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This is hard to answer. Teams rarely give up top 10ish draft choices. Late first rounders get dropped at deadlines by teams going all in but not a lot of first rounders get swapped at or near drafts. Krebs was a 4th line center on a bad hockey team. He's not worth much. Jokiharju harder to value. I'd think a high 2nd rounder? Johnson might spark some interest. Not for a first though. Rosen, Kulich and Östlund won't get you first rounders back imo but they might get you an NHL vet that can still play and you could get even better value if there's a team that wants to shed cap. They all have value in terms of upside and rookie contracts but none of them are sure thing NHLers at this point. If we want a top player we will have to package something up with more than one player/pick going out.

Pure conjecture and wishful thinking on your part. Simply put yourself in the mind of an NHL free agent. You are motivated by big money, a prime location, cup winning possibilities, somewhere your wife wants to be, tax concerns (related to the money) and/or some sort of attachment to a franchise or a desire to be in a certain place maybe with other players you know personally. (Did I forget anything?) Now, for just about all of them, does Buffalo fit those criteria? No it does not. Right now it'll take big money. Maybe if we break the losing and make the playoffs it'll change, but try to see it objectively. It's simply not a desirable location at this point in time. It just isn't.

I was going through some of the trades in the 1st rd the last couple of years in an attempt to try and gauge what type of players, picks or prospects we might receive in trade for our top tradeable assets. For example: What kind of asset can we expect in return for the 11th over pick? I really couldn't find a straight up swap involving the top 12 pick for a specific player. Most of the deals, like ours for Risto involve a package such as a 1st, a 2nd and a cap dump. What can we get for our top prospects like Rosen, Kulich or Östlund? Do Joki, Krebs or even Ryan Johnson have any trade value?

Green Bay Gamblers head coach Mike Leone takes job with Buffalo Sabres AHL affiliate GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Green Bay Gamblers head coach Mike Leone is taking a head coaching job with the Buffalo Sabres AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams and Rochester Americans general manager Jason Karmanos announced on Thursday that Leone will leave the United States Hockey League (USHL) for the American Hockey League (AHL). “I am pleased to welcome Mike Leone as the head coach of the Rochester Americans,” said Adams. “The Amerks head coach plays a crucial role in the overall success and growth of our organization, and after a rigorous interview process, it became clear that Mike was the right individual for the job. His development mindset and professional versatility over the course of his career were just some of the many qualities that stood out as we searched for an individual to continue focusing on combining both winning and development in Rochester.” Leone amassed a 66-41-10-7 record in his two seasons with Green Bay, leading the Gamblers to back-to-back 30-plus win seasons as well as consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in over a decade. Leone piloted Green Bay’s resurgence through the 2022-23 campaign, helping the team finish with the most wins (32) and points (71) since 2016-17. The following year saw the Gamblers capture two more wins and earn a third-place finish in the USHL’’’s Eastern Conference standings, culminating with a return trip to the postseason for the second straight year. “I’m extremely grateful and humbled to be a part of the Buffalo Sabres organization as the next head coach of the Rochester Americans,” said Leone. “I want to thank Kevyn Adams and Jason Karmanos for giving me the opportunity to lead the organization and believing in me. I look forward to meeting everyone in the organization and helping our prospects continue to grow and develop on and off the ice.” A native of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, Leone has extensive coaching experience at the international level, most recently serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. Junior Select team in 2023. He served in the same capacity with the 2022 U.S. Under-18 Men’s Select Team at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and at the 2021 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament, where he helped guide the U.S. to the championship. Additionally, Leone was an assistant coach at the 2021 IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship and was behind the bench for Team USA’s 2019 Under-17 Four Nations championship-winning team and for the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge, where the U.S. placed second. One final ride: Griffin Summers battles adversity to reach final season with Blue Ribbons Officials from the Green Bay Gamblers said they’re excited for Leone and wish him and his family the best of luck. Associate head coach Pat McCadden and assistant general manager/director of scouting Kirk Luedeke will lead the Gamblers’ main try-out camp, which will be held from Saturday, June 8, to Thursday, June 13, at the Resch Center. After camp is completed, the Gamblers will begin the process of filling the vacant head coach/general manager position.

Buffalo News has a lengthy Sabres-focused interview with new COO Pete Guelli. He says the Sabres are expecting a season ticket base of about 10,000 last year to grow about 10-15 %. New roof underway, new scoreboard ready by August, lots of other business-related tidbits, including an answer to everyone’s favourite ownership question. https://buffalonews.com/sports/professional/nhl/sabres/pete-guelli-coo-terry-pegula-buffalo-sabres-nhl-lindy-ruff/article_33306f9c-22a5-11ef-90ca-2b5da1025629.html

Forgot Housley. But in general, I think the only area that shows a clear pattern is when it comes to GMs. Which seems to make sense if you consider how that one is the Pegula hire.

Sidenote: there are rumblings on the interwebs that Montreal really likes Sennecke. Take it with a grain of salt cuz it's rumor season.

And yet here he is in his first finals.

Now lets add timelines. Coaches, going backwards…. Granato fits Housley fits Kreuger - minimal experience and out of the game at the time - push Bylsma - you got me GMs going backwards Adams fits Botteril fits Murray fits Roc HCs Leone fits Appert fits I have no idea after that. the rest are assistants, so they’ve managed to put some experienced assistants under their learning the job GMs and HCs. So the trend certainly appears to be less experienced as the Pegula reign carries on.

If either of them don't hit that it will be a major disappointment this coming season.

You can’t take anything for granted. But I don’t think it is a stretch to expect 25-30 goals and 50-60 points from each of Quinn and Peterka next year. Third-year forwards with their track records often have productive seasons simply through the experience they’ve gained. It’s a pace each produced at last year and there’s a pretty good case they’ll enter the season as the team”s #2 and #3 wingers after Tuch. The ice time should be there. There’s also a chance each could get more PP time, given the need to revamp the PP, the fact Appert will be in charge of it, and how each had great PP success under Seth in Rochester.

He averaged a shade under 20 yards a catch on his 28 receptions. The leading receiver on that squad only had 43 receptions, or a paltry 2.6 a game, less than one more reception per game than Lofton. The Raiders had crap QBs so it’s not as though they were some sort of passing juggernaut. He still had the athletic chops to play in the league, but his high salary, the third highest on the Raiders when they signed him, simply made him expendable when guys like Gault and Fernandez were giving them the same kind of deep threat. I remember discussions about his age, but none about him being washed up, so I’ll just agree to disagree on that point.

My sense is that I don't see any of the three players that @Archie Lee listed (Quinn, JJP and Benson) being a piece in a major deal. It just seems to me that KA is committed to his prospects that have moved up to the NHL. However, that's not to say that the GM won't include some high-end prospects and high draft pick in a deal that would be categorized as little less than a major deal. Will the GM be active in pursuing players this offseason? Probably so, but they will be players who will be used to reconfigure and bulk up the lower lines. I say that because that is what he has repeatedly stated so. As the saying goes: TBD.

Mock draft I just made. Not rankings.

What are the parameters to the pattern? The Sabres under Pegula? Ruff is about as opposite to the pattern as you can get. Granato fits the pattern Krueger does not fit the pattern Bylsma does not fit the pattern Nolan does not fit the pattern Adams fits the pattern Botterill fits the pattern Murray fits the pattern Karmanos does not fit the pattern Sexton does not fit the pattern Patrick does not fit the pattern Ventura does not fit the pattern Leone fits the pattern Appert fits the pattern Bales does not fit the pattern Wilford does not fit the pattern Ellis fits the pattern… Is this actually a pattern?

Well... *****.

Well you should expect it because at least 2 will be around next season. Now if the Sabres do make some big trades this off season then then I could see one of them going.

Is that yours? Ranking or what you think teams might do? I would take Catton with what was available at 11. Haven’t given it a ton of thought, but he might be as high as 6 on my list.

It actually would make more sense were the Dakota's to be divided into East & West Dakota rather than North & South. (In both states, ranching is bigger in the east and mining bigger in the west.)

It might. Depends on the situation. I don't need to say McDavid is great. Everyone knows that. What I don't think enough people realize is the dropoff from McDavid to #2, who might be his own teammate in Draisaitl is like the dropoff from #2 to #100. He is THAT much better than the next closest player.

Learning he’s Canadian has changed everything for me. (Well … not *everything.* I mean “everything” insofar as my view of Chase Claypool is concerned.)

So McDavid is great. Is that your point? A couple of highlight goals won't get it done against FL.

Mock draft: 1. Celebrini - Sharks 2. Demidov - Hawks 3. Levshunov - Ducks 4. Silayev - Jackets 5. Iginla - Habs 6. Buium - Utah 7. Lindstrom - Sens 8. Dickinson - Kraken 9. Yakemchuk - Flames 10. Sennecke - Devils 11. Catton - Sabres 12. Greentree - Flyers 13. Parekh - Wild 14. Eiserman - Sharks 15. Nygard - Wings 16. Jiricek - Blues

So does Dakota North.

Apparently with the bar lowered enough to get Housley in, Pete managed to eventually Sneak in himself. (Honestly had no idea that he'd been elected this past season; or at minimum completely put it out of mind.)