ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — When the Buffalo Sabres hit the ice next season, they will be without two very important players from their Atlantic Division championship team this past season. Bowen Byram has been traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, and Alex Tuch’s time in Buffalo is coming to an end.
On the outside, this may look like a mass exodus from a team that’s struggling to retain talented players. But what’s really happening is completely different.
For the first time in a long time, the Sabres front office is taking the emotion out of these difficult decisions and trusting the players waiting in the wings. General Manager Jarmo Kekäläinen was blunt with his answers and didn’t shy away from the truth. They wanted to keep both players, but Tuch wanted more money than they were comfortable spending, and Byram wasn’t interested in signing a new deal.
We’ll start with Byram because Kekäläinen made his position incredibly clear. The Sabres wanted to keep the young defenseman, but Byram had no interest in signing a new deal. Once the Sabres knew that, they used him to acquire the 4th overall pick, the 45th pick, and 25-year-old defenseman Louis Crevier.
“He (Byram) didn't want to negotiate,” Kekäläinen said. “He wasn't going to sign with us, so that didn't leave us an option to do anything else but this.”
What I appreciate more than anything is the self-awareness and not pushing your problems down the road. Sure, you could’ve kept Byram for the year and hoped for a change of heart down the road, but instead, the Sabres took a potential problem and turned it into some really valuable assets. Or as Kekäläinen calls it, ammunition.
“So we made the trade, and now we have some draft capital that we can use to improve our team,” Kekäläinen added. “Whether it's in the near future with a trade through a trade or by making a pick, but we'll weigh all those options until the draft.”
The Sabres are already searching for Byram’s replacement. Finding a top-four defenseman isn’t easy or cheap. But it’s a whole lot easier to do with two first-round picks in your back pocket.
As for Tuch, well, this is where I really give the Sabres credit. Moving on from such a core player is risky, but giving a 30-year-old forward an eight-year deal worth more than $10 million per season is bad business. Even with a rising cap and Jeff Skinner’s buyout looking much more manageable after this season, the Sabres had a number and didn’t budge. That can’t be easy to do, especially after losing Byram, but Kekäläinen exuded confidence that replacing Tuch as a player won’t be impossible.
“We have a good plan on how to replace Alex Tuch. We're gonna look at every option, whether it's free agency or trade, but we also have a lot of internal options," Kekäläinen said.
That they do. With Jiri Kulich expected to fully return from the blood clots that sidelined him this past season, the emergence of Noah Östlund, and the promise of Konsta Helenius, the Sabres roster is loaded with young talent.
But what about the leadership void from losing both Byram and Tuch? That’s a very real concern. Tuch wore a letter, and Byram was one of the most liked guys in the locker room. Well, consider this a bit of a changing of the guard. Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, and Mattias Samuelsson are still here, but there are two young guys Kekäläinen is betting on.
“We fill that void in my mind with our young players who play like leaders like Zach Benson and Josh Doan,” Kekäläinen said. “Yeah, we're gonna miss some of that stuff for the veteran players that have been through a lot, but at the same time we're going to grow here as a group, and those individuals showed us already in the playoffs that they're leaders by example.”
This is a risk, and it puts pressure on the Sabres' front office to make something happen. But that’s why Kekäläinen got the job in the first place. He’s not afraid to make big swings, and if I were a betting man, I think we may see him step up to the plate in the next few days.
WATCH: Buffalo Sabres GM Jarmo Kekäläinen discusses Alex Tuch's future, Bowen Byram trade and more
