Randall Flagg

I think there's merit to the worry that Kevyn doesn't have the skill/confidence/acumen to really maximize trade returns, and go about making NHL level trades in a way that will make this team better. He has such a small track record of trades that there is still some mystery. Johansson for Staal - turned out not very well, but everyone seemed happy with it at the time, so I don't think this was obvious evidence against him Staal for 3rd and 5th - better than I thought we would have gotten honestly Montour for 3rd - seems about right Hall trade Importantly, the last three trades are deadline deals. I think the circumstances of any trade deadline automatically place enough leverage against selling teams that I don't use those trades to judge how good I think an NHL GM is at trading, unless you're talking about the extremes (getting a 1st for Goose was impressive even then). I always defended the Kane trade when others were mad at it because of this too, even though I think Jason was the back-breaker for this franchise's recent history. We have a pretty blank slate for Adams when it comes to the moves that need to happen this summer. There is a very real chance he cannot do it well and we are screwed, but I don't think this trade is evidence that that will happen. Hall was utterly miserable this year, his only consistent skill was skating just fast enough to get too close to the defender too quick, losing the puck to said defender while a teammate was open in a passing lane. Other teams saw this too I like Lazar, but I would have been disappointed if he was one of our 12 best forwards next year. See what Bjork does, and make sure next year's team is too good for a Lazar to crack

Hockey media told me the Sabres got good value for ROR. Who cares what their headlines say? Maybe Hall turns it around for them, but he was horrendous here, and the return will serve the Sabres better than he did just by virtue of the return not being Taylor Hall

I'm with inky here. I've never read an impressive hockey take on twitter, even (especially?) from people who know what a regression is

The Sabres are terrible, but Hall getting off the ice the last week or so has had ZERO negative impact on their play as a team or as individuals, and the record in that span is as good as we've gotten this season. Hall's play was selfish and often disinterested. Allocating 8 million of our cap and a bunch of hope to him was a failure. He was a bad player this year in his own right. In some cases, you cannot make an excuse for the player. The player has to show up too. (You understand this with one Buffalo Bill)

This team plays better hockey without Hall taking the puck into the corner, ignoring all his teammates, and then losing it lol

We are a long way from this point

I've never been remotely impressed by a single thing I've seen that dom guy say tbh. That sentence is mindless theatrics unbeholden to reality

I haven't watched a lot of hockey lately but it's surprising to me that people know anything about a guy named Bjork on the Bruins

I am surprised we didn't get a fair bit more, but I'm still fleshing out to what degree this surprise is justified

I promise you, it was the worst Sabres trade of my life on paper the day it happened It was orders of magnitude worse than this trade, which is merely mediocre

I challenge Brawndo to a quest

I'd really like to hear what the other deals' parameters were, if other teams were indeed interested. What was this deal competing against?

Interested to learn more about Bjork. If we want to win next year, we need to make tough decisions on the pool of Lazar, Sheahan, Rieder, Eakin, Okposo, Girgensons. Players of low value, that you really only want 2 of next year, unless you want to run back 2 mediocre 4th line types again for half of each game next year. I don't mind making a decision on Lazar with this deal, even though I think we lost in overall value. That removes one player. If it were up to me, I'd come back next year with Girgensons and ditch the rest (Okie would get a shot, and if he can still play he'd play, if not I'd have the uncomfortable convo and waive him)

It shouldn't be lost in all of this that every single one of us would have welcomed a Hall scratch before it was time to consider doing so for the deadline, that's how bad he was. That does matter in things like trade deadline trades. He is ***** terrible lol. Can't really have it both ways

This trade turned an empty spot in the Sabres cupboard during September 2020 into a 2nd round pick. The ROR trade made us a leaguewide laughingstock and set the center spine back half of a decade. I hate this trade, it's weird to me, but its measurable impact on the course of the franchise is a net positive when emotions are detached, even though it was a mediocre trade. And It's possible that Kevyn liked this Bjork and didn't just get him to appease a guy who once coached him. Don Granato has coached many, many players

I viewed Lazar as one of 5 or 6 forwards the Sabres needed to choose 2 of at most for next year's bottom 6 roles, so including him in something like this made sense, but they brought another guy back to add to that pool, kinda weird.

That would be an ugly return.

Pi has several layers. On the top layer, some absurdity that can be "proven wrong" most of the time. On the second layer, a core underlying truth driving his conclusions that is right 90% of the time on a large enough timescale. On the third layer, brilliant knack for meshing genuine trolling with serious discussion such that the transition is often seamless if not simultaneous. On the 4th layer, scars from his glory days in the NCAA, along with the dirty stache look he dons in reverence of Aust*n Matthews

Who are the last two goalies we have brought in that are as skilled as Ullmark is right this second, wherever one thinks that level is? Have they been here in the last decade? Maybe Lehner was as skilled as Linus when we brought him in, I'm not sure. We got decent play out of randos in the tank years, but those guys never stuck around and washed out of the league. We could have brought in a 2C on par with the season ROR gave us in 17-18 too, but here we are 3 seasons later and our best 2C attempt was probably Marcus Johansson I won't be as comfortable about this possibility as you until I see news about a John Gibson trade or something on that level

When the words "testing free agency" get uttered, I always see the stipulation that the player hasn't closed the door on returning. How often does the team wind up keeping the player when this word gets out?

I was out doing some painful and necessary shopping (my last time buying new clothes was probably sophomore year of HS, and I have to start going back into office more often now). It was one of those games where multiple times, I refreshed the score on google after waiting 2 minutes, and had to double and triple check, because the score was changing so fast in both directions. Highlights show more of what I was hoping to see. I would love for this confidence and effort to continue into the Boston, Wsh, Pit etc. games. Wouldn't it be such a treat to update next year's roster skeleton with a whole new line that we can actually be confident in (74-37-72, the lucky 7s, the jackpot, what can we do with this?). Our job this offseason becomes much easier if we can cut into the number of players we need to bring in from outside the organization. Hit a few of the right spots with a few of the right vets, and away we go.

They all seem to be goals that require a relatively high skill level too. His motor is just what Casey needed I think. We're getting close to "write this line down in pen for next season" territory

I like Nick Foligno, I don't like Hall, but that return gets my hopes up pretty high for our return in the Hall trade

Dealing with prospects is such a crap shoot anyway, it might not even be unreasonable or idiotic relative to the field hahaha Keep track of this, compare your hit rate to scouts, and go get hired by an NHL team if it works

I was really excited when we traded for him, I remember what I was cooking for dinner when I heard the news (it was not a good meal lol) I often wondered how I could have been so excited in the years since. His play in the last few weeks reminded me. It's a shame we are a club that does this to players. I understand dumping him for a 3rd given our plethora of RHD, it isn't quite the same thing to me as moving Scandella last year, I'm okay with it because I know he wasn't ever staying here. But it really is a shame that we are the organization that buys high, turns players into a shadow of themselves, and then sells low