Sabres trade Connor Clifton, No. 39 pick to Pittsburgh for Conor Timmins, Isaac Belliveau
The Sabres opened the second day of the NHL Draft by trading defenseman Connor Clifton and the No. 39 pick to Pittsburgh for defensemen Conor Timmins and Isaac Belliveau.
The Sabres opened the second day of the NHL draft by making a trade.
Instead of drafting at No. 39 on Saturday, the Sabres traded the pick and defenseman Connor Clifton to the Pittsburgh Penguins for defensemen Conor Timmins and Isaac Belliveau.
Timmins, 26, scored three goals and had 12 assists in 68 games with Toronto and Pittsburgh, and the 6-foot-3, 213-pound defenseman is the second right-handed defenseman the Sabres have acquired this week, joining Michael Kesselring from Utah.
Buffalo Sabres right winger Connor Clifton (75) skates up ice with the puck against the Philadelphia Flyers
during the second period at the KeyBank Center on Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)
Belliveau, 22, is a 6-2 left-handed defenseman who has split the last two seasons between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League and Wheeling of the East Coast Hockey League. He has seven points in 24 career AHL games.
Clifton, 30, is a right-handed defenseman who will enter his eighth NHL season. He scored one goal with 15 assists and was minus-6 in 73 games with the Sabres in 2024-25. He primarily played on the Sabres’ third defense pairing last season.
Clifton is set to enter his final year of his contract, and was a $3.3 million cap hit.
Timmons is set to become a restricted free agent Tuesday, and has a cap hit of $1.1 million.
The NHL draft continued with rounds 2-7 in Los Angeles. The Sabres selected Radim Mrtka, a defenseman from Czechia who played for Seattle of the Western Hockey League, at No. 9 in the first round Friday.