The 30-year-old forward had 15 points with Florida this season
The Buffalo Sabres face a season where accountability will be stressed under head coach Lindy Ruff and areas of need will have to be addressed by GM Kevyn Adams for the club to snap their 13-year playoff drought. We have been taking a look at players who could be potential trade targets this summer over the last few weeks in advance of a year that has to be considered playoffs or bust, but now we will take a look at who the Sabres could potentially be pursuing when the free agent market opens up on July 1.
Buffalo is not likely to pursue big-ticket players like Jake Guentzel or Elias Lindholm, as they will be pursuing long-term big-money contracts, but they will be looking for role players with size and two-way ability that can be signed for a lesser term and cap hit.
Nick Cousins – Left Wing/Center (Florida Panthers)
Stats: 15 points (7 G, 8 A) in 69 games, 1 points (0 G, 1 A) in 11 playoff games
2023-24 Salary - $1.1 million
If the Sabres are looking for players who can stir the pot, provide some sandpaper and be annoying to the opposition, there are few who can do that better than Cousins, who is on the verge of winning a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers.
Cousins was a 2011 third-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers and after splitting time between the AHL and the Flyers for three seasons, he was dealt to the Arizona Coyotes in 2017. Since then, the 30-year-old has never spent more than two seasons in any of his stops, playing one season in Montreal, a short stint with Vegas, two years in Nashville, and the last two years with the Panthers.
Primarily a fourth-liner, the 5”11”, 186 lb. forward is one of the league’s premier disturbers who can get under the skin on any opponent. While that can be a valuable and necessary commodity, Cousins often goes right up to the line (and sometimes over it), as the hit on Erik Gudbranson earlier this season would indicate. In the Atlantic Division with teams like Florida, Tampa Bay, Boston, and Ottawa playing a more feisty game, the Sabres might need a few players like Cousins to respond in kind.
