams told Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald that the ball is in Tyson Jost’s court as the two sides try to plug away at a new contract.  The 25-year-old was claimed on waivers back in November from Minnesota and had some success with his new team, picking up 22 points in 59 games.  However, he’s owed a $2.25MM qualifying offer tomorrow, one that also grants him arbitration eligibility.  That offer is a bit on the pricey side for someone who has yet to have a lot of offensive success in the NHL, not to mention the risk of the arbitrator adding to that.  Adams noted that discussions have been ongoing for several weeks now so it’s clear that Buffalo would like to keep Jost in the fold but if a deal can’t be reached by 4 PM CT on Friday, there’s a decent chance that the center will be non-tendered.

More from Buffalo:

  • The Sabres were among the teams that were trying to move up into the top ten last night, Adams noted (video link). However, those efforts were rebuffed but in the end, they wound up with the player that they were trying to move up to get as forward Zach Benson, a consensus top-ten selection heading into the draft, wound up slipping to Buffalo at the 13th pick.
  • Buffalo’s AHL affiliate in Rochester has added a pair of youngsters for next season as the Americans announced that they’ve signed 21-year-old forward Riley Fiddler-Schultz to a two-year contract and 21-year-old defenseman Nicolas Savoie to a one-year deal. Fiddler-Schultz just finished up a five-year career with WHL Calgary and notched 31 goals and 44 assists in 64 games this past season.  Savoie, meanwhile, spent his five-year junior career with Quebec of the QMJHL, picking up 48 points in 65 games in 2022-23 while helping lead the Remparts to the Memorial Cup.

Jack Quinn Undergoes Achilles Surgery

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Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Quinn underwent successful surgery to repair an Achilles tendon injury sustained in offseason training this week. His recovery time is expected to be four to six months, and he’ll miss the start of next season.

This is extremely unfortunate news for both the Sabres and Quinn, as it could just about halt the momentum he’d been building after a strong rookie season in the NHL. After tearing the AHL apart last season, Quinn scored 14 goals and 37 points in a 75-game NHL rookie season, earning some stray Calder Trophy votes in the process.

He also represented Team Canada at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championships, taking home the gold scoring seven points in 10 games, including one point in Canada’s final four games.

Quinn’s injury won’t knock him out for all of 2022-23, thankfully, but it will impact his availability for the Sabres early in the season. That could impact the Sabres’ desire to trade sniper Victor Olofsson, a 27-year-old forward who is on a contract that expires at the end of the season.

While the Sabres could still opt to get some compensation for Olofsson if they don’t see him in their long-term plans, this injury could very well keep Olofsson in Buffalo a little longer so the team can maintain its forward depth with Quinn out.

This injury could also impact the odds 2022 first-rounder Matthew Savoie gets some NHL games for the Sabres out of training camp. It looks somewhat unlikely at this point that Savoie is ready to make a difference at the NHL level, but with Quinn’s injury, it could be that the team is more eager to see what Savoie can do.

Sabres Sign Jeremy Davies To One Year Extension

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The Buffalo Sabres have signed defenseman Jeremy Davies to a one-year two-way contract extension. Buffalo announced the extension this afternoon that will keep the 26-year-old in the Sabres organization through the 2023-24 season and come in with a cap hit of $775K at the NHL level.

The Sabres seventh-round pick in 2016 draft has found a home with the Rochester Americans where it is likely he will spend the foreseeable future after putting up 11 goals and 12 assists in 66 AHL games this past season. Davies returned to the Sabres organization last summer signing as a free agent after spending three years in the Nashville Predators organization.

Davies does have some experience in the NHL having played 23 games across three separate seasons split between the Predators and Sabres. He has three career assists during his time in the NHL and has averaged just a shade over 14 minutes of ice time per game.

Davies was never a highly touted prospect however he did have a solid NCAA career with Northeastern where he had 22 career goals and 72 career assists in 111 college games across three seasons. Early in his career the rearguard was even included in a trade by the New Jersey Devils as part of a package that was used to acquire defenseman P.K. Subban from Nashville.

Buffalo Sabres Extend Joseph Cecconi

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Bill Hoppe of the Times Herald tweeted today that the Buffalo Sabres have signed defenseman Joseph Cecconi to a one-year two-way contract extension. Cecconi was set to become a group 6 unrestricted free agent after spending the past six seasons in the AHL and would make $775K at the NHL level and $325K in the minors.

The 26-year-old spent the first five and half seasons of his AHL career with the Texas Stars before coming over to the Sabres organization in a trade in December 2022. Cecconi spent the remainder of the year with Rochester Americans where he put up three goals and five assists in 41 games before posting two goals and three assists in 14 playoff games.

The Sabres saw enough from the former fifth-round pick to give him an opportunity to continue his career in North America. Cecconi has yet to play in the NHL and seems destined to spend next year in Rochester once again, particularly with Buffalo having several good defensive prospects who would be likely to get a call-up before the Youngstown, New York native.

The Sabres will be a team to keep an eye on in the coming days as they don’t have any major unrestricted free agents and they have roughly $14.5MM in cap space available.

Buffalo Sabres Want To Extend Tyson Jost

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  • When the Buffalo Sabres re-signed veteran forward Zemgus Girgensons, many wondered what it meant for pending RFA Tyson Jost’s future with the club, given the team’s depth crunch on offense. Today, general manager Kevyn Adams said he’s spoken with Jost’s agent and informed them he’d like to work out an extension, keeping him in the fold as a decent depth scoring option. The team is expected to trade Victor Olofsson this offseason, but Jost could still slip into the role of a healthy scratch if the team does make any notable free agent acquisition. The 25-year-old notched 25 points in 71 games this season.

Snapshots: Lyon, Love, Hockeyville

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Sergei Bobrovsky’s magical run for the Florida Panthers throughout most of the playoffs erased a lot of memories of the netminder who got them there in the first place. 30-year-old Alex Lyon, who started the season as the team’s third-string netminder, recorded a 6-2-1 record and .930 save percentage while playing in nine of the team’s final 12 games of the regular season, helping them snag a playoff spot after sitting on the outside looking in for much of the season.

Yesterday, Lyon’s agent, Pete Rutili of Wasserman Hockey, told Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic that his client’s preference is to stay in the Sunshine State, but there have been no talks between the Panthers and their pending unrestricted free agent. Florida expects youngster Spencer Knight back in the fold next season after taking time in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, so Lyon wouldn’t have a likely NHL role if he returns. After seven seasons and more than 200 games of AHL action, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Lyon went elsewhere to find an easier path to more NHL action in 2023-24.

More from the NHL news cycle today:

  • The head coach of the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers, Mitch Love, hasn’t completely cut ties with the Flames after being passed over for their head coaching vacancy in favor of his predecessor in the minors, Ryan Huska. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that while Love is still looking elsewhere for jobs on an NHL bench, he’s had discussions with the Flames about joining Huska’s staff as an assistant. Love has won AHL Coach of the Year honors in both of his two campaigns behind the Wranglers (formerly Stockton Heat) bench and guided them to a Pacific Division Final loss against the Coachella Valley Firebirds, who are now just one win away from the Calder Cup.
  • Next year’s Canadian Kraft Hockeyville preseason matchups will honor both the 2022 and 2023 winners of the award, seeing the NHL head to West Lorne, Ontario, on September 27 and Sydney, Nova Scotia, on October 1. Atlantic Division teams will comprise both matchups, with the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs facing off in West Lorne before the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators play in the Sydney showcase.

Contract Comparables For Owen Power's Next Deal

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  • Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News examined some possible comparable contracts for defenseman Owen Power who is eligible to sign an extension in July. If the two sides want to work out a max-term contract, the deals for Florida blueliner Aaron Ekblad or Dallas rearguard Miro Heiskanen could be the range.  Ekblad checks in at $7.5MM while Heiskanen’s deal, signed just last summer, is $8.45MM.  Meanwhile, if the two sides want to do a bridge contract, Sabres GM Kevyn Adams doesn’t have to look very far as teammate Rasmus Dahlin’s current deal (three years, $6MM AAV) should stand as a rough barometer for what a short-term deal for Power would cost.  Dahlin is also extension-eligible this summer and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Adams take a run at getting them both locked up early.

Buffalo Sabres Extend Lukas Rousek

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The Buffalo Sabres have made their second signing of the day, handing out a two-year contract extension to forward Lukas Rousek per his agent, Dan Milstein. Financial terms have not yet been reported.

Buffalo selected the 24-year-old in the sixth round of the 2019 NHL Draft, but he’s quickly worked his way up the organizational depth chart after a breakout 2022-23 campaign with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.

Making his NHL debut this season, the Czech winger scored a goal and an assist in two appearances and added 56 points in 70 regular-season games with Rochester. It comes after he recorded just four points in 19 games there last year, his first season in North America.

His offensive breakout didn’t come completely out of the blue, though. His point totals were climbing up during the end of his time in Czechia, recording 38 points in 49 games in 2020-21 with HC Sparta Praha, his final season before coming stateside. He’ll almost certainly find himself out the outside looking in on opening night next season, but that’s more a testament to the depth of young forwards the Sabres have cultivated in recent years. If injuries hit the team, he’ll surely be one of their first call-up options and should build on his NHL games played total next season.

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