Sabres defenseman Nathan Beaulieu is said to be wanting out of Buffalo. Reports surfaced last night that the 26 yr. old Strathroy, Ontario native asked to be traded but according to TSN, Beaulieu's agent Kent Hughes said that there wasn't a trade-demand.
"He's not happy with Buffalo," Hughes was quoted as saying about Beaulieu, "he's looking for more of an opportunity to play.
The 2011 first round pick (17th-overall, MTL) has played in 26 of the Sabres 47 games to date scoring three goals and adding four assists to go along with an even plus/minus rating. Beaulieu hadn't played at all in the 2019 portion of the schedule until he hit the ice in Edmonton against the Oilers. The Sabres got shellacked 7-2 in that game and the 6'2" 200 lb. left-handed defenseman had a rough game, just like every other Sabres player not named Rasmus Dahlin, finishing with zero points and a minus-2 rating in 16:43 of ice-time. Buffalo coach Phil Housley replaced Beaulieu with rookie Lawrence Pilut for last night's win over the Calgary Flames.
Beaulieu spent five seasons in the Montreal organization, the last three of which were on a full-time basis. In 2016-17 he started out on the top-pairing with Shea Weber, was slowly was moved down the lineup and spent the Habs final game of the Habs first-round playoff exit in the press box. Sabres GM Jason Botterill, who had just taken over the job months earlier, sent a third round pick to Montreal for Beaulieu to help stabilize a shaky defense. Last season he scored a goal and added eight assists in 14:46 of ice-time/game but had the second-worst plus/minus amongst Sabres defensemen on a last place team.
This season Beaulieu seemed to iron out some of the wrinkles in his game and had a strong start to the season before issues began to creep back into his game. In his first season with the Sabres Beaulieu had troubles with turnovers on almost a nightly basis with many of those turning into goals or scoring opportunities, but he seemed to get that under control and keep them to a minimum this season although they seemed to become a little more frequent as we got into the latter part of 2018.
However, the emergence of Pilut as a bona fide NHL'er, along with defenseman Matt Hunwick returning from injured reserve, clogged up the Sabres blueline and eventually pushed Beaulieu to the bench. Although Hunwick is clearly in a reserve role, Pilut's play has stood out and it doesn't look as if he'll be returning to Rochester anytime soon despite being waivers-exempt. The 23 yr. old Pilut has a goal and four assists in 15 games for Buffalo, has a plus-5 rating in 17:50 of ice-time and has underlying metrics that across the board are some of the best the Sabres d-corps have to offer.
The Sabres have Dahlin and four vets--Zach Bogosian, Rasmus Ristolainen, Jake McCabe and Marco Scandella--anchoring the blueline with only one spot remaining and not only has Pilut taken hold of that last spot, his play has him moving up the depth chart while earning powerplay time as well.
With Pilut's inclusion, the Sabres have eight defensemen on the roster and will need to make a move once Casey Nelson returns. Nelson has been on IR since December 8 with an upper-body injury and we might be looking at a return sometime after the All-Star break and his return would force the Sabres to make a move within the defense-corps. Buffalo could waive Hunwick, and there's little doubt he'd clear waivers or they could waive Nelson or Beaulieu, both of whom would probably be claimed.
Beaulieu's unhappiness with playing time and his indirect request to move on from the Sabres represents a bit of a conundrum for Botterill in that it might lessen the return for the pending restricted free agent if teams know that the defenseman wants out. Botterill spent a third-rounder acquiring Beaulieu and at this stage of the game with now two teams dropping him down the depth-chart and out of the lineup, recouping that might be difficult.
However, if Botterill could land a fourth-rounder for a mobile defenseman that's pretty good with the puck, can play a rugged game and drop the gloves to defend himself and/or teammates when necessary, we can look at is as getting back the conditional fourth-rounder they gave to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Hunwick and forward Conor Sheary.
It's too bad things didn't work out with Beaulieu because he plays the type of game that the Sabres are looking for from their blueliners. But the other side of the equation has the Sabres are starting to fill their defense-corps with quality players while others are getting pushed down the depth chart. And that's a good thing.
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