I know, I know. Another St. Louis player coming to the Buffalo Sabres? What’s wrong with me for suggesting something like this. Let me tell you, it’s a much better idea than it may seem.
Brayden Schenn has emerged as one of the better two way centers in the league, and he is still young enough to make this trade worth it. He is 27 years old and is under contract for this season and next season for about $5.2M. This would give Buffalo the flexibility to use him as much as possible and then trade him the next season, or resign him to a similar contract.
Schenn is a scoring threat, but is also defensively responsible in both the neutral zone and defensive zone. He’s struggled a bit this year and his team is having issues too. This has caused the Blues to want a bit of a fire sale. Every player down to Vladimir Tarasenko is possibly up for grabs, and for the right price, Schenn would make a fantastic addition to the Sabres offense.
In order to get him, it would be a bit tricky. If the Blues are fire selling, that means they want youth for the future. Buffalo has their first round pick due to the O’Reilly trade so they will probably want that back, they will ask for top end prospects like Nylander, Laaksonen, or Olofsson, and a roster player to fill the hole. I’d give them their first rounder back for Schenn, but I wouldn’t give up a top prospect on top of it, giving them a younger forward like Girgensons or Rodrigues would be a bit more reasonable, and then giving them a lower end prospect like Smith. Or giving them Pilut along with a lower end player like Larsson would be more reasonable alongside the first rounder.
So what do you all think of these ideas? Is there a player you think Buffalo should target prior to the deadline that could help reinvigorate their playoff hopes?