Buffalo Sabres Possible Trade, Opening Night Lineup

Buffalo Sabres fans can begin to look ahead despite the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery results. All season finishing last was about the guarantee of Jack Eichel and a chance for Connor McDavid. The Buffalo Sabres got exactly what they wanted out of the process and that player wants them. Enough about the draft. After two years of bad hockey we can all finally look forward.

That’s exactly what I’m going to do. The two months leading up to the 2015 NHL Entry Draft will be exciting for the Buffalo Sabres because the general manager is capable of anything. I can believe Tim Murray already called Edmonton asking about a trade, but not for Connor McDavid.

Murray began shaping the Buffalo Sabres opening night roster with the trade for Evander Kane. He will continue to look for opportunities and run through his cell phone battery multiple times per day doing it. To understand what he may do, take a look at players the Buffalo Sabres have under contract to start the 2015 season. I will use spotrac.com for this and I’ll also assume Murray is going to give a qualifying offer to all restricted free agents.

Forwards

The Buffalo Sabres offense will be better next year after adding Evander Kane. Also up front will be the obvious: Tyler Ennis, Matt Moulson, Brian Gionta, Zemgus Girgensons, Marcus Foligno, Nicolas Deslauriers, Cody McCormick, Sam Reinhart and, most likely, Cody Hodgson. All of these players have deals in place, though you can argue whether Hodgson should be bought out before the season started after his disappointing season. Assuming he isn’t bought out, that’s ten of twelve spots taken.

Added to this group will be restricted free agents Johan Larsson and Mikhail Grigorenko, and the likely second overall pick in the draft, Jack Eichel. With a timid general manager that would be your twelve starting forwards for the Buffalo Sabres with one healthy scratch. Tim Murray is not timid, so back to that phone call with the Edmonton Oilers.

As much as Murray would love to move up and take McDavid, that’s a steep price to move one draft spot. If McDavid is not in play, the Oilers are stocked with several young forwards that haven’t had much success as a group. Blame Craig MacTavish and Kevin Lowe for abandoning defense but that can be handled through a trade flipping their forward depth.

Remember last season when Taylor Hall kept coming up in trade rumors? Now that the Oilers will take McDavid, those rumors will start again. The Buffalo Sabres are full of solid defensive prospects and have another first round pick this year to play with. Next seasons first round pick could also be on the table. A trade for Hall will need more than just picks from the Buffalo Sabres.

If Hall does slide into the Sabres roster, who gets bumped out? That may come down to a battle between Larsson and Grigorenko. I can’t help but think Grigorenko has played his last game in a Buffalo Sabres sweater. While a coaching change may give him one more chance, Murray may have seen enough from him already. For my top twelve, I think the Hall deal gets done and Grigorenko is moved at the draft.

Defense

There are studs everywhere on the Buffalo Sabres blue line. Rasmus Ristolainen is not getting traded and should lead this group for the next ten years or more. Zach Bogosian and Josh Georges will be the veteran presence that he and Nikita Zadorov can develop with and learn from. Mark Pysyk will likely be with the Sabres next year and Chad Ruhwedel is also under contract. While most of those players are young that’s a pretty nice top six.

One of those young defensemen would get traded to Edmonton in my Taylor Hall scenario. While Zadorov or Pysyk leaving would cause some pain for Buffalo Sabres fans, you have to give talent to get talent. I’ll use Pysyk as the player traded and fill his spot by resigning Mike Weber. This would give Jake McCabe some more time in Rochester and allow Murray to sign a veteran seventh defensemen, perhaps Tyson Strachan.

In this scenario Murray can also replace his depth on defense with his second pick in the first round this year. The Buffalo Sabres blue line looks ready to mature into one of the better units in the league. That won’t happen right away, but this will be a much better group next season.

Goaltender

If it feels like the Sabres goalie job has been a revolving door, it has been. While several goalies have started only one remains under contract for next season, Chad Johnson. Antti Niemi is an unrestricted free agent, but I can’t see Murray paying a big contract to a goaltender until the roster develops a bit more.

Anders Lindback and Michal Neuvirth both played incredible at times during their time here. Now that we don’t want to run good goaltending out-of-town anymore, these are two players I could see getting a chance to battle with Johnson for the starting job. If his teammates have any say at all, Lindback may get the nod. Murray is known to like his goalies on the bigger side and many Sabres players have been amazed at how Lindback handles the puck. That takes a ton of pressure off a young defense.

I think Lindback and Johnson come into camp fighting for the starting job. With Matt Hackett and Andrey Makarov both getting closer to the big club, Lindback will likely get a short-term deal and the chance in Buffalo he has earned and deserves.

The Buffalo Sabres are full of salary cap space to add to the team in free agency as well. Murray will look to improve the worst offense in the league more than with Kane, Eichel and possibly Hall. This will be an exciting build to the draft and free agency. Hockey is fun again in Buffalo and it’s only the beginning.

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