The Buffalo Sabres have continued to overhaul their blue line. Following the trades of Bowen Byram and Michael Kesselring, they swung a swap with the Anaheim Ducks, nabbing defenceman Olen Zellweger for prospect Anton Wahlberg and a second round pick, per Elliotte Friedman. Zellweger is an RFA who needs a new contract, and he will turn 23 years old in September.

Let's break it down.

What Buffalo Gets

In all fairness, Zellweger is a player I've been excited about since he was a prospect and just keep waiting for the breakout, so there might be a bit of a bias here. His ice time has declined in each of his three seasons in the NHL, though, so it seems as if Anaheim was done waiting for that breakout, too. In fairness to Zellweger, he has 164 regular season games, meaning he'll cross that important 200-game threshold sometime before Christmas, assuming he stays healthy.

There is a bit of a weird profile for Zellweger. Tracking data from All Three Zones has him being heavily involved on zone entries, he loves carrying the puck in, and he gets lots of individual scoring chances. The issue is that his playmaking hasn't been up to snuff so while he can start and end plays, he hasn't shown a penchant for setting up his teammates. It makes him unique, but it also presents a problem: he loves having the puck on his stick, and he's good in transition with the puck on his stick, but it doesn't result in elevating the scoring of his teammates. Add that to some suspect defensive play – he can get caught out of position because of how much he has the puck – and the offence he’s shown doesn't live up to what he could bring, which makes those defensive issues even more glaring. There is a reason why he fell out of favour in Anaheim.

It isn't hard to see Zellweger taking that next step and adding some playmaking to his profile; he is still quite early in his NHL career. Going to Buffalo, though, keeps him down the depth chart. Even if they're a similar scoring team to Anaheim, Zellweger is no higher than the #4 defenceman, and could very easily be on the third pair. In other words, he might not get much more than 17-18 minutes a night with second PP time, and that means modest fantasy value.

This isn't great news for Owen Power. When Byram was traded, Power looked like he had a straight path to the second PP unit, and now he has to contend with Zellweger. Maybe they're both on the second unit, but competition, in this case, is not good for Power's fantasy upside.

Zellweger being moved means Pavel Mintyukov could very well be the Anaheim’s #2 defenceman next season, and is temporarily good news for the fantasy values of guys like Tyson Hinds and Ian Moore (if they leave him as a defenceman). However, Anaheim is sure to add some pieces to their defence group as they have three UFAs and now Zellweger is gone. It leaves a lot of gaps, and the Ducks are likely to go get at least a couple of middle-of-the-road blue liners, if not a top-end name, in the trade market or free agency (or both).

Who This Helps

Pavel Mintyukov

Tyson Hinds

Ian Moore

Tristan Luneau

Who This Hurts

Owen Power

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Zach Metsa

Radim Mrtka