5 Landing Spots for Rasmus Dahlin Amid NHL Trade Rumors

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin recently debunked a report that he is seeking a trade out of Buffalo. That is good news for the Sabres. The bad news is that he also made it very clear he is tired of losing—the only thing he has ever known in the NHL with the Sabres—and that the team has to get better.

While he was emphatic he never expressed a desire to leave, it is not hard to imagine losing getting old and eventually taking its toll. It is also not hard to imagine the Sabres starting to make more dramatic changes if the losing continues. 

So let’s just play a what-if game and look at some hypothetical landing spots if the Sabres decided to explore a move.

Buffalo Sabres

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Rasmus Dahlin

The best landing spot, and the most likely landing spot, is the most obvious landing spot – which is him staying right where he is. 

Unless Dahlin marches into the general manager’s office and demands a trade out of Buffalo, or unless another team makes a franchise-changing offer they can not refuse, the Sabres should not be in a huge rush to move him. 

While his contract is expensive ($11 million per season), he is in the prime of his career, signed through 2032, and is the best player on the team. He is a legitimate, bonafide No. 1 defenseman who could be competing for Norris Trophies in the future.

He can still be part of the solution.

If he has the patience for it.

New York Rangers

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Rasmus Dahlin

Whether the Rangers make the playoffs or not this season it should be pretty obvious their roster needs some dramatic changes. Especially on defense where this is a massive drop-off in talent after Adam Fox.

They do not move the puck well. They do not get much offense from the blue line. And they could use another star-level player on that unit.

Given all of the salary cap space they have created over the past year, and with the cap on the rise, they could be in the market for a big score this offseason. 

A move like this would probably require sending out somebody like Alexis Lafreniere as a starting point, but maybe it could do everybody some good.

Dahlin would get a chance to play for a team that – theoretically – should be closer to contention, while Lafreniere could potentially get a fresh start and a chance to fully reach his potential offensively. It has not yet happened in New York, and the Rangers have not shown an ability to develop their young players in recent years.

Everybody could be a winner here in the short-term and the long-term.

Minnesota Wild

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Rasmus Dahlin

The Wild could be in a position this offseason to actually make a bold move. 

Not only because of the rise in the salary cap, but also because starting next season the worst of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts will finally be behind them. That’s going to be a lot of salary cap space to work with for a team that has been on a massive cap crunch the past few years. 

The Wild also have an intriguing trade chip that might interest the Sabres in young center Marco Rossi. Rossi is eligible for restricted free agency this offseason, and despite his breakout season offensively and upside he still finds himself in the occasional trade rumor due to contract negotiations and his potential price. 

The Wild already have some big-money players on their defense, including Jared Spurgeon and Brock Faber, but Dahlin would be a big addition and bring even more star power to their team.

The money is there for them to explore such a move.

Anaheim Ducks

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Rasmus Dahlin

The Ducks are on their way to a seventh-consecutive non-playoff season, and even though there has been some improvement, they still need more impact players.  Especially on defense.

What could make it manageable for the Ducks is that they not only have the need, but they also have the salary cap space and a pretty deep collection of young talent in the organization and coming up through the farm system. 

The Ducks already have 15 players under contract for next season, but only have around $52 million in salary cap space committed to the roster. That is an enormous amount of salary cap space, and with the free agent market looking thin after Mitch Marner, and especially thin on defense, a trade might be a good option to pursue. 

Anaheim doesn’t have a true No. 1 defender, nor does it have much offense coming from its back end. Getting a star-level player like Dahlin could help kickstart the rebuild and give them a path back toward contention.

St. Louis Blues

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Rasmus Dahlin

Throughout the mid-late 2010s, the St. Louis Blues were consistently one of the best defensive teams in the NHL. But ever since Alex Pietrangelo left in free agency, and ever since Vince Dunn was let go in the expansion draft to the Seattle Kraken, their defense has taken a huge hit and not been as consistently good. 

They also have not really done much to change the look of it until this season when they made the restricted free-agent addition of Philip Broberg. That, combined with the hiring of Jim Montgomery as head coach, has actually dramatically turned around their defensive performance, and as of Sunday are third in the NHL in expected goals against per 60 minutes during 5-on-5 play. 

Even with that improvement, they could still use a top-end player and play-driver on defense. 

The Blues have some in-their-prime, big-money forwards that could be intriguing options for the Sabres if St. Louis was interested in making a move.