Kings Could Benefit From McGinn’s Skill-set.

When the Buffalo Sabres drafted Jack Eichel at last season’s NHL Entry Draft, it was effectively the dawning of a new era in Sabres hockey. A momentous rebuild for a passionate fanbase that’s been starved of a contender. The Buffalo Sabres have begun to show signs of a strong turnaround with great effort from young players like the aforementioned Eichel, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Sam Reinhart. 24 year old Ryan O’Reilly looks to be one of the ‘veteran’ top-6 forwards going forward, so it’s safe to say that youth is due to rule in western New York.

Now, back to 2015-2016. It’s fairly clear that while the Sabres are beginning to show signs of life, respectfully they won’t be anywhere near competing for a playoff spot this season. As one of the few teams who can clearly be marked as ‘sellers,’ the Sabres may be in line to trade away smaller pieces for a bigger return. There are a certain number of players, whose contracts are set to expire, that could be of great value to other contending teams. Guys like David Legwand, Jamie McGinn, and Marcus Foligno are all set to be free agents at the end of this season and could fetch the Sabres more potential draft picks as they continue their complete rebuild.

Jamie McGinn may be of particular interest to these Los Angeles Kings, a forward who could play in the top-6 and bottom-6 when called upon. A versatile 6 foot 210 pounder, McGinn can also chip in on the penalty kill, if necessary. With 10 goals and 21 points through 47 games, McGinn is on pace to shatter his previous career high of 38 points through 79 games. Interestingly enough, McGinn has scored 7 of his 10 goals against Western Conference opponents this season, showing that he’ll have no trouble being productive should the Kings acquire him.

McGinn could be a useful stop-gap should any top-6 King forward suffer injury that would cause them to step out of the lineup. The Kings have been fairly lucky and maintained their relative health, but who knows what injuries the team is nursing and for how long it’s been that way. Adding a player like Jamie McGinn would give coach Daryl Sutter the opportunity to rest important players should the Kings run away with the division.

Another thing that makes McGinn an enticing grab is his contract. Currently, McGinn has a cap hit of 2.95 million that expires at the end of this season, which would make him a pure rental for the Kings, and probably one of the more viable options for their team going into this year’s postseason. The only thing that would hold up any kind of deal would be the value that Buffalo places on McGinn. As I’ve mentioned previously, Buffalo will be one of a short list of teams willing to call themselves ‘sellers.’ Other contending teams will be desperate to acquire a player like McGinn which could drive the price beyond what the Kings should be willing to give up for him. With the already completed trade with Philadelphia, the Kings are already short on draft picks unless they look to move one beyond this year, which isn’t out of the realm of possibility.