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Sabres place struggling Matt Moulson on waivers

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in the XX period of their game at T-Mobile Arena on October 17, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ethan Miller

The Buffalo Sabres have reportedly been trying to part ways with veteran forward Matt Moulson, but they haven’t found any takers.

On Monday, the team announced that they’ll be placing him on waivers with the purpose of assigning him to the minors.

When you take a quick look at Moulson’s contract, it’s easy to see why other teams weren’t beating down the door to acquire him via trade. The 34-year-old has one year remaining (after this season) on his contract at a cap hit of $5 million.

The fact that he has a 12-team no-trade list didn’t make this situation any easier for the player or the team.

Since signing the five-year, $25 million contract with the Sabres on July 1st, 2014, Moulson’s offensive totals have been beyond disappointing.

He went from 13 goals and 41 points in 2014-15, to eight goals and 21 points in 2015-16, to 14 goals and 32 points last season. This year, he has no points and a minus-9 rating in 14 contests.

“Yeah, I think it’s hard to (ignore what people are saying) sometimes. But I think once you start worrying about that, then you’ve got a little more problems than just hockey,” Moulson told the Buffalo News in November. “I think you’re at home thinking about a lot of things. Obviously you want to do well. I think any athlete that’s competitive wants to do well in a team environment and personally.

“Once you start listening to everything else, I think that comes back to just knowing yourself and what you do. I think a lot of people say things that don’t know what I do on a daily basis as a person. I don’t really let that bother me. I think what my family thinks of me is probably the most important.”

The only way Buffalo will be able to get rid of his contract is if they eat a portion of his salary. Also, a team will have to believe Moulson can help them on the man-advantage (11 of his 14 goals were scored on the power play last season).

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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.