The Buffalo Sabres are no where near being a playoff team and as such they continue to trade promising young players, and now one more big name has entered the rumor mill.
The Buffalo Sabres are 25-33-6 through 64 games this season, good for last place in the Atlantic Division, a whooping 12 points behind the 7th-place Bruins.
They are 14 points out of the second wild card spot and would have to leapfrog at least eight teams to get into the playoffs, and they are 3-6-1 over their last ten games.
Safe to say, that will not be happening.
Making matters worse is the fact that the team has began to trade players who were once thought to be part of the solution.
Just last week we saw Dylan Cozens traded to the Ottawa Senators.
Cozens, a former 7th overall pick, was obviously expected to be part of the team's core moving forward into their next playoff window.
However, he started to show signs of regression over the last two seasons, scoring at just a half a point-per-game pace in each of them.
However, he does have four points in four games since being moved to Ottawa.
But now it appears as though he may not be the last young star to be leaving the city.
Former 1st overall pick Owen Power has been criticized this season for his lack of development on defense, and with a crowded Buffalo blueline, he could be the next casualty of the playoff drought.
The Sabres have certainly shown a willingness to trade young stars and Power could fetch a haul on the trade market.
The 22-year-old has 6 goals and 32 points in 64 games this year, but has a career-worse rating of -13.
That mark is good for 3rd worst on the team, only better than Jack Quinn at -20 and Beck Malenstyn at -14.
Furthermore, Power has been particularly bad defending 2-on-1s, which makes him a bad fit for Lindy Ruff's high-offense game style.
That being said, it could be just a matter of time before Ruff is out of Buffalo as well.
After all, Ruff has arguably been the most disappointing addition the team made last offseason.
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