Per NHL.com:

After having his rights traded twice in the past 48 hours, Christian Ehrhoff has found his new home — with the Buffalo Sabres.

The coveted offensive defenseman, who was due to become an unrestricted free agent at noon Friday, agreed to terms on a contract with the Sabres on Thursday. Multiple sources are reporting that the deal is worth $40 million over 10 years.

“I was originally going to wait and see what was available on the free agent market,” Ehrhoff said in a statement released by the team. “After the Sabres acquired my rights and I spoke with [owner] Terry Pegula and [General Manager] Darcy Regier, I did my due diligence on the team and I was very impressed. I called some former teammates and others in the NHL who also had great things to say and I was aware that Robyn Regehr had waived his no-trade clause in his contract this week to join the Sabres. My goal is to win the Stanley Cup, and after the offer I received from Buffalo, I believe this is the best place to make it happen.”

Ehrhoff, who had a career-high 50 points and tied a career-best with 14 goals this past season with the Vancouver Canucks, became property of the New York Islanders briefly when they acquired his rights from the Canucks on Tuesday for a fourth-round draft pick. The Islanders then turned around and traded Ehrhoff’s rights to the Sabres on Wednesday for a fourth-rounder.

A fourth-round pick by the San Jose Sharks in the 2001 Entry Draft, Ehrhoff, who turns 29 on July 6, has compiled 53 goals, 226 points, a plus-74 rating and 338 penalty minutes in 500 NHL games with the Sharks and Canucks. He also has 7 goals and 34 points in 73 postseason games, including 2 goals and 12 points as Vancouver went to the Stanley Cup Final this past season.

Per NHL.com:

The Buffalo Sabres are the latest team to hold the rights to defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, who is set to become an unrestricted agent at noon on Friday.

The New York Islanders obtained Ehrhoff’s rights from the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday for a fourth-round pick in the 2012 Entry Draft, but failed to negotiate a new contract with him and engineered a deal with the Sabres to acquire Buffalo’s fourth-round pick in 2012.

According to a report in Newsday, the Islanders broke off talks with Ehrhoff after the two sides failed to reach an agreement before a 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline imposed by General Manager Garth Snow.

“We made a significant offer,” Snow told the newspaper. “I don’t want to get into specific numbers, but I felt like we made a good offer and a good run to get Christian to sign.”

Snow wouldn’t reveal the contract terms, but Newsday reported it was “well north” of the five-year, $23 million contract fellow blueliner Kevin Bieksa received earlier this week.

Ehrhoff is one of the game’s best at adding offense from the blue line. The 28-year-old had a career-high 14 goals and 36 assists in 79 games last season. He had 2 goals and 10 assists in 23 playoff games, but struggled mightily during the Stanley Cup Final as he played through a shoulder injury he suffered in the Western Conference Finals.

Per Working the Corners:

Here’s the trade: Sharks send defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich to Vancouver for two prospects, center Patrick White and defenseman Daniel Rahimi.

In addition to unclogging things at the blue line, salary was a factor.

The trade, GM Doug Wilson said in a prepared statement, shows confidence in the Sharks own prospects on the blue line and also “creates some flexibility in our team payroll for potential future transactions as the season progresses and adds two more talented players to our reserve list that can help this organization in the future.”