My gut feeling I’ve had for a few months now was confirmed today when the Buffalo Sabres decided to not issue Tyson Jost a qualifying offer. As a result, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent at noon tomorrow.

If you’re a fan that wanted Jost back on the team, then I have good news for you. As Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News first reported, I’m also hearing the plan is to attempt to re-sign the 24-year-old forward. The two sides are working away on it, but there’s still no guarantee it gets done.

There are two reasons that the Sabres didn’t issue a qualifying offer to Jost. First, the contract they agree to will come in less than his $2.25 million qualifying offer. The other reason is that it avoids the potential of this going to a salary arbitration case and him getting a larger award than his qualifying offer.

The rule is that a team can only walk away from an arbitration award if it is higher than $4.538 million. Jost’s award would not be higher than that but could have been higher than $2.25 million.

At this point, the Sabres can’t afford to let a solid defensive forward walk away. That’s why I believe that the two sides find common ground on an extension shortly.

Defenseman Kale Clague and forward Metaj Pekar also did not receive qualifying offers, making them both UFA’s.

Clague played 33 games for the Sabres last season. However, the writing was on the wall for him to not return with the re-signings of Jeremy Davies and Joe Cecconi to play in the AHL next season. They currently have seven defensemen signed for next year at the NHL level and they’ll add another on top of that.

Matej Pekar was a fourth-round pick in 2018 who just never found his footing with the organization. He played most of last season in the ECHL with the Cincinnati Cyclones. Now the development camp star will look for a new opportunity.

Data via: Cap Friendly

Photo Credit: Joe Hrycych/NHLI via Getty Images