The Buffalo Sabres are looking to trade center Casey Mittelstadt, and according to reports, the Sabres are very determined to get a deal done by the NHL trade deadline.
With the March 8 deadline looming, Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams reportedly has his sights set on shipping Mittelstadt out of Buffalo, according to hockey insider and former Sabres player Andrew Peters.
“I have heard from a very reliable source that Kevyn Adams is shopping Casey Mittelstadt hard; doesn’t want to pay him,” Peters said before naming Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson as a Sabres trade target.
Mittelstadt, who the Sabres drafted with the eighth overall selection in the 2017 NHL entry draft, is having the best year of his career this season; he’s on pace to set new career highs in goals, assists, points, faceoff wins, blocks, and takeaways. The 25-year-old also leads the Sabres in assists, points, plus-minus, and shooting percentage this year.
If Adams is set on not paying Mittelstadt when he becomes a restricted free agent in the offseason, it would probably be best to get something in return via a trade to a Stanley Cup contender. Mittelstadt has a $2.5 million cap hit this season, and with his increased productivity, he and his agent are heading toward a bigger payday in the summer.
At 22-24-4, the Sabres sit in seventh place in the Atlantic Division and 10 points back from the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Barring a miracle run to finish the year, the team is staring down its 13th consecutive season without a playoff berth, which would extend the longest all-time postseason drought in NHL history.
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