With the NHL Entry Draft in the rearview mirror and the opening of free agency tomorrow, teams will decide what direction they will be taking for this upcoming season. The contenders will always look to add depth to their already loaded lineups, while the middle-of-the-pack teams look to add pieces to help them make the next leap.
For the Buffalo Sabers, who are years away from contending, they may be sellers this off-season as they could look to get a return for a young player before it’s too late and they lose him for nothing. Trading a young player is always hard but if they do not line up with the time frame, then receiving valuable assets for the future is what a general manager has to decide to do.
The Buffalo Sabres could be moving on from their young sniper Victor Olofsson this offseason, as reported by Lance Lysowski. According to the report, the reasoning behind the potential trade is the Sabers will try to shape their roster into one that can make the playoffs and compete very soon.
He is coming off his best season as a pro as he recorded his second season of 20 goals. In 72 games, he scored 20 goals and tallied 29 assists and 49 points. Both the assists and points were career highs for the 26-year-old winger. He was consistent all season long as he played over 15 minutes a night and bounced around lines as the Sabres were integrating young talent into their lineup throughout the season.
Olofsson is a restricted free agent (RFA) and is 26 years old. He has a great shot that is deadly on the power play. The Sabers have a ton of cap space to afford him, but with so much young talent waiting to make their NHL debut, the roster spot may not be available for the future, and they could use him as trade bait to upgrade a more glaring need. He will require a raise from the $3.05 million per season he was earning for the past two seasons, but with his ice time decreasing over the past two seasons and tough to justify paying him long-term and north of $4 million if he’s not going to be on the ice much.
The Sabers did announce they extended a qualifying offer to their young winger, but this may be to get him locked up to make the trade more enticing as he’ll be under contract, and theirs no question he will be walking away. The Sabers have a big decision to make on the young winger as 20 goals a season seems to be his floor moving forward.
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