Buffalo Hockey Beat - WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage

Sabres sign newcomer Olen Zellweger to three-year contract

BUFFALO – The Sabres this afternoon re-signed restricted free agent defenseman Olen Zellweger to a three-year, $9.3 million contract.

The deal has a $3.1 million salary cap hit. The Sabres acquired Zellweger, 22, Friday in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks.

Forward Peyton Krebs is the Sabres’ only remaining restricted free agent.... Read the full article

As free agency begins, trades look like best way for Sabres to improve

BUFFALO – Free agency, with its limited crop of talent and exorbitant asking prices, likely won’t help the Sabres much as general manager Jarmo Kekalainen works to improve a roster that has recently lost two of its best players.

The offseason kicks into high gear again today when the market opens at noon.

What could Kekalainen, who’s in his first summer as GM, do to keep the Sabres atop the ultra-competitive Atlantic Division?... Read the full article

Sabres announce six hires, including Milan Lucic as pro scout

BUFFALO – Former Boston Bruins winger Milan Lucic, whose ferocious open-ice hit in 2011 concussed goalie Ryan Miller and made him public enemy No. 1 in these parts, has joined the Sabres as a pro scout.

His hire was one of six the Sabres announced Tuesday. This is general manager Jarmo Kekalainen’s first offseason running the team.

Lucic, 38, recently retired from playing after spending last season with the Fife Devils, an Elite Ice Hockey ... Read the full article

Sabres extend qualifying offers to two players, pass on four

The Buffalo Sabres on Monday extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Peyton Krebs and Olen Zellweger.

Four players – defenseman Zac Jones, Nikita Novikov and Isaac Belliveau and winger Olivier Nadeau – did not receive a qualifying offer, making them free agents.

Krebs, 25, has established himself as one of the Sabres’ most versatile forwards. He’s eligible for arbitration.... Read the full article

Sabres sign Beck Malenstyn to six-year contract

The Buffalo Sabres today signed winger Beck Malenstyn, who led the team in hits in each of the last two seasons, to a six-year, $17.5 million contract.

Malenstyn, 28, could’ve become an unrestricted free agent Wednesday.

The contract has a $2.917 million salary cap hit. He will receive a $2.5 million signing bonus in each of the first two seasons, according to Puckpedia.com.

The 6-foot-3, 209-pound Malenstyn registered 282 hits in 81 games last ... Read the full article

Russian prospect Prokhor Poltapov could join Sabres next year

ORCHARD PARK – Over the 2021 and 2022 drafts, the Sabres took some big swings by drafting six Russians, including four in the second and third rounds.

Just one, defenseman Vsevolod Komarov, a strong prospect with the Rochester Americans, finished last season under contract in the organization.

So far, zero have played an NHL game. That could, however, change next year.... Read the full article

NHL Draft Tracker: Sabres select Olivers Murnieks, Doman Szongoth and Dylan Dumont

ORCHARD PARK – The Sabres this afternoon selected center Olivers Murnieks in the fourth round, 124th overall, at the NHL Draft in KeyBank Center.

The 6-foot-1, 192-pound Murnieks registered seven goals, 30 points, 14 penalty minutes and a minus-23 rating in 31 games with the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League’s Saint John Sea Dogs last season.

NHL Central Scouting ranked the Latvian 98th among draft-eligible North American skaters.... Read the full article

Trading for Olen Zellweger gives Sabres defenseman with qualities similar to Bowen Byram

ORCHARD PARK – In Olen Zellweger, the Buffalo Sabres traded for a defenseman who Jarmo Kekalainen said possesses “a lot of the same qualities” of Bowen Byram.

“Really good skater, speed, puck play, the ability to move up the ice whether to pass or carry the puck out of the zone,” the general manager said Friday at One Bills Drive hours after trading for Zellweger. “We see a lot of potential in him.”... Read the full article

Instead of trading first-rounders, Sabres take Daxon Rudolph and Ilia Morozov in NHL Draft

ORCHARD PARK – As the first round of Friday’s NHL Draft approached and he held two first-round picks – the fourth and 20th selections – general manager Jarmo Kekalainen informed other teams the Buffalo Sabres had all their options open.

They were willing to move up or down, or perhaps trade for established talent.

Teams coveted the fourth pick the Sabres acquired in Tuesday’s blockbuster trade that sent defenseman Bowen Byram to the Chicago Blackhawks. ... Read the full article

Alex Tuch explains why he left Sabres for Capitals in sign-and-trade deal: ‘One of the toughest moments of my life’

Alex Tuch wants to keep the details of his departure from Buffalo private. The winger just made an agonizing decision, choosing to leave the Sabres in a sign-and-trade deal with the Washington Capitals a week before he could’ve become an unrestricted free agent.

“It was one of the toughest decisions of my life,” Tuch, who inked an eight-year, $84 million contract, said Friday on a Zoom call.

Before the Sabres heated up and roared to ... Read the full article