{"id":727806,"date":"2026-06-26T19:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/727806\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T19:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:47:12","slug":"buffalo-sabres-acquire-olen-zellweger-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/727806\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo Sabres Acquire Olen Zellweger \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Buffalo Sabres have acquired defenseman Olen Zellweger<\/a> from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for the No. 45 pick at the 2026 draft, as well as prospect center Anton Wahlberg<\/a>. The teams have officially announced the swap.<\/p>\n

Zellweger, 22, is a pending restricted free agent, who does not have arbitration rights. An early 2021 second-round pick, Zellweger has been a full-time NHL player for last two seasons. He broke into the league as a 20-year-old rookie late in the 2023-24 season. Zellweger is a somewhat undersized defenseman (he stands 5\u201910\u201d, 193 pounds) but has nonetheless been able to move the puck well and produce exceptional levels of offense at the junior and AHL level.<\/p>\n

A star in the WHL who once scored 29 points in a 14-game playoff run, Zellweger carried over his strong track record of scoring from junior hockey to his rookie campaign in the pros. In his 44-game AHL rookie campaign, Zellweger produced 37 points. What\u2019s been missing for Zellweger thus far has been similar levels of production at the NHL level. While he\u2019s shown he can be an asset in transition and provide strong puck-moving play, he\u2019s managed 51 points in 164 career NHL games \u2013 which is a 26-point 82-game pace. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Zellweger was the Ducks\u2019 No. 5 defenseman this past season, averaging just under 17 minutes of ice time per game with just under a minute of ice time per game on both sides of special teams.<\/p>\n

That represented a notable step back from 2024-25, when he averaged 18:57 time on ice per game, including 2:24 time on ice per game on the power play, which led all Ducks blueliners.<\/p>\n

As his performances in the WHL and AHL showed, Zellweger can be most valuable as an offensive contributor when he\u2019s able to see some time on the power play and make the most of his abilities as a mover and distributor of the puck. That only came out in flashes with the Ducks, but the Sabres will hope they can get the best out of his skill set in Buffalo.<\/p>\n

The addition of Zellweger could threaten Zach Metsa<\/a>\u2018s spot on the Sabres depth chart. Metsa plays a similar style to Zellweger as an undersized defenseman oriented towards offense, and despite playing in 43 NHL games, Metsa was unable to secure a consistent role under head coach Lindy Ruff.<\/p>\n

He averaged under 11 minutes of time on ice per game. The addition of Zellweger would appear to threaten Metsa\u2019s odds of stepping into a larger role on Buffalo\u2019s defense, though there could still be a spot for him to stick on the roster as a seventh defenseman.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s trade comes in the aftermath of the trade that sent Bowen Byram<\/a> away from the Sabres to the Chicago Blackhawks. Byram quarterbacked Buffalo\u2019s second power play unit and was the team\u2019s second-best offensive defenseman behind captain Rasmus Dahlin<\/a>. Zellweger hasn\u2019t shown himself to be at Byram\u2019s level, but he does have considerable potential and plays a similar style. He could end up paired alongside right-hander Louis Crevier<\/a> on Buffalo\u2019s third pairing.<\/p>\n

In exchange for Zellweger, the Sabres sent a second-rounder to the Ducks alongside Wahlberg. Anaheim has a large number of young defensemen in its system, and while the loss of Zellweger will hurt to an extent, it\u2019s not a loss the Ducks are unable to afford. The Ducks are on the ascent and hoping to make a deeper playoff run next season. They may prefer to devote the lineup spot previously occupied by Zellweger to a more experienced blueliner.<\/p>\n

If Zellweger achieves his immense potential at the NHL level, the return the Ducks have received may feel a bit light. But at this moment, it\u2019s not an insignificant return whatsoever. The No. 45 pick is a valuable piece in its own right, and Wahlberg is a quality prospect. The 20-year-old was drafted in the second round (No. 39 overall) of the 2023 draft, and has spent the last two seasons as a middle-six center for the AHL\u2019s Rochester Americans.<\/p>\n

He scored a career-high 38 points in 68 games last season, and added three points in three playoff games. The 6\u20194\u2033, 205-pound natural pivot was ranked as the No. 9 prospect in the Sabres\u2019 system by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, who said he \u201cmay have a decent NHL career as a bottom-sixer if developed properly.\u201d That development will now continue in a new organization.<\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buffalo Sabres have acquired defenseman Olen Zellweger from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for the No. 45…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4830,312962,1809,385,312963,99],"class_list":["post-727806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anton-wahlberg","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-nhl","tag-olen-zellweger","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}