The NHL offseason is slowing down, and the Buffalo Sabres are in a holding pattern.

General manager Kevyn Adams still has work to do. Defenseman Bowen Byram will be going to arbitration if he isn’t traded before then. Alex Tuch is eligible to sign a contract extension. And the team still has more than $13 million in salary-cap space with only Byram and defenseman Conor Timmins unsigned.

That leaves a lot of lingering questions from our readers. We recently had an hour-long live Q&A. There were plenty of questions left over after the hour was up, so I gathered some of the best ones for a mailbag. We’ll have more of these to come to get us through the summer months.

Let’s jump in.

Note: Submitted questions may be edited for clarity and style.

What is a free-agent signing that you could realistically see happening at this point? — Tyler M.

An already thin free-agent class is pretty picked over at this point. If the Sabres ended up trading Byram, there could be a need for another defenseman. The best options are probably Matt Grzelcyk and Calvin de Haan, but neither one of those players would fit with Rasmus Dahlin on the top pair. If the Sabres put Mattias Samuelsson in that top-pair role, de Haan could theoretically fit as a third-pair defenseman next to Conor Timmins.

As for forwards, all that is left are some low-risk dart throws. A few names that I find interesting are all left-shot wingers. Michael Carcone, 29, played for Utah last season. He took a while to get to the NHL but broke in after an 85-point AHL season in 2022-23. In 2023-24, he had 21 goals for Arizona but had just seven goals and 12 assists in 53 games for Utah last season. He’s small but fast and a capable forechecker. Nikolai Kovalenko did not get a qualifying offer from the Sharks after he had seven goals and 13 assists as a rookie playing for Colorado and San Jose. He was just under a point-per-game player in his two seasons in the KHL prior to coming to North America. The third player is Joel Kiviranta, a 29-year-old who had a career-best 16 goals for the Avalanche last season.

Those aren’t players who are guaranteed to be any better than what the Sabres already have in their lineup. That’s why the best chance for impactful change is still via the trade market.

If they are to add a top-six forward through a Byram trade or anything else, someone needs to go. Who is the most likely candidate to be bumped out? — Rob M.

When I look at the Sabres’ lines, I already have a hard time finding the right spot for Jack Quinn. If you add another top-six forward to the mix, it becomes even trickier to place Quinn. The Sabres just signed him to a two-year contract extension worth $3.375 million per year, so you would think he’s in their plans. But I’m curious to see what that looks like in training camp.

Peyton Krebs is another player who could be in that category, because Justin Danforth has the ability to play center, and Krebs might have some value around the league in a trade. Beck Malenstyn might not have as consistent a role if the Sabres’ forward depth chart gets more crowded, but Buffalo will likely need his penalty killing at some point.

What do you foresee happening with Krebs, in the wake of the Sabres adding Josh Doan and Danforth? It seems unlikely that they’d trade him because of how much Lindy Ruff trusted and respected him by the end of the season, but I also can’t see him on paper being more than the 13th forward (with Beck Malenstyn behind him). — Torsten S.

Let’s dig into Krebs a bit. He definitely earned Lindy Ruff’s trust as the year went on. And his 10 goals and 18 assists were respectable totals considering the role he played. He can play either wing or center, which should help his cause. But even as the Sabres’ roster stands right now, there isn’t room for all of Krebs, Malenstyn and Jack Quinn. This is one version of what Buffalo’s lineup could look like.

Benson-Norris-Thompson
Zucker-Kulich-Tuch
Greenway-McLeod-Doan
Malenstyn-Krebs-Danforth

If you put Quinn in the top six and bump Jason Zucker and Jordan Greenway each down a line, either Malenstyn or Krebs comes out, and Danforth plays center. You could also put Quinn on the third line, bump Doan down to the fourth line and move Danforth to center to bump Krebs out of the lineup. All of this should create some legitimate competition for ice time throughout the season. At least with Krebs, he’s an easy puzzle piece to fit into different roles. The trouble with Quinn is he’s going to need to be better defensively if he’s playing a bottom-six role. And there might not be room for him in the top six.

The Sabres acquired Michael Kesselring from Utah in the JJ Peterka trade. (Steven Bisig / Imagn Images)

Never too early to plan ahead. .. curious for your thoughts on extending Zach Benson and Michael Kesselring this summer. Benson, maybe too early? But Kesselring is projected at 4 x $4.25 million, and that seems like a good price to lock in now. — Andy T.

I gave a quick answer to this in our Live Q&A on Wednesday, but I wanted to expand on this question because it’s a good one. I think being proactive with these players makes sense, but I’m not sure how open either player would be to a new deal.

As a ballpark estimate, AFP Analytics projects Benson for a $7.4 million cap hit on a seven-year deal and a $4 million cap hit on a two-year deal. That $7.4 million number would probably be enough to at least get Benson to consider signing early. It’s more than Matthew Coronato got from Calgary and almost identical to what Seth Jarvis got from Carolina. Benson has a similar resume to Coronato but hasn’t produced nearly as much as Jarvis.

Benson is one of the Sabres’ most interesting players this season. He has seasons of 30 and 28 points. His goal totals are 11 and 10. If he can get himself in the 20-goal range and closer to 55 points, that long-term contract starts to make more sense. He’s already one of Buffalo’s best defensive forwards. He led the team in on-ice expected goal share at five-on-five last season, according to Natural Stat Trick. And while you might look at that number and think that’s more than Tage Thompson signed for. Thompson signed his contract in 2022 when the salary cap was $82.5 million. Had Thompson signed that deal based on the projected $104 million cap in 2026-27, the equivalent cap hit percentage would have given him a cap hit just under $9 million. Likewise, that $7.4 million projection for Benson would have been the equivalent of $5.88 million on an $82.5 million cap. Those numbers are important to keep in mind when gauging the risk associated with a deal like that for Benson. These numbers are going up around the league.

If Benson plays a top-line role this season, he has a chance to produce numbers that will warrant that type of big-money extension. Early in Adams’ tenure, he was proactive about signing players to extensions. Thompson, Dylan Cozens, Mattias Samuelsson, Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin all got new deals either a full season early or during their contract year as restricted free agents. With the latest round of restricted free agents, Adams didn’t take the same course. None of JJ Peterka, Ryan McLeod, Byram,  Quinn or Devon Levi got early extensions. Peterka ended up getting traded. Byram could be heading to arbitration if he isn’t traded before then, and McLeod and Quinn both got new deals around the start of the new league year.

Adams will have to decide what to do with Benson, Kesselring and Doan. That’s on top of Tuch entering the final year of his contract. Has Adams seen enough to take the proactive approach with those players? Or is the question whether those players are willing to sign early? In Benson’s case, he has plenty to gain by taking a step forward in production this season.

The same could be said for Kesselring, who AFP Analytics projects for a $4.25 million cap hit on a four-year deal. This will be the first time Kesselring gets to play a top-four role for an entire season. Given what the market looked like for defensemen contracts this summer, I’d be inclined to wait it out and try to drive up that number if I were Kesselring.

Doan is a wild card, too. AFP projects him for a $3.3 million cap hit on a two-year deal. If his scoring trajectory continues as it has been early in his career, that’s the type of contract he could be looking at. But if there’s some untapped scoring upside, Doan’s number could climb higher. Like with Kesselring, I don’t see an incentive for Doan to sign early unless the Sabres are willing to give him the security of a long-term deal.

What is the more likely outcome this year: a bottom-five finish, or a playoff berth? — Matt S.

Call me foolish, but I’d say a playoff berth is more likely than a bottom-five finish. The Sabres had a 13-game winless streak, spent most of the season in last place in the Eastern Conference and still managed to play their way out of a bottom-five finish last season. We don’t know exactly what the opening-night lineup will look like for Buffalo, but it should be a better blue line on paper. The forward group should be a more well-rounded one with a healthy Josh Norris and Doan. If those two things help the Sabres get better goaltending, I think they can be in the mix for a playoff spot. I’m not saying they’ll do it, but the Eastern Conference wild-card race looks wide open to me. Florida, Toronto and Carolina should be playoff locks. Tampa Bay and New Jersey are good bets. If Washington can repeat its performance from last season, that still leaves two wild-card spots up for grabs. Ottawa and Montreal could easily fall out of the playoff picture, but the Rangers, Blue Jackets and Red Wings could all be knocking on the door.

At the moment, the Sabres have the sixth-worst odds to win the Stanley Cup. So the betting market thinks they’re closer to being a bottom-five team than a playoff team. I just have a hard time seeing a bottom-five finish unless the Sabres get some bad injury luck.

It’s an acknowledged question of defeatism, but in your gut, do you see the current operating protocols of cost-consciousness, unaccountability for failed performances and avoiding the public forum ever changing as long as Terry Pegula owns the team? Will it take either him selling or at least stepping aside and granting his children control? — Torsten S.

The only way I could see meaningful change in how this team operates under Terry Pegula is if the Sabres manage to sneak into the playoffs and generate the revenue and positive attention that comes with that. Winning would start to fix a lot. There would be more money to spend, both due to the playoff revenue and the bump in regular season attendance. A winning Sabres team would still be on some no-trade lists, but more players would be open to playing for a competitive team in Buffalo. I don’t know if winning would make Pegula more willing to talk, considering he doesn’t do a lot of that with the Bills these days, either. The downside of that for Pegula is that the last time he spoke about the Sabres, he emphasized that he wanted the team to be “effective, efficient and economic.” Those words tend to follow you, especially when your actions continue to line up with them.

Spending first could speed up the process of winning and break this loop the Sabres are in. Buying the best possible front office and coaching staff and spending to the cap ceiling would increase the team’s chances of winning. The salary-cap issue becomes a vicious cycle in that because they didn’t spend for so long, they’ve been a losing team, and fewer players want to come here. There wasn’t much to spend the money on this offseason in free agency. A player like Noah Dobson, who got traded to Montreal and signed a big extension, has a degree of control if they aren’t willing to sign that same extension in Buffalo. Spending money on whoever will take it just to spend to the cap isn’t a viable strategy. So I can understand this summer in that context. It doesn’t excuse the missed opportunities to spend on players in the previous three offseasons, though.

And that same excuse doesn’t apply to the front office and coaching staff. There are only 32 NHL teams, so you could get strong candidates for these jobs if you are willing to spend appropriately and get out of the way as an owner.

That’s why I say it’s going to take a playoff appearance to see meaningful change. Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane making the playoffs in Year 1 of their tenure with the Bills changed so much about that franchise. It validated them and their philosophies as leaders and team builders. And it built up trust with ownership, fans and players. Now, the perception of the Bills is entirely different from what it was in 2017. The Bills needed a lot of luck to get into the playoffs that year, too. Maybe the Sabres’ luck will turn at some point.

(Photo of Zach Benson: Ben Ludeman / NHLI via Getty Images)