The Buffalo Sabres returned to the ice on Wednesday night after the Olympic break and were able to come away with a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils. However, one thing that didn't change was their rotation on the blueline.
Their top four defensemen (Rasmus Dahlin, Mattias Samuelsson, Owen Power, and Bowen Byram) all had over 25 shifts against the Devils. Meanwhile, Michael Kesselring had 18, with Zach Metsa only recording 10 with just over eight minutes of ice time.
The increased ice time for Kesselring was great to see, and the hope is that Conor Timmins' return will help balance the minutes even more. It can hopefully reduce some of the workload for their Top 4 as the Sabres are going to need them to be fresh in what is hopefully a playoff run.
That is why it would make sense for the Sabres to be looking to add some depth to this position, and current Vancouver Canucks' defenseman, and former Buffalo Sabre, Tyler Myers could be the perfect solution. Unfortunately, there haven't been any rumors connecting the two, and in fact, it is a division rival that the Sabres are competing with that seems to be the closest to landing Myers.
Detroit Red Wings reportedly have a trade in place with the Vancouver Canucks that Tyler Myers would need to sign off on
On Thursday, Darren Dreger with TSN put out a tweet that reported Myers is still considering a trade option, and the team is believed to be the Detroit Red Wings. Myers really holds all the cards in terms of where he goes next, as he has a full no-trade clause and would need to waive that to complete a trade.
Entering Thursday, the Sabres are tied with the Red Wings in points with 72, but hold a tie-breaker over them due to regulation wins.
Myers was a first-round pick by the Buffalo Sabres in 2008 and would play six seasons in Buffalo before being traded to the Winnipeg Jets. Lindy Ruff was actually Myers' first coach when he came up to the NHL, and he played three seasons under the coach.
At 36 years old, Myers is not the same player he was when he first was part of the Sabres, but he could provide valuable minutes and depth for this group. This season, he has played in 57 games with an average ice time of over 20 minutes, but has a career-worst +/- of -25. However, that may not be reflective of the player but the struggles of the Canucks' as a whole.
The biggest hurdle with any of this is whether or not Myers would consider a trade to Buffalo, and it really is his call with the no-trade clause. However, it is worth a call for Jarmo Kekalainen to gauge the interest to help address the need, but also stop a division rival from getting better.