dudacek

Still think there's another forward coming.

It's less about the depth chart and more about the ice time. He was 7th among forwards last year if you count Norris and Cozens as one guy. Between the PK, lead protection, and those times we need to get heavy, I expect he'll be up there again.

Quinn can play left. Honestlly it seems like that's where he usually lines up in the -zone anyway. I agree we need another winger. But even then, when I look at the resulting roster I see a crying need to move Tage into the middle again.

Meh, its what a 40-point scorer gets these days I guess. Money better spent elsewhere if he plays like last year, a bargain if he plays to what his potential. As others have said, He's got a chance to get Peterka's minutes and the skills to take advantage. I'm not sure what went wrong last year — he was awful — but I still have time for Jack.

You forgot Mittelstadt and Levi 😜

I like Helenius but no one has more mystery box appeal than a 1st-rounder a year after being picked. Truism: 29 of 32 1st-round picks would get taken higher in a redraft one year later, just ask their fans.

Mine did. Does with every player the Sabres acquire and discard. Not what I think about his game, or how much he's worth, but how much I care about him and want him to succeed? Hell yeah! Isn't that both normal, and self-evident, and an intrinsic part of what this is all about for most people? We're fans.

Honestly, the more I think about the Rust thing, the more I look at as being exactly like the Peterka deal. If you told me I could trade Peterka and a first for a heart-and-soul veteran 30-goal winger with a Stanley Cup ring, a rugged young forechecker with middle 6 potential, and a giant shutdown top 4 right D, I’d say “hell ya, that’s exactly what this team needs.” It’s the fact that those pieces are Helenius, Rust, Doan and Kesselring that I find myself tripping over.

Yeah, the way the math fits is another thing that gives this one wings.

Regardless of our personal feelings on the value and utility of Rust as an asset I think we also need to consider some things about Rust as a player: He is veteran Stanley Cup winner and a veteran leader and a dog on the ice, capable of giving you more value than his $5M contract. And he is probably at this moment a better (not more skilled, better) player than the man we just traded, a man whose departure just left a Rust-sized hole in the lineup. Such things seem to be important to our management right now.

Or if the goal is playoffs or bust.

Forton was pretty clear that they thought there was a huge equal cluster after their top 7. The trade down is superfluous to the Sabres. @Thorny’s right in the sense of do you want a good NHLer as he declines for the next 3 years, or a good prospect as he improves 3 years from now?

I saw the rumour that the goal was to add a right shot D and 2 top 6 forwards. I said “how the ***** are they going to do that?” Kesselrun Kyrou and Rust are a right shot D and 2 top 6 forwards.

I wonder how much this has to do with more Sabre fans OK with this one more than I thought, and more than the average NHL fan?

I don't know that the + is #9 but I do think there is a +. Kleber was my ballpark.

When I said lesser piece, i meant lesser than Kyrou, not "bad". Basically, a Helenius-level piece the Sabres might need more than they do. Blues need centre and RD more than other positions.

Helenius, Kleber and Byram for Kyrou and a lesser piece?

Pretty sure Kyrou is pretty much exclusively a winger these days. Also pretty much a guaranteed 30-goal man who has been bad defensively most of his career. He has a no-trade that kicks in Tuesday. Really, he's an older, better Peterka. Blues have Fowler, Faulk and Leddy on left D who have similar games to Byram but they are also a lot older. They also have nothing like Byram in the pipeline and a lot of forward prospects coming. Both teams have a lot of pieces that could be used as sweeteners. I guess I could see it if St. Louis sees the need to reset. Less so if it's about this year.

Isn't it Kellersing? Sorry, not picking on you, just laughing at how it seems pretty clear we have another Byrum (my personal trap) or Reinhardt on our hands.

Interesting theory, although it seems it would have clearly involved tampering of some sort. I would imagine prospect-loaded Utah would have rather given up the picks, so I guess in your scenario Adams would have used the threat to match as leverage in order to get what he wanted, which reports seem to indicate was very clearly Kesselring?

I guess the best thing about O'Brien is that he addresses the organizational need for playmaking centre even though he superficially might look like a "more of the same" pick.

One of the Insiders (Dreger?) gave some insight on how the issue with Byram is not really a long-term offer sheet, its about his willingness to walk himself to free agency. Sounds like he may be perfectly happy to sign a one or 2 year deal with Sabres or elsewhere. What Bo wants most is apparently not money or location, its role and fit, and his willingness to sign a long-term contract is tied to that. That matters to the Sabres as they consider his future, but it also matters to the team that acquires him and may affect trade offers. Personally, I'd set the trade bar at the equivalent of the 1st, 2nd 3rd offer sheet level. If someone offers that, or offer sheets him, I take it. If they don't, I give him a 1- or 2-year deal to play on the 1st pair with Ras and see how things play out.

Wonder if the Dobson trade is affecting Byram talks? Gotta be an overlap in interested teams.

Not enough has been made about Peterka being a UFA at 28. They're looking at the AAV and ignoring the term. 2nd contract players who get paid 1st-line money get that money for giving up UFA years on the principle that UFA years are worth more. For example, JJ's new teammate Clayton Keller gave away 4 UFA years in order to sign a $7.1M AAV deal. Nick Suzuki gave away 4 to sign a $7.8M deal. Lucas Raymond, same deal for $8M. JJ gave up just 1 and still got $7.7.

Curious about how that works from the player’s perspective. Is there a clause that requires a qualifying offer? For example, right now Ethan Miedema is free to sign anywhere because the Sabres didn’t offer him a contract. Under the new rule, he’s banned from pursuing NHL work elsewhere until 22?