The Buffalo Sabres need help up front, and the Pittsburgh Penguins have become a logical place to shop.
Buffalo could use another top-six winger early in the season, and the Penguins’ rough start has already pushed several of their players into trade chatter. Two names stand out for the Sabres: Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell.
Rust would fit the bill as the kind of veteran winger Buffalo could plug into its top six, especially after moving on from Alex Tuch this off-season. He’s dealing with a lower-body injury right now, but he is expected back next month. If Pittsburgh is still struggling when he returns, the Sabres should be paying attention.
In nine games this season, Rust has three goals and five points. He also scored at least 29 goals and finished with 65 points in both 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Rakell brings a different but equally appealing option. The 33-year-old has been in trade rumors for a while, and he’d be an interesting add for Buffalo. He has six goals and 10 points in 18 games this season, but his recent stretch has been stronger, with five goals and six points over his last seven games.
There’s also a bigger offensive ceiling if he rediscovers the form he showed in 2024-25, when he put up 35 goals and 70 points in 81 games. Even last season, he still produced 24 goals and 48 points in 60 games, which is enough to suggest he could give Buffalo’s attack a real boost.
In Other News...
Sabres Suddenly Face A Bigger Problem Than One Bad Loss
The Sabres latest stumble against Tampa Bay did more than add another loss to the ledger. It sharpened the questions already hanging over a team that has been trying to find some consistency, with Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson both pointing to the need for sharper play across the board. When a game ends with the kind of defensive breakdowns, shaky goaltending and special-teams issues Buffalo has been dealing with, it becomes less about one bad night and more about a pattern the club has to confront.
Thompson still gave Buffalo something to build on with his offensive work, and he remains on pace for a strong scoring season. But the bigger concern for the Sabres is whether that production can matter if the rest of the lineup keeps leaving them exposed. The grades from the game reflected that imbalance, and for a team trying to climb out of its own way, the margin for these kinds of losses is getting thinner. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Loss To Tampa Exposed A Problem Fans Wont Ignore
The Sabres latest trip through Tampa Bay turned into one of those nights that can linger long after the final horn. The Lightning jumped out fast with four goals, Buffalo briefly steadied itself by scoring three straight to make things interesting, and then the game slipped away again in a way that felt all too familiar for a team still trying to find consistency in its own end.
Nikita Kucherov was at the center of the damage for Tampa Bay, and the sequence that followed Buffalos push only sharpened the frustration. After the Sabres allowed a goal on a backhand shot, the response on the bench said plenty about how the night was unfolding, and it left another reminder of how quickly a game can tilt when the margin for error disappears. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Let This One Slip Away After Brief Third-Period Hope
Buffalo had a brief jolt of life in the third period at KeyBank Center, enough to make it feel for a moment like the Sabres might have a path back into a game that had tilted heavily toward Tampa Bay. Josh Doan, Jason Zucker and Tage Thompson each found the net for Buffalo, while Colten Ellis was left to absorb a heavy workload in a night that quickly became about chasing the puck and trying to slow down a Lightning attack that kept finding answers.
The trouble was Tampa Bay kept stacking them up, with John Carlson driving the offense and Andrei Vasilevskiy steadying things behind him. Nikita Kucherov was the headliner, and his night only grew more decisive as the third period unfolded, turning Buffalos flicker of hope into another reminder of how quickly a game can slip away when a contender starts rolling. [Read more 🡒]