Looks Like The Sabres Are Pushing For The Playoffs After All?

The Sabres have had a rough season overall but have gone 7-3-1 in the month of February. They're 8 points out of a playoff spot with 20 games remaining in the regular season.

The Sabres, to the surprise of some, made two interesting trades at the NHL Trading Deadline on Monday.

First, GM Jason Botterill acquired forward Wayne Simmonds from the New Jersey Devils for a conditional 5th round draft pick in 2021. The Devils also retained half of Simmonds salary, which is for one year at $5 million. That pick could become a 4th round pick if the Sabres make the playoffs and Simmonds plays 10 games.

Simmonds hasn't had the best year on offense this season but has been a 30-goal scorer for the Philadelphia Flyers in the past.

Then, Buffalo traded away forwards Evan Rodrigues and Conor Sheary to the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Domink Kahun, who scored 38 points last year for the Chicago Blackhawks and has 27 this year for Pittsburgh. He's a 24-year old from Germany who can play all three forward positions.

Sheary and Rodrigues were likely going to be gone by the off-season anyway and the fact they got a young NHL forward for them is a huge plus, along with basically getting veteran forward Wayne Simmonds for free...and he has had big numbers in the past and has plenty of playoff experience.

It's still a long shot they make the playoffs but it's a possibility. We'll see what the Sabres do to the roster and front office after the season, but it was at least a fun trade deadline.