Sabres trade Marco Scandella, acquire Michael Frolik in separate deal with Flames
The Buffalo Sabres are making moves, and making them fast.
After dealing defenceman Marco Scandella to the Montreal Canadiens for a fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft on Thursday night, the pick was then flipped to the Calgary Flames in exchange for forward Michael Frolik.
Scandella has spent his last three seasons with the Sabres after being part of the return for franchise forward Jason Pominville from the Minnesota Wild. Through the 176 games for Buffalo, he has scored 14 goals and 44 points while averaging 20:05 TOI.
Frolik has spent his last five seasons with the Flames after winning a championship with the Chicago Blackhawks and spending a brief couple of years in Winnipeg. During his time in Calgary, he became most known for his involvement on the “3M Line” with Matthew Tkachuk and Mikael Backlund — a possession-dominating forward group.
These corresponding moves come shortly after the Canadiens dealt defenceman Mike Reilly to the Ottawa Senators for forward Andrew Sturtz and a fifth-round selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft — making the room on the blue line for the 29-year-old defenceman.
Scandella carries a cap hit of $4 million for one more year, while Frolik has the same amount of time remaining on his contract, with a cap hit of $4.3 million.
The flurry of transactions essentially mean the Sabres have traded away a piece of their blue line for improving their non-existent depth at centre, while increasing their cap hit by $300,000.
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