BUFFALO, N.Y. – At the very least, the Sabres set themselves up for meaningful games and shaved a little money off their bloated cap. At the very best, Jason Botterill gave Buffalo the pieces to end its playoff drought while also improving next year’s team.



The Sabres brought in skillful forward Dominik Kahun and gritty veteran Wayne Simmonds at Monday’s trade deadline, shipping out Conor Sheary and his expiring contract plus disgruntled spare piece Evan Rodrigues.



While the Sabres can’t really be considered “buyers,” they’re certainly shooting for the playoffs.



“We’ve talked a lot about playing meaningful games in March,” Botterill said. “With some of the moves that we made today, we’re hopefully setting our team up to better accept that challenge.”



Kahun, a natural center who played left wing almost exclusively in Pittsburgh this season, should slot into the second or...