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Sabres, Senators swap seven AHL players

The Buffalo Sabres, parent club of the AHL’s Rochester Americans, have acquired forwards Cole SchneiderEric O’Dell and Alex Guptill, as well as defenseman Michael Sdao, from the Ottawa Senators, parent club of the AHL’s Binghamton Senators, in exchange for forwards Jason Akeson and Phil Varone and defenseman Jerome Leduc.

Schneider, 25, is leading Binghamton in scoring this season with 17 goals and 25 assists for 42 points in 54 games. The fourth-year pro from Williamsville, N.Y., has appeared in 263 career AHL games, all with Binghamton, totaling 83 goals and 108 assists for 191 points.

O’Dell, 25, is tops on Binghamton with 18 goals and has added 19 assists for 37 points in 50 games this season. A fifth-year pro from Ottawa, Ont., has skated in 230 career AHL games with Binghamton, St. John’s and Chicago, recording 90 goals and 95 assists for 185 points.

O’Dell, a Calder Cup finalist with St. John’s in 2014, has played 41 NHL games in his career with Winnipeg, recording three goals and five assists for eight points. He was originally a second-round draft choice by Anaheim in 2008.

Guptill, 23, has one assist in three games with Binghamton this season. He has spent most of 2015-16 in the ECHL, totaling 14 goals and nine assists in 38 games between Evansville and Manchester.

Guptill was a third-round draft choice by Dallas in 2010. The second-year pro from Burlington, Ont., has registered nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points in 69 AHL games with Binghamton and Texas.

Sdao, 26, has notched two assists in 17 AHL games for Binghamton in 2015-16. The third-year pro from Niwot, Colo., has totaled nine goals and nine assists in 123 career AHL contests, all with the Senators.

Akeson, 25, has eight goals and 22 assists for a team-best 30 points in 52 games for Rochester this season. The fifth-year pro from Orleans, Ont., has appeared in 317 AHL games with Adirondack/Lehigh Valley and Rochester, notching 89 goals and 166 assists for 255 points.

Akeson has played 15 career NHL games, all with Philadelphia, and has one goal and one assist. He added two goals and one assist in seven games with the Flyers during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Varone, 25, has 13 goals and 19 assists for 32 points in 44 games with Rochester this season, his fifth pro campaign. The native of Vaughan, Ont., has tallied 68 goals and 156 assists for 224 points in 306 career AHL games, all with the Amerks.

Originally drafted by San Jose in 2009 (fifth round), Varone has five goals and four assists in 42 career NHL games with Buffalo.

Leduc, 23, has seven goals and nine assists for 16 points in 54 games with Rochester this season. The fourth-year pro from Quebec City has appeared in 229 AHL games, all with the Amerks, totaling 19 goals and 39 assists for 58 points.

Leduc was a third-round draft choice by Buffalo in 2010.