The Buffalo Sabres didn’t make a long shopping list this offseason, but one of their few moves is already getting attention around the league. Sportsnet recently ranked the 12 best under-the-radar offseason moves, and the Sabres’ trade for Olen Zellweger made the cut.
Buffalo landed Zellweger soon after sending Bowen Byram to the Chicago Blackhawks, and the price was modest: prospect Anton Wahlberg and an early second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
For a 22-year-old defenseman with 164 NHL games already on his résumé and a career-high 22 points last season, that’s a pretty manageable swing. Zellweger isn’t without questions, though. His role shrank late in the season, and he was a healthy scratch for the first nine games of the Ducks’ playoff run.
Even so, when he finally got back on the ice, he made it count. Zellweger scored the game-tying goal in Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights, before Anaheim eventually fell in overtime.
What makes him so appealing is the skill set Buffalo is betting on. As David Morassutti of Sportsnet pointed out, Zellweger is one of the fastest defensemen in the NHL. He can skate, transport the puck, and push play the other way - traits the Sabres clearly value.
"He ranked among the NHL's fastest-skating defencemen, according to NHL Edge, sitting fifth in speed bursts between 20 and 22 m.p.h. behind Matthew Schaefer, Cale Makar, Jake Sanderson and Quinn Hughes.
Zellweger's ability to carry the puck and generate offence from the back end also stands out as he controlled 53.3 per cent of shot attempts at five-on-five while on the ice, tied for the best mark among the team's regular defencemen."
Buffalo had one more step to finish after the trade, since Zellweger was a restricted free agent at the time. The two sides later settled on a three-year contract, giving him time to grow into the Top 4 role the Sabres want him to fill alongside Owen Power and as a possible replacement for Byram.
General manager Jarmo Kekalainen also spoke about Zellweger soon after the deal, saying games played is a useful way to judge a defenseman. That idea has come up before in Buffalo, where there’s a belief that blue-liners often need about 200 games before the game really starts to slow down.
Mattias Samuelsson fit that pattern last season. He crossed the 200-game threshold and turned in a breakout year. Zellweger is already at 164 games, so if he stays healthy, he should hit that same benchmark soon enough.
If Buffalo’s read is correct, this could wind up looking like one of the sharpest moves of the offseason.
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