The Buffalo Sabres are still trying to reshape their forward group, and one of their most productive young wingers keeps coming up as the piece most likely to move. Multiple outlets, including NHL Trade Rumors and ClutchPoints, report that Buffalo has been actively dangling Jack Quinn in trade talks and has been doing so since before the draft.
On the surface, that looks like an odd player to shop. Quinn, 24, is coming off a career year: 20 goals and 51 points in all 82 games in 2025-26. He carries a bargain $3.75 million cap hit. The complication is the term. Quinn has just one season left before he becomes a restricted free agent next summer, when a raise built on that production would land well north of his current number. Trading him now, rather than paying that bill, is the kind of cold accounting a rebuilding team has to weigh.
Quinn’s name is not new to the rumor mill. According to reporting aggregated at Sabre Noise, he was part of the package Buffalo offered the Winnipeg Jets for goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, a proposal said to include the fourth overall pick and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen before Winnipeg walked away over the asking price. That the Sabres were willing to attach him to a swing that big says plenty about how they value the rest of the roster relative to a genuine No. 1 goaltender.
The urgency to add scoring elsewhere grew after Alex Tuch left in a sign-and-trade with the Washington Capitals. Losing a top-line winger creates a hole that a Quinn trade would only widen, which is why the same reports link Buffalo to free agent Patrick Kane as a possible veteran replacement on the wing. None of that is finalized, and Buffalo could just as easily keep Quinn and let the season play out. But a team this openly willing to listen usually has a number in mind.
For fantasy purposes, Quinn is worth watching closely rather than banking on. A move to a team with more established scoring depth could cost him the power-play time that inflated his 51-point season, while a move to a club that needs top-six help could raise his ceiling. In dynasty and keeper formats his RFA status adds risk, but a 20-goal 24-year-old on a cheap deal will hold trade value in real life and in your league. Hold until his address is settled.
