Sabres Choose Not To Make Big Splash In Free Agency

The Buffalo Sabres showed progress last season after the departure of former team captain Jack Eichel, playing over .500 hockey (19-18-4) in the second half with youngsters Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens, and Rasmus Dahlin showing the potential of being building blocks, but unlike their rebuilding division rivals Detroit and Ottawa, GM Kevyn Adams kept his spending to a minimum on the opening day of free agency.

The Red Wings added free agent forwards Andrew Copp, Dominik Kubalik, David Perron, defenseman Ben Chiarot, and traded for goalie Ville Husso, while the Sens acquired winger Alex DeBrincat at the NHL Draft, and signed forward Claude Giroux.

The biggest investment that Buffalo made was re-signing of wingers Victor Olofsson (two-year, $9.5 million), Vinnie Hinostroza (one-year, $1.7 million), and defenseman Jacob Bryson (two-year, $3.7 million), but on the open market Wednesday, the club’s most impactful moves were signing veteran blueliner Ilya Lyubushkin to a two-year, $5.5 million deal ($2.75 million AAV) and goalie Eric Comrie to a two-year, $3.6 million deal ($1.8 million AAV).

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Lyubushkin, 28, played five seasons in the KHL before joining Arizona in 2018 and after three-plus seasons in the desert was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs in February. The big right-handed Russian will likely partner with either Dahlin or 2021 first overall selection Owen Power.

“He plays a hard game. He’s a bigger guy, he’s solid, (and) he can kill penalties. He can play with any kind of player.” Adams said, “We just really felt that with the D that we have, and the young D that we have, and the skill that we have, he’d be a good fit.”

Comrie, 27, had stints with Winnipeg, Detroit, and New Jersey before returning to the Jets last season, where he posted career-best numbers (10-5-1, 2.58 GAA, .920 save percentage), and will likely split time with veteran Craig Anderson with the Sabres, while goalie prospect Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen will get heavy reps in AHL Rochester.

“(Comrie is) very talented, he has a strong, from a numbers perspective, profile and body of work of what he’s done through the American League and then his opportunity from when he has played in the NHL, he just hasn’t had a ton of opportunity,” Adams said. “This was a goaltender that we feel that is right there on the cusp of taking that step and that’s why he was our guy we were going to target.”