Buffalo Sabres trade candidates: 7 players who could be moved before the season

BUFFALO, N.Y. — This is a slow period on the NHL calendar, but over the next two months, Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams still has some work to do.

Right now, the Sabres have 10 defensemen who played in the NHL last season. They have three goalies who could be on NHL rosters this season. They also have forward prospects who could be ready to compete for NHL time. As things stand currently, trades could end up being a necessity for the Sabres to trim their roster down to 23 players at the end of training camp.

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Here are a few players who could make the most sense given their value internally and externally.

Victor Olofsson has been a logical trade candidate all offseason from Buffalo’s perspective. He was a healthy scratch in some of the Sabres’ most important games down the stretch, and moving him off the roster could create opportunity for Buffalo’s prospects. Even though he scored 28 goals last season, Olofsson’s game was too often one dimensional. The issue with facilitating an Olofsson trade is his salary. At $4.75 million, Olofsson’s cap hit is a tough one to move. The NHL’s flat salary cap has limited trades this offseason. There aren’t a lot of teams able to absorb a cap hit like Olofsson’s. The fact that he’s incomplete as a player makes teams less likely to budge. In that sense, the Sabres might risk selling low if they moved Olofsson now rather than waiting for an injury to open up a need for another team during training camp or the regular season. The injury to Jack Quinn makes this trickier, too, because the Sabres now have more of a need for Olofsson than they did a month ago.

Buffalo’s defensive surplus makes Henri Jokiharju expendable. Of the Sabres’ extra defensemen, Jokiharju would be most appealing to other NHL teams. He’s a right shot, just turned 24 years old and has a reasonable $2.5 million cap hit. The Sabres have Connor Clifton, Erik Johnson and Ilya Lyubushkin as right-handed defensemen, so Jokiharju could be the odd man out. Adams might be able to fetch a third-round pick for Jokiharju or package him with a prospect in a bigger deal. The fact that he has some value is what makes him the most realistic trade candidate before the start of the season.

All indications are that the Sabres believe Devon Levi is ready for the NHL. That means they have three NHL goalies on their roster heading into training camp. After juggling three goalies for a long stretch of last season and finishing the season with four goalies, having two on the roster to start the season is preferable. Eric Comrie looked like a potential starter at times last season, but injuries made it hard to properly judge his season. Given the constant need for goalies around the league, Comrie may have some value as a cheap backup option for a team in a pinch. The Sabres could also try to sneak him through waivers and have him play in Rochester.

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I included Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen here in the event the Sabres tried to package him in a deal for a more experienced goalie. Given the way Granato and Adams have spoken about Luukkonen and their goaltending situation, that doesn’t seem likely. But Luukkonen is also entering the final season of his contract and could wonder if Levi is blocking his potential to become a full-time starter in the NHL. Having Levi and Luukkonen working in tandem to start the season isn’t a bad situation. But Luukkonen has trade value, so if the right offer comes along the Sabres may listen.

Ilya Lyubushkin

Ilya Lyubushkin has one season left on his contract at a $2.75 million cap hit. The additions of Clifton and Johnson have created a surplus of right-shot defensemen for the Sabres. Lyubushkin’s experience, penalty killing and physical style of play were valuable traits on a Buffalo blue line that lacked those a year ago. But Johnson and Clifton will bring those attributes to the table, so Lyubushkin is more expendable. That said, he may not be as valuable a trade commodity as Jokiharju. He also serves as a useful rotational defenseman on the bottom pair.

Jacob Bryson is now 25, has a $1.85 million cap hit and played to a minus-24 rating a year ago. That combination doesn’t make him the most attractive trade chip. It’s tough to see a path to him cracking the NHL roster without an injury to another defenseman. The Sabres could try to pass him through waivers, but would they want to carry his salary in the AHL? The best return the Sabres could expect is a late-round pick, but that might not be easy with teams reluctant to take on salary.

The Sabres acquired Riley Stillman at the trade deadline for mid-level prospect Josh Bloom. Stillman didn’t do anything to dramatically improve his trade value in the final few months of the season, but he was a useful player at times for Buffalo. In 18 games, the Sabres had an expected goal share of 51 percent with Stillman on the ice at five-on-five. They also had 55 percent of the scoring chances when Stillman was on the ice at five-on-five. They could do a lot worse than Stillman as an extra defenseman, but right now he might not be one of the best eight defensemen on the roster. Teams may call about him during training camp, and given the state of the roster, the Sabres would have to listen.

(Top photo of Victor Olofsson: Jonathan Kozub / NHLI via Getty Images)

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