With both teams trying desperately to get out of the NHL cellar, the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres could be looking to strike a deal with one another that would shake up their teams and hopefully turn their early season struggles around. Reports indicate that there could be some interest from both parties making a swap that would send Edmonton's No.1 overall pick in 2012, Nail Yakupov, to the Sabres for goalie Ryan Miller and forward Thomas Vanek.
The Buffalo News has reported that talks have heated up between both clubs as the Sabres are in the midst of a rebuilding phase that impending free agents Miller and Vanek may not be a part of, while Yakupov has had a bit of a falling out with Edmonton as he failed to record a point in Edmonton's first four games of the season, which led to head coach Dallas Eakins using him as a healthy scratch for two games earlier in the week.
CBS Sports reports that Miller's contract includes a no-trade clause, but the Oilers are one of the teams on the list, which would make it possible that the trade could happen.
The Oilers have had a tough time in net thus far this season as the team has allowed a league-high 35 goals against it. Devan Dubnyk has an 0-4-1 record with a 4.91 goals-against average while Jason LaBarbera has played to a 1-2-0 record and compiled a 3.22 GAA, leading to the belief that Edmonton is seeking goaltending.
Yakupov is a minus-4 through six games thus far this season, and it appears the top-pick in 2012 could be headed to Buffalo if the trade happens. Yakupov is in just his second season with Edmonton after compiling 17 goals and 14 assists for 31 points while playing in all 48 games of the lockout-shortened season last year. While the trade is only a rumor, it would be surprising to see Edmonton part ways with such a heralded draft pick after just 54 games in the NHL.
Miller has shown he can be solid in the past, but he's struggled the last couple of years with a Buffalo team that has been declining in talent due to the rebuild. Miller is 1-5-0 with a 2.49 GAA and a .935 save percentage through six games in the crease for Buffalo this season. Vanek, meanwhile, has notched three goals and two assists for five points this season and has reached the 40-goal plateau on two different occasions while notching at least 30 tallies four times over his nine-year career.
It has been rumored that Vanek has a desire to join former Buffalo teammate Jason Pominville with the Minnesota Wild out of free agency, so this trade would be risky for Edmonton as it would be taking on two impending free agents that could just walk at the end of the year in exchange for a promising young player. Rumors have circulated that Buffalo general manager Darcy Regier is on the hot seat, which could spark this move as a way of trying to save his job.
The trade is rumored to have been talked about but nothing has been confirmed, it's hard to imagine the Oilers trading a first round pick for two free agents-to-be, and Buffalo might be cautious about trading for an unproven player, but it remains to be seen if a blockbuster trade will happen.
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