Veteran forward has three-straight 20+ goals seasons with Columbus
The Buffalo Sabres face a season where accountability will be stressed under head coach Lindy Ruff and areas of need will have to be addressed by GM Kevyn Adams for the club to snap their 13-year playoff drought. Over the next few weeks, we will take a look at players who could be potential trade targets this summer in advance of a year that has to be considered playoffs or bust.
Boone Jenner – Forward (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Contract status – signed through 2025-26 at $3.75 million
The Sabres are well-positioned to make a major roster upgrade going into next season, with nearly $23 million in cap space, one of the NHL’s best prospect pools, and all their draft picks. Last summer, Adams was not willing to deal his first-round pick or youngsters such as Matthew Savoie, Jiri Kulich, or Isak Rosen, but now the thought is that the patient developmental approach has been abandoned to a point and that Adams will be looking for potentially make a move for a difference-maker who can play in the top six or a center that can provide a different aspect behind Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens.
Jenner has spent his entire 11-year NHL career in Columbus after being drafted in the second round in 2011. The 30-year-old has scored 20 or more goals in the last three seasons and would fill some of the leadership and experience gap created by the departures of Kyle Okposo, Erik Johnson, and potentially Zemgus Girgensons.
The Jackets team captain has a modified no-trade clause (eight teams), so it is unknown whether he would be open to playing someplace else after a decade in Ohio, but Columbus is where the Sabres were two or three years ago in terms of their rebuild. Buffalo desperately needs some sandpaper and two-way ability up the middle, and with the departure of Casey Mittelstadt, there may not be confidence on the part of Ruff or Adams that filling that third-line center role can be addressed internally.
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