Giving Jordan Greenway a two-year, $8 million contract extension with a limited no-trade clause was one of the final massive mistakes made by former Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams.
Now Adams' replacement, Jarmo Kekalainen, would be wise to find a way to move Greenway before the NHL trade deadline on March 6. It won't be easy, but it'd free up $4 million in much-needed salary-cap space for 2026-27 as the Sabres attempt to avoid losing multiple key players.
Thomas Drance of The Athletic presented a potential escape route for Buffalo: attach a middle-round draft pick to Greenway and send him to the Vancouver Canucks, who have an estimated $17.5 million in cap space for next season (via PuckPedia) and may try to buy future assets.
"Could the Sabres be motivated to shed Greenway's 2026-27 commitment at the cost of sending a mid-round pick Vancouver's way?" Drance wrote. "And if the answer is 'no,' would that change if the opportunity to acquire a difference-making forward presented itself before the deadline?"
Buffalo is definitely in the market to add an offensive-minded, top-nine forward in the coming weeks, so trading Greenway to create space for that arrival makes a ton of sense. The fact it'd also leave more financial leeway heading toward the offseason would be a major added bonus.
Buffalo Sabres must cut their losses with Jordan Greenway to create future opportunities
Greenway was an injury-prone, low-impact contributor before Adams re-signed him. Nothing has changed this season.
The 29-year-old winger has played just 33 games while battling a core injury that led the organization to put him on an NBA-style plan of load management. It's been ineffective, though the Sabres are hopeful some additional time off during the Olympic break will help.
Greenway hasn't done much to warrant a lineup spot when on the ice, either. He does provide some value on the penalty kill, but he's essentially unplayable at 5-on-5 because of skating issues caused by his injury and he's tallied just five points (one goal and four assists) offensively.
So, there's no doubt the Sabres would have to toss in some additional value if they're going to get another club to take on the remainder of the 6-foot-6 forward's contract.
The question is how much Kekalainen is willing to give up. A fourth-round draft pick (or less) feels totally reasonable, but if you start moving into the territory of a third-rounder, it gets tough.
Everything must be considered, however, because Buffalo would like to find a way to re-sign impending unrestricted free agent Alex Tuch and also has four notable restricted free agents (Zach Benson, Michael Kesselring, Peyton Krebs and Isak Rosen) to deal with.
Greenway is not part of the Sabres' long-term plans, so it'd be a mistake for the franchise to keep him on the books for next season just to avoid giving up a draft pick. That $4 million could be spent in countless better ways as the club starts building its 2026-27 roster.
It's always frustrating to pay a price for a past mistake — the Blue and Gold are learning that the hard way as they have to plan around the $6.4 million dead-cap hit for Jeff Skinner next season — but sometimes it's the only way out of an untenable situation.
Kekalainen would normally want to retain all of his picks to use in trades for roster upgrades but, at least in this case, he may have to bite the bullet and give one up to generate more possibilities for himself both at the deadline and looking toward next season.