The 2018-19 NHL season feels like eons ago. During Phil Housley’s final campaign behind the Buffalo Sabres’ bench, he and general manager, Jason Botterill was unanimously criticized for questionable personnel decisions (both in terms of on-ice deployment, and player acquisition).

Only five members of that Sabres squad are still with the organization today. As the franchise tries to continue their recent upward trajectory, a sixth member of that 2018-19 team could re-enter the fold.

Lawrence Pilut left the NHL following the 2019-20 season. As something of an analytics darling during his 46-game stint with Buffalo (spanning two seasons), a healthy subset of the fan base lamented the fact that Pilut never really got a chance to play consistent NHL minutes.

As a result, the then 24-year-old took his talents to Russia where he spent the last two seasons playing for Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL. According to Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News, Sabres’ GM Kevyn Adams is “very interested” in bringing the Swedish blueliner back to Western New York.

Lawrence Pilut’s contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL has been terminated, per the team.

I’m told the Sabres are “very interested” in bringing Pilut back to Buffalo. And Pilut is willing to sign a two-way contract to get another NHL opportunity.

— Lance Lysowski (@LLysowski) July 8, 2022

Lysowski went on to report that Pilut would be willing to sign a two-way deal to get another crack at an NHL opportunity. Now that the mutual interest in a reunion has been reported, let’s take a look back at his production during his first stint with the organization, as well as how he fared in the KHL.

Pilut vs Botterill’s Hoard of Mediocre Fringe Defenders

As much as we try to forget about Botterill’s tenure in Buffalo, we must acknowledge the circumstances around Pilut’s arrival. Fresh off receiving “Defenseman of the Year” honors in the SHL, Pilut signed a two-year ELC with the Sabres as a European Free Agent.

From his first NHL game, it was clear to many that Pilut was one of the team’s top-six defenders in terms of talent. Unfortunately, he only appeared in 33 games during the 2018-19 season as underwhelming veterans Nathan Beaulieu, Casey Nelson, and Matt Hunwick seemed to receive preferential roster treatment.

That development wasn’t met with too much hostility. After all, Pilut was only 22 years old at the time, and playing top-pairing minutes in Rochester wasn’t the end of the world as it pertained to his development.

Despite posting 26 points in 30 AHL contests, things only got worse for Pilut’s NHL aspirations. In Ralph Krueger’s inaugural season the following year, Pilut played just 13 NHL games. Botterill’s previously problematic defensive logjam wasn’t quite as deep, but Pilut still couldn’t get an extended look with the big club over the likes of Zach Bogosian, Jake McCabe, and Marco Scandella.

Before we look at his KHL production, let’s take a moment to look at the underlying numbers from Pilut’s small NHL sample. His biggest “claim to fame” in the analytics community was how well he performed next to Rasmus Ristolainen (perhaps the most detrimental and frequently-utilized asset on the Buffalo blue line at the time).

Scores of different partners all floundered alongside Ristolainen from the minute he became an NHL regular. Aside from McCabe, only Pilut was able to produce positive xG metrics with the Finnish blueliner.

As a tandem, they effectively shut down opposing scoring lines. Their xGA/60 of 2.20 in a 320-minute sample was a revelation. It represented a 17% xGA improvement over Ristolainen’s defensive metrics sans Pilut from 2018-2020. Ristolainen’s xGF/60 rate also decreased by 5% when separated from Pilut.

Despite only putting up six points over his 46-game tenure in Buffalo, Pilut’s value was evident in the underlying numbers. For a virtual rookie to come in and bring a previously detrimental entity to a positive xG share was nothing short of remarkable. Unfortunately, the coaching staff (and presumably the front office) didn’t see it that way.

The loss of a third-pairing caliber defenseman certainly isn’t what sunk Botterill, but it was just another papercut in a long line of self-imposed wounds that prolonged a decade of organizational toil.

Ups and Downs in Russia

As someone who doesn’t consume a lot of KHL hockey, I can only really go on the base statistics here. During his first season in the KHL (2020-21), Pilut put up impressive numbers. His 28 points in 57 games were the second-most among Traktor defensemen (fifth-most overall).

The following season, his offensive production decreased significantly. His 11 points in 40 games last year was still the third-highest mark among Traktor defensemen, but it represented a nearly 22% decrease in per-game production.

Given the fact that I don’t know the circumstances behind his deployment and general usage in the KHL, I won’t glean too much from these numbers. It’s possible that he went through some significant regression last season, but at age 26, that seems rather unlikely.

Conversely, Traktor is terminating his contract. The circumstances around that arrangement aren’t necessarily clear, but it’s not often a glowing endorsement when a player is effectively bought-out.

How Pilut Fits Into the 2022-23 Sabres

The Sabres need defensive depth. Aside from the likelihood of a veteran addition to play beside Owen Power and/or Jacob Bryson, their farm team ranks are very thin. As of right now, Casey Fitzgerald is tentatively penciled-in as the de facto seventh defenseman next season. Behind him is a whole lot of nothing.

If the Sabres experience more than one defensive injury at a given time next season, they’ll have to rely on Oskari Laaksonen to play NHL minutes (as things currently stand). That’s concerning. Bringing Pilut back into the fold on a two-way deal makes sense for that reason alone.

At worst, the Sabres would get a player with a strong AHL production history to help renovate an Amerks blue line that frequently left their goalies out to dry in 2021-22. At best, you have an NHL-capable player to either serve on the third-pairing or as a primary reserve.

So not to come off as presumptuous here, it’s not a guarantee that Pilut returns to Buffalo. They still hold his rights, but he could easily be traded elsewhere, or elect to play another season in Europe. If there is truth to Lysowski’s report (and there’s no reason to believe there isn’t), a reunion makes sense for both sides.

The only “problem” is that Pilut is another left-shot asset on a team that probably needs to seek out a righty this offseason. As I’ve stated in other articles, I’m not sure how much Adams values “handedness”, but it’s a factor to at least consider.

As Pilut’s KHL contract is set to officially expire in the coming days, it will be interesting to see where this goes. Hopefully, he can come back and provide some talented depth for a Sabres team that could certainly use it.

Advanced Metrics and Charts courtesy of Evolving Hockey and Hockeyviz

Photo Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports