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Conflicting Necas Trade Info Leaves Sabres Empty Handed

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4 months ago

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Martin Necas Carolina Hurricanes Buffalo Sabres trade

The Carolina Hurricanes announced they signed Martin Necas to a two-year, $13 million deal, removing one more top-six forward from the trade rumor mill. Necas was a restricted free agent with the Hurricanes and was suspected of wanting a bigger opportunity elsewhere. The Buffalo Sabres were an obvious potential destination but conflicting reports and information debate how far the trade talks went between the two clubs.

Seravalli on Necas Trade

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff said on his podcast, “The DFO Rundown”, that the Sabres were in play for Necas and had a concrete trade set around the draft. Negotiations on a new deal for the forward broke down, fizzling the idea of Necas in Buffalo next season.

“I think there were a couple deals that were offerred…that were considered…that ultimately just weren’t enough for the Carolina Hurricanes. Draft week, I believe the Buffalo Sabres had a deal in place with Carolina to trade for Marty Necas. I think it was Buffalo, there was one team for sure they had a trade agreed to, and Necas would not agree to sign a new deal with that new team. And that ended up scuttling the trade.”

There’s some uncertainty from Frank in his statement that the Sabres were actually the team involved, which raises some questions about the validity of the information. Also of note, “would not agree to sign a new deal” does not necessarily mean he refused to play for Buffalo. It could simply mean the two sides saw the value of his next contract differently, with Necas projected to land a Jeff Skinner-esque deal if he signed long-term.

Necas is coming off a 24-goal, 53-point season after notching 28 goals and 71 points the season prior. He’s shown he can produce, but the inconsistency has to be alarming to lock the Czechia forward down for nearly $9 million per season into his 30s.

Related: Could Sabres Be In On Marner, Guentzel, Necas, Zegras

DeDominicis Refutes Necas Trade Talk

Chad DeDominicis of Expected Buffalo was the first to confirm the Skinner buyout was happening this offseason thanks to his sources in and around the Buffalo Sabres. He took to X (formerly Twitter) to refute Seravalli’s report that the Sabres were the team that had a deal in place for Necas.

Chad was then asked to clarify if the Sabres were in on Necas.

Must Read: Most Likely Prospect to Make Sabres Roster

Hurricanes Trade Options

Chad went on to say that Martin Necas was not the player on the Carolina Hurricanes that the Sabres were interested in acquiring. The Hurricanes have another top-six restricted free-agent forward, Seth Jarvis, who scored 33 goals and 67 points last season. Jarvis is more defensively responsible while also being a big threat in transition. He was likely the preferred option.

It’s also possible the Sabres considered Jesperi Kotkaniemi, although the center’s offensive and defensive metrics have been a bit all over the board the past few seasons. With Evgeny Kuznetsov leaving the team to head home to Russia, Kotkaniemi is the default second-line center and likely no longer available.

No matter how far, if at all, trade talks surrounding Necas went between the Sabres and Hurricanes, one thing is certain – Buffalo has still failed to add a top-six forward. As the options continue to dwindle and the offseason moves along, it’s more likely that the Sabres will have to make up for it in the aggregate.

Leaving 9% of cap space untouched after agreeing to a buyout penalty to free it up would be a failure of a move. Even if it’s for a short-term rental, the Sabres could use the extra push to contend for the playoffs in a tough division next season. The Necas signing is the latest blow to the Sabres trade hopefuls.

Sabres Offseason: What Sabres Should Do With All This Cap Space

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