Buffalo Sabres Could Look To The Edmonton Oilers For Help

Even with the NHL trade deadline come and gone, two of the worst teams in the league could wind up helping each other.

If the saying “Misery loves company” is indeed true, then the Buffalo Sabres and the Edmonton Oilers should consider merging into one franchise.

Consider: the Sabres and Oilers have combined to claim the worst record in the NHL four out of the last six seasons, and when the regular season ends, it will mark the fifth and tenth straight seasons, respectively, that Buffalo and Edmonton have failed to qualify for the playoffs.

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The fact that neither the Sabres nor the Oilers currently have the worst record in the league should provide little relief for fans of these two franchises; each team stinks, and it is highly unlikely that either club will be making the playoffs in 2017 . . . unless the two teams decide to lend each other a helping hand, that is.

Once the NHL trade deadline passed and the dust had settled, it became clear that both Buffalo and Edmonton were setting themselves up for big offseasons. Sure, the Sabres traded Jamie McGinn and Mike Weber for some picks, and the Oilers moved Justin Schultz and Teddy Purcell out of town while adding Patrick Maroon, but no big dominoes fell, leading everyone to believe that each team would be working the phones on draft day.

If that is the case, Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray should spend the next two months making a new best friend in Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli, as each of these guys have tradeable assets the other one desperately needs.

When you look at the Edmonton Oilers, you see a team loaded with former number one draft picks that have yet to come together to form the sort of terrifying offense that people expected. The Oilers rank 25 in the NHL in goals scored in 2015-16, and while there is plenty of reason to believe that rookie Connor McDavid will live up to, if not exceed, the expectations that everyone has for him, it is time to wonder whether players such as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov or even Jordan Eberle would benefit from a change of scenery.

Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres have an even worse offense than that of Edmonton: Buffalo’s 147 goals scored this season has the team ranked 27th, ahead of only Vancouver, Toronto, and New Jersey. It is easy to see either Eberle or Nugent-Hopkins coming into the 716 and finding a spot on Buffalo’s first or second line, although adding Nugent-Hopkins would likely move someone like Jack Eichel to the wing. Yakupov is a risk; it is impossible to ignore his upside, but the Sabres already went through their days of having a rookie get their hopes up, only to serve up one disappointing season after another – right, Tyler Myers? Not to say the Sabres should not consider Yakupov, but of the three Oilers discussed, he would be a clear-cut third option.

If Edmonton is willing to help Buffalo out on the offensive side of the ice, then Buffalo has to be willing to improve Edmonton in the defensive zone, which means that the Sabres either need to give up a top-four defenseman, or a goaltender who seems to be a lock to start in the NHL some day, a high draft pick, or some combination thereof. The Sabres are thin on top-four blueliners right now, but could easily assemble a package that includes a promising young goaltender such as Linus Ullmark or Nathan Lieuwen, a defensive prospect, and a second-round pick.

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Neither teams stands to lose much from such a deal – hey, they already can’t make the playoffs! – so it makes sense for these two general managers to strike up a mutually-beneficial conversation. Neither team can completely cure what ails the other – Buffalo needs top-4 defensemen almost as badly as Edmonton does – but with both teams in full-on sell mode, turning to each other is a good place to start.

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