Tick tock. Tick tock.
The National Hockey League’s trade deadline is just a few days away and fans are anxious to see what their team’s ownership plans to do. This year’s edition of the annual fire sale concludes at 3 p.m. (EST) Monday afternoon.
Some teams will be making moves – wheeling and dealing – while others expect to be quiet. It’s not clear which direction the Buffalo Sabres plan to go. In a season filled with more downs than ups, the Sabs still have a chance of securing the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Heading into tonight’s home showdown with the Boston Bruins, Buffalo sits in 12th just seven points behind Florida with Winnipeg, Washington and Tampa Bay sandwiched in-between.
The Sabres have several options, each with their own unique set of pros and cons. Let’s take a deeper look at a few choices and then I’ll weigh in on what way I think they should go.
Option 1 - Make trade for playoff run
Ranked 25th in the league in goals per game (2.42), it doesn’t take a genius to realize Buffalo needs scoring. The Sabres have battled injuries throughout the season. When healthy, they’ve definitely increased scoring, but a trade deadline move could make an immediate difference. The position Buffalo needs most to improve is center.
Callers to sports talk radio programs love to chat up the hosts about trades that could help their beloved team. More often than not, the hosts usually have to hit the caller with a dose of reality as their “dream trade” scenarios usually end up being completely one-sided.
Among the names being bandied about in recent days by Buffalo callers was Jeff Carter, but the center came off the market last night when the Columbus Blue Jackets traded him to the Los Angeles Kings. Some reports had the Sabres moving goaltender Ryan Miller – a huge mistake – for Carter. Miller hasn’t been perfect this year, but he’s been playing better as of late and you don’t get rid of a solid goaltender. Another Blue Jacket that teams have an eye on is winger Rick Nash, but unless he becomes a center over night, I don’t think he makes sense for Buffalo despite calls for his acquisition.
Last summer, the Sabres spent $120 million to improve the team. It appears from a short-term perspective, much of that money was ill-spent. Any trade Buffalo considers will have to make sense salary cap-wise because owner Terry Pegula has little room to work with due to several bloated contracts.
Option 2 – Make trade for future
Not only are the Sabres thin at center at the NHL level, but there’s not much in the farm system cupboard either. The experts are calling the June NHL draft center-heavy, especially near the top. This might not appease fans looking for the team to make immediate noise, but it could bear well for the future. I don’t ever condone the act of a team “tanking it” for draft position. Let things play out the way they’re supposed to and then see where the chips lie. With that being said, if the team loses down the stretch, they will increase their chances of getting a solid lottery selection.
Among the players Buffalo could move for draft picks is center Paul Gaustad. Rumor has it that the Detroit Red Wings are very interested and he’s an unrestricted free agent following the season. There was talk the Sabres were going to give him a contract extension, but nothing has happened so maybe the trade is still in the works.
In 2010, Buffalo did make a move for draft picks when they sent forward Clarke MacArthur to the Atlanta Thrashers for a third-round pick (which ended up being center Kevin Sundher) and a fourth-round draft pick (center Steven Shipley). Neither of these centers are NHL-ready.
Option 3 – Don’t make trade
This option makes some sense as well considering the team is about as close to full strength as they’ve been all season and have looked really good at times since the All-Star break.
Recent history doesn’t shed much light on which way Buffalo will go. Last season as they also battled for one of the final playoff spots, the Sabres didn’t make any trade deadline moves though General Manager Darcy Regier has a history of being very active. The prior year in which they ended up entering the playoffs with the third seed, Buffalo traded defenseman Nathan Paetsch and a 2010 second-round draft pick for forward Raffi Torres. That move didn’t work on several levels as the Sabres were eliminated in the first round by the Bruins with minimal contributions from Torres, who bolted after the season to Vancouver.
Which brings us to the question – what should the Sabres do? I hate to boil it all down to two games, but this weekend will give us the answer. Following tonight’s game versus Boston, Buffalo heads to Madison Square Garden to face the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers. Boston and New York are 1-2 in the conference. The Sabres would face one of these two teams in the first round of the playoffs.
Earlier this week, I traveled to Pittsburgh and watched the Pens play the Rangers. I was surprised at how poor New York looked in that game. Full disclosure, I’m a lifelong Rangers fan. I haven’t been happy with their play the last few weeks. I truly believe if the Sabres make it into the tournament, they will give New York a really tough series. Is that good enough for fans? Will fans be happy with the Sabres barely squeaking into the tournament with a possible first round exit or do they believe the team has a run in them? I think they do, but just getting in is going to be extremely difficult. I think with how unbalanced they’ve been all year and with the log-jam of other teams fighting for the spot, they probably won’t get it done and should work on the future. We’ll find out a lot more this weekend.
Eric DeGrechie’s column appears every Friday. For comments and suggestions, he can be reached at EJDeGrechie@aol.com and follow him on Twitter @EJD23.
