Nathan Beaulieu wants to play a regular role for the Buffalo Sabres. Beaulieu will likely have to find a full time gig in another NHL city. The pending restricted free agent appears to have lost his regular left defense job to youngster Lawrence Pilut.
Beaulieu can't earn a lucrative new contract if he is sitting in the press box while wearing a designer Hugo Boss suit.
According to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, Beaulieu has asked Sabres GM Jason Botterill for a trade.
Beaulieu, 26, was acquired in the summer of 2017 in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens.
In 26 games this season, Beaulieu has scored three goals and four assists. The former first-round pick of the Habs is a healthy scratch again on Wednesday night in Calgary. Beaulieu has been a healthy scratch for 11 of the past 14 games.
Beaulieu plays his best hockey when he is on the third D pair. When his minutes are north of 15:00 TOI per game, he tends to make mistakes that leads to chances and goals against.
Pilut, the skilled Swedish import, was a healthy scratch for Buffalo's 7-2 loss in Edmonton on Monday night. Pilut, 23, signed a two-year entry level deal with the Sabres last summer after he was voted the Defenseman of The Year in the Swedish Elite League last season. Pilut started the season in AHL Rochester where he scored 3 goals and 19 assists in 16 games played this season. In 14 games played with the Sabres thus far thisseason, Pilut has a goal and four assists.
Pilut is earning $925K. Beaulieu earns $2.4 million.
Its plain and simple to see that the younger, cheaper, more skilled, more defensively responsible left shot D has impressed Phil Housley more than Beaulieu has.
The Sabres will welcome back injured D Casey Nelson in the near future. Matt Hunwick is also healthy.
Botterill can't keep rotating eight healthy D. Therefore, Beaulieu becomes the odd man out.
Left D is an area of depth and strength for the Sabres with Rasmus Dahlin, Marco Scandella, Jake McCabe, Lawrence Pilut, Nathan Beaulieu on the Buffalo roster. Brendan Guhle and Will Borgen as left shot D who will also be in the NHL in the next year.
In my opinion, Beaulieu has not been a good fit for Phil Housley's attacking style of play. Beaulieu loved to jump in the rush and can be a playmaker in the o-zone, however, he freelances in his own end of the rink far to often by making poor decisions with the puck.
Beaulieu is no stranger to turning over pucks in his own zone and in the neutral zone. Perhaps a change will do him good.
John Wawrow of the AP spoke with the agent for Beaulieu, who said Wednesday night that his client is not demanding a trade. Beaulieu wants more ice time in Buffalo.
Kent Hughes told the AP thatwhile he didn’t demand the Sabres trade his client, he did request they consider it if Beaulieu isn’t a focal point of their immediate and long term fplans with his contract set to expire July 1.
“He’s not unhappy with Buffalo, he’s just looking for more of an opportunity to play,” Hughes said by phone Wednesday night
Sabres GM Jason Botterill is not commenting on the Beaulieu trade rumors.
If Botterill chooses pass on Beaulieu, there will be several teams looking to trade for Beaulieu including Edmonton, NY Islanders, Philadelphia, Winnipeg, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Toronto to name a few.
More to come on this story....
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