The Buffalo Sabres have the longest ongoing playoff drought in the NHL at 13 years, and in their continued effort to end that, on July 5, they traded their top prospect Matt Savoie to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Ryan McLeod and Tyler Tullio. While the return may have been less than some have anticipated, or expected, the reality of the situation is beyond clear; if the Sabres want something, they will have to pay through the nose to get it. This was evident on draft day when they paid a second-round pick for fourth-line winger Beck Malenstyn, and it is even more evident now as they move their best prospect for a third-line player.
On the bright side, the silver linings with it are that the big piece coming back to Buffalo in McLeod is a tremendous young asset, and that the Sabres still have a lot of prospect depth that losing Savoie to the Oilers will not cripple their farm system by any means. This move marks a pivotal spot in general manager Kevyn Adams’ tenure with the Sabres as he is using the assets at his disposal to make roster moves and improve his team for the now, instead of the distant future.
What Does McLeod Bring to the Sabres?
The first thing that comes to mind is playoff experience. McLeod was a part of the Oilers’ outstanding and inspiring Stanley Cup run this past season where they nearly came back from a 3-0 deficit against the Florida Panthers. He has played with some of the best players in the world, and has some invaluable knowledge of what it takes to be a part of a hard-working championship-caliber team that does not quit to make it to the last possible game; something this Sabres team desperately needs an understanding of. He is a top-notch penalty killer, he can win draws at above a 50% rate, and he is one of the fastest skaters in the league. The Sabres bringing him in is an immediate upgrade to their roster, and he will slot in as their third-line center, barring head coach Lindy Ruff seeing him as a top-six forward based on his speed and faceoff abilities.
His presence on the team now also calls into question the roster spot of forward Peyton Krebs. With the Sabres having signed Sam Lafferty in free agency to likely be their fourth-line center, if McLeod is meant to slot in on the third line based on the depth chart, that would leave Krebs on the outside looking in. Should this be the case, the Sabres would likely try to move on from Krebs in a trade scenario. McLeod’s arrival in Buffalo really is just the start of some roster moves being made, since he is just a key puzzle piece.
What Does Savoie’s Departure Mean for Sabres’ Prospect Pool?
While I did have Savoie at the top of my Sabres prospect list, and he continued to hold that spot going forward even after the 2024 Draft, his departure does not weaken the pool by a severe margin. The loss of a player of his caliber will sting as he is a highly talented prospect with a ton of upside. His speed, skill, finishing ability, and all-around capability to run an offense will be an asset that the Sabres would have benefitted from greatly when he was ready to play in the NHL. The problem was, they never really seemed to want to give him a chance. Even during his “debut” in the NHL he played for under five minutes, and was sent back to juniors the following day. Now, in the following season he has been traded with one game “played” for the Sabres. So, despite his abilities, he was clearly the most expendable prospect to them.
In reality, he was expendable from a simple numbers standpoint. The Sabres have a few other prospects in Jiri Kulich, Noah Ostlund, and recently drafted Konsta Helenius who also fit the same type of player role that Savoie was in the “young skilled scoring forward” position that are all right on the cusp of breaking into the NHL. The Sabres have all of these young players vying for spots on the team and not enough to go around, so moving one or more of them makes sense. Personally, I would have preferred it was some of the other ones as Savoie has some of the best talents of them all. With his departure, the No. 1 prospect spot in their system is up for grabs, and there are a few of them that could easily be in consideration for it.
Where Do the Sabres Now Stand in the Atlantic?
With this trade, the Sabres have adjusted their roster to try to keep pace with the rest of their Atlantic Division rivals. The rest of those teams have been hard at work in free agency making big signings and improving their teams, while the Sabres have mostly worked to get some trades done since they used free agency to fix their bottom-six physicality problem. Now with this move, they have adjusted their roster once again to address more of the issues they had last season while they hope their young stars improve and return to form otherwise.
Related – Grading The Sabres’ 2024 NHL Draft Selections
The question really is, will a key penalty killer and faceoff man be enough to make a difference in a division stacked with top ten goaltending talent, some of the best goal scorers in the NHL, the reigning Stanley Cup champions, and two other up-and-coming teams that have been actively rebuilding their franchises aggressively? I hesitate to say that it will be the move that turns the tide. The real thing that makes or breaks the Sabres’ 2024-25 season will be their star players returning to form; can Tage Thompson get back to 90 points? Can Rasmus Dahlin be a star defenseman again? Can Jack Quinn stay healthy and score 30 goals? All of these things have to come together in unison to complement the free agent signings and the McLeod trade or they will have to watch as they go into a 14-year playoff drought and Savoie gets to be a big part of a successful Oilers franchise.
