Buffalo Sabres: Ideal 2018 Offseason Includes Trades

The Buffalo Sabres can’t climb out of the hole they’re in and keep finishing at the bottom of the NHL standings. What does their ideal offseason look like?

The Buffalo Sabres need to do one simple thing this offseason: tear it down. The Sabres have one franchise player in Jack Eichel and have the best odds of collecting another in Rasmus Dahlin . Besides that, they don’t have much in the way of anything. The current core keeps letting them down.

So why not tear everything down? Get assets in exchange for assets, let go of players like Ryan O’Reilly and Kyle Okposo who still have value. Build for the future, build around Eichel (and perhaps Dahlin). That’s at the core of the Buffalo Sabres’ ideal offseason. The question is, are they willing to commit to the rebuild?

Who They Should Trade Away

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Any asset that’s not bolted to the floor in Buffalo needs to go, in exchange for prospects and draft picks. The aforementioned O’Reilly and Okposo should be the beginning.

O’Reilly said he lost his love of hockey playing for Sabres this season. He’s still got five years left with a $7.5 million AAV, but for a team with cap space, he’s a valuable second line center. A team like the Arizona Coyotes could be willing to take a chance on him.

Okposo has a $6 million annual cap hit for the next five years, and at 30, is still recovering from last season’s scary concussion. But he’s put up 40 points in back-to-back seasons while not at 100 percent.

He could realistically return to 20 goals next season, should he play 75 games and be in a good position. With cap space opening up across the league, there are some bubble teams that could take a chance on him.

Zemgus Girgensons, Jason Pominville, Victor Antipin, Jake McCabe, and Nathan Beaulieu could fetch some future assets as well, especially with good contracts and with four of them being young. Girgensons still has the capability to be a decent to good third line center. Depth is more important in the NHL than ever.

Ristolainen

Finally, the biggest splash and perhaps the biggest package the Sabres can make is to trade away Rasmus Ristolainen. He isn’t the future number one defenseman for this team. If the Sabres get Rasmus Dahlin, he might not even be on the top pairing. Marco Scandella’s defense makes more sense to be paired with a young Dahlin.

That leaves Ristolainen and his very affordable 5.4 million dollar contract exposed. There will be teams across the league willing to take a chance on the 23-year-old Swede, especially given his offensive nature and power-play potential. Those teams would get into a bidding war for his services, which the Sabres could use to their favor. What they need is future assets, something Ristolainen could deliver.

Who They Should Sign

That means the Sabres would have plenty of cap space and plenty of room on the roster. They’d need players while the rest of the team develops, which could mean short-term, high salary contracts for big name players, or long-term, low salary contracts for young players.

The Sabres could even get in on the restricted free agent market, though with the punishments, that’s something to stay away from, especially the higher-end of the AAVs. Buffalo could be a landing spot for James Van Riemsdyk, John Carlson, David Perron, Mark Stone, Calvin De Haan, Jonathan Bernier, Ian Cole, Andreas Athanasiou, Luke Schenn, JT Brown, Riley Nash, Michal Kempny, Magnus Paajarvi, and others. Out of that list, their smartest buys could be Athanasiou, De Haan, and Nash long-term, with Bernier and Perron in the shorter term. Carlson would also make sense, as he would give them a top-pairing defenseman.

The Sabres could also look at college free agents like Dawson DiPietro, Colt Conrad and Devin Brosseau. Youth is the biggest difference maker for the Buffalo Sabres right now, and they should be willing to spend to get it.

Who They Should Bring UP

Finally, the Sabres rebuild the rest of their roster with their talented Rochester Americans roster. Promoting players from the AHL could be dangerous en masse, but the Amerks made the postseason for a reason.

Seeing what players like Stuart Percy, Justin Bailey, CJ Smith, and Danny O’Regan can do with a full NHL season could deliver the Buffalo Sabres some great pieces moving forward.

Next: Sabres Offseason Outlook

In Conclusion

A lot hangs on the Buffalo Sabres’ draft lottery, but if they get Rasmus Dahlin, a lot can go right for them. Still, they should be willing to give up a lot of pieces this offseason to ensure a better future. Giving depth players a chance to step up has done wonders for the Vegas Golden Knights, it could work for the Buffalo Sabres.

If not, well then, the Sabres could build around three top four picks instead of two. But the team has to tear everything down first, because it isn’t going anywhere now.