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Buffalo Sabres Trade Options: Price For Patrick Sharp Too High

By Joseph DiBiase

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The Buffalo Sabres have one glaring weakness on their team as of right now, they don’t have four good wingers for their top six. Tyler Ennis, Evander Kane, and Matt Moulson are three quality ones, but past them the options go to Marcus Foligno and Brian Gionta. The Sabres also have the option of converting a center to wing like Cody Hodgson, Mikhail Griorenko, Sam Reinhart, or Zemgus Girgensons. Otherwise, they need to trade or sign one.

There are several top six wingers the Sabres could trade for including Ryan O’Reilly, Phil Kessel, Patrick Marleau, and long time Blackhawk Patrick Sharp. While all have their value, some are more available than others. Patrick Sharp is especially available due to the Blackhawks cap troubles, and need to resign Brandon Saad. Sharp has a $5.9 million cap hit for the next two seasons, and the Sabres are one team that can afford the money. The big problem with a Sabres- Blackhawks trade is going to be the asking price however.

Stemming from this tweet by B.D. Gallof of The Fourth Period, the Sabres pieces the Hawks would be asking for include, the 21st overall pick in this years draft, Nikita Zadorov, and Zemgus Girgensons. Now there are many names I could have inserted into the A level prospect spot, but value wise this is probably what Chicago would start trade negotiations with.

If I’m Tim Murray I hang up the phone. Insane value for a 33 year old who saw his numbers decline to just 16 goals and 43 points in 68 games last season. Sharp is entering the final stage of his career. The Sabres already have a winger in Brian Gionta that is also in that stage. It’s now worth overpaying for another.

A closer look at Patrick Sharp displays another issue. He’s become a one dimensional player at this stage of his career. Between 2007 and 2012, Sharp average over 100 minutes on the ice while shorthanded. Three years ago it was down to 24:36, two years ago 3:31, and last season 2:28. His zone starts were predominately in the offensive end, rarely in the defensive.

Sharp also benefited from playing with great players around him. The teammates he played the most with last season were Patrick Kane and Brad Richards. However he also played with Antoine Vermette and Andrew Shaw a fair amount as well. His goals scored per 60 minutes of ice time with Kane and Richards was significantly higher than with Shaw and Vermette. This is understandable due to the drop off in talent, however when playing with even players like Bickell, Hossa, and Toews it still goes down. Much of his production may have just been from how tremendous Patrick Kane was this season.

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Knowing all this I have my own price in mind that Tim Murray should offer Chicago. We’re still doing them a bit of a favor taking a nearly $6 million contract away from their cap trouble team, and he’s on the down end of his career. I would offer the Chicago Blackhawks the 21st overall pick, the 31st overall pick, and Mikhail Grigorenko. That is still overvalued in my opinion, but you’re going to have to when acquiring a big name player.

Sharp would fit in nicely on the top six, and you’d have to hope he’d help out a young center in either Jack Eichel or Sam Reinhart. Sharp’s been a key member of a dynasty in Chicago and he knows what it takes to win. Infusing that along with his leadership into a locker room full of young talented players could do wonders, but it’s only worth it if the price is right.

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