TRADE GATE: 37 Days

Nick Mendola

nick@wgr550.com


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(WGR 550) -- With five-plus weeks until the trade deadline, it's close enough to evaluate which teams might be buyers and sellers. Instead of just giving you five players who would help the Sabres -- like I did last year -- how about we look at some deals that could behoove not just the Sabres, but the rest of the league (Yes, there will be Sabres deals, and I actually called other media markets for opinions on what might work)?

Before we go any further, how about an update on how many players are coming to Buffalo, courtesy of everyone's favorite web site, Hockey Buzz (Come on, even folks who hate it check it out all the time).

Dion Phaneuf (15%)
Matthew Lombardi (30%)
Martin Biron (90%)
Teemu Selanne (5%)
Olli Jokinen (10%)
Jere Lehtinen (30%)
Raffi Torres (15%)
Mathieu Schneider (30%)
Jordan Leopold (15%)
Jeff Halpern (15%)
Matt Cullen (15%)
Joe Corvo (20%)
Petr Sykora (25%)

Leaving Buffalo...
Toni Lydman (60% he stays, 30% to LAK, 10% to DAL)

WHAT A TRADE BY DARCY REGIER!! In a 12-team deal, there's a 315 percent chance the Sabres will deal one single, solitary defenseman for some of the league's finer veterans. Seriously! Lydman for 13 players! Fire Regier?!? How about FIRE YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!

(I know the numbers don't work that way, but it's only late January. Things are only going to get crazier).

Could-be partners No. 1 -- NY Rangers and Carolina

Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford has already said that "50 percent of his roster will be different" next year, and there are probably only two names guaranteed to stick around: Eric Staal and Cam Ward. With that in mind, the Canes have the second-least amount of cap space in the National Hockey League (Vancouver has the least), and would love to ditch some of that money for players in place of nothing.

New York has a very-deep farm system (The web site Hockey's Future puts the Rangers organizational depth at No. 3 overall). With a number of young blueliners in the pipeline, the Rangers can afford to deal one of their many young blueliners (look at Bobby Sanguinetti or maybe even highly-toured Ryan McDonagh) in order to pick up UFA Whitney, who would be an ideal left winger for Chris Drury should the Blueshirts want to put Chris Higgins on another line.

The biggest obstacle to this deal is that New York is right up against the cap, so they'd need to fire someone, and who's going to take on Ales Kotalik or Wade Redden?

Proposed deal:
NY Rangers - Ray Whitney ($3.5 million hit)
Carolina - Bobby Sanguinetti, 2nd round pick

Could-be partners No. 2 -- Philadelphia and Anaheim:

When Michael Leighton's your best statistical goaltender, you're in a spot. The Flyers need to eschew their traditional "hope some guy named Cechmanek is good enough to win a Cup" mentality and reach out and touch someone on the West Coast. Philadelphia's trio of Leighton, Brian Boucher and Ray Emery will not win a title, and only Boucher is signed beyond this season anyway. With Philly's pitiful penalty kill, the Flyers would do well to improve the position deemed "the best penalty killer."

The Flyers are no longer in the desolate dimension called salary cap hell, with about 2.68 million to play with by March 3. It would take some movement to free up the $6 million to pick up Anaheim's current No. 2, J.S. Giguere, who is inked through 2010-11. Maybe the Ducks see some gloss on Briere beyond the injuries Flyers fans have seen.

Anaheim -- Daniel Briere, Brian Boucher, 2nd round pick
Philadelphia -- J.S. Giguere, Nick Boynton

Could-be partners No. 3 -- Pittsburgh and Minnesota

Like Philadelphia, a special teams unit is really hurting the Penguins. Believe it or not, Pittsburgh aches on the power play. Yes, with Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby around, the Pens are tied for the third-worst unit in the league.

Why? Well, as I pointed out on an "Inside the Numbers" a few weeks back, the reason is really weird. Over the previous two years, Pittsburgh's PP was red-hot thanks to Petr Sykora. Seriously. Opponents were so busy taking care of Crosby and Malkin that Sykora scored 28 power play goals over two seasons before skipping town for Minnesota.

Rest assured the Pens didn't want Sykora to leave, but Pittsburgh has $775k to the cap. Why would a "seller" like the Wild -- if they deemed themselves as such -- take on money? Sykora is making $1.6 this year and is only signed through the end of the campaign. Pittsburgh would have to find a way to ditch $900k in another deal, which is very possible. Would Minnesota take a gritty, two-way prospect and a pick for Sykora? I would.

Pittsburgh -- Petr Sykora
Minnesota -- Dustin Jeffrey, 4th round pick

Could-be partners No. 4 & 5 -- Buffalo and Carolina or Edmonton

Before I begin, let me tell you that I believe the Sabres need -- more than anything else -- another guy in the locker room who is going to put a proverbial knife to the throat of a player who isn't trying hard enough for silverware. I'm talking a guy who's playoff beard is actually made out of tiny pieces of barbed-wire, and would block a shot with his actual, exposed beating heart if it meant his name appearing on Lord Stanley's Cup.

As we've said, the Canes are dealing. Carolina is currently the second-oldest team in the NHL, at almost 30 years-per-player (What a stat "years-per-player" is). Now they'll get younger if they can find someone to take on the albatross that is Rod Brind'Amour. "The Schnozz" has the reputation as a fitness freak, but time has caught up to the former star. Over the last two seasons, Brind'Amour has just 63 points in 130 games, posting a superlative plus/minus of minus-48.

So, what kind of deal can help both teams? The hardest thing about this trade is that the moment I put down a single name from the Sabres roster or future, people hate it. Either you like the guy and think Buffalo would never deal him, or you hate the guy and think he has no value to anyone else. It's a no-win situation, but I'll do it anyway because I'm a glutton for punishment.

If the Sabres were to part with someone signed past next season, say Andrej Sekera -- who I believe has way more value than anyone in Buffalo would think and carries enough of a cap-hit ($1 mil) to actually get something in return -- I think they could pick up a forward who could really help them. In Carolina's case, would they take Sekera and a non-first rounder for a guy like Matt Cullen, who is leaving town next year unless the Canes believe rebuilding begins with a center who will be 34 one month into next season? Heck, they'd do it just to save his $2.85 million hit this year.

Buffalo trade scenario No. 1:
Carolina: Andrej Sekera, third-round pick
Buffalo: Matt Cullen

OR

I had a long talk with someone in Edmonton media this morning, who told me that only a few players on Edmonton's roster wouldn't be moved for the right price. The Oilers are aching for first-round picks, which we know aren't coming from Buffalo. They know they have junior stud Jordan Eberle coming up, and also know they likely won't be good for a while, so why not build?

If the name isn't Luby Visnovsky, Ladislav Smid, Dustin Penner or Sam Gagner, ring Alberta. If you want to take on Shawn Horcoff's $5.5 million deal, he's out there. Who would they love to get rid of? Sheldon Souray, Steve Staios, Ethan Moreau and/or Fernando Pisani. I was told the long-heard Buffalo rumours that the Oilers would love, love, love Drew Stafford are absolutely true. Drew is the nephew of Edmonton's head equipment manager. When you hear it from the horse's mouth, it means a little more.

With Kevin Lowe out-of-power, it's reasonable to believe the Sabres and Edmonton could be dealmakers. In my opinion, Buffalo would love to get its hands on Moreau, who is having a rough go-of-it in Edmonton. The 34-year-old is signed through 2011, so it would take more than money to get him away from the Oilers. When I was working on a potential deal -- seriously, this is my job -- with the media member in Edmonton, he said the progress of former No. 1 pick Andrew Cogliano has stalled with the Oilers, and he's movable.

So, would you part with a player who tries every other night to get two guys who would sell select internal organs for a Cup? The Sabres would need to make a separate deal to free up a little more money, but how about this?

Buffalo trade scenario No. 2:
Edmonton: Drew Stafford
Buffalo: Ethan Moreau, Andrew Cogliano

I'm super interested in this deal if Buffalo could make it work. Moreau and Cogliano's combined cap-hit is $3.13 million. The Sabres have $1.8 million in room and Stafford's hit is $1.9 mil. Think about it. They'd have to play a left wing on the right, but your 12 regular forwards would look like this:

Vanek--Connolly--Grier
Roy--Cogliano--Pominville
Moreau-Gaustad-Kaleta
Kennedy-Hecht-MacArthur

Again, these are just some thoughts. I'm not saying they are the best options, or even all-that-realistic. Also, keep-in-mind the long-held and absurd rumour that the Sabres apparently K-O trades if they leak out.

Tell me I'm stupid here: nick@wgr550.com