Randall Flagg

I'm talking from a Vegas perspective, ie them just being ABLE to add Eichel's contract

This is now (sorry, Thorny) too good to be true.

I'm definitely not convinced that's the Sabres' ask. The Sabres don't leak, and other parties have an interest in leaking a "Sabres ask" lower than reality, not higher or matching reality

Hague honestly makes a lot of sense, Vegas has a lot of money tied up on D now, i don't think they'd be able to give him the next contract he'll earn

Just off the top of my head it's probably the difference between Smith and Eichel over the cap. I also used Janmark twice. Yup. I was trading 10th place Hart finish Eichel at the beginning of all of this. I now understand that we will not be letting him rehab his value to that point before making the trade. We will be getting back enough for him that combined with our asset pool, while it's disappointing, I don't think it'll be franchise-crippling as we head to the next stage

I have to imagine that Adams would prefer Tuch, but they've come to this point, and if this truly is OUR ask it's our final ask.

Vegas is a great team that can very easily add Eichel to turn their weakness into the best unit in the NHL, without subtracting much of anything from the roster that makes them great. It doesn't make sense for them to NOT do it. Karlsson - Eichel - Marchessault Pacioretty - Danault - Stone Janmark - Stephenson - Tuch Carrier - Kolesar - Janmark Theodore - Holden Whitecloud - Pietrangelo Martinez - McNabb I mean come on

Sometimes people get way too zoned in on age stuff. It wouldn't kill us to have a 29 year old Tuch on the team for a playoff run lol

In NHL 20 I use Vegas all the time, and they ice 6 LHD. It makes the right point one-timer a staple to my offense.

Hague is also a little better than I was thinking. Hmmm. I'd try to get one more prospect out of them, he wouldn't have to be in their top 3/4 remaining or anything, but I'm warming right up to that deal. Hague's a defenseman and his scoring numbers look like forward numbers in prior leagues

This trade would be a bit deflating, but not bad. Krebs is an excellent prospect, he does have that upside, and would be like time traveling to get a top 10 pick in the center-rich 2019 draft (he was absolutely worth that, but had a bad injury right before draft which dropped him) Any trade with Krebs and a 1st meets my bear minimum for not burning down KBC in minecraft, but I want to do better with the rest of the deal than Hague and Smith

Gross. Smith was bad this year. I want one other piece in that Even if it's just a guy like Brisson

Then again, you take Tuch and Smith back (or get a third team to take Smith) the cap hit in an Eichel trade is a wash

Ugh. I got all excited about Krebs

Could be. But everyone knows that all Vegas needs is a 1C to be complete

Tom really believes this too

Marner is a good player. He also has zero goals in his last 18 playoff games I think, and just 1 assist in his last 6 elimination playoff games His contract is ugly. I'll take dahlin's uncertainty over Marner's highs and lows, though I do respect marner

Because it could be a good way to squeeze more out of the Eichel trade, potentially more value than VO is worth (which I'm not saying is none)

I've always wondered what tacking VO to Jack's side in the trade can do for the return

Ruots did show way more than I expected - maybe he got lucky, but there was real NHL skill in some of his best plays. It'll be interesting to see what kind of role he can carve out this year. I want some UFA signings to fill out the roster, but I hope they don't go after guys that we can't wait to see leave. There's a real shot that every line that steps on the ice this year will be interesting viewing, even if the team as a whole is bad. It could become one of the most likable sabres teams in a while for that reason. It really gets to you when half of every game is "my god get this line off, why did we go after these guys"

Which is why I hope that poster who seemed to think we were asking for Zegras + 3OA + actually knows somebody

It would be unacceptable to not squeeze out some assets this way

This is more or less impossible to do, even when you try you can't rinse the stain of how things turned out with them away

Rossi, Khovanov, Addison, 2022 first, Rask Krebs, Tuch, Morozov, 2022 first, salary piece

Did you catch my maths on Sabres with/without jack on the ice over his career compared to other stars? If "lifting all boats" means "improving the team's win loss record," many surprising names didn't do as much in the standings as eichel