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Emily KaplanESPN
The Anaheim Ducks traded defenseman Brandon Montour to the Buffalo Sabres for a first round pick and prospect Brendan Guhle.
The Sabres have three first-round picks in the 2019 draft, and Anaheim gets a choice of either first-rounder Buffalo got from San Jose and St. Louis.
Montour, 24, has a $3.3875 million cap hit and is under contract through the 2019-20 season. He is a right-shot defenseman and has five goals and 20 assist in 62 games this season while averaging a career-high 22:40 a night.
The Anaheim Ducks are in transition after firing coach Randy Carlyle earlier this month; GM Bob Murray has taken over coaching on an interim basis for the rest of the season. Murray said he needed to be around the team every day to diagnose why the Ducks tailspinned. Anaheim had lost 19 of 21 games when Carlyle was fired on Feb. 10. At 24-29-6, Anaheim is currently out of a playoff spot while its .460 points percentage is the fifth-worst in the league.
Buffalo, meanwhile, has not made the playoffs in seven seasons, the second-longest drought in the league. After riding a 10-game winning streak in November which put Buffalo atop the NHL standings, the Sabres have tumbled. Since the winning streak was snapped on Nov. 29, the Sabres have gone 12-18-6. Only the Red Wings, Ducks and Senators have worst records in that span.
The Sabres are currently six points out of the second wild card in the East.
Guhlle, 21, is a defenseman whom was originally drafted 51st overall by the Sabres in 2015. He has mostly been playing in the AHL this season, but has appeared in 23 NHL games over the last three seasons.