What Could've Been For Buffalo: Looking Back At The Sabres' 2020-21 Roster
GM Kevyn Adams and the Buffalo Sabres have moved on from another promising player before they reached the pinnacle of their career. On Wednesday night, JJ Peterka was traded to the Utah Mammoth for Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan.
With Peterka gone, the Sabres have just six players remaining from their 2020-21 roster. That team didn't have success in the regular season, as they finished last in the NHL. However, looking back at the makeup of their roster, they had an impressive group of players.
That 2020-21 team included Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Casey Mittelstadt, Taylor Hall, Brandon Montour, Dylan Cozens, Jake McCabe and Linus Ullmark. All those players now play elsewhere, and some of them have gone on to win Stanley Cups and NHL awards.
In addition, that Sabres team had Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, three players who remain on Buffalo's current roster.
Among the ex-Sabres listed and including their former captain, Kyle Okposo, there are five Stanley Cups between them. Not just that, all those players experienced playoff hockey after moving from Buffalo.
Eichel and Reinhart have transformed themselves into some of the best players in the league since they were traded away from Buffalo.
The Sabres traded Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights in the middle of the 2021-22 campaign. There was a disagreement between the player and the team regarding his health and how to manage Eichel's injury.
Nonetheless, he became a different beast once he moved to Nevada, especially last season. Eichel reached a new career-high of 94 points, including 28 goals in 77 games. The 28-year-old finished in the top five in voting for the Hart, Selke and Lady Byng Trophies.
Reinhart is a back-to-back Cup champion with the Florida Panthers and is a key member of the team. On top of that, he had a 57-goal season in 2023-24 and has been a top-five Selke Trophy candidate twice since joining Florida.
With that, Eichel and Reinhart were selected to Team USA and Team Canada's preliminary rosters, respectively, for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in February.
Even Jeff Skinner, who never made a playoff appearance before this past season, went all the way to the Stanley Cup final with the Edmonton Oilers. He was bought out by the Sabres and signed with the Oilers as a free agent last July.
It's worth mentioning that the Sabres hold the joint-longest playoff drought among the four major sports in North America. They share a 14-year playoff drought with the NFL's New York Jets, and it's the longest drought in NHL history.
Even those players who haven't gone on to win the Stanley Cup they turned out to be solid players, making a difference on their respective teams.
For example, Ullmark has won a Vezina and William M. Jennings Trophy one season after he signed with the Boston Bruins in the 2021 off-season. Now, he's a true No.1 goaltender and was a key piece to pushing the Ottawa Senators to the post-season for the first time since 2017.
Defenseman Jake McCabe is another player who has found a new home. He's been a force with the Toronto Maple Leafs, heading into his fourth season with the team, and depending on the game, McCabe is sometimes the best D-man on Toronto.
Only time will tell if Peterka becomes yet another player that Buffalo may regret moving on from.
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