It’s no secret – The Buffalo Sabres will be “sellers” as we approach next month’s NHL Trade Deadline. With about a dozen pending unrestricted free agents on the current ledger, Kevyn Adams will have his work cut out for him as he tries to acquire value for his expiring assets.

Some of those assets will be easier to unload than others. It is highly unlikely that all 12 expiring UFA’s end up being dealt. That being said, there is a conceivable market for at least half of them. So, what might some of these trades look like? Historically, deadline deals are relatively boring. Most of the transactions made are of the “player for a draft pick” variety.

But that’s no fun. So, in the interest of intrigue, I decided to put together both “left-brain” and “right-brain” prognostications for each player whom the Sabres could trade away next month. Essentially, one of the speculative deals will be a standard “rental for future(s)” trade. The other will be more of a “hockey trade” that could make sense for both sides (in a world where NHL general managers were NOT the most boring people on Earth).

Since there are so many players to cover, we decided to make this a two-part piece. With that in mind, let’s get things started with the forwards.

Vinnie Hinostroza

The Sabres have a lot of deadline targets on the injury list right now (six to be exact). Hinostroza was added to said list this week when he left practice early. He was subsequently placed on injured reserve. He is currently labeled as “week-to-week”.

Regardless, the 27-year-old is the most valuable rental forward the Sabres have to offer. His 39-point pace (17 points in 36 games) would be the second-highest rate of his NHL career if it holds up. Analytically speaking, his xGF rate of 42.42% looks rough on the surface but is less detrimental relative to his offensive counterparts in Buffalo (yet still pretty poor).

As a bottom-six entity, he can still provide some speed and scoring depth for a team looking to make a modest addition without either breaking the bank or mortgaging significant futures.

Left-Brain Trade: Hinostroza to the Calgary Flames for a 2023 3^rd-Round Pick

Earlier this week on TSN’s Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun reported that the Flames are in search of secondary scoring. They have the cap space to take on Hinostroza’s full salary with room to spare. Since they do not have a 2022 3^rd-round selection, they opt to send a 2023 pick.

Nothing fancy here. Just a half-point-per-game player going to a contender for a mid-round pick. A classic.

Right-Brain Trade: Hinostroza to the Anaheim Ducks for Maxime Comtois

The Ducks are the perfect buyer for Hinostroza. They are in serious need of scoring potential beyond the top-six forward group. While they have more than enough cap space to make a bigger splash, they may not want to start sacrificing futures in what was supposed to be their final “rebuilding year”. Anaheim is currently eighth in the Western Conference in terms of points-percentage with a handful of teams on their heels.

Comtois is your typical “change of scenery” candidate. Coming into the 2021-22 season, his value was somewhere between a late-first and early-second rounder. With just six points in 28 games so far this year for the Ducks, his value has almost certainly diminished.

He’s only 23 years old, but there is risk involved for the Sabres here. They must decide if they believe he’ll ultimately amount to something more valuable than a third-rounder, which is likely what they’d be foregoing if they went this route. I think he will, but the subject is certainly up for debate.

Cody Eakin

After watching Eakin play for the past season and a half, it’s hard to believe he has trade value. We’ve discussed it a few times on the Expected Buffalo Podcast, and I’ve waffled as to whether or not I believed there was a market for his services.

On one hand, he’s one of the least effective even-strength forwards in the NHL. On the other hand, he’s the type of penalty-killing, lunchpail (whatever that means) forward that old guard GMs tend to covet. If Buffalo agrees to retain salary, I think they can find a buyer.

Left-Brain Trade – Eakin (50% salary retained) to the Edmonton Oilers for a 2023 5^th-Round Pick

This is pretty straightforward. The Sabres retain money to help the Oilers fit Eakin under the cap, and receive a slightly better pick in return for it. In a vacuum, Eakin’s value is probably a seventh-round pick, but we know that Ken Holland likes mediocre depth players who can play “tough minutes”.

Despite his five-on-five shortcomings, Eakin is a capable penalty-killer. General managers gearing up for a playoff run tend to value that.

Right-Brain Trade – Eakin (50% salary retained) and Craig Anderson to the Edmonton Oilers for Mikko Koskinen and a 2023 2^nd-Round Pick

Alright, hear me out. The Oilers are in danger of missing the playoffs. They have an increasingly disgruntled Connor McDavid on their hands. They need to make a push to qualify this year.

The problem is, they have no cap space. To make a more significant addition in a separate deal, they need to unload salary, and there’s a cost to doing that. So, the Sabres take on Koskinen’s $4.5 million cap hit and receive a higher pick for doing so. Bailing the Oilers out of his salary (along with sending Eakin and Anderson back the other way), would be a savvy weaponization of the Sabres’ cap room.

Drake Caggiula

In the interest of transparency, I’ll admit that I struggled with this one. Caggiula might be the least tradable forward asset here, which may come as a shock, given that Eakin is a less useful and more expensive asset.

Still, we’re about a year removed from Caggiula being a waiver candidate (which, in case you were unaware, is how the Sabres acquired him in the first place). His xGF rate of 38.29% this season is second-worst on the team, and he isn’t producing anything notable in terms of base numbers either (five points in 18 games).

Combined with the fact that he too is currently injured, it’s hard to imagine a market for him. Even teams who miss out on their initial targets will have secondary and likely tertiary options before pursuing a player of his caliber. The best you can hope for here is a late-round pick from an organization looking to add a 13^th forward.

Left-Brain Trade – Caggiula to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a 2023 7^th-Round Pick

I honestly just looked for which contending teams had multiple late-round picks over the next couple of years. The Lightning surprisingly have four seventh-rounders over the next two drafts, so I went with them, because why not?

Right-Brain Trade – Caggiula to An Interdimensional Wormhole (which leads to a universe where the Sabres claimed Rudolfs Balcers instead)

The Interdimensional Wormhole must give the Sabres a 2068 7th-round pick if Caggiula decides to re-sign after this season.

Trade Assets with Term

The Sabres aren’t restricted to only trading pending UFA’s. There are a couple of players with remaining term who could theoretically be part of a deadline deal as well. Though these types of assets are most often traded in the offseason, it does happen on deadline day from time to time.

Just last year, Buffalo acquired a player with the term in Anders Bjork as part of the deal that sent Taylor Hall to the Boston Bruins, so there is recent precedent. With that in mind, which players might fit this mold (contractually speaking) on the Sabres’ current ledger?

Coincidentally, Bjork (who is signed through the 2022-23 season) could make sense here. He’s fallen out of favor in Don Granato’s system in what has been a largely disappointing year for him. Perhaps there is another team out there willing to take a flier on him.

The more intriguing name, however, is Victor Olofsson. If Olofsson ends up being traded at any point before his qualifying offer is due, it will probably be after the season. He’s a pending RFA, and those rights usually get traded in the summer.

Following a shoulder injury earlier in the season, the 26-year-old has struggled. Known for his shooting acumen, his last goal was registered on Halloween, bringing his scoring drought up to 28 games. Trading him now would mean selling him with his stock at its lowest point ever. The better course of action would be to try and squeeze some offense out of him over the next 37 games and improve his trade value heading into the offseason.

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Salary Information courtesy of CapFriendly

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