New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres Complete Cross-State Deadline Acquisition

Nicolas Aube-Kubel a Ranger (and Erik Brannstrom a Sabre) after Trade

The trade must begin with the playoff-calibre team, sorry Brannstrom. The New York Rangers are heavily entrenched in the Eastern Conference wild card race. Thus, an addition like this on the trade deadline is noteworthy. Kubel has been between the NHL and AHL this season, but as a NHL player. Therefore, his style is calibrated for the playoff game. In 19 games for the Sabres this year, he has two points in 19 games. He’s a physical player, who four seasons in the NHL has recorded 100 or more hits. Having made trades like the J.T. Miller acquisition and shipping out Ryan Lindgren, it has been an adventurous stretch for the Rangers organization.

Erik Brannstrom Joins the Buffalo Sabres

With the trade of Brannstrom and Aube-Kubel trade there are some things to consider. Brannstrom has had a slow development through the Ottawa Senators program. However, it was somewhat a slow development for the 25 year old. Brannstrom is extremely skilled. Furthermore, in his career, he is up to 67 assists and 77 points in 294 career regular season games.

In 2021-22, he was playing nearly 20 minutes a game. He is a nearly elite skater, he could succeed under different circumstances. In addition, he requires power play to thrive. In a little over 330 career minutes on the power play, he was comfortably over three poitsn/60 minutes three times. Also, he was partnered up with Thomas Chabot quite often. It was difficult to think that he was the problem. Therefore, he really wasn’t given opportunity under the former general manager Pierre Dorion regime.