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What if Dahlin wanted Peterka gone?

This always seemed a little crazy to me. Like, shouldn't the expectation be that the $8m player should elevate those around him. Not remove a solid homegrown talent just to make him serviceable?

I am underwhelmed by the return. I like the guys coming back, they have grit, which is in short supply. Kesselring could be a long term top 4 RHD, which is a need. Doan’s upside is limited imo, but he brings a Panthers like attitude. The Sabres got harder to play against. I wanted KA to do something and he did. JJP’s offence will need to be replaced, hopefully by a playmaker, because I believe Kulich can replace JJP’s goals. I can’t do anything about this, just wait and see and judge it by on ice performance. At least JJP won’t win a Cup in the short term.

He sure goes to the net.

Agreed. The seemingly inevitable Byram deal should tell us alot about whether KA is just continuing to nibble around the edges, or if he is super cereal this time.

I assume you feel differently about apples and oranges?

You act like there has been a series of poor trades. McLeod for Savoie? People reacted the same way as they are now, but McLeod came in and did well. It was what we all say we want: Use an asset to get better now and overpay if you have to. Cozens/Gilbert for Norris/JBD is TBD until we see what Norris brings. Mittelstadt for Byrum I guess is a wash until we see what Byrum brings in trade. Remember how Adams "overvalues his players?? Well, look at us now.

Not Robertson, but a MUCH better question. 😉 Danke.

Really enjoyed watching Peterka on the rush. Had been resigned to Peterka going out the door since the trade deadline when there was so much smoke about him getting traded then. But really wanted him to be a piece in a larger deal, not him being the big piece getting moved. This trade CAN work. But that margin for error on needing everything to go right just got smaller again. And referring to the post about how this should make the D better, well it might. But D-men often don't look as good in their 1st season in a new place as they did look. Still would've preferred punting Wilford to improve the defensive play; that one has a higher probability of helping THIS season.

I need to see the full offseason to really know for sure. If this is one of those culture change moments, there should be a lot of it.

Can someone gage my sketchy recollection of whether or not Kesserling came out of nowhere this year as an analytics darling? I just have no real memory of him being anything more than a 6th or 7th defenseman previously?

This trade practically guarantees Byram is going somewhere.

Yup, JJP is highly skilled, but this team has a problem playing as a team and it seems some of that was JJp, who wanted to score, but was skitchy on back checking. Him and Quinn were super fun to watch, but it was also a high wire act. Not sure if this is a case of "addition by subtraction" but it might be. Remember JJP slipped into the second round, in spite of all his talent. Maybe there is a reason for that.

Has any first overall draft pick lost in the final two years in a row?

During the tank years I was pretty adamant that a GM that waited until trade deadline to move players they did not expect to re-sign was a negligent Gm because they waited until value was minimized to make the move. I like this deal because KA moved JJP while his value was still high. I don’t like this move because it feels like we didn’t get equal value in return. This is an attempt to change the type of play on the ice. I think the team needs that desperately. Is it enough? Probably not, especially when we now have to overcome the loss of JJs offense. No easy task as currently it requires the current roster to perform above their past performances. I will withhold judgement until after Byram is moved.

I am with you here Ink. Just watching JJ play last year reminded me of Reinhart in his last year. Zero emotion. This team can score. This team cannot play defense. JJ was one of the biggest zeros in defensive play on the team. Scoring 30 does not mean crap if you give up 50! I do like both players that came back. IF they live up to what they can be then we did ok. Physical and forechecking. Yes please!! There is still work to be done, but i think we are all jaded with lack of playoffs. Defense just got better! Is that not part of the problem?

Don’t make an emotional reactionary response to this trade. In isolation it might draw a negative response but in a bigger context it is a step in making it a tougher and better team. The Sabres got a first or second pairing defender. That certainly addresses a desperate need. And we also added a grittier forward, another need. It appears that JJP deeply didn’t want to be here. So we ended up with pieces that addresses other needs. In my view this was a reasonable deal that helps to reshape the roster in a way it needs to be reshaped. Now let’s see what the follow up will be. Also, I see a Ruff influence here.

If JJP didn't want to be here, then yeah, get rid of him. I don't have a problem with either player that came back, just feels like it should've been more. But it's Adams, so I guess we should just be happy he didn't screw up worse.

You couldn't have asked a question where Robertson was the answer, could you?

I like the guys they got. Whether or not it’s equal value is irrelevant to me. The team needed a culture change. Getting bad players (Dylan Cozens) or offense only allergic to defense players (Peterka) off the roster in exchange for engaged, physical players is a win in my book.

At this point, I hope Adams trades every single prospect and the number nine pick for some decent NHL players to make one final run at the playoffs while my son is still in high school this time next year, I will have jumped ship completely. Just give me one playoff appearance this year and I promise I will go away.

Ok, i HATE the trade, but love what we got back. IMHO we did not get enough, unless Kesserling turns into that solid top 4 physical defensive dman (Which is well in his wheelhouse) and Doan turns into a solid insane forchecking 3rd liner. IF JJ stays where he currently is at and Doan and Kesserling are what we hope then the trade is good. If not, then we just got screwed!!! Either way, we got more physical and harder to play against and gave up a 30 goal scorer that does not know the word defense.

Looks absolutely abysmal.

It’s not about making the Sabres better, it’s about letting a player leave who, checks notes, don’t want to be here. i can’t wait till next summer when they trade Tage and Dahlin.

Two "decent" players but do not see how this makes us better. Guess I'll wait to see what else happens this summer to get a total picture to judge. Initial reaction is... underwhelmed.