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Pesce to the Sabres? Konecny to the Blues? NHL offseason perfect fits
As the offseason carousel picks up, Harman Dayal and Max Bultman pick their "perfect fits" between player and team.
Buffalo Sabres
The perfect fit: Brett Pesce
The trade: Pesce (with a long-term extension) for Noah Östlund and Philadelphia’s second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft
Pesce is entering the final season of his bargain $4.025 million AAV contract, after which he’ll become an unrestricted free agent. He’ll turn 29 in November, and if there’s one pattern we’ve seen from the Hurricanes, it’s that they typically don’t like handing out seven- or eight-year deals with high cap hits to players approaching their 30s, even if it’s a core piece.
Carolina let Dougie Hamilton walk in free agency in 2021, despite him finishing top five in Norris Trophy voting that year. The Canes also walked away from second-line center Vincent Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter last summer despite entering the offseason with ample cap space. Carolina might be especially cautious in extension talks moving forward because franchise players Sebastian Aho (2024) and Jaccob Slavin (2025) are also UFA eligible soon and will command hefty raises.
The Canes will try to work out an extension with Pesce this summer, but he recently switched agents which is a sign of a player adamant on maximizing his earnings, and if a deal can’t be worked out, he will reportedly get traded this summer. Based on history, it’d be surprising if the Canes were willing to pay full market value for Pesce’s next contract, making a trade a strong possibility.
In an ideal world, the Hurricanes would find a trade partner that could offer impact win-now pieces like a high-end top-six forward. But most teams interested in a player like Pesce would probably prefer surrendering future assets rather than peeling talent off their NHL roster. It’s going to be hard to find a traditional hockey trade rather than a futures package; Carolina’s best bet might be to simply take the best picks and prospects it can get and immediately use them as currency to go after the established NHL talent they actually want.
Buffalo looks one top-four defender and a solid goaltender away from becoming the next rising power in the Atlantic Division. The Sabres have plenty of assets, cap space and a clear need for an upgrade on the right side of the defense.
Pesce’s size, skating, ability to defend the rush and excellent defensive stickwork would bring exactly the type of shutdown defensive prowess that could help stabilize a Sabres team that ranked bottom 10 in surrendering five-on-five shots and scoring chances last season. He could be a great partner for Owen Power.
The Sabres are in the early days of their competitive window, though, so you’d imagine they’d want an extension (or at least reasonable confidence of one) as part of a Pesce trade.
Price wise, we’ve included Noah Östlund, who’s a promising center prospect drafted No. 16 last year, and the No. 39 pick in this year’s draft. It’s a lucrative package, but it’s in line with what Vancouver paid for Filip Hronek, and again, the trade proposal is done under the assumption that it comes with some type of agreement on the parameters of an extension.
