When you look at the Sabres roster, they have assembled all of the hard parts. Most importantly, they have the centers. They now have not one, not two, but three capable top 6 centers, and two of them have the versatility to play the wing.



Going forward, Buffalo could be looking for that top pairing Left Handed Defenseman (LHD) to put with Rasmus Ristolainen in a few years.



The guys we are in particular we are talking about are: Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, and Jonas Brodin. If you want to throw in the RHDs, then we can include Sami Vatanen, and Matt Dumba. If you want someone a little older, you can also include Kevin Shattenkirk.



However acquiring a top-pair, young (under 25) LHD is not as easy as one may think.



How can the Sabres get such a deal done and what can they do? Lets take a look:



1) They would have to part ways with one of their top forwards, and by top forwards, I dont mean Tyler Ennis or Zemgus Girgensons.



If you're asking for a top LHD under 25, you're going to need to give up a player you're attached to, and nobody is going to be willing to do that.



Teams will ask for Sam Reinhart, or Evander Kane realistically, and continue to add...... maybe Mark Pysyk or Jake McCabe.



Ryan Johansen went straight up for Seth Jones. You don't get more fair than that.



Of course, if you win the Draft lottery, or pick top 2, your plans could change easily. How so? When you're about to add a Auston Matthews, a Jesse Puljujärvi, or a Patrik Laine, you suddenly have a little bit more flexibility.



If you took Auston Matthews, Sam Reinhart all of a sudden becomes much more appealing to move, but Evander Kane could most likely become the fan favorite to trade. Using Kane as the trade chip becomes more appealing if the Sabres used Kane to obtain Cam Fowler for example. The Sabres could then draft Patrik Laine who is also a big physical power forward who may have more scoring ability to replace Kane in the lineup.



Everybody throws Tyler Ennis into mock trades. But guess what? Nobody is realistically moving Ennis (especially right now for Fowler). Not in a sell-low deal anyways. There may be teams that would move a top four dman for Ennis, but it might be for just that, a borderline #4 dman who is not as established as a Cam Fowler.



To be fair, Tyler Ennis last year may have gotten a lot of deals done before his injury troubles this year. When healthy and in sync, he is a 50-60 point wing. Injuries will continue to be a concern for a 160 pound forward.





2) If you want one of the righty's, then Buffalo will have to do more maneuvering particularly with Zach Bogosian, or Pysyk and may not be the most ideal fit initially.



Sami Vatanen, and Matt Dumba are prime examples. Dumba may be the easiest of all the defensemen to trade for given Minnesota's depth with RHDs. But, you have to have a good young top 6 center to offer up, and again, the Sabres would not want to move their centers.



If looking for an older option, Kevin Shattenkirk is 27. And again, you may need to part with Evander Kane to make it work, and possibly more.



You would end up in a situation here with Zach Bogosian, Ristolainen, Pysyk, and the new RHD playing on their offhand in the top 4 which may not be best for either one of these guys.





3.) Buffalo doesn't seem to have a perfect trade partner, at least not for the bigger name and more well known defensemen



It takes two to tango and Buffalo may not have what Anaheim, Minnesota, or even St.Louis are looking for.



They also don't have multiple #1 picks to peddle like they did in years past, so as far as #1 draft picks wise, they only have this year's top 5 or 6 pick, and next year's first.



As stated earlier, the Wild will desperately be looking for a proven NHL top 6 center, and we just don't have one that we are willing to give up. Again, Ennis and Girgensons for Jonas Brodin is not a good deal for Minnesota, and probably not what they are looking for. Minnesota still wants to try and win now, but their window is closing.



However, If Minnesota calls up Edmonton asking about Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, then Minnesota may be able to offer Brodin and add draft picks, prospects, maybe a good top six winger and bottom 9 depth Edmonton needs. Nugent-Hopkins is a very good player with more upside, however, he is more expendable than a guy like Sam Reinhart is in Buffalo, especially with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisatl in Edmonton. Reinhart seems to have a home on the right wing, and is also a center. With his hockey IQ, he pretty much can play anywhere.



The Ducks are another option. They need to boost scoring, and they would probably prefer Evander Kane realistically to consider trading one of their defenseman.





4) They could the pursue an NHL ready prospect like Shea Theodore? But it would be more of a gamble for both sides.



And by that I meant, Buffalo may not be willing to trade what it would take to acquire one of the more well known and established young dman, but they may be able to acquire a top young prospect close to NHL ready.



Shea Theodore immediately comes to mind in Anaheim. But as the Anaheim Ducks #1 prospect, he would still be very difficult to deal for.



If you've never seen Theodore play, he's been very impressive in his short NHL looks, and is very close to being a full time NHL player. He probably should be in the NHL right now, at least his offensive skills say so. It would be tough to gauge what Anaheim would ask for but it might be doable. However, you may have to part with a 2017 first round pick.



And you'd have to really blow Anaheim away, because they are not actively trading Theodore.





5) Another option could be trading for Calvin de Haan from the NY Islanders. The Islanders could be a potential trade partner again.



The Isles look like they are about to have a pretty ugly offseason coming up if they can't extend Kyle Okposo, or Frans Nielsen. They also have Travis Harmonic requesting a trade out West. Losing Okposo would be huge for the Islanders, who is probably one of the top five right wings in the NHL.



They have Ryan Pulock in waiting who is a top RHD prospect.



de Haan doesn't knock your socks off, but is a solid, young top 4 defenseman under age 25, who will be a restricted free agent after next year.



The Islanders defense prospect pool is deep, and if they lose both Okposo and Neilsen, they will need to add some parts via trade or free agency to replace their production. I'm sure they will see if they can rely on Michael Dal Colle to pick up some of the slack next year if he can make the NHL.



Assuming they can get a dman close to equal value for Hamonic, moving de Haan could be an interesting modest option for the Sabres to pursue if they can make it happen.



6) Lastly, Buffalo could end up with the drafting in the range to get one of the top 2 defenseman in next years draft



Chances are the draft could fall Matthews, Puljujärvi, Laine, for picks 1-2-3.



With the way Toronto is playing right now, as well as Calgary, and Edmonton of course, and now we can toss Winnipeg in the hat, i'm not all that convinced that the Sabres will finish bottom two for the third straight season.



Buffalo is definitely better than where they were last year, and without winning one of the top 3 picks, it will be difficult to get Matthews or one of the two Finnish wingers. But if they do get one of those players, more trade options open up.



If you won the lottery and take Auston Matthews, you easily can open up discussions about moving Kane or Reinhart, and not to mention, you have the USA Connection in Buffalo for the next decade in Eichel and Matthews, which I'm sure the NHL would love. If you won a top 3 pick and take Patrik Laine, you get a 6'4, 209 lb right shooting winger who can line up on both sides of center and who can play physical. Taking Laine would make me easily okay with moving Evander Kane. Or they can just keep it simple and take Jakob Chychrun at three which wouldn't be an awful move.



Even if Buffalo Picks #3 overall which is highly likely, they will have a difficult and interesting decision to make.



Buffalo will have to win the lottery, which is not all that far fetched to really open up more potential options.