Buffalo Sabres

The next landing spot for star forward Patrick Kane is still to be determined but it appears that a homecoming, a return to a strong team and a move to a former rival all appear to be on the table.

The winger is still a free agent and was projected to miss "four-to-six months" after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery in the offseason. He remains highly sought after, especially for a playoff push, and Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff reported that the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers are contenders to sign Kane.

Seravalli wrote that the Rangers are "paying attention to Kane, while adding the star has also been "keeping an eye on" the Red Wings.

The 34-year-old remains a dominant force in the league. He has scored 451 goals and 1,237 points across his 16-season career, earning four All-Star selections, the 2015-16 Hart Trophy and helping the Chicago Blackhawks win three Stanley Cups.

He scored 21 goals and have 57 points in 73 games between Chicago and the Rangers in 2022-23 and a return to the Big Apple would certainly be appealing if the goal is to win another Stanley Cup. New York won 47 games in 2022-23 and look like a strong contender in the Eastern Conference.

The issue with a return to the Rangers comes with the salary cap as the team has just just $675,085 in salary cap space. While that may be enough to get Kane to agree to a one-year deal and set himself up for a healthy free-agency period next summer, the Rangers are not the best option when it comes to long-term stability.

The Red Wings are an up-and-coming team that is looking to take a step forward in 2023-24. The team has not qualified for the postseason since 2016, which ended the legendary 25-season playoff streak. Detroit has been building, and a dynamic playmaker like Kane could help the young core break through in the loaded Atlantic Division, even if it is nightmare fuel for Blackhawk fans.

Finally, the Sabres may be the most intriguing option. Kane is a Buffalo native, so potentially ending his career playing in front of his hometown crowd may be something of interest to him. The Sabres possess the longest postseason drought (12 seasons) in the NHL, but they do have a young core developing and are also a contender to make noise in the Atlantic.

Wherever Kane ends up, it will likely at least be a team that is in postseason contention, and he certainly could provide a late season offensive spark.

The Buffalo Sabres have signed defenseman Rasmus Dahlin to an eight-year contract extension, the team announced on Monday.

The average annual value of the deal is $11 million, and it begins at the start of the 2024-25 season.

"I love the city. I love the team. I love everything," Dahlin said.

The 23-year-old finished with a career-high 73 points in 78 games last season, helping the Sabres finish with a record of 42-33-7.

This deal makes Dahlin the second-highest paid defenseman in the NHL, putting him in a tie with L.A. Kings blueliner Drew Doughty.

Sabres captain Kyle Okposo praised Dahlin's tenacity.

"He's so competitive," Okposo said, via the team's official website. "That's probably his best leadership quality, how competitive he is. He just wants to win all the time. He wants to be the best. He wants to be on the ice in every situation. He's been incredible."

Dahlin has been with Buffalo for the past five seasons after he was selected with the first overall pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

He's recorded 233 points in 355 career games. Last season was his best year, being named an All-Star as an injury replacement for Tage Thompson and finishing eighth in the James Norris Memorial Trophy voting.

Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams was enthusiastic about the move (via Jourdon LaBarber of sabres.com).

"This is a really exciting day for us. ...We have a player in his prime years that's committing to this organization for the max term that you can," Adams said. "We have a player in Rasmus Dahlin that we think will continue to get better for at least the next 9 years."

The Sabres host the New York Rangers to begin their season on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.

Former Buffalo Sabres play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret died Thursday, the team announced. He was 81.

"Rick was indeed a very special and very loved man, to and by all, who knew him and listened to him, his magic, and his command," Sabres owner Terry Pegula said. "How glad I am to have known him. How lucky were we all to have been around him and to have listened to him.

"Rick Jeanneret's mark on Sabres history extends far beyond the broadcast booth and we will miss him dearly. I extend my deepest condolences to Sandra, Rick's family, friends, and all that were loved by him."

Jeanneret served as Buffalo's play-by-play announcer, starting in radio before moving to television, from 1971 until he retired in 2022. He was the longest-tenured broadcaster in the NHL at the time of his retirement.

One of his most memorable calls was "May Day! May Day!" after Brad May scored in a 6-5 overtime win to seal a four-game sweep of the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs.

He also had signature calls such as, "Top shelf, where mama hides the cookies," for whenever a player roofed a shot high into the net for a goal.

Jeanneret, a member of the Sabres Hall of Fame, also received the Foster Hewitt Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012, and he is one of 11 members of the Buffalo franchise to have a banner in the rafters of KeyBank Center.

The Carolina Hurricanes are likely to trade defenseman Brett Pesce if they cannot re-sign him to a new deal, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

Should that be the case, the Buffalo Sabres should make a run at the eight-year veteran. They need help on defense, and getting one of the top 10 players at his position would be the perfect way to kick off the offseason.

Pesce is coming off his first 82-game season since 2016-17 and enjoyed career highs in assists (25) and overall points (30).

It is no surprise that Carolina would like to retain his services by extending his deal and Buffalo would jump at the opportunity to acquire him should he become available, but such a deal should form the foundation of the Sabres' front-office efforts.

The free-agent defensemen available this offseason include veterans like Matt Dumba, Radko Gudas and Dmitry Orlov, all of whom have the ability to help any team they land on but will do so at an inflated price.

If the Sabres can identify players like Pesce who are potential trade candidates, it would behoove them to build their roster through those means. Better yet, they have assets already on the team and prospects still working their way to the main roster to pull the deals off.

The Sabres finished fifth in the Atlantic Division in the East, just one point behind the eventual conference champion Florida Panthers. The team is not far off from returning to the postseason and pursuing a Stanley Cup.

Adding a player like Pesce to a roster that includes young talent like Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Rasmus Dahlin and Dylan Cozens would provide the veteran presence necessary from a guy who has enjoyed considerable success in his time with the Hurricanes, including a playoff run this past season.

It is the right move, one that can be beneficial for all involved and change up the tendency to seek out and overpay free agents.

BUFFALO -- History repeating itself is a fascinating occurrence, especially when it comes to generational talent in hockey.

In 2015, Connor McDavid was the heir apparent to Sidney Crosby as a franchise-changing superstar-to-be. That year, McDavid was followed closely behind by Jack Eichel and the lead-up to the draft saw teams tanking to have the chance to pick either of one of them. The Edmonton Oilers won the biggest prize in McDavid and the Buffalo Sabres, the league's worst team who had the best shot at the No. 1 pick, "settled" for No. 2 and Eichel.

Fast forward to the present day. Quite similarly to the 2014-15 season, teams decided to go all-in on being as bad as possible with the opportunity to draft Connor Bedard far too attractive. And just like McDavid had Eichel, Bedard has his own star-in-the-making behind him: University of Michigan star Adam Fantilli

While the Chicago Blackhawks are sitting in the same catbird seat as the Oilers were eight years ago, the Anaheim Ducks are poised to cash in with a superstar talent of their own at No. 2.

The parallels between Bedard and Fantilli haven't been as plainly stated as those between McDavid and Eichel, but the two young stars-to-be set to be picked at the end of June will forever be linked just the same. What's more, their talent backs it up.

"It's a season for the ages for both of them," NHL Director of Central Scouting Dan Marr said. "It's very difficult for a 17, 18-year-old to excel at the World Junior level and the way Connor had at every level that he played at and what Adam did, he was one of the younger players in the league and as a freshman, there's a lot at the college level, with seniors and juniors, the freshmen are at the bottom of the heap."

When you look at what Bedard and Fantilli did with their respective teams this season (Bedard with the Regina Pats of the WHL and Fantilli with Michigan) and compare them to what McDavid did with the Erie Otters and Eichel at Boston University during their draft years, you can see why it's such an accurate throwback to 2015.

2014-2015

McDavid: 47 games, 44 goals, 76 assists, 120 points (2.55 points per game)

Eichel: 40 games, 26 goals, 45 assists, 71 points (1.78 points per game)

2022-2023

Bedard: 57 games, 71 goals, 72 assists, 143 points (2.5 points per game)

Fantilli: 36 games, 30 goals, 35 assists, 65 points (1.81 points per game)

One guy excelled in the Canadian Hockey League while the other was the best of the best in the NCAA as a freshman. It's kind of spooky.

There is one slight difference between the pairs. Instead of a Canada versus United States rivalry like McDavid and Eichel, Bedard and Fantilli were teammates for Canada during World Juniors. That know each other doesn't do much to make things spicy in the grand sense, but they're competitors and they'll more than likely be rivals in the Western Conference very soon. There's also the fact that they've been in the same draft conversations for years now with Bedard being the prime focus all along. That suits Fantilli just fine.

"He's a phenomenal hockey player and he deserves everything he's getting," Fantilli said. "There's a lot of eyes on him, in terms of everything that he's going to be expected to do with the amount of success he's had in juniors and at an international level...we've been in entirely different situations and we're going to be drafted in different spots so it's going to be a different experience for both of us."

Bedard has been in the spotlight since he was granted exceptional player status by the CHL when he was 14 years old in 2020. He's been the focus of the hockey media ever since and his childhood dream is nearly fulfilled. But his eyes are on what's happening right now and staying in the moment.

"I'm focused on what's important and what I can control with my own play and my own team, of course," Bedard said. "You don't really think about that stuff, just some extra interviews and attention and whatnot. I'm just staying focused on what I need to be focused on and try to become a better player and a better person so that's how I handle it."

Bedard's focus is steely and straight ahead in the most McDavid ways imaginable, even if his description of what he's doing doesn't excite you. The goal is to make the NHL and then to become the best player he can be. That puts him straight in line to compete with the likes of McDavid, Eichel, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the elite players in the world.

"There's a lot of words that start with 'C' that analytics can't judge for you like character, and one of them is consistency, and that he can consistently play that high character game, game in and game out, is truly impressive," Marr said.

Knowing what the first two picks of the draft are most likely going to be is not a new phenomenon in the NHL. Surprises like last year's draft where Juraj Slafkovský was the surprise No. 1 pick ahead of Shane Wright (who ultimately went fourth) are rare, so knowing the expected order of Bedard going No. 1 and Fantilli No. 2 makes this draft special and will forever link the two youngsters.

It circles back to the same dream the Oilers and Sabres had in 2015. Their example proves more has to go into making those picks to have success. That Eichel is front and center with the Vegas Golden Knights after things didn't work out with the Sabres shows the future isn't predetermined. But the greatness those players have will carry them forward The only questions left are how far they will go and how often they will have to go through each other to reach the top.

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin will not participate in the team's Pride night activities ahead of Monday's game against the Montréal Canadiens because of anti-gay laws in his home country of Russia, per John Wawrow of the Associated Press.

Sabres players will wear rainbow-colored jerseys and use Pride tape on their sticks during pregame warm-ups to show their support of the LGBTQIA+ community, but Lyubushkin—who is from Moscow—reportedly fears retribution if he participated.

He plans on playing in the game.

The Athletic reported Lyubushkin spends offseasons in Russia with his wife and children.

The Sabres, who changed their Twitter avatar to incorporate the Progress Pride Flag ahead of their Pride night game, released a statement Monday that said: "Our team feels strongly that one way to garner support is through wearing Pride jerseys and using Pride tape in warmups. That said, we are aware of general threats to certain players and understand their decision to forego risk."

Wawrow noted Lyubushkin is not the only player around the NHL who has refused to take part in Pride night activities.

Ivan Provorov of the Philadelphia Flyers, James Reimer of the San Jose Sharks, and Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida Panthers cited religious beliefs in their decisions to avoid wearing Pride-themed jerseys.

The New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild and Chicago also did not wear the jerseys. Chicago said it did so as a result of an anti-gay law in Russia that expanded restrictions on supporting LGBTQIA+ rights.

On Monday, the Sabres stated they were hosting Pride Night to "celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community and reinforce the Sabres' commitment to building an inclusive fanbase, making KeyBank Center a safe and welcome space for LGBTQIA+ fans and their allies."

The warm-up jerseys and sticks will be auctioned with the proceeds benefiting local Pride organizations.

Lyubushkin has been in the NHL since the 2018-19 campaign and has played for the Arizona Coyotes and Toronto Maple Leafs.

This is his first season with Buffalo, and he has 14 points in 58 games.