We’re less than four weeks from the 2022 NHL trade deadline. The Buffalo Sabres will be sellers once again and look to move a few players off the roster. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t search out a “hockey trade.” I’m not expecting to see something like Zack Kassian for Cody Hodgson, but they could explore the market on adding a player for the future that fits their timeline.

Therefore, this week in our trade article leading up to the deadline, I’ll throw out three trade ideas of a deal that would not be a straight sell-off by the Sabres.

Trade 1: Buffalo Sabres acquire Ethan Bear from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Victor Olofsson and Robert Hagg

This trade is something that I’ve been thinking about for a few weeks. The Hurricanes acquired Ethan Bear in the offseason from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Warren Foegele.

Things have not gone the way both the Hurricanes and Bear have expected to this point. Last month he was a healthy scratch for a five-game stretch. He seemingly lost his spot to Anthony DeAngelo and Brendan Smith.

Now, since then he has been a consistent part of the Hurricanes lineup. However, you have to wonder if the Hurricanes would consider flipping him to improve their roster elsewhere heading into the playoffs.

It’s a tough situation to read. The Canes could just wait until the offseason to make this decision. Both Bear and DeAngelo are arbitration-eligible restricted free agents in the summer.

According to Cap Friendly, the Hurricanes are projected to have $24 million in cap space this summer. It seems like a lot of cap space, but they have other contracts to deal with outside of these two defenders. Marty Necas and Jesper Kotkaniemi are restricted free agents. Also, Vinny Trochek and Nino Niederreiter will be unrestricted free agents. Long story short, Bear could be a cap casualty if they decide to pay DeAngelo.

Back to Bear, it’s interesting that he ended up being the odd man out on the blue line. His production levels are not that impressive, but his isolated numbers are good once again as you’ll see below in Evolving Hockey’s RAPM model.

He’s also third on the team among defensemen in the twins’ goals above replacement model. However, Brett Pesce and DeAngelo are well ahead of any other blueliner on that team in this regard.

We’re all well aware of the Sabres’ need on the right side of the blue line and he would be a nice addition to the Sabres at only 24-years-old.

Victor Olofsson’s name entered the trade deadline conversation yesterday when his name popped up on Frank Seravalli’s trade list. He recently broke his long-scoring drought and has played better as of late. It’s possible that he’s finally feeling like himself again after the injury.

The truth of the matter is that the Sabres will need to make some decisions at forward this offseason. They need to create room for players like Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka. He’s probably the top candidate to find himself without a chair when the music stops in the summer.

Olofsson is a player that I can see having success in the system that the Hurricanes play. Their forwards will create space for him with their forechecking and he can find the soft spots in the defensive zone to return to being a finisher. He can step in and replace the roster spot that will be vacated by some departures at forward on that roster that we discussed above.

Hagg is just a throw-in piece in this deal to give the Hurricanes some depth on the blue line.

Trade 2: The Buffalo Sabres acquire Alexandar Georgiev and Nils Lundkvist from the New York Rangers in exchange for Victor Olofsson, Craig Anderson, and Arttu Ruotsalainen

Let’s throw another Victor Olofsson trade on the board. This one features the New York Rangers. We’ve already covered the Olofsson part of this discussion so we can on to the next part.

The two players the Sabres would acquire in this deal are a right-shot defenseman in Nils Lundkvist and goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. You may remember Lundkvist as one of the many untouchables from Rangers fans in Jack Eichel’s trade discourse.

The 21-year-old was a late first-round pick of the Rangers back in 2018. He’s currently playing in the AHL for the Hartford Wolfpack. The Swedish defender does have 25 games under his belt in the NHL. The benefit to the Sabres here is that he’s a right-shot defender with upside.

Georgiev is 26-years-old and after starting strong with the Rangers has been inconsistent. Over the last two years, he has allowed 6.24 goals above expected, according to Evolving Hockey’s model. He has rebounded a little after a rough 2021 season.

He’s likely not a true number one goaltender, but he can be a serviceable goalie in a tandem situation with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen next season. A source indicated that the Sabres have had internal discussions about the idea of acquiring Georgiev. We’ll see if anything comes from it.

I had a hard time figuring out that final piece in this deal, but the Rangers will likely need something. I landed on Ruotsalainen because he’s probably done in the Sabres organization and may still have some potential. It’s possible they’d want something better than the Finnish forward as the final asset to get it done. It also depends on how much the Rangers value Olofsson.

Trade 3: The Buffalo Sabres acquire Jesse Ylonen from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Oskari Laaksonen

This last one is a prospect for prospect trade. Jesse Ylonen is a 22-year-old right winger that hasn’t been able to break through with the Habs. The Finnish forward has decent AHL numbers but has only played eight NHL games in two years in North America.

He has the ceiling to be a middle-six right winger. Ylonen has shown to be a responsible two-way player at the AHL level and in the NHL during his small sample. The Sabres need some forwards that can play on the right and this is an opportunity to take a swing on potential.

The caveat to moving Laaksonen here would be that the Sabres fill in the right side of their defense in other deals. The Finnish defender still has some potential on the right club, but I’m not sure that it’s the Sabres. He will likely be a high-event defenseman in the NHL that can run a power play. Unfortunately for him, that power role on the blue is occupied for the foreseeable future with Power and Dahlin.

This trade allows them to get value for the investment they’ve put into him. I just don’t see a scenario with how this team is being constructed that he’ll have a future in Buffalo.

Data via: Evolving Hockey and Cap Friendly

Photo Credit: Derek Leung/Getty Images