Buffalo Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers will be among the top players to watch as the NHL trade deadline approaches, and one elite Western Conference team has expressed interest, Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reported Friday.
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The Anaheim Ducks are one of the top Stanley Cup contenders and own the league’s best record with 74 points. That said, the Ducks still lack the ideal amount of size on their blue line, and Myers certainly would address that need with his 6-foot-8, 220-pound frame.
The issue with Myers is that he has failed to realize his potential after a fantastic Calder Trophy-winning rookie season.
Myers tallied 48 points in 2009-10, but his scoring totals have declined in each non-lockout season since. The 25-year-old blueliner also lacks the defensive skills to be a shut-down player. Any team that acquires Myers would be betting on him reaching that level again, and not much has happened over the last four-plus years to suggest that he will.
What would the Ducks have to give up to acquire Myers? Lavoie discussed that Friday on Buffalo radio station WGR-AM.
“That’s interesting because yesterday I received a phone call early in the morning about Tyler Myers from somebody in the league and it was about the Ducks and it said that they’re talking a lot right now,” Lavoie said. “I was surprised by the names that I was hearing. I think what the Sabres are looking at is another (defenseman) in return. The name that was in was Cam Fowler, who’s a young (defenseman), obviously, with the Ducks. And another player could be involved if that trade comes up. So it’s going to be Tyler Myers for, let’s say, a defenseman like Cam Fowler and another player. Is it going to happen? I don’t know.”
Fowler is a much better player than Myers right now and still has plenty of room for his improvement. Luckily for the Ducks, they have a surplus of talented young defensemen to use in a deal before the trade deadline.
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Hoffman/USA TODAY Sports Images.
WGR transcript via Nichols On Hockey.
