One player the Sabres could unexpectedly trade in the 2024 offseason

Some teams that have been rather dormant in the last few offseasons will change that trajectory in 2024, and the Buffalo Sabres will, without a doubt, be one of those organizations. One reason is that, even without a playoff appearance, the rebuilding phase is more than finished. 

Building a consistent winner is the short-term goal these days and everyone in the organization knows it, from general manager Kevyn Adams to head coach Lindy Ruff to star player Rasmus Dahlin. This means a potential blockbuster trade, something we have been speculating for a while now. 

But when it comes to making such a move, a surprise name is sometimes thrown in there. So if the Sabres look to acquire someone like a top-six winger or center from a decent team, not someone like the Anaheim Ducks in this case, in which sending a high draft pick and a high-end prospect wouldn’t be the best course of action, look for a player already with the big club to be part of that deal. 

But you may be asking yourself who that player will most likely be. Jeff Skinner is a good answer, but his contract may scare a few teams. So there was one other player whose future may not be in Buffalo. 

Don’t be surprised if the Sabres unexpectedly trade Mattias Samuelsson

Whoa, wait! Mattias Samuelsson? They just signed him to a long extension back in 2022 that kicked in this past season. Why would the Blue and Gold unexpectedly trade a player like Samuelsson? Well, for one, his contract is one that even a cash-strapped team can likely fit into their budget, as it’s running at a reasonable flat rate of $4.285 million until 2029-30. 

Samuelsson is also a good player, and he was one of the primary drivers behind the Sabres surprising 2022-23 campaign. But he’s also been more than injury-prone in Buffalo, and the Blue and Gold managed to make things work without him in the lineup for 41 games. 

They would be missing other players if they went down with injuries, like Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power, and Bowen Byram added too much value when he arrived via trade. While Connor Clifton is the likelier blueliner to get traded, if Adams reversed course and thought he was losing out on the extension that Samuelsson signed without a no-trade clause attached, it could make for an unexpected yet understanding move.