Darcy Regier has made his first NHL trade in the free agency season, by re-acquiring former Sabres and now former New Jersey Devils defenseman Henrik Tallinder.
Tallinder, who played for the Sabres from 2001 until 2010, played in 25 games last season for the New Jersey Devils, totaling 1 goal and 3 assists. In exchange for the Tallinder, the Sabres sent 2010 seventh round pick Riley Boychuk to New Jersey, who didn’t really have a chance of cracking anything other than the Amerks roster.
Tallinder, 34, played three seasons with the Devils after leaving Buffalo in free agency in 2010. After playing the full 82 game season his first year in New Jersey, he has had trouble remaining in the lineup. In 2011 he played only 39 games and only played in about half of the Devils games during the shortened season.
He comes with a hefty cap hit of 3.375 million on the final year of his contract, which New Jersey is happy to erase off their checkbooks to help re-sign players like Marek Zidlicky. The Sabres paid a very small price to take him off New Jersey’s hands, a player who at best is a career AHLer and spent a decent amount of time this year in the ECHL.
The move could also be to help spark Tyler Myers, who was paired with Tallinder during Henrik’s last year in Buffalo. Myers hasn’t been the same player since Tallinder’s departure following Myers’ Calder Trophy winning season. Although Tallinder is getting up there in age, at 34 he could once again serve as a mentor to one of the Sabres most underachieving players.
Tallinder joins a crowded Sabres blueline, which now consists of Tyler Myers, Christian Ehrhoff, Mike Weber, Jamie McBain, Alex Sulzer, Mark Pysyk, and Chad Ruhwedel as well as up-and-comers like Brayden McNabb and draft pick Rasmus Ristolainen.