Trading Places

As you may remember, I offered some solutions on fixing the Buffalo Sabres, and one of those involved trading Thomas Vanek.  My solution to that now differs from what Buffalo decided to do just now, as they sent him to the New York Islanders for Matt Moulson, a first round pick in 2014, and a second round pick in 2015.  Both players are set to be free-agents after the season, and for both teams, this is essentially a swap of goal scorers with Buffalo getting additional draft picks.  However, the dynamic is more than that, as Vanek gets his wish to leave the Sabres squad that is rapidly becoming a national punchline and now, we will see whether Moulson's numbers were a direct result of being linemates with John Tavares.

From his rookie year in 2005, Vanek as scored at least 20 goals a season, and that includes the lockout shortened season last year.  He has managed to score 40 goals twice, and is a likely threat to reach that total this season should he be on a line with Tavares.  Moulson emerged as an offensive threat in the 2009-10 season, notching the first of three 30-goal seasons while lined up with Tavares during Tavares' rookie year.

Where this trade could go wrong is that both are unrestricted free-agents after the season, and the Islanders could be the ones that lose the most, as they did give up two draft picks in what stands to be potentially deep drafts, and if Vanek walks away, it could be ugly when the team moves to Brooklyn.  For the Sabres, while they finally have some semblance of peace, if only for a little while, they do have to hope that Moulson's numbers are not just a mere product of being a linemate of John Tavares.  The draft picks help, but the feeling here is that the Sabres could have gotten just a little more.