The Buffalo Sabres should be in the market for an impact top-six forward after dealing winger JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth for defenseman Michael Kesselring and winger Josh Doan, but the opening weeks of free agency did not provide GM Kevyn Adams with an opportunity to replace Peterka’s production, and with the two-year deal signed earlier this month with defenseman Bowen Byram, Adams will have to try to acquire a scoring forward with younger players, prospects, and/or draft picks.
Big winger Patrik Laine is not the player that some imagined when he was selected second overall at the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo nine years ago, but the big Finn can do one thing that the Sabres may be looking for at some point next season, and that is goal scoring. The 27-year-old has scored 20 or more goals seven times, but the reason he is currently on his third club is that he is an offense-first forward who has never shown any sort of proficiency in playing defense.
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Montreal received a second-round pick along with Laine last August from Columbus to take the winger’s full $8.7 million cap hit. Last season, after a preseason injury kept him out until December, he still managed 20 goals in 52 games. He also had the third-worst plus/minus on the club (-14) and scored 75% of his goals on the power play.
What Would It Cost?
There has been some chatter that the Canadiens are looking to clear out Laine’s cap hit in the final year of his deal to make room if they can acquire a second-line center to play behind Nick Suzuki, but if they cannot find that elusive pivot, the only way moving his deal out makes sense would be closer to the trade deadline if the Habs are not in the playoff race. The expectation is that Montreal will continue their upward trajectory after making the post-season and losing to Washington in the first round, but if they are not if the mix, the likely cost to a team looking for goals like Buffalo is a second-round pick or a prospect capable of playing in the NHL like Isak Rosen.
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