{"id":484499,"date":"2026-03-04T17:59:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=484499"},"modified":"2026-03-04T17:59:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:59:43","slug":"buffalo-sabres-closing-in-deal-acquire-defenceman-2025-26-nhl-trade-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/03\/04\/buffalo-sabres-closing-in-deal-acquire-defenceman-2025-26-nhl-trade-deadline\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo Sabres Very Close to Acquiring Big Name Defenceman from St. Louis Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis Blues have reportedly agreed to a trade. The trade sends a depth defender to Buffalo in exchange for a 2026 first-round pick and 2025 ninth-overall pick, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/05\/27\/radim-mrtka-scouting-report-2025-nhl-draft\/\" target=\"_self\">Radim Mrtka<\/a>. Buffalo adds <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/parayco01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-04_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colton Parayko<\/a> to their blueline. At time of print, it is still pending player approval.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It\u2019s believed Parayko to Buffalo is going to happen.  Things are being finalized. Player needs to approve, etc.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DarrenDreger\/status\/2029308855604089038?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>The Buffalo Sabres are Buying in &#8217;26<\/h2>\n<p>Buffalo came into the week of the 2025-26 trade deadline looking for a veteran blue liner. That would be preferably a right-handed shot. They get both of those things, and get their trade done. It&#8217;s not <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/thomaro01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-04_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Thomas<\/a>, but this is a great add for the Sabres. They are wearing down their top-four defenceman, giving them all the ice time they can handle. With Parayko there to help, the burden eases on those four players.<\/p>\n<p>Parayko has just 14 points this season. But with the way Buffalo loves to activate their defencemen in the offensive zone, he should see a points bump. Parayko also adds some size, and a championship level of experience. He should be able to help out a young defensive group as they try to push into the playoffs for the<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/04\/14\/14-years-of-heartbreak-the-buffalo-sabres-playoff-drought-continues\/\" target=\"_self\"> first time in 14 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Parayko will join a stout blueline. Mainly with <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/dahlira01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-04_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rasmus Dahlin<\/a>, <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/powerow01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-04_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Owen Power<\/a>, <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/samuema02.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-04_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mattias Samuelsson<\/a>, and <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/byrambo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-04_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bowen Byram<\/a>. The add for Buffalo takes a lot of pressure off of those four skaters in particular. the good news, all of these players, including Parayko, are signed for next season as well.<\/p>\n<h3>First of Many Sells for the Blues<\/h3>\n<p>The Sabres and the Blues seemingly were in big trade talks yesterday for Thomas. Seemingly, both teams just couldn&#8217;t come to an agreement. Amidst those talks, Parayko&#8217;s name repeatedly came up. Hence, the trade today. But is this a sign that the Blues are full on rebuilding? We should know ahead of Friday&#8217;s deadline.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues still have a handful of players to move out if they are rebuilding. Thomas, <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kyroujo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-04_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jordan Kyrou<\/a>, <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/buchnpa01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-04_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pavel Buchnevich<\/a>, <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/f\/faulkju01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-04_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Justin Faulk<\/a>, and potentially others. The Blues general manager, Doug Armstrong, has some more decisions to make in the next couple. days. But here, they get a pick and a defensive prospect, a solid return for an aging asset.<\/p>\n<p>Overall this is a great trade for both sides. The Blues get a first round pick and a top-ten prospect from last year&#8217;s draft. And the Sabres get a really solid veteran blue liner that will help them win games now. Also, this sets the bar pretty high in the trade market for those right-shot defenceman. There will be more to come this week, stay tuned in here at the <em>Last Word On Hockey.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis Blues have reportedly agreed to a trade. The trade sends a depth defender to Buffalo in exchange for a 2026 first-round pick and 2025 ninth-overall pick, Radim Mrtka. Buffalo adds Colton Parayko to their blueline. At time of print, it is still pending player approval. It\u2019s believed Parayko [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5508,"featured_media":135666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4547,34,4548,32],"tags":[8278,718,8158],"class_list":["post-484499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sabres","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","category-blues","tag-2026-nhl-trade-deadline","tag-colton-parayko","tag-radim-mrtka"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5508"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484499"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":484541,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484499\/revisions\/484541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}