It has been recently reported that Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Quinn suffered a ruptured Achilles that required surgery. This means the 21-year-old winger will likely be out for the first few months of the 2023-24 season. He just finished his rookie season with the Sabres, ending with 14 goals and 23 assists. He was an integral part of what ended up being their best season since 2010-11, ending the year with a winning record and only one point out of the playoffs.
Quinn played on a line with fellow rookie JJ Peterka and third-year Sabre Dylan Cozens, dubbed the “Kid Line” due to the young ages of the three forwards. The line ended up being exciting to watch and gave fans a glimpse at the future general manager Kevyn Adams has been selling since he was given the reins.
An injury of this magnitude does put a wrinkle in some of Adams’ offseason plans, as he now has to account for the loss of one of his top forwards. Amid rumors of trades and the progress of some prospects’ development, there are three possible answers to who will fill Quinn’s role in the lineup while he recovers.
Victor Olofsson Stays
One of the most likely solutions to this problem is Sabres veteran Victor Oloffson. The 2014 seventh-round pick has exceeded expectations for his draft placement and has been a regular on the Sabres roster since the 2019-20 season.
Last season, Olofsson scored a career-high 28 goals, but his production began to wane towards the end of the year and he ended up a healthy scratch a few too many times as the Sabres made their ill-fated playoff push. At the beginning of the summer, rumors began to swirl that his agents were expecting a trade sometime before training camp. While Adams has been quiet about what he’s working on behind the scenes, it’s reasonable to assume that an Olofsson trade could be on the back burner due to the Quinn injury.
Related: Buffalo Sabres 2022-23 Report Card: Victor Olofsson
Slotting Olofsson into the empty spot would be the most conservative approach by the team. He has several years of experience playing for this organization and has proven chemistry with his teammates. Despite a poor end to the year, he did have impressive numbers up until his slump. Adams would be taking a gamble on his comeback ability, but they at least know positive productivity is possible from him.
However, the question that has been plaguing Olofsson for quite some time still persists; could a younger prospect fill his role better?
Jiri Kulich Gets Called Up
If the Sabres were to take the risk of putting a prospect into the lineup instead, the first choice would be Jiri Kulich. The 19-year-old Czech was a 2022 first-round pick by the Sabres and spent the last year playing in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the Rochester Americans.
In the AHL Kulich finished the regular season with an impressive 24 goals and 22 assists. In the playoffs he impressed even further with seven goals and four assists in only 12 games, helping get the Americans to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 2004.
Kulich has proven himself to be an incredibly impressive goal scorer in the AHL but has yet to see any NHL ice time. If the Sabres were looking to replace Olofsson with someone younger, Kulich has the potential to be a similar enough match in the goal-scoring department.
There are some hurdles for Kulich to jump through before making the team. The prospect pool is incredibly competitive now, and getting more and more impressive with each offseason. He would need to not only impress the team during training camp but outperform quite a few other high-ranking prospects.
Matthew Savoie Gets A Look
One of those high-ranking prospects is 2022 ninth-overall pick Matthew Savoie. While in the same draft class as Kulich, Savoie is ineligible to play for the Americans right now due to his tenure in the Western Hockey League (WHL). He played two games for the Americans during the AHL Playoffs, but often looked lost and unprepared, leading to him being scratched for the remainder of the playoff run (from ‘Sabres first-round pick Savoie available to Amerks’, Niagara Gazette, May 22, 2023). Granted, joining a team mid-playoff rush would be a much different experience than joining at the beginning of the season straight out of training camp. However, the lack of AHL experience could potentially put him behind Kulich for an open roster spot.
Savoie’s play in the WHL has been nothing short of impressive. He put up 95 points in 62 games in the regular season and then added 29 more points in the playoffs. With Savoie ineligible to play with the Americans, it’s possible the Sabres will want to see if he can hold his own on NHL ice.
With Quinn expected to be out for as long as December, the Sabres will need to find a temporary fix. The expectation for the team is to make the playoffs, and a rough first few months is not what they need. Not only will the person filling Quinn’s role need to step up, but the entire roster will be facing much more pressure than they are used to heading into the season.
