Sabres Add Greenway, Ship Out Asplund On Deadline Day

Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams was quite busy leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline, making six deals in total and three trades on Friday, but did not address the club’s goaltending in any of the half dozen transactions.

The most significant of the deals was swapping a pair of draft picks to the Minnesota Wild for winger Jordan Greenway. The 26-year-old was a 2015 second-round selection, playing for Sabres head coach Don Granato in the US National Development Program. The 6-foot-6, 235-pound forward played for Team USA at the 2017 IIHF World Junior and at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The Canton, NY native had 119 points (38 goals, 81 assists) in 317 career games over six seasons in Minnesota, and had seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in 45 games for the Wild this season.

In exchange, the Sabres sent a 2023 second-rounder (acquired in the Jack Eichel trade) and a 2024 fourth-round pick. Greenway is expected to help fill injured Sabre and former teammate Alex Tuch, who is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

Leading up to deadline day, Adams bolstered his blueline with All-Star Rasmus Dahlin out day-to-day, trading prospect Josh Bloom to Vancouver for defenseman Riley Stillman, sent minor league forward Anders Bjork to Chicago for future considerations and shipped out prospect goaltender Erik Portillo to Los Angeles for a 2023 third-round pick.

Stillman had five assists in 32 games for the Canucks and has played with Florida, Chicago, and Vancouver over five NHL seasons. Bjork was part of the 2021 trade that sent Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar to Boston and played only 74 games for the Sabres over three seasons. Portillo, a 2019 third-round pick, is in his senior year at the University of Michigan and was expected to not sign with Buffalo and become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Besides Greenway, Adams dealt forward Rasmus Asplund to the Nashville Predators for a 2025 seventh-round pick and swapped minor-league defenseman Chase Priskie to Anaheim for blueliner Austin Strand.

Currently, the Sabres have a 31-25-4 record (66 points) and are four points in back of the New York Islanders for the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with four games in hand. Buffalo has an excellent opportunity to snap the club’s 12-year playoff drought but chose not to improve their goaltending down the stretch, with youngster Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Eric Comrie struggling and 41-year-old veteran Craig Anderson limited for load management reasons.