So with the young D actually looking quite good, who is the D opening night playoffs?
Redmond, Pilut, Borgen obviously. Probably Tennyson too. Who else though? Dougherty? MacWilliam? Hickey? Or maybe do Gosselin or Fitz get a shot? Curious to see.
Tennyson's UFA and I would be mildly surprised if he is brought back. Dougherty is RFA on his NHL-level deal as is Martin who seems likely to not be tendered.
Pilut likely should break camp with the Sabres.
Redmond's going into year 2 of his AHL deal. Gosselin and Baudry are on AHL deals, MacWilliam's deal expires this summer but he's a guy who offers solid defensive play. Gosselin's been good with Redmond, not sure how Baudry is going to play, but they probably need to keep MacWilliam or someone of his ilk to stabilize the defense.
NHL deal guys signed for next year would be Borgen (likely back to start the year), Fitzgerald (who's looked good in his cycles down the stretch) and Hickey. Stephens will be still under contract as well, but it would take something IMO for him to push up into the Amerks roster.
So that's Redmond, Borgen, Fitzgerald, Hickey, Gosselin, and probably Dougherty. They could stand to get another quality body in there like MacWilliam and of course the known issue that Buffalo will go about 10-deep on their blueline based on past averages. I'd love to see them add Bryson into the mix, especially to replace some of Pilut's offensive game.