Former Maple Leaf Connor Timmins Officially Traded to the Buffalo Sabres in Surprise Move

On the second day of the NHL Draft, there are certainly still a lot of moves that the teams can pull off. We've already seen several pick swaps, and the surprising slip of Malcolm Spence.

But it seems we've got some players being exchanged as well. The Pittsburgh Penguins have traded both Conor Timmins and Isaac Belliveau to the Buffalo Sabres for the 39th pick in the 2025 Draft as well as Connor Clifton.

It's the second time Timmins is on the move in the last few months, being traded at the deadline to Pittsburgh as a cap dump, which reunited him with former GM Kyle Dubas.

He hadn't been a factor in the Maple Leafs system since being acquired in 2022 for center Curtis Douglas; Douglas has yet to play in the NHL. It's not for a lack of skill though, as Timmins was quietly one of Toronto's better defenders, but the offensive game wasn't as strong as they had hoped.

Douglas however is a 6'9, 235-pound center, which not only would have fit perfectly with the Maple Leafs current system but add a mountain of a man.

With the new regime change and a focus on size, strength and physicality, there was no real place for Timmins and it was thought that Dubas would be more than happy to keep him around, but clearly decided against it.

Timmins, 26, had 15 points in 68 games with both Toronto and Pittsburgh, and has 46 career points in 159 games with a plus-21 rating; he was drafted 32nd overall in 2017.

The other pieces exchanged aren't too shabby either. Pittsburgh selected Peyton Kettles with the pick, and added rugged two-way defender Clifton; who had 16 points, 116 blocks, and 208 hits; not bad for a 5'11 defender.

Belliveau, 22, hasn't made his NHL debut yet, and has spent time split between the AHL and ECHL. He was drafted 154th overall by the Penguins in 2021.

It's just the start of what's expected to be a busy day for the NHL GM's, and it looks like Kyle Dubas and Kevyn Adams are getting a pretty good head start.