Buffalo Sabres Top Five Trade Wins, 1995-2015

Apr 1, 2015; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres defenseman

(47) makes a pass during the second period against the Toronto Maple Leafs at First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

For the Buffalo Sabres, and every NHL team, nothing is certain in any single season. Players get hurt. Games you should’ve won easily, sometimes you lose; and games that should be seemingly impossible to capture, end surprisingly well. Sometimes you end up just missing the playoffs at the last game, while other times, you squeeze in.

One thing that is certain in the NHL, however, is that trades are always happening. Look at any NHL season and offseason and you’ll see at least a good handful of trades made across the league.

Throughout history, the Buffalo Sabres organization has made many trades.

Today, however, we’re looking at just the past 20 years – 1995 until 2015 – and picking out five of the best trades the Buffalo Sabres have made during that time.

Of course, trades made too recently are hard to include, as we don’t quite know how the players will pan out for the Sabres. One example of this would be the deal that sent Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford and Joel Armia to Winnipeg in exchange for Zach Bogosian, Evander Kane, etc. Since Kane hasn’t played for Buffalo yet, it’s hard to judge just how good (or not) this deal was.

Nonetheless – here are five of the top trades made by the Buffalo Sabres in the last 20 years, trades that – at least in my eyes – the Sabres won.

Jan 27, 2015; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames left wing Johnny Gaudreau (13) (not pictured) scores on Buffalo Sabres goalie

(1) during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Flames won 4-1.Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

The Enroth Trade

March 9, 2006 – The Buffalo Sabres sent Mika Noronen to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a second-round draft pick in 2006.

That pick would turn out to be goaltender Jhonas Enroth.

Any Sabres fan who’s been around in recent years knows what Enroth has done for the team. He worked hard, ending up as a back-up to Ryan Miller quite often. He got a handful of games each season but stepped up when he was called up. When Miller left, Enroth took over the top spot.

In the end, he appeared in 118 games for the Buffalo Sabres between 2009 and 2015. He also played parts of several seasons for the AHL’s Portland Pirates and was the top goaltender there.

The Canucks got a whole four games out of Noronen at the end of the 2005-06 season. That was it before he left to play overseas and never returned, playing then in Russia, the KHL, the SEL, SM-liiga, the Swiss-A league and the DEL until 2014.

Apr 1, 2015; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres left wing

(26) celebrates his goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the third period at First Niagara Center. Buffalo beats Toronto 4 to 3. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Matt Moulson Heads to Minnesota

March 5, 2014 – The Sabres trade Matt Moulson and Cody McCormick to the Minnesota Wild. In exchange, they receive Torrey Mitchell, a 2014 second-round pick and a 2016 second-round pick.

Here’s why this trade was a good one: both Moulson and McCormick later returned to Buffalo, just a short time after the trade, via free agency.

McCormick played just 14 games for the Wild; Moulson, 20. But both clearly wanted to come back to the Buffalo Sabres and were afforded the opportunity to do just that.

So in essence, the Sabres only briefly gave up those two players before getting them back, PLUS Mitchell and the pair of draft picks, one of which would turn into Vaclav Karabacek.

Just about four months after the trade was made, the Sabres had: Moulson, McCormick, Mitchell, Karabacek and the 2016 pick. The Wild? Nothing.

I’ll chalk that one up as a win for the Buffalo Sabres.

November 8, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller (30) defends the goal against the Anaheim Ducks during the second period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Ryan Miller Trade

March 23, 1999 – The Sabres trade Michael Wilson to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Rhett Warrener and a 1999 5th-round pick.

That draft pick would be used at #138 to select none other than goaltender Ryan Miller, who would eventually grow through the Sabres system and become one of the team’s best goaltenders in franchise history, breaking records long-held by Dominik Hasek and making his name known locally as well as league-wide.

Prior to the trade, Wilson had appeared in 256 games with the Sabres. He was a decent piece to give up, but the return for Buffalo was worth it in the long run.

For the Panthers, Wilson appeared in 83 games over the course of a few seasons. Warrener, the other piece of the deal, spent five seasons with the Sabres, but the real steal here was the pick that turned into Miller.

Miller, of course, spent some 12 seasons with the Buffalo Sabres organization and is a name that won’t soon be forgotten by Sabres fans.

Jan 11, 2014; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Colorado Avalanche defenseman

(16) against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Avalanche defeated the Wild 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

The Cory Sarich Deal

March 20, 1996 – The Sabres send Yuri Khmylev and a 1996 8th-round draft pick to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, a 1996 2nd-rounder and a 1997 3rd-rounder.

Here’s how the deal breaks down:

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Khmylev, who played 274 games with the Buffalo Sabres between 1992 and 1996, goes to St. Louis, where he appears in just 15 games over the course of two seasons.

The 1996 8th-round pick sent to St. Louis turns into Andrei Podkonicky, who never played a game in the Blues uniform and appeared in just eight NHL games over the course of his career, spending most of it overseas.

The Sabres get Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, who made a decent impact with the Rochester Americans over the course of three seasons but who appeared in just 31 NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres before moving on.

The 1996 second-round pick turns into Cory Sarich, who spent most of the 1998-99 seasons with the Amerks and made a solid mark there before spending much of the next year in Buffalo. The 1997 pick would turn into Maxim Afinogenov.

Afinogenov, of course, would spend nine seasons with the Sabres, putting up 20+ points in eight of those. He was most known for his speed and his flash, and he undoubtedly was one of the Sabres’ top players in that era.

Thus, I have to give the edge once again to the Buffalo Sabres on this one.

Okay, so some of these may not be the “top” trades the Buffalo Sabres have ever made, but they’re five over the last 20 years that stood out to me as deals that, in the end, the Buffalo Sabres won.

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