Taro T

And apparently there was a weird and really late trade.

How do we KNOW there wasn't some communication? Because nobody is reporting that the Loafs are threatening the Sabres with tampering unlike the way they're threatening the Kin-ig-hits. He is STILL under contract and is a Loaf until midnight tonight (barring a really weird late trade). Other GMs can't reach out to him until he's a FA.

Why wouldn't he be willing to sign a new contract roughly a year ago but be willing to sign one now? Because he wanted to see what he's worth on the open market and that wasn't possible a year ago. Heck, Stamkos several years back took TB into the tamper period before re-signing with him because he wanted to know what he was worth on the open market and wanted to know that what he was getting offered by Tampa was fair. These guys typically only get 1 (2 tops) chances to find out what they're truly worth. If he was open to being a Sabre one year ago, why wouldn't he still be open to it. Surely @Sabres Fan in NS still shouts that he should sign in Buffalo any time he goes back for a Junior team reunion, right? So the bug is there in his ear already. 😉 Just need Adams to make an offer he'll consider worth accepting and have Kekalainen work his Gaudreau magic convincing him Buffalo is the place to be. And after Winnipeg all those years, it HAS to look good, right? 😉

Because like some comedian said about what the negotiating process must've been like when they got Sean Connery to be the voice of the dragon in the movie Dragonheart. The phone conversation from Connery's side must've sounded something like this: No way, it's too klitschy, it's beneath me, it's a joke, it's, it pays HOW much? As @Weave said, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. What's the worst that taking a shot does? It changes not a God blessed thing. What's the best that taking a shot does? It just MIGHT work. And even if its only a 2% chance, it's worth taking. And like somebody else said, why not see if you can have Josh Allen in on the phone conversation when Kekaliainen and Adams call him up? Fork it. Think outside the box for once.

Well, then, as Emily Lutella used to say, "nevermind."

Isn't convincing a guy like Marner to come to a backwater oasis supposed to be the primary skill setting Kekalainen apart from other potential mentors for Adams? Jarmo, git 'er done.

Aren't NCAA players only allowed to accept one paid trip to the NHL team that holds their rights, or did that change with the NCAA's NIL changes? If that is still a thing, would expect him here at the prospects tournament which will be more valuable to see how he stacks up against other nearly / early pro players than seeing how he stacks up against kids barely 18.

Don't want Danault now 5 years later. Will bring up thoughts of what should've been every single time he touches the puck. Desperately wanted him 5 years ago rather than blowing everything up once again.

Would say Östlund is the obvious trade piece. He still likely has value around the league but Helenius is the better prospect now and the Sabres would be loathe to part with him; Noah not as much IMHO. (And Noah still might pan out as an NHLer.) Rosen only gets added as a trade piece if somebody needs SOMETHING, ANYTHING else other than a 6th or 7th round draft pick coming back. Yes, Buffalo would love to deal him; but somebody has to actually WANT him using up one of their 50 slots in order for them to successfully do so. Hope for his sake, somebody really doesn't want Adams throwing in a 7th to balance everything out.

AND the plan WAS adjusted about a year and a half ago. Original plan never would've seen Mittelstadt, Savoie, &/or Cozens traded. Now their own can be traded provided the return isn't anyone over the age of 25.

Depends. IF that $5.5MM they netted in cap space by only getting ~75-80% of what Peterka is worth gets used to really shake up the team would rather have that original deal the way it is. If (when) they hang on to that cap space like Scrooge McDuck holds onto a nickel, would absolutely 100% prefer this adder to the deal leaving them only a little over $2MM of wasted cap space.

At 19. Expecting one to be significanlty closer to his ceiling for that stat than the other.

Wow, they can only put together 1 more F line using F's than they could using G's. Wonder if any of the G's skate out for kicks. (No, not really, but it would be fun to see.)

Speaking of which, wonder just how much of standing pat at the trade deadline 2 years ago (edit, eh, 3 years now actually) was Granato believing he had what they needed in the room, Pegula not wanting to spend any more than he already'd agreed to, and Adams not wanting to lose any of his precious prospects? Expecting it was most likely most heavily Donny's beief in his room that led to that. And he was literally 2 goals from the trade deadline on away from being right. 2 more goals in any game they lost in regulation by 1 goal and he was right and the whole trajectory of how things are going and viewed changes. Of course, make an adjustment to something that happened that's that small and maybe Teddy Roosevelt never becomes President. Wonder if Granato ever says, yeah, we should've finalized that offer of x and a lottery protected 1st for y. Should've bought in on that one. We were THAT friggin' close.

As @PromoTheRobot keeps pointing out, Marner not only is from TO but also has a brand new baby. With the cap going up significantly, and with his baby so young with family nearby should he stay relatively near the shores of Lake Ontario, taking a 2 year overpay deal with a team that he can live 20 minutes away from the rink and only be an hour or so from home MIGHT have some appeal to him. Especially if he holds some bitterness over being the local guy blamed for the playoff failures of his favorite team when the Swedish guy and the Yank from the place that doesn't even have a team anymore are seemingly getting free passes. Wouldn't he like to play against TO 4x per year? Sure the odds of it happening are slim. What were the odds prelottery that the Sabres would pick 9th?

As @PromoTheRobot keeps pointing out, Marner not only is from TO but also has a brand new baby. With the cap going up significantly, and with his baby so young with family nearby should he stay relatively near the shores of Lake Ontario, taking a 2 year overpay deal with a team that he can live 20 minutes away from the rink and only be an hour or so from home MIGHT have some appeal to him. Especially if he holds some bitterness over being the local guy blamed for the playoff failures of his favorite team when the Swedish guy and the Yank from the place that doesn't even have a team anymore are seemingly getting free passes. Wouldn't he like to play against TO 4x per year?

Did you watch the last month of the season? It's already happened. Yep. Am HOPING they spend the cap space they have and some of the prospects/ next years picks/ rostered players that don't really fit into their plans to make some significant improvements. But will believe they're going to use rather than pocket cap space once it actually happens and no sooner.

And fully expect that Byram is an ex-Sabre by the end of the week. So this is realisticlly moot. But would be very intrigued at watching how Dahlin-Kesselring Power-Bernard-Docker Byram-Timmons with Bryson and Johnson as the true 7&8 (and hopefully not in that order). Would give a lot of flexibility to ingame adjustments as Dahlin and Byram work well together should they want to shorten the bench and Power-Dahlin has been the Sabre go to late game press when behind by a goal or 2. And would consider the bottom 2 pairings interchangeable. Might help create some mismatches for the other teams when their lesser players are on the ice.

Yep. Remember, the same Kevyn Adams that refused to answer a direct question about whether JJ Peterka asked for a trade has said he's open to offers on Byram.

Expecting he'll be a fan favorite Amerk and get a handful of callups due to injuries or just wanting to change the room for a bit. If he's more than that, awesome. But personally, like the pick. He might be the reason the Östlund drafted 3 years from now feels comfortable enough to develop properly even if Bedkowski doesn't exceed expectations. And there is a significant value in that alone.

Was thinking the same thing. Well, minus the Delta Sonic part. 😉

He's a very good 3rd pairing D-main. He's an adequate 2nd pairing D-man. The friggin' Sabres LOVED playing him with Dahlin and he is under no circumstance a good top pairing guy. The Sabres trading him was like the drunk trying to sober up finally cleaning out the liquor cabinet. The best way to start to break an addiction once you've made the decision to break it is to remove the substance from easy access and also to remove those that enable your addiction from your life. Trading Henri was the 2nd step after identifying that they had a problem.

As @Thorny says, not nearly enough for it to matter. BUT the grade is still incomplete. Ask again in 2 weeks and yet again when camp opens. If the answers are still "maybe" at that point, we'll need to roll a whole lot of consecutive box cars to keep from going 15 for 15.

Don't forget that Johnson is still around and he might actually be ready to be an NHLer. And the nice thing is if he's essentially what you're getting from Timmons and Bernard-Docker (just a LHed version) then pretty sure you can still send him down to Ra-cha-cha. And if he's better than them, then you can always make Bryson the Amerks' top D-man. Because NOBODY is claiming him if he gets waived (and if somehow miraculously he does get claimed, well 7 & 8's are easy to get).

Not necessarily. They still have a lot of prospects and will still have cap space and MAYBE somebody sees Samuelsson's issues as being all Sabre issue related and if somebody could get him onto the right team then they could wash that Sabre stink right off him. Plus, and don't want to send him out the door after just getting him, but maybe Kesselring peaks somebody's interest. (There's still be a hole in the top 4, but trading Byram creates that hole too.) People forget Steve Reinprecht was a Sabre briefly the summer that Chris Drury became a Sabre. Tuch's extension doesn't hit until next off-season. Worry about that year next summer.