jahnyc

Not much to be excited about in the near term. Surprised that many of the draft picks are relatively small. I thought we were trying to build a line-up with size and speed. Maybe speed is trumping size at this point.

Yes, he has traded away too much for what we have received. The O'Reilly trade looks good. The others not so much. He has traded a staggering number of high (first or second round) draft picks. I believe it was two second round picks for Fasching, the first pick of the second round was part of the O'Reilly trade, a first round pick for Lehner, and a first round pick and a second round pick (Lemieux picked at the top of the second round) in the trade for Kane et. al. I have not been following the Amerks too closely, but it does not seem that we have a lot of young talented players in the AHL ready to contribute in the next few years to the Sabres. I think the picks traded were important to building a pipeline of talent. I also do not buy the argument that the Kane trade has not been a great success for either team so Murray cannot be faulted for that trade. Maybe Murray should have made a better trade for those assets. Clearly it is too early to make any final determinations about any of these moves, but as of now, I think Murray has been too generous in terms of trading away draft picks.

I don't think we should be as focused on who got the better of this trade. Maybe the better question is whether we could have received better value from another team in return for trading Myers, Stafford, Lemieux, Armia and a first round pick.

Grigorenko had to go. He needed a fresh start. Not sure whether it was him, coaching or the way he was handled, but it was not going to work out in Buffalo. The defense still seems pretty weak to me. Trading Zadorov hurts, but maybe there were enough questions about his commitment that necessitated a move.

I know that I am in the minority on this, but I wonder how the young players and draft picks would have developed over time instead of using these assets in the trades that were made. Clearly, some players needed a change, including Stafford and Grigorenko, but I continue to believe that we overpaid in some of our trades, particularly for Lehner. I understand that O'Reilly and Kane are quality players, but it seems that the trading of a significant portion of our assets has left us with a weak defense with few options in free agency. Of course we could make more trades to upgrade the defense, but do we really want to use our remaining assets to do so? The rebuild has been painful, and fans of the Sabres should not be happy about the last few years, but I was willing to be patient for a bit longer.

Happy that he is signed long-term, but not sure if this contract is setting such a great precedent. No trade combined with no real buyout option means he better be as advertised, although if there is a player who seems like low risk given his work ethic and talent, it is O'Reilly. Does this set contract terms in the future for players like Reinhart and Eichel if they produce? Having one player with these contract terms is likely not a problem. Many players with these contract terms probably is.

One additional note, Murray also has acquired some expensive assets (O'Reilly (assuming he re-signs with Buffalo), Bogosian and Kane), and traded another (Myers). I agree that you cannot look at the trades in a vacuum, but cost of players in terms of salary is another consideration. As another poster noted, it comes down to whether Murray used his assets wisely. Should be interesting, although I really do not understand the Lehner trade in terms of trading a first round pick in a strong draft.

Murray has essentially traded six first round picks (players that were first round picks or picks to be made in those rounds) and four second round picks (Lemieux and three second round picks to be made) for an amazing total of ten first/second round picks or players drafted in those rounds that have been traded during his short tenure as GM. I would have thought that most new GMs would have relished the idea of drafting players in the first and second rounds, but that is not the way Murray has operated. Not too sure about the overall value received in exchange for all of these assets. I think he overpaid in the Kane deal and overpaid significantly to acquire Lehner. Short summary which does not include all of the components of the various trades: Fasching: two second round picks. Kane/Bogosian: Myers (first round), Armia (first round), Lemieux (second round), first round pick (2015) Lehner: first round pick (2015) O'Reilly/McGinn: Zadorov (first round), Grigorenko (first round), second round pick (2015)

I suppose that Murray's comments before and immediately after the lottery run the risk of alienating Eichel, particularly in light of the ProHockeyTalk conversation with Eichel and the way they seemed to phrase the questions to Eichel, but Murray will have every opportunity to make Eichel feel like he is wanted and valued. Let us hope that Murray is smart enough to do this before any unnecessary damage is done.

I do not think that Edmonton has any interest in trading McDavid, but I do believe that Murray would trade any and all assets to make it happen. The only thing that would make this even a small possibility would be if McDavid makes it clear (either privately or publicly) that he will not play for the Oilers. In that situation, the Sabres would be be in the best position to consummate a trade with the Oilers using the number two overall pick in the drat and other assets.

Seemed kind of agitated about the whole thing.

Well, this puts the pressure on Murray now. He will not be able to blame the new coach since it will be the one that he chose. Seems like he has had something of a free pass to this point. I have not been impressed with Murray so far and I do not particularly like his personality. How can a GM and coach not communicate at all during a season? That likely is on both of them. Reinhart and either McDavid or Eichel are easy picks, but it will be the other picks that will be a test for him. We will need to see how last year's draft and the next few work out before we really can evaluate him. Not sure about his ability in making trades, but we will see.

It seems perverse that even though we received almost no value for the players traded today, the team may have a brighter future because they may be more likely to finish with the worst record in the NHL. This really needs to be more than a race for last place, particularly since there is no guarantee that the team will finish last even with the trades made today. We still need to get as much value as possible for our players, and today was not a good day. This team was really bad and now it is worse. How long before there is any real hope for improvement? It is not as if the Amerks are a powerhouse or filled with strong talent. Does not seem like next year will be much better than this year, and a playing for the playoffs may be years away.

I am really unimpressed with Murray to this point. Today's trades were poor, and I believe he overpayed for Kane and Fasching. We traded some assets today and received almost no value in return.