NHL Rumors: Buffalo Sabres, and the Top 50 NHL Free Agents

The Buffalo Sabres are checking out Bowen Byram’s trade value

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman said that the Buffalo Sabres are gauging the trade value of 23-year-old, pending RFA defenseman Bowen Byram.

“The Sabres are gauging his market value. Byram needs a contract. He’s got two more years until he’s an unrestricted free agent, so Buffalo doesn’t have to do anything here, with two more years of team control. Whenever a team trades for a player, like Buffalo did a couple years ago, you know they see value in him and they like him. So, you always have to keep that as part of your overall thinking. But there is no doubt that his name is out there.

“There’s just been an agent change, so that always leads to a conversation of, ‘What does this mean?’ But there’s no doubt his name is out there, there’s no doubt they’re gauging market value on him, and we’ll see where this takes us. There is definitely noise around the Byram name and the Buffalo Sabres.”

Top 50 NHL Free Agents

TSN: Listing the top 50 NHL free agents – unrestricted

No. – Player – Team – Pos – Age
1. Mitch Marner – Maple Leafs – RW – 28
2. Sam Bennett – Panthers –  C –  29
3. John Tavares – Maple Leafs – C – 34
4. Nikolaj Ehlers – Jets – LW – 29
5. Brock Boeser – Canucks – RW – 28
6. Vladislav Gavrikov – Kings – LD – 29
7. Ivan Provorov – Blue Jackets – LD – 28
8. Brock Nelson – Avalanche – C – 33
9. Matt Duchene – Stars – C – 34
10. Aaron Ekblad – Panthers – RD – 29
11. Brad Marchand – Panthers – LW – 37
12. Jake Allen – Devils – G – 34
13. Mikael Granlund – Stars – C/LW – 33
14. Ryan Donato – Blackhawks – C/LW – 29
15. Dante Fabbro – Blue Jackets – RD – 27
16. Ryan Lindgren – Avalanche – LD – 27
17. Pius Suter – Canucks – C – 29
18. Patrick Kane – Red Wings – RW – 36
19. Dmitry Orlov – Hurricanes – LD – 33
20. Kyle Palmieri – Islanders – RW – 34

21. Jonathan Drouin – Avalanche – LW – 30
22. Claude Giroux – Senators – C – 37
23. Jack Roslovic – Hurricanes – C/RW – 28
24. John Klingberg – Oilers – RD – 32
25. Connor Brown – Oilers – RW – 31
26. Jamie Benn – Stars – LW – 35
27. Dan Vladar – Flames – G – 27
28. Henri Jokiharju – Bruins – RD – 26
29. Victor Olofsson – Golden Knights – LW – 29
30. Cody Ceci – Stars – RD – 31
31. Andrei Kuzmenko – Kings – RW – 31
32. Trent Frederic – Oilers – C/LW – 27
33. Nick Perbix – Lightning – RD – 27
34. Brian Dumoulin – Devils – LD – 33
35. Adam Gaudette – Senators – RW – 28
36. Reilly Smith – Golden Knights – RW – 34
37. Nate Schmidt – Panthers – LD – 33
38. Andrew Mangiapane – Capitals – LW – 29
39. Mason Appleton – Jets – C/RW – 29
40. Anthony Beauvillier – Capitals – LW – 28

41. Corey Perry – Oilers – RW – 40
42. Brent Burns – Hurricanes – RD – 40
43. Yanni Gourde – Lightning – C – 33
44. Alex Lyon – Red Wings – G – 32
45. Evgenii Dadonov – Stars – RW – 36
46. Gustav Nyquist – Wild – LW – 35
47. Brandon Saad – Golden Knights – LW – 32
48. Matt Grzelcyk – Penguins – LD – 31
49. Taylor Raddysh – Capitals – RW – 27
50. Brandon Tanev – Jets – LW – 33