The Buffalo Sabres have acquired winger Jordan Greenway from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a second- and fifth-round pick.
The Wild had been looking to move on from Greenway—more specifically his contract—which has a $3 million cap hit for this season and two more after that. They didn’t want to sell low on him, but it was a necessary deal to move on from, especially with the cap crunch slowly creeping up on them with the buyout penalties of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.
In return, the Wild get a second-round pick in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024, with no salary retained in the deal for Buffalo.
Greenway has been struggling this season, with just two goals, five assists, and seven points in 45 games, a far cry from his usual production. Otherwise, he’s been a solid producer in the bottom six, regularly getting between 25 and 30 points in a season.
Greenway was a second-round pick for the Wild in 2015 and has spent the entirety of his career thus far in Minnesota.
Greenway joins a Sabres team in the hunt for a postseason berth for the first time in a long time, and looking to end an NHL-record 11-year playoff drought. He adds some experience and physicality to the team, and if he can rediscover his game in Buffalo, he’ll add an excellent scoring touch beyond the top six.
The Sabres are currently four points out of a playoff spot with a 31-25-4 record and have lost back-to-back games.
The Wild free up cap space for both this season and the future. The Wild sit second in the Central with a 35-21-6 record and have won seven of their last eight games, with points in all eight.
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