The 2022 NHL Trade Deadline is five weeks from today. The Buffalo Sabres will have a few players that will draw some interest from buyers around the league. I’ll be releasing at least one article a week leading up to the deadline putting out three trade ideas for each player I feel could be moved by March 21st.

I’m going to kick this off with defenseman Mark Pysyk. He was a healthy scratch yesterday, which could throw some doubt into his future with the club. However, if you made me pick a side I would say it’s more likely he stays with the Sabres than not.

Having said that, as a player that will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season we should still be ready for a move involving him.

Let’s get to the fun.

Trade 1: The Nashville Predators acquire Mark Pysyk and Craig Anderson in exchange for Connor Ingram and a conditional 2022 third-round pick.

Entering play tonight, the Predators sit in the third division playoff spot in the Central. The St. Louis Blues technically have a better points percentage, but the Preds have a decent buffer on the other teams in the Western Conference wild-card chase.

The Predators could use some depth on their blue line as they make a push for the postseason. Pysyk would be an ideal third-pair defender for them that can give them some help on the penalty kill.

To boost the return, I added Craig Anderson to this deal. One would assume that if he desires a chance to go to a contender the Sabres would oblige. The situation in Nashville makes sense for Anderson. He can provide some leadership and a safety blanket behind Juuse Saros.

David Rittich is currently the backup in Nashville, but according to Evolving Hockey’s model, he is at -2.72 goals saved above expected in all situations. That’s not terrible, but it wouldn’t be out of the question for the Predators to want to improve at that spot if they can.

Connor Ingram is a goaltender in the Predators system that would be coming back to the Sabres. The 24-year-old has only played two games this season in the NHL but is having a strong AHL season with a .922 save percentage. He has one more year remaining on his contract and could look to compete for an NHL position with the Sabres.

The draft pick coming back to the Sabres would be a third-rounder in 2022. The condition on the pick is that it’ll be the better of the two picks that the Predators own. They own their third-round pick and the Los Angeles Kings third.

Trade 2: The Tampa Bay Lightning acquire Mark Pysyk in exchange for a 2023 fourth-round pick.

Well, this is one isn’t going to have a lot to say about it. I wanted to get a real straight player for a pick in here because I feel this is likely the value of Pysyk in the trade market. The Lightning don’t have a lot of cap space and could use some depth on their blue line as they look to win their third Cup in a row. Pysyk makes sense for them as the type of cheap defenseman they’d target.

Trade 3: The Vancouver Canucks acquire Mark Pysyk and Anders Bjork in exchange for Jett Woo and a 2022 fourth-round pick.

I’ll have to admit finding one more trade scenario that wasn’t a straight player for pick trade was difficult. The Canucks find themselves five points out of a wild card spot entering play tonight. They may be willing to make a small move or two to see if they can get into the postseason.

Anders Bjork is having a disappointing year with the Sabres and they’ll likely be looking to clear roadblocks for younger players to jump into the lineup. He has one more year remaining on his contract with a $1.6 million cap hit. The Canucks could be willing to swap younger players with stalled development.

Jett Woo is the defenseman coming back to the Sabres in this deal. The 21-year-old has been spinning his tires in the AHL. He was a second-round pick of the Canucks back in 2018 but hasn’t amounted to much in that organization. The Canucks haven’t even given a single NHL game to this point in his career.

His AHL numbers are nothing special, but he’s a right-shot defender that the Sabres need some depth at. They can afford to take a swing on a player at that position because of how badly they have a need there.

As I said, Pysyk may be a part of the club moving forward and they may not move him unless they get a good offer for him. We’ll see which direction this goes with him over the next month.

Data via: Evolving Hockey and Cap Friendly

Photo Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports