Friday Four: Sabres at risk of losing more high-end talent without change

The Friday Four is a collection of thoughts and information on some intriguing storylines from around the NHL. On deck this week:

· The Buffalo Sabres need to create an environment where players want to be

That sound you hear is the city of Buffalo collectively exhaling.

I’m not sure any team in the history of hockey has been under more pressure in Game 4 of 82 to have a strong showing than the Sabres were on Wednesday night. Buffalo responded with an 8-4 thrashing of the Ottawa Senators, with every goal feeling more and more like a cathartic experience for a team letting out its frustrations.

Things weren’t supposed to get this bad this quickly. The Sabres lost their first three games and it took them five-and-a-half-periods to score a goal. It wasn’t so much the results, as much as it was the optics. Buffalo looked overmatched and listless at times, which is inexcusable for a team that desperately needed a good start. It would be easy to say don’t panic after only a few games but when you’ve missed the playoffs for 14 straight years, you no longer get the benefit of the doubt.

Sabres fans are getting tired of watching it and the players are getting tired of hearing about it. Forward Tage Thompson voiced his displeasure at Buffalo’s start following a loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday, while also preaching there’s plenty of time left to figure things out. “We have a long season to go,” Thompson said. “You guys are acting like the world is ending right now. We just have to find a way to claw ourselves out of this. We’re obviously in a hole we don’t want to be in and we have to find our way out of it.”

Rasmus Dahlin shared a similar sentiment: “This is not acceptable. It’s not good enough.”

Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams should be just as concerned with the comments of his top players as he is about Buffalo’s slow start. The organization has had its challenges to say the least when it comes to keeping high-end talent and you could put together the core of a solid team from all the players that have left the Sabres in the past six or seven years. Ryan O’Reilly was dealt in the summer of 2018 and lifted the Conn Smythe Trophy a year later. Then came 2021, a year that saw a trio of talented players make their exit from Western New York. Linus Ullmark left in free agency in the summer and went on to win a Vezina in 2023. Sam Reinhart was traded and has gone on to win a pair of Cups while developing into one of the top scorers in the league. Then Jack Eichel was shipped to Vegas later that year and he’s now arguably one of the 10 best players in the NHL who also has his name on a Cup.

Not to mention Dylan Cozens and JJ Peterka, two young talented players that were traded in the past calendar year. The Cozens deal was a massive gamble centred around Josh Norris, a player with a ton of upside who has struggled to stay healthy. That gamble has yet to pay off, as Norris is already going to miss a substantial amount of time with an early-season injury. The jury is still out on the Peterka deal as Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan are two decent pieces the Sabres got in return, but it’s undeniable Peterka was the best player in the trade.

You could argue that a lot of those players wanted out and Buffalo had little choice but to move them, but at the end of the day it’s the organization’s job to create an environment where players want to stick around. It has to be extra painful to watch all that talent thrive in other organizations when the Sabres couldn’t make it work in Buffalo.

If the Sabres have another rough season, it’s fair to ask how long players like Thompson, Dahlin and Alex Tuch are going to want to stick around. Tuch will be a free agent this summer and will be looking for a long-term deal with a significant raise. Buffalo needs a good showing this year to help entice him to stay. Thompson and Dahlin are both locked up long term but the Sabres have seen players asked to be shipped out of town before. Neither skater has even sniffed the playoffs in their career and they’re not going to remain patient forever.

What’s most surprising about the Sabres futility over the past decade-plus is the team has actually drafted and acquired some quality players. The majority of those players have gone on to be significant contributors to championship teams and have won some major individual awards, it just hasn’t been in Buffalo. The Sabres have never had trouble finding talent. They just haven’t been able to keep it.

The New York Rangers have gotten off to a lukewarm start, but not for lack of trying from Igor Shesterkin. He’s been borderline unbeatable thus far in the 2025-26 campaign, allowing only five total goals across five starts. His save percentage currently sits at .962 and Shesterkin is already up to 8.1 goals saved above expected. He’s been at his absolute best right out of the gate.

What has to be frustrating for Shesterkin, though, is that despite his excellent start, he only has two wins to his credit. New York has been shut out twice in games Shesterkin started and three times overall, all at home. The Rangers have set a record for offensive futility to start a season, as they’ve become the first team in NHL history to be shut out in three straight home games to begin a campaign. They’ve also wasted a strong showing from Jonathan Quick, who stopped 20-of-21 shots against the Washington Capitals, but ultimately took a 1-0 loss because the Rangers were held off the scoresheet.

Part of the problem is that Artemi Panarin is off to an uncharacteristically slow start. The Rangers forward only has two assists and hasn’t scored yet this season. He’s also managed two shots or less in five of his six games. Panarin is a 90-point player all day long and he’s entering a contract year, so the slow start comes at a less than ideal time. It’s still early and there’s plenty of time for Panarin to turn things around but if the Rangers want to start getting back into the win column more regularly, they’ll need their superstar forward to get back on track.

Shesterkin had a down year for his standards in 2024-25 with a .905 save percentage, and that, combined with a season for the ages from Connor Hellebuyck, made Shesterkin somewhat forgotten about a year ago. Now he’s reminding everyone just how good he is when he’s at his best and if the Rangers hope to return to the playoffs, it’s going to be because Shesterkin carried them there.

Chris Kreider probably needed a lot of arm twisting to join the Anaheim Ducks back in June. The New York Rangers were the only team he had ever known, but they were keen to move Kreider’s $6.5 million salary off their books for the final two years of his deal. Kreider, coming off a down year where he managed just 22 goals, had to waive his no-trade clause to facilitate the move. That meant going to a team in a rebuild that had missed the playoffs for seven straight seasons. He ultimately did and so far, it’s worked out swimmingly.

Kreider is excelling on the Ducks top line, scoring four goals in his first four games, with a couple of them being very timely. The 34-year-old scored in the final minute against the San Jose Sharks last week, paving the way for Anaheim’s first victory of the season in overtime. Then this week, Kreider found the back of the net again in the final two minutes for a game-winning goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s looked more like the player we’re used to seeing this year and seems poised to hit 30 goals once again.

The Ducks were probably excited about adding Kreider for more than just his on-ice abilities. Many people picked Anaheim to break through and return to the post-season in 2025-26 due to a talented young core, but they were perhaps lacking some veteran leadership. Kreider has several deep playoff runs under his belt and scored 24 goals between 2021 and 2024 over three post-season appearances. If the Ducks were to return to the playoffs, Kreider is a proven performer that has delivered in many big games in the past.

Ultimately, the Ducks are only going to go as far as players like Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Jackson LaCombe, Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke and other young talents are going to take them, but not all of those players are ready to be key contributors just yet. Having someone like Kreider around to mentor that group as they try to get to the next level is invaluable and he’s proving he still has a lot to offer on the ice as well.

Scott Wedgewood, Colorado Avalanche

In a two-week stretch late last fall, the Colorado Avalanche shook up their crease in a big way. Alex Georgiev and Justus Annunen were out, and Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood were in. The Avs acquired both in separate deals less than two weeks apart, with Blackwood slated to be the biggest difference maker. That was true last season, as Blackwood stepped in provided the steady play between the pipes the Avs had been missing, but now Wedgewood is really starting to prove his worth as well.

Blackwood was not available to start the season because of injury and if the Avs had to turn to a subpar backup, they would’ve been at risk of watching the start of their campaign get derailed by poor goaltending once again. Wedgewood, though, has been stellar and is proving to be one of the biggest surprises of the first two weeks of the season. The 33-year-old boasts a 4-0-1 record with a .939 save percentage and has allowed just a single goal in four of his five starts. He also has 5.2 goals saved above expected.

If Wedgewood’s play thus far has caught some people by surprise, the Avalanche may very well have expected it. He was excellent after joining Colorado last season, winning 13 games and losing just four times in regulation, to go along with a .917 save percentage. They clearly have confidence in Wedgewood’s abilities, as the Avs didn’t rush out to grab another veteran goalie for insurance when Blackwood was sidelined for training camp and thought enough of him to give up on the much younger and once highly touted Annunen.

If you remember, Colorado started out last season 0-4-0 after allowing 25 goals in four games. The Avs were probably worried about a similar fate this year when Blackwood went down, but Wedgewood has erased all those fears. Wedgewood has been just as important as Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Martin Necas have to this hot start. Now a Blackwood return seems like it’s on the horizon, but if Wedgewood continues to play at this level, he’s going to really make Blackwood earn his playing time going forward.