TrueBlueGED

1) Even on rural Ohio, I can't escape Leafs fans. 2) Pretty sure this is a counterfeit jersey. 3) Real or not, who in the world wants a Zach Hyman jersey when you have so many good options?

10/10 thread title.

I, for one, will not shed a single tear if we are in the "unfortunate" situation of having three top-6 centers.

If that's what it means, shouldn't we wait to see what the return is first?

Is Risto actually creating more offense at 5v5 or is he still just feasting on PP points? Montour has a good 5v5 primary assist rate.

I think he's a better passer and skater than McCabe. And it really depends what you think of Risto. It's hard for me to judge straight up, but I'd rather pay Montour $3.5M than Risto $5.5M.

I just hope people temper expectations and don't think we just got a budding star or anything like that. He's a nice piece, but that's about as far as I'm willing to go.

That was when, October? He's been on the left for months now.

Dahlin has already been playing the left side.

We'll just call it the Carlyle Effect. I don't think Montour is a star or anything, but he's a 2nd pair guy who can skate and pass and we gave up two assets that might never make the NHL.

I don't think Guhle is really a nice piece, and the 1st will be in the 20+ range.

Where did I blame it all on Risto? But just as it's not all his fault, he's also not blameless for his own performance. He's a dumb hockey player. More. Has to be.

Awesome. Now trade Risto for a forward!

The same? No. But I don't think they'll improve the way most seem to be expecting. His biggest problem is he has the hockey sense of a doorknob, and playing against lesser competition isn't going to change that. I doubt he's ever consistently someone who drives possession. He just makes way too many poor decisions when it's on his stick.

This is the same kind of logic teams used to keep Phaneuf around. None of those teams missed him. Simply, getting caved in against top competition is not valuable because anyone can get caved in with those minutes.

Maybe, but I might argue a 2C is more impactful than a 3/4D.

You can do this same exercise with top-6 forwards. I don't think it's a good argument not to make a trade.

Which, of course, is why I didn't expect the deal to actually happen.

That's certainly fair. I just kind of feel we're going to create a hole we can't immediately fill with any hockey trade we make that swaps D for F or vice versa.

I don't dislike Risto nearly as much as most stats-oriented observers, but I definitely think he's heartily overrated by most of the Sabres fanbase. Ultimately I think he's a 3/4 who needs to be sheltered at evens and get 2nd unit PP time. Through that lens, it hurts a lot less to move him.

One could argue Risto is a big hole.

It was fun while it lasted.

If we take back Callahan's contract I'll kick the next puppy I run into. The ONLY acceptable reason to take that contract is if we're getting Point, which we know isn't happening.

I find myself in favor of what makes you melt down ?

Sure, but they're not centerpieces. Also, Tampa almost certainly wants to shed some salary to make their offseason more manageable. If this trade happens, hopefully Botterill channels his inner Skinner trade and not his inner O'Reilly trade.