Camp Countdown | How did Sabres improve this offseason?

In the days leading into training camp, Sabres.com will be addressing major questions surrounding the 2025-26 Buffalo Sabres. To start: what steps did they take to improve this offseason?

• Camp Countdown | Which Amerks could debut and contribute?

The Buffalo Sabres’ summer included front-office hirings, trades to bolster the blue line, an intriguing draft class and new contracts for key restricted free agents.

Here’s a timeline of Buffalo’s organizational improvements, on and off the ice, since the end of the 2024-25 season.

• Buffalo Sabres 2025 free agency tracker

May 7: Eric Staal hired as special assistant to the GM

Staal played 1,365 games and collected 1,063 points in his 18-year NHL career, which included 32 games with Buffalo in 2020-21 and concluded in 2022-23. Now, the 40-year-old is aiding general manager Kevyn Adams with a fresh perspective and a wealth of knowledge about today’s game.

“I’ve always believed this: it’s really valuable to have someone in your hockey operations department that’s pretty fresh off of playing,” Adams said before the NHL Draft. “To have someone like Eric – with the Hall of Fame career, he’s done everything you can possibly do in this game, successfully – is even better. Instantly, you can ask about a player, and he says, ‘Hey this is what I see; playing against him, this is what he’s like.’ It’s valuable.”

May 9: ‘Culture driver’ Brian Galivan hired as director of performance

A six-year tenure with USA Hockey made Galivan a household name in hockey performance. As the director of sports science for the National Team Development Program, among other jobs, Galivan played a key role in the physical development of top American talent. His program has already begun making a mark on the organization, from NHL-level Sabres to just-drafted prospects at July’s development camp.

“I think he’s fantastic; he has a unique way about him, he has a presence to him,” said Rochester Americans head coach Michael Leone, who worked with Galivan in his previous role with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. “He’s pretty jacked, tattoos, rides a Harley. He’s pretty intense, too, but he has an unbelievable relationship with the players. He’s hard on them, but in a good way; it comes from a really good place.

“… He trains a lot of superior athletes and has for a long time. He’s really well respected, and he’s a culture driver.”

May 30: Jarmo Kekalainen hired as senior advisor

Kekalainen’s decades-long front-office career began in scouting and included a successful stint as the Columbus Blue Jackets’ general manager from 2013 to 2024 – Columbus qualified for the playoffs in five of its first seven seasons under Kekalainen.

The 59-year-old from Finland weighed several job offers around the league this offseason before ultimately joining Adams’ department in Buffalo.

“He has been, in a very short time, a really, really big asset – for me, personally, for the whole organization,” Adams said in June. “… “So many phone calls after I hired Jarmo, from the hockey world, just, ‘Wow, did you get a good one,’ and the respect he has in the league, and the credibility.”

June 26: Michael Kesselring, Josh Doan acquired from Utah

The trade of JJ Peterka to the Mammoth yielded two players who will play major roles on the 2025-26 (and beyond) Sabres.

Kesselring, 26, broke out last season with 29 points (7+22) in 82 games for Utah. The well-rounded right-shot defenseman helped fill a major need on Buffalo’s roster this offseason, and his skillset should slot in nicely on a pair with any of the team’s left-shot blueliners.

• Film review | Sabres bolster blue line with Kesselring’s well-rounded game

Doan, 23, recorded 19 points (7+12) in 51 games last season. While still developing his scoring touch, the winger has already established himself as a ferocious forechecker; much like Sabres forward Zach Benson, Doan can win pucks and generate offense for whichever linemates he plays with.

• Read: Roommates Doan, Kesselring thrilled with new opportunity

June 27-28: Radim Mrtka headlines 9-man draft class

Sabres scouts had kept a close eye on Mrtka, a 6-foot-6 defenseman, for more than a year – first in his native Czechia, then in Seattle with the WHL’s Thunderbirds. Still available at pick No. 9 in the 2025 NHL Draft, Mrtka represented an easy decision for Buffalo. The 18-year-old’s track record of production, plus his massive potential for growth after a relatively late start in advanced hockey training, makes him one of the organization’s most intriguing prospects.

“When you see a kid that’s as good a player as he is right now, with that size, and you realize once he gets exposed to even more [with] strength, conditioning, skating, skills instruction and so forth, you start dreaming a little bit on even more upside than you would normally expect with a player that age,” said assistant general manager Jerry Forton.

• ‘I want to be the best’ | Tracing Mrtka’s development back to Havlickuv Brod, Czechia

Buffalo then made eight Day 2 selections, including third-rounder David Bedkowski, a physical defenseman with no shortage of personality, and fourth-rounder Matous Kucharcik, an Italian-born, Czech-raised center.

June 28: Conor Timmins acquired from Pittsburgh

It cost Connor Clifton and this year’s 39th-overall pick, but Buffalo swung a draft-day deal to pick up another sturdy, NHL-proven, right-shot blueliner. The 6-foot-3 Timmins finished last season strong after a March trade to Pittsburgh, averaging 18:43 of ice time and recording seven points (1+6) in 17 games with the Penguins.

“This is a guy that we've had for a while as someone on our radar; if there was a way to get him, we just thought he'd be a great addition to our group,” Adams said. “… Just think he's a solid two-way player that is big, right shot, and I think it just really solidifies our D corps moving forward.”

The 26-year-old Timmins, who grew up a Sabres fan with a view of KeyBank Center from his backyard in St. Catharines, Ontario, figures to be a fixture on the right side of Buffalo’s defense. He was a restricted free agent this summer before signing a two-year contract July 27.

July 1: Alex Lyon, Justin Danforth highlight unrestricted free agency

An already thin free-agent class became thinner in the days leading up to July 1, with the rising salary cap ($95.5 million in 2025-26, up from $88 million) enabling teams to extend players before they hit the open market.

The Sabres’ free-agent pickups included two notable veterans, forward Justin Danforth and goaltender Alex Lyon.

Danforth, a former Amerk, played parts of the last four seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets. In 2024-25, he totaled 21 points (9+12) in 61 games and registered 126 hits, which would’ve ranked third among Sabres forwards. The 32-year-old, who won 49.5 percent of his faceoffs last season, will be a versatile piece at center or wing in Buffalo’s bottom six.

Lyon, also 32, has played 113 games (100 starts) across eight NHL seasons. He posted a 2.81 goals-against average and .896 save percentage with the Red Wings last season, and now he’s here to provide a veteran presence in support of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi.

• Lyon on opportunity in Buffalo: 'I'm going to be the best version of myself'

July 14: Bowen Byram signs 2-year contract

Buffalo and the restricted free agent Byram silenced trade and offer-sheet rumors – and avoided arbitration – by agreeing to a two-year deal with an average annual value of $6.25 million. Byram and Rasmus Dahlin comprised one of the NHL’s best defense pairs last season; this year, they’ll continue to lead a blue line Byram expects to be “a strength of our team moving forward.”

• ‘I have a lot more to give’ | 2-year deal benefits both Byram and Buffalo

Other RFA signings

Along with Timmins and Byram, Buffalo signed its five other restricted free agents to multi-year contracts.

• F Ryan McLeod: 4 years, $5 million AAV
• F Jack Quinn: 2 years, $3.375 million AAV
• G Devon Levi: 2 years, $812,500 AAV
• D Ryan Johnson: 3 years, $775,000 AAV
• F Tyson Kozak: 3 years, $775,000 AAV