Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres have not been good in a long time. They have an elite centre and defenceman to build around in Jack Eichel and Rasmus Dahlin but it hasn’t come together. What can they do to take the next step forward?
They are pretty stocked with good defencemen, but need better goaltending and could use more help up front so Eichel doesn’t have to be the only player that is bringing offence on a consistent basis.
This trade doesn’t immediately fill that need for the Sabres, but it gives them options moving forward. They add a mid-first round pick that they can use on a forward or use to trade for a forward on another team.
The Flames are set to lose Brodie and Hamonic as free agents so they need someone who can eat minutes on the right side. The Sabres have Rasmus Ristolainen, Henri Jokiharju, Brandon Montour and Colin Miller on the right side.
Montour is a restricted free agent who is probably looking for $5 million or so on a long-term contract extension. Calgary can certainly afford that and could use a two-way defender like Montour to play on their second pairing.