Sabres Allow Three Prospects To Become Free Agents

The Buffalo Sabres have opted not to sign three recent prospects before Saturday's upcoming deadline, opening them up for other NHL teams.

In the case of the most surprising of these, 2022 fourth-round pick Mats Lindgren, he'll be able to re-enter the 2024 Draft next month. The other two, Jakub Konecny and Albert Lyckåsen were seventh-rounders from 2020, and they will simply become unrestricted free agents.

Lindgren, 19, has had a few solid seasons in the Western Hockey League with the Kamloops Blazers and the Red Deer Rebels. Over the last three years, the playmaking defenseman has recorded 96 assists and 119 points in 194 games along with a +32 plus/minus rating. In 38 WHL playoff games over the three seasons, he recorded another 21 points.

The Sabres felt lucky to snap him up in the fourth round back in '22, as he came into the draft touted as a late-second-rounder or third-rounder. Certainly, the kid has got some skill.

Mats Lindgren, shootout KING 👑 pic.twitter.com/GRf2Llmr2Q
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) July 16, 2022

Unfortunately, it appears that Lindgren was simply a victim of "the numbers game" with just too many blueliners in the Sabres organization for not enough spots at both the NHL and AHL levels.

Konecny, 21 (and no relation to the Philadelphia Flyers' Travis Konecny) has been playing in the top league in Czechia for the past three years and will remain there for the upcoming season, while Lyckasen has been playing in Sweden the past few years, and he, too, will remain overseas.