BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Rasmus Dahlin doesn’t recall being this excited on NHL trade deadline day.
Having endured only losing during his previous seven seasons in Buffalo, the Sabres captain was practically giddy — “I’m fired up,” he said after practice Friday — about the team adding rather than unloading talent to what’s become a bona fide playoff contender.
“It’s a new thing for me. It feels like back in the days of Frolunda,” Dahlin said, referring
to his days as a teenager playing for the Swedish Elite League team a decade ago.
“I mean, this is why you play hockey. This is what it should feel like,” he added. “This is the beginning for something great. I’m happy we’re finally here.”
Emphasis on finally.
A franchise in the midst of an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought is showing signs of an upward trajectory.
Buffalo entered the day tied with Tampa Bay atop the Atlantic Division standings and added depth to strengthen its playoff run. The surging Sabres are on a 26-5-2 roll following a 5-1 win over Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
General manager Jarmo Kekalainen, who took over in December, completed trades on Thursday to acquire defensemen Luke Schenn and Logan Stanley from Winnipeg and center Sam Carrick from the New York Rangers. Kekalainen then completed another trade with Winnipeg by adding journeyman forward Tanner Pearson on Friday.
And he did so without altering the Sabres' roster, with defenseman Jacob Bryson the only regular to depart.
“We have faith in the group. We don’t want to disrupt something that’s going really well — the chemistry, they have fun together, they believe in each other, they trust each other,” Kekalainen said. “But they’ve also put the work in. I think they’re all realizing it’s been paying off.”
The four players add experience — Schenn is a two-time Stanley Cup-winner — and grit to a young team whose players, for the most part, have never been in the thick of a playoff race.
“It’s exactly what we need,” said Dahlin, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft. “It’s unbelievable. We’re doing our job and he’s doing his job — Jarmo’s doing a great job.”
Kekalainen joined the Sabres as a senior adviser in May, and took over after Kevyn Adams was fired in mid-December. The 59-year-old from Finland previously spent 11 seasons as Columbus’ GM and carved out a reputation for making bold, aggressive moves.
He took that approach in the week leading up to the trade deadline, which included Buffalo agreeing to a framework of a trade to land St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko. The trade fell through when the Canadian Olympian invoked his no-trade clause to stay in St. Louis.
Kekalainen declined to go into much detail on Parayko, saying he doesn’t comment on what he called “unfinished business.” The vetoed move didn’t stop him from pursuing other trades to reward the Sabres for their run of success.
“They’ve earned all the help we can give them as management,” Kekalainen said.
Buffalo’s 37 wins are already one better than the team's total last year and the most through 62 games since the Sabres had 41 over that span in 2006-07. It was the same season in which the Sabres last won a playoff round in reaching the Eastern Conference finals before losing to Ottawa.
Lindy Ruff was the coach then and is now in the second year of his second stint in Buffalo.
“When I took the job, I said I wanted them to love being a Buffalo Sabre and love playing hockey,” Ruff said.
“We’ve learned a lot as a group through adversity, and we’ve got a long ways to go,” he added. “But the group has really come together, and it’s a tribute to all those guys in the room.”
Carrick is expected to join the team as early as Saturday, when Buffalo hosts the Nashville Predators. ... The former Jets players’ arrivals are uncertain, due in part to visa issues. ... Kekalainen said forward Juri Kulich will miss the remainder of the season while being treated for blood clots. Kulich has been out since early November. Kekalainen isn’t certain how much time he’ll miss in saying: “The doctors are hopeful this will get resolved before we prepare for next season.”
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