The Stanley Cup Finals are going on right now. It’s Vegas and Carolina, so I have a less-than-zero interest level. I thought instead, I would take you through your first offseason, what to look for, what the fun events will be.
First off, Lindy lost the Jack Adams trophy to Jon Cooper? Whatever. Everyone in the league knows who should’ve won, so it doesn’t bother me much.
Anyway, the Sabres site has an article with key dates. The first thing is actually happening right now, right here in Buffalo: The 2026 NHL Draft Combine. It’s not quite the spectacle of the NFL one, but once in a while you’ll hear something unhinged from one of the prospects during the media availability (tomorrow and Saturday mostly).
The Draft is also being held here, on June 26-27. It’ll be a quiet couple of days for Buffalo barring a blockbuster deal, as the Sabres have a 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th rounder. The 2 and the 3 were traded for Norris and Carrick.
To me, the most interesting date is June 29: the deadline to send a “qualifying offer” to any restricted free agents. RFAs are players who don’t yet qualify to be unrestricted free agents (you are unrestricted if you are over the age of 27 or have played at least 7 years). Some notable RFAs for Buffalo are Zach Benson, Peyton Krebs, and Michael Kesselring.
Here’s how it goes – any player that the Sabres want to still have the rights to gets a qualifying offer. Puckpedia has the full details but basically it’s a 1 year deal at either the same salary, or a slightly higher one. As long as the team does that, the player stays a restricted free agent and property of the Buffalo Sabres. They can choose to sign the QO and go another year, negotiate a different contract for a longer term (most common option), or they can field offers from other teams. BUT, the Sabres have the option to match any of those offers and keep the player, or receive draft pick compensation if they choose to let the player go.
That’s where Jarmo Kekäläinen earns his pay this offseason. An RFA contract is tricky – you are weighing the term of the contract versus the money. If there’s a player you absolutely love, you try to sign them as long as possible, sometimes overpaying them, to get extra years on the contract locked in. The player may want to sign a shorter deal on the chance that they’ll REALLY get paid as a UFA. Zach Benson is an intriguing case – he started playing regularly right at 18, so he could be an RFA as young as 25.
With Tuch as one of the most prominent UFA names out there, I don’t see how they keep him without some moves. Buffalo has a ton of players that want roster spots (Finnish hero Helenius, Noah Östlund, Jiri Kulich) and Tuch might just be in the way. There’s only so much cap space to go around and Buffalo already has $20mil going to 3 centers.
That brings us to July 1, the first day of free agency! Normally a day to be excited if you’ve got that up and coming team like Buffalo…but with less than 12 mil in cap space and a bunch of needed signings, Jarmo would really need to get on the hotline with some spicy trades to make a splash. He didn’t shy away from making moves in Cbus so it’s worth keeping an eye on your phone on 7/1.
I hope that gave you the scoop on what to look for in the 2026 offseason for Buffalo. Let me know what you think happens with Benson in the comments (or on Bluesky!)