Sabres Make Major Deals, Extend Benson

The roster changes are continuing in Buffalo, as the club was faced with the reality of two key players who were not going to re-sign with the Sabres.

General manager Jarmo Kekalainen maximized the value of the departing players in moves that certainly give the Sabres heading into draft weekend and free agency. The changes began with a significant exchange, which secured the fourth overall pick for the Sabres in this weekend’s entry draft.

Buffalo obtained excellent value in the trade, sending defenseman Bowen Byram and forward Jordan Greenway to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for the number four and number forty-five selections in this year’s draft and defenseman Louis Crevier.

“ He (Byram) didn’t want to negotiate”, said Kekalainen. “He wasn’t going to sign with us. We liked Bowen Byram a lot; we wanted to re-sign him. That wasn’t going to happen. So we had to make a decision.”

“A couple of deals we had in front of us were too good to pass on, so we made the trade. Now we have some draft capital we can use to improve our team, whether it’s in the near future with a trade or by making a pick.

In terms of Tuch, his inevitable departure from Buffalo seemed a foregone conclusion since last fall. Tuch was a key component of a Sabres team that returned to the playoffs after a 14-year drought.

Realizing the importance of the 30-year-old winger to the group, Buffalo held on to Tuch through the trade deadline, while the reality of the Syracuse native walking away this summer was all but assured.

“We made it clear to him that we wanted to sign him”, explained Kekalainen. “He was an important player for us and a good leader. All those things that we talked about very many times. But sometimes when the players have the power to choose, they choose differently.

The Sabres dealt Tuch on a sign-and-trade deal with the Washington Capitals. In return, Buffalo received a 2027 third-round draft pick, and forward David Kampf is a pending unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

Tuch subsequently inked an eight-year $84 million deal with the Caps.

While Tuch and Byram were important pieces of a Sabres team that returned to respectability last season, the team is looking to the future.

On the contract front, Buffalo locked up talented young winger Zach Benson to a seven-year contract extension with an average annual value of $7.5 million.

Although the exits from the lineup create important open roster spots that must be filled, the Sabres will continue to explore options and find themselves in a strong bargaining position as the offseason moves on.

Given Kekalainen’s pension for taking big swings in trade talks, the moves over the last couple of days are likely just the beginning.