The Buffalo Sabres are compiling a plethora of prospects to set the franchise up for the better in the next decade.

The team has been in rebuilding mode for going on two years, and they already have young stars in the NHL, AHL, college ranks and junior leagues.

Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens, Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, JJ Peterka, Jack Quinn, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Mattias Samuelsson, Isak Rosen, Ryan Johnson, Aleksandr Kisakov, Olivier Nadeau, Devon Levi and Erik Portillo are their most well-known young players.

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General manager Kevyn Adams and his staff added more talent in the 2022 NHL Draft, selecting skilled centers Matthew Savoie (9th overall), Noah Ostlund (16th overall) and Jiri Kulich (28th overall). They also drafted Russian Viktor Neuchev in the third round, who has goal-scoring potential at the NHL level.

But could the Sabres be welcoming back a former defenseman next season?

According to Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News, former Sabres defenseman Lawrence Pilut had his contract terminated with his KHL team (Russia) and the Sabres are interested in bringing him back, as is Pilut on returning to Buffalo.

The left-shooting defenseman signed a contract with the Sabres in 2018, after playing in Sweden, and split time between Rochester and Buffalo until 2020, when he elected to sign with Traktor of the NHL.

The Sabres have so many left-shooting defenseman and probably want players like Casey Fitzgerald and Mattias Samuelsson playing full time in the NHL next season, but if Pilut wants to return, I think that is something they should do. It at least gives them veteran depth and an asset for Rochester.

Pilut is still young at 26 years old.

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