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NHL Rumours: Buffalo Sabres Looking to Move On From Core Defenceman

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Welcome to NHL Rumours! The Florida Panthers have not long ago just won their second-straight Stanley Cup championship. This leads to the offseason now being in full swing. According to Frank Seravalli on the Daily Faceoff Live, a Sabres Defenceman might become a free agent.

NHL Rumours: Sabres Defenceman May Be Available

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Mattias Samuelsson Could Be Bought Out or Traded.

Rumour: Frank Seravalli said on Daily Faceoff Live that the Sabres and Mattias Samuelsson could be parting ways this offseason. Samuelsson could be the Sabres second buyout in as many offseasons. 

Analysis: The Sabres took a pretty big swing signing Samuelsson to a seven-year, $4.3 million dollar AAV extension in 2022. That swing, is starting to backfire. At the time Mattias Samuelsson was a top-four defenceman commonly playing with Rasmus Dahlin on the top line. Since then a couple injuries have happened and he has not been the player the Sabres would hope he would be in 2022.

Lindy Ruff found himself benching Mattias Samuelsson a couple of times throughout the season. And Samuelsson never really made it out of the bottom pair all year long. Not what you want from a defenceman making over $4 million a year. Samuelsson has never eclipsed more than 26 points in a season with the Sabres.

A big nail in the coffin moment for Samuelsson was when Tage Thompson was hit illegally by Stefan Noesen of the New Jersey Devils. Noesen delivered an elbow to the head of Thompson. The worst part was Samuelsson and the other Sabres on the ice did not react at all. Samuelsson is an assistant captain and would not step up for their star player getting knocked out.

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What This Edition of NHL Rumours Means

The Sabres moving on from Samuelsson makes total sense. If they make a trade, hopefully some team would take him for nothing and save the Sabres having to buy him out. If they do buy him out, they’ll save themselves some money, and eat a cap hit under $1 million per year. Either way this seems like it’d be a smart move for the Sabres.

It will free up the roster to bring in a fresh face and a new game. The Sabres are struggling, and new life in the organization is needed.

Trade or Buyout?

Any team trading for Samuelsson would be taking a risk. Teams would most likely not be willing to give up assets for an expensive depth defenceman. They’d be hoping that a healthy season could mean that Samuelsson can return to form. But the truth is Samuelsson hasn’t been playing well for the past two years.

If the Sabres were asked to retain salary they would not do that. Samuelsson is owed $4.3 million per year until 2030. If they bought him out the dead cap hit would be around $700,000. So, it really doesn’t make sense to retain any salary.

It feels like a buyout is inevitable. And then Samuelsson will be signed by a team for a much less dollar price. The same situation the Sabres had with Jeff Skinner last offseason.

One way or the other, this rumour seems like an inevitable move from the Sabres. Their defence was poor this year. This gives the team the opportunity to shake things up and free up some cap space. The Sabres have been quiet in the offseason so far with a lot to do. Maybe this will be the first domino to fall.

Main Photo Credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images

 

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