The Buffalo Sabres find themselves in a strange position heading into this offseason, as their rebuild appears to be moving in a positive direction for the first time in what feels like forever.

With the Sabres roster very full at the moment and prospects knocking at the door, it brings up a very intriguing question.

Which players are locked in to return next season? Which players deserve to be in Buffalo next year? Who needs to get the movers on the phone and prepare for a new destination?

WHO IS LOCKED IN?

From the top-down, some interesting questions were heading into the most recent Buffalo Sabres season.

The name that seemed to be in every fan’s mouth this past offseason was Kyle Okposo. How would the Sabres make use of his six million dollar cap hit? What has happened since is nothing short of the best story we have witnessed in a long time.

Okposo’s role under head coach Don Granato has grown to a point where Okposo’s play has him setting Sabres career-highs. Okposo has also elevated his leadership to a point where he feels like the team’s de facto captain.

One more year remains for Okposo at six million dollars. For a team looking to hit the cap floor, Okposo’s spot in Buffalo is locked.

Another name that has popped up throughout the season has been Victor Olofsson.

Olofsson’s most recent bridge contract whittled down to a prove-it deal for the 26-year-old forward.

Everyone throughout the National Hockey League knows Olofsson can use his wicked shot to collect goals on the power play but could he develop his game to become more of a 5-on-5 threat?

At the beginning of the season, hopes were high and the results were disappointing.

Olofsson had found himself banged up and his on-ice performance reflected that. Within the last few months, Olofsson’s game has returned in a big way.

October had Olofsson scoring five goals in eight games. From there, Olofsson would go on a goal-less streak that began on October 31, 2021, and did not end until February 15, 2022.

The forward would score two goals in nine games in February, seven goals in 14 games in March, and six goals in 14 games in April.

The goal-scoring tells part of the story but the analytics back up the Olofsson resurgence.

As long as a new contract can be reasonable for both sides to get hammered out, Olofsson should be back in Buffalo’s lineup on opening night next season.

WHO BELONGS HERE?
When pondering which players will find themselves in the opening night lineup for the 2022-23 Buffalo Sabres, two names immediately come to mind – Jack Quinn and J.J. Peterka.

It feels like forever since the Buffalo Sabres have successfully drafted and developed young players capable of scoring goals, outside of Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart.

With Quinn and Peterka, that tide might finally be changing.

We have all seen the highlights of what Jack Quinn has done with the Rochester Americans. As a 20-year-old, Quinn has exceeded even the wildest of preseason expectations.

In just 45 games this season, Quinn put together 61 points (26 goals, 35 assists).

As for J.J. Peterka, the burn felt a little slower but his stock is now headed to the moon.

Peterka’s first professional season started a little flat, with four goals in his first 23 games. While he was able to tally 16 assists in those same games, the lack of goal scoring certainly set off a few alarm bells throughout the fan base.

Not to worry though, Peterka appears to have gotten comfortable and slammed his foot on the proverbial gas pedal.

In 47 games since Peterka added 24 goals and 24 assists.

Safe to say, he feels comfortable playing in the American Hockey League.

Wrapping a bow on both of their fantastic seasons, Peterka and Quinn were named to the AHL’s All-Rookie Team.

Quinn has also bestowed the honor of being named the AHL’s Most Outstanding Rookie for the 2021-22 season.

With players like Quinn and Peterka, there appears to be a fine line you have to toe. You certainly do not want to call them up too early and rattle their confidence but then again, you do not want to let them sit down in Rochester and overcook when they clearly are showing the ability to help the big club.

It seems like there will be a tough decision to make on the offensive side of Buffalo’s roster for 2022-23 simply because Peterka and Quinn appear ready for full-time NHL duty.

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE?
Buffalo has an interesting offseason coming up for both their blueline and in goal.

With goaltending prospect Devon Levi returning to Northeastern for another season, all eyes turned to the other important goaltending prospect, Erik Portillo, and his Michigan Wolverines.

Unfortunately, for Buffalo’s sake, Portillo is headed back to Michigan for his junior season. It certainly seems like a tough decision will need to be made on Portillo’s future with the Sabres organization but that can certainly can be kicked down the road a little.

Speaking of prospects, the Rochester Americans have been home to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for what feels like forever.

Luukkonen has played at least one game for the Americans in each of the last four seasons and simply has not been able to elevate his game.

In 35 games played this past season, Luukkonen posted a 15-14-6 record with a 3.28 goals allowed average and a .900 save percentage.

Luukkonen most certainly has not always had the best team in front of him, which could be hindering his growth.

It could be safe to presume that Luukkonen will be given every opportunity to earn a role with the Sabres for the 2022-23 season, with hopes that Kevyn Adams will be able to find someone to fill the gap in Rochester left by unsigned college prospects.

No matter what happens with the goaltending prospects, work will need to be done with the goaltending depth simply because both Craig Anderson and Dustin Tokarski are set to be unrestricted free agents.

While the forward group appears to be pretty set heading into next season, one name that might get some play is Anders Bjork.

Bjork, who came over in the Bruins trade for Taylor Hall two seasons ago, has seen his role and his playing time dwindle throughout his tenure with the Sabres.

In 58 games this past season, Bjork amassed a very underwhelming eight points (five goals, three assists), all while averaging a miniscule 12:02 time on ice per game.

With Bjork heading into the final year of his deal, and a 1.6 million dollar cap hit attached, Buffalo could buyout the final year of his contract for a miniscule 100k cap hit next season and a smidge bigger hit in 2023-24 of 300k.

Simple math says if the guy is not going to play, open the roster spot. Then again, we here at Expected Buffalo are writers and not general managers. The back end is the last big question mark for the Buffalo Sabres next season.

With the anticipated departures of unrestricted free agents Colin Miller, Will Butcher, and Mark Pysyk, a whole ton of playing time just opened up.

The arrival of first overall pick Owen Power certainly helped throughout the final few games of the season, but the thought always goes back to how much pressure you want to put on a young, rookie defenseman?

Free agency will be littered with a litany of defensemen, all of who could be in the Sabres lineup next year if the price is right.

CapFriendly has Buffalo’s projected cap space heading into the offseason at almost 42 million dollars. Buffalo has a little over 30 million dollars already spent on forwards and only a little over 10 million spent on defensemen.

Kevyn Adams has done a good job setting up a foundation for Buffalo’s future but this offseason will be an important one for Adams, as he attempts to determine who is locked in, who deserves to be here, and where the franchise goes from here.

Data via: Hockeyviz.com

Photo Credit: Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images