Sabres Summer Trade Target – Mikael Granlund
12-year NHL veteran had 48 assists with San Jose last season
Sabres Summer Trade Target – Mikael GranlundThe 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. We have been taking a look at players who could be potential trade targets this summer over the last few weeks in advance of a year that has to be considered playoffs or bust.
Mikael Granlund – Center (San Jose Sharks)
Contract status – signed through 2024-25 at $5 million AAV, unrestricted free agent next summer
Another potential candidate who fits the criteria of fitting in with the Sabres in more of a depth role and someone who does not have significant term remaining on their contract is Granlund, a still effective center who has played for four teams in his 12-year NHL career.
Originally a ninth-overall pick of the Minnesota Wild in 2010, Granlund played two years in his native Finland before heading to North America in 2012. Early in his career especially, his goal totals were not impressive, but the 32-year-old has posted 30 or more assists in eight seasons.
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After seven years with the Wild, Granlund was dealt to Nashville in 2019 and spent almost five seasons in Music City before being dealt at the 2023 trade deadline to Pittsburgh. After a disastrous tenure with the Penguins, the veteran forward was sent to San Jose as part of the Erik Karlsson deal and led the last-place Sharks in scoring with 60 points (12 goals, 48 assists).
San Jose is in the midst of a rebuild but hit the jackpot in the draft lottery earlier this month to select Hobey Baker Award winner Macklin Celebrini with the first overall pick in Las Vegas next month. The Sharks locked up 2023 top pick Will Smith and it is highly likely that their plan will be to give the two teenagers playing time up the middle along with veteran Logan Couture. That leaves the possibility of keeping Granlund and shifting him to the wing or shipping him out in the final year of his deal for a future asset.
Sharks GM Mike Grier cannot retain salary since they have already reached their quota in deals involving Karlsson, Brent Burns, and Tomas Hertl, but the Sabres are one of the few teams that could take on Granlund’s $5 million cap hit to fill the third-line center gap created by the trade of Casey Mittelstadt.
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