Matt Moulson: A Buffalo Sabres Missing Persons Report

Matt Moulson has been missing from the Buffalo Sabres for some time now.

Where is he? Can you help find him?

Oh wait – never mind, he’s on the Buffalo Sabres fourth line getting around seven to eight minutes a game. As the season has gone by, his minutes have dropped exponentially.

In mid-December, Moulson would play somewhere around 10 to 11 minutes and now, as stated earlier, Moulson is getting seven to eight minutes a game with a season low on Monday night by playing only 6 minutes and 48 seconds.

Not only have we seen a plummet in Matt Moulson’s playing time; we have seen nothing in regards to points. Moulson has a whopping zero points since December 10^th.

His last point was in Calgary when he assisted on Rasmus Ristolainen‘s third goal of the night.

You would have to go back even further to find when his last goal was.

His last goal came against the New York Islanders on November 1^st when the Buffalo Bills still had a chance at the playoffs this year.

It has been 16 games since Moulson got a point, with five of those games having a blank sheet which means no goals, no assists, and no shots.

The most recent blank sheet from Moulson came this past Saturday night when the Sabres put four goals past the Washington Capitals

So the question is what do the Sabres do with Matt Moulson?

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I think that the Sabres should either make him a healthy scratch for a couple of games and hope that during his given time off he can find his game that the Sabres could use and not playing this style of “don’t help but don’t do anything wrong” playing that he is doing now, or they could continue to give Moulson fourth line ice time and hope that he just happens to find his way out of the slump that he is in.

There is another way to deal with Matt Moulson, but there is a problem: in Moulson’s contract, he has a limited no trade clause. The Sabres might be able to trade him to somewhere else but Moulson has to like and be willing to void his no trade clause.

A player would void the no trade clause if they were unhappy where they are now or that they see that the team is not going to make the playoffs and wants out and then traded to a playoff contender.

If Moulson was to void his no trade clause, he would try to be traded for a younger prospect or draft pick that would help later to help scoring and Moulson would go to a team who needs a veteran or someone who can score. The change of scenery might go a long way for Moulson in finding his scoring touch.

Before the Sabres go straight to trading Moulson away, something that might help is putting him on a higher line because even though he does not deserve to get more minutes, maybe putting him on a line that scores a lot will help him get out of the slump he is in.

As of right now Matt Moulson is on this team, so if he wants to stay on the team he should find a way to become a more crucial part and help start putting the puck in the net or even help someone else put the puck in the net.

He needs to help generate some type of scoring chance that helps the Sabres out.

Next: Buffalo Sabres Roster: Who Gets Called Up Next?

What do you think that the Sabres should do with Matt Moulson? Scratch, trade, or move lines?