seer775

Yes. He has had several concussions back-to-back and missed a ton of playing time because of it. Every deal has a catch.

Sorry to burst your bubble my guy, as an avid realist, we are most likely not going to make the playoffs next year. Not without 2 blockbuster moves. KA doesn't have the balls.

At 20 years old, Byram played top minutes on the Stanley Cup Champs. He wasn't along for the ride. The point of playing Krebs at 3C is to figure out what kind of return we can get for him. Right now it's looking like a 4th. We need to bump those numbers.

How? We have a surplus at Top 6 F and a lack of Top 4 D. Top 4 D is more important than Top 6 F. Trade for Dmen makes sense here. I'm not one to defend the Sabres organization, but this is one of the times the team did something logical.

There is no 1B C. There's a 1C, 2C, 3C, and 4C. Cozens has proven to be better than Mitts and is 2 years younger. We already have him and TT under term. That leaves 3C and 4C. At the price Mitts will bargain for (6-8 Mil AAV), he doesn't get a spot. Plain and simple.

I mean, you weren't going to get much more for a forward with two decent seasons in his contract year.

He could find a spot on the roster. I'm not saying he's bad. He's a good player. Given the choice between a Top 4 dman and a depth scoring forward, I would choose the Dman.

That's not why they moved him. Avs needed a 2C. They have solid dmen (Makar, Girard, Toews). Without scoring, they would drop to the Jets in 4. Mitts now needs a $7M contract. He's not getting that to play 3C. We need Top 4 Dmen. We have scoring forwards that are better than Mitts. Top 4 Dmen play the most minutes on almost every team.

Not sure about that chief. Top 4 Dman, 7th in TOI/G during their 21-22 cup run. He was 20 y/o. False. Cozens has a higher ppg than Mitts at 23 y/o. Despite last year's performance, Mitts has been a no-show.

We were never going to pay Mitts top dollar to play 3C. Especially considering how awful our Defensemen are. Mitts could wing, but with Skinner, Tuch, JJP, and Quinn, why bother? Byram > Power >>> RJ, Clifton, Joker, Mule, Bryson. Having competent defensemen is more important than having skilled forwards. Dmen play more minutes in all situations. You build the roster from the net out.

TT: 0.68 ppg, 26 y/o Cozens: 0.59 ppg, 23 y/o Mitts: 0.55 ppg, 25 y/o Where is there room for Mitts?

It's partly to boost his trade value. He won't be serving anyone by sitting in Rochester. He would need to be traded to contribute if he proves he isn't NHL caliber this year. Byram was a crucial piece in the Avs cup run. That alone makes him a high caliber player.

Krebs at present belongs in Rochester. This season determines if he ends up there or not. He needs some time at 3C so we can make that call. We need a vet 3C who can step into 2C if Cozens regresses. Stephenson or Monahan are our guys. In any case, we have a logjam at Defense. We could use a Top 4 RHD and 2/3C. We have a ton of picks/prospects to leverage as well.

One more year before we ship Krebs. Byram trade wasn't a failure because we got a Top 4 Dman. Byram is much better than Joker, RJ, Clifton, and Samuelsson. I think he's a solid step and a half over Power also. Now we have to move the extras for another Top 4 Dman. Mitts isn’t the top 6 centre we thought we needed. He can and will (Adams..) be replaced.

Byram >> Mitts. We still need a Top 4 RHD, and if Krebs doesn't work out at 3C, we need to procure a good one quickly.