The Buffalo Sabres have had a busy offseason, but they may be prepared to make another move as unrestricted free agent Johnny Oduya is on the club's radar.
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Oduya, who has spent the last four seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks and won the Stanley Cup with them twice -- including last month -- is expected to decide whether or not to stay in the Windy City sometime this week.
The Sabres are holding out hope that they can add the Swede to their blue line.
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"He hasn't signed anywhere yet, so I haven't moved on," Sabres general manager Tim Murray told the Buffalo News on Sunday. "We've looked at everybody we feel are going to need waivers. We're still talking trades with teams. We're still talking about a couple guys that are still out there, but there's no hurry."
Buffalo is in need of a left-handed shot on defense and Oduya could bring the kind of experience the team needs to anchor its defensive corps.
The Blackhawks have made several key moves this season to build salary cap space, trading Brandon Saad to the Columbus Blue Jackets and then dealing Patrick Sharp to the Dallas Stars in a move that brought defenseman Trevor Daley to Chicago.
Though they received Daley, the Blackhawks haven't closed the door on re-signing Oduya.
"I'm not going to rule anything out or rule it in," general manager Stan Bowman said Friday, according to NHL.com. "It's still sort of a fluid situation. ... We're getting closer to a point where we can say that this is officially our team, but we're not there yet."
After finishing last in the NHL in wins (23) and points (54) and missing the playoffs for the fourth straight year in 2014-15, Buffalo has made steps to improve.
The Sabres hired 2009 Stanley Cup winner Dan Bylsma to be the new head coach and drafted elite prospect Jack Eichel No. 2 overall last month while making several trades, including one for center Ryan O'Reilly.
Oduya, 33, had two goals and 10 points in the regular season and averaged 20:17 time on ice for the Blackhawks while rating a plus-5. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, he notched five assists and logged heavy minutes, averaging 24:45 time on ice en route to winning it all.
In his 11-year career spent with the New Jersey Devils, Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets and Blackhawks, Oduya is 31-121--152 and owns a plus-58 rating while averaging 20:11 time on ice.
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