Sabres Sign Olen Zellweger to 3 year 3 million AAV Deal

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, inkman said:

I’m very curious why Olen Zellweger has been given a free pass through most of this thread. He’s a 5’10” 20 point defenseman. I’m keeping my mind open but the Sabres are now back to being one injury away from having 2 defenseman under 6’ tall. Liger will tell me size doesn’t matter anymore with defenseman but having two seems dubious. 

Well size matters more with defenders than forwards. If I am 6'5" I take up more shot lane than if I am 5'10". On top of that you have reach the bigger you are and in some cases, better leverage in board battles. Are we really so much better off because Byram was 6'1"? Sure I suppose if there is an injury Metsa and Zellweger could draw into the lineup but idk if they would do that. I would guess they might call someone else up and we are RAPIDLY approaching the ability to call up multiple 6'2" or taller defenders, I would hope that at least 1 of Strbak, Mcarthy or even R Johnson. Also by April we could have Kleber, Rudolph, and Mrtka available. I hear what you are saying but this is a short term problem (lol) that represented good trade value. Also we have Crevier so we actually gained in overall height. 

[Nacho Libre]

26 minutes ago, inkman said:

I’m very curious why Olen Zellweger has been given a free pass through most of this thread. He’s a 5’10” 20 point defenseman. I’m keeping my mind open but the Sabres are now back to being one injury away from having 2 defenseman under 6’ tall. Liger will tell me size doesn’t matter anymore with defenseman but having two seems dubious. 

Dog’s got that Chart in him 

[inkman]

23 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Well size matters more with defenders than forwards. If I am 6'5" I take up more shot lane than if I am 5'10". On top of that you have reach the bigger you are and in some cases, better leverage in board battles. Are we really so much better off because Byram was 6'1"? Sure I suppose if there is an injury Metsa and Zellweger could draw into the lineup but idk if they would do that. I would guess they might call someone else up and we are RAPIDLY approaching the ability to call up multiple 6'2" or taller defenders, I would hope that at least 1 of Strbak, Mcarthy or even R Johnson. Also by April we could have Kleber, Rudolph, and Mrtka available. I hear what you are saying but this is a short term problem (lol) that represented good trade value. Also we have Crevier so we actually gained in overall height. 

The Sabres certainly have a bevy of large young men in the pipeline. I’d expect at least two of them in the lineup in 2 years.  Unfortunately, we’ll see how the present unfolds. The wild card being Crevier. If he can come in and give the team any semblance of top 4 defensive play, we’re cooking.  If he’s just a bottom of the roster schlub, Mr Zellweger is going to be on the ice a ton. 

[LGR4GM]

18 minutes ago, inkman said:

The Sabres certainly have a bevy of large young men in the pipeline. I’d expect at least two of them in the lineup in 2 years.  Unfortunately, we’ll see how the present unfolds. The wild card being Crevier. If he can come in and give the team any semblance of top 4 defensive play, we’re cooking.  If he’s just a bottom of the roster schlub, Mr Zellweger is going to be on the ice a ton. 

Yea but Olen in the top 4 means he is playing with Owen. They have plenty of size to there, and truthfully I worry about it more in the forward ranks. Depends on Kulich and Helenius' abilities to be dogged.

[Taro T]

14 minutes ago, inkman said:

The Sabres certainly have a bevy of large young men in the pipeline. I’d expect at least two of them in the lineup in 2 years.  Unfortunately, we’ll see how the present unfolds. The wild card being Crevier. If he can come in and give the team any semblance of top 4 defensive play, we’re cooking.  If he’s just a bottom of the roster schlub, Mr Zellweger is going to be on the ice a ton. 

Personally, am expecting Zellweger to get most of the time on the 2nd pairing with Crevier getting some.  And because Zellweger seems to be a slightly smaller 3 year younger version of Byram; am expecting it to look to a fair extent like it did when the younger versions of Power and Byram were playing together.  Hopefully this kid is smarter in his own end than Byram was and Power being 2 years older than when the Byram Power experiment began that he'll be better at anticipating when Zellweger makes the wrong decision in their own end so that it looks more like last year's Byram Power tandem than earler versions of that pairing.

 

Either way, am expecting to hear a lot of ####ing Power, gave up another one when it was actually Zellweger's oopsie that created the scoring chance that left Power hung out to dry before the goalie getting hung out to dry.  Hoping that goaiie is Hellebucyk; expect he'll bail them all out more often thatn the 3 headed monster would.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

I’m very curious why Olen Zellweger has been given a free pass through most of this thread. He’s a 5’10” 20 point defenseman. I’m keeping my mind open but the Sabres are now back to being one injury away from having 2 defenseman under 6’ tall. Liger will tell me size doesn’t matter anymore with defenseman but having two seems dubious. 

To me the problem is less about Zellweger and more Metsa, no?

One small guy in your starting 6 is not an issue, especially when the other 5 are big.

You’re losing 3 inches and 10 pounds in Olen for Bo and gaining 3 inches and 15 pounds in Crevier for Kesselring. And that’s discounting the fact Bryson actually played more than Kesselring last year.

Youve got Gibby as the next man up if you’re worried about the number 7 too.

I had 2 friends (Habs fans) separately complain to me about adding Crevier saying it was already hard enough dealing with all our trees on “D” so 🤷

Edited July 6 by dudacek

[Flashsabre]

Smaller LHD with outstanding skating, offensive chops and wears number 51. I feel like we’ve seen this show in Buffalo before 😁

[shrader]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

This is so fascinating to me because you look at the fancystats and Zellweger is better Mintyukov, why trade him? I think looking over some other numbers it is closer than Evolving Hockey has but even still, what is the point of the trade? My only logical conclusion is that Verbeek doesn't want any defenders under 6' on his roster but like.... broseph, you don't even have 6 defenders signed. What are you doing? I guess you are hoping that Tristen Lunau is g2g and I do love Lunau but that is risky. Idk, that is a team with a lot of young talent that just doesn't quite feel balanced and yet they are trading defenders for forward prospects. 

I'd understand it a bit more if Zellweger had a more drawn out contract negotiation with Buffalo.  But no, he signed very quickly and at a fairly cheap rate.  

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, shrader said:

I'd understand it a bit more if Zellweger had a more drawn out contract negotiation with Buffalo.  But no, he signed very quickly and at a fairly cheap rate.  

I think it was pretty much a combo of:

1: fear of having too many RFA pieces making them vulnerable to offer sheets

2. them picking Mintyukov over Zellweger for their longterm 2LD

3. not wanting a small, offence first player as their 3LD, especially at $3M

[Cheektorado]

7 hours ago, inkman said:

I’m very curious why Olen Zellweger has been given a free pass through most of this thread. He’s a 5’10” 20 point defenseman. I’m keeping my mind open but the Sabres are now back to being one injury away from having 2 defenseman under 6’ tall. Liger will tell me size doesn’t matter anymore with defenseman but having two seems dubious. 

Crevier is 6'8".  So, they average 6'3".  It's all good.

[Doohickie]

On 7/2/2026 at 6:37 PM, Night Train said:

It's all about who can unleash the Scoring Power. 

fify

On 7/2/2026 at 8:58 PM, PerreaultForever said:

Maybe, but I think it more likely Zellewegger just slots into Byram's old spot beside Power and Crevier in the bottom pair spot Stanley etc. had with Timmins. 

There's others who believe Crevier is top 4 but I just don't see that myself. 

Healthy competition.

Edited July 7 by Doohickie

[PerreaultForever]

47 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

fify

Healthy competition.

You definitely want competition for spots. I doubt much changes though. Unless other moves happen it'll just be one of the young guys in Tuch's spot and the pairings might change but your 6 starting D are Dahlin Samuelson Power Zellwegger Crevier Timmins. 

Something has to give on the forwards though unless they send somebody back down (unlikely but possible), they make a trade, or them or Krebs is unhappy with the arbitration result and a move out is forced. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

What if Zellweger is actually slated to be the 3rd pairing puck mover with RHD Crevier and Timmins battling to be Power’s partner?

Last season our top 4 were all LD with only Dahlin a right side D as his preferred position.  Now with the loss of Byram and the addition of Crevier the Sabres have an opportunity to balance their D pairings. 
 

Samuelsson (l) Dahlin (r)

Power (l) Crevier (r)

Zellweger (l) Timmins (r)

[TageMVP]

5 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

What if Zellweger is actually slated to be the 3rd pairing puck mover with RHD Crevier and Timmins battling to be Power’s partner?

Last season our top 4 were all LD with only Dahlin a right side D as his preferred position.  Now with the loss of Byram and the addition of Crevier the Sabres have an opportunity to balance their D pairings. 
 

Samuelsson (l) Dahlin (r)

Power (l) Crevier (r)

Zellweger (l) Timmins (r)

I've always liked the idea of pairing your offensive defenseman with a more stay at home type of defenseman, across all three pairings. If its possible 

So, is that it for Stanley? And Pearson, too? Id imagine we're keeping Carrick 

Not a good trade deadline, Jarmo. And so far, an even worse offseason 

My confidence is low. Hope last year wasn't a one-off for the Sabres making the playoffs. It might turn out to be 

Edited July 7 by TageMVP

[LGR4GM]

16 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

What if Zellweger is actually slated to be the 3rd pairing puck mover with RHD Crevier and Timmins battling to be Power’s partner?

Last season our top 4 were all LD with only Dahlin a right side D as his preferred position.  Now with the loss of Byram and the addition of Crevier the Sabres have an opportunity to balance their D pairings. 
 

Samuelsson (l) Dahlin (r)

Power (l) Crevier (r)

Zellweger (l) Timmins (r)

That is what I think they will do. Gives them a guy on each pair who can push the offense and also someone who can focus a bit more on the defense while the other guy pushes the offense. 

[bob_sauve28]

Ducks are on NHL network now. I just turned it on and Zellweger was being talked up by announcers. 
 

Zell is playing forward 

[LGR4GM]

I just want to point out that the Sharks signed Kesselring to 4.5mill where Buffalo has Zellweger and Crevier for a total of 4million. That is solid GM work. 

[Weave]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

I just want to point out that the Sharks signed Kesselring to 4.5mill where Buffalo has Zellweger and Crevier for a total of 4million. That is solid GM work. 

I’ll judge post season when these two have shown us what they have.

[shrader]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

I just want to point out that the Sharks signed Kesselring to 4.5mill where Buffalo has Zellweger and Crevier for a total of 4million. That is solid GM work. 

I can’t imagine that any other team would have done anything remotely like that with Kesselring. They had cap space equal to the GDP of Canada that they had to spend. I’m not sure he gets more than $3 million from any other team. 

[Doohickie]

32 minutes ago, Weave said:

I’ll judge post season when these two have shown us what they have.

It's easy to do.

Jarmo can't make his moves with the certainty of post season.  He has to make moves in present time.

[Weave]

2 hours ago, Doohickie said:

It's easy to do.

Jarmo can't make his moves with the certainty of post season.  He has to make moves in present time.

I get it, but at the end of the day, they all get judged on results.  Show me the results and I’ll show you a good or bad move.  I’m allowed to have that perspective.  I’m not being paid to make the decision.  I’m paying to watch the results of the decision.

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I just want to point out that the Sharks signed Kesselring to 4.5mill where Buffalo has Zellweger and Crevier for a total of 4million. That is solid GM work. 

It's not solid GM work until we see what they do next season (all 3). You could also say Byram got 12 million and Rudolph will get an ELC so that's solid GM work too if all that matters is money. What really matters is what's on the ice and how they perform. 

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

It's not solid GM work until we see what they do next season (all 3). You could also say Byram got 12 million and Rudolph will get an ELC so that's solid GM work too if all that matters is money. What really matters is what's on the ice and how they perform. 

I just don't believe in Kesselring I suppose. 

But no you can't say your other example. Rudolph isn't an NHL player yet. Would be hilarious though if he showed up when Byram's deal kicked in and produced at any type of similar level. 

[PerreaultForever]

43 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I just don't believe in Kesselring I suppose. 

But no you can't say your other example. Rudolph isn't an NHL player yet. Would be hilarious though if he showed up when Byram's deal kicked in and produced at any type of similar level. 

I wasn't sure about Kesselring either but the truth is we really don't know. We shall see what he does in San Jose I suppose. I think people are putting too much faith in Crevier the same way they put it in Kesselring last off season. Numerous posts have had him in the second pairing with Power and I just don't see it. He's a bottom pairing guy imo. I'm not sure if he's any better than Metsa. 

As for Rudolph and Byram yes, that would be funny, and I think it very well might happen. Likely not right away though. Byram was drafted 4th overall I think. So eventually you have that maybe. I have said earlier (assuming they aren't traded) when Mrtka and Rudolph are both ready you potentially have the best D in the league. Only problem is that's likely 2-3 years away and who knows what happens with the rest of the roster in that time. 

[Night Train]

With currently too many forwards, maybe another D-Man could be coming if they pass on the Helle saga. The cap forces moves .