GASabresIUFAN

Option 1 Lose Borgen in expansion and then trade Risto for Hagg a mid 1st and a 2nd or Option 2 Keep Borgen and lose Risto for nothing in expansion and then watch Seattle trade him for Hagg, a mid 1st and a 2nd. Which seems like better asset management? Can't wait to get Borgen back when they waive him. Heck, I'd offer them a 6th for him right now.

This is going to be a crazy draft after the first 14-20 picks. I have Peart (43) and Zellweger (44), both could go earlier or later. I'm betting on later. Another 2 D that some really like are Kirsanov and Olsson. I have them at 50 & 51 respectively but I've seen them as high as 16th for Kirsanov and 21st for Kisakov.

Now with this trade in the books, I'd like to see the following with our first 4 picks 1 - Eklund (or Beniers) 14 - (13th player) one of Lucius, Sillinger, Svechkov or Raty (or if we get lucky Johnson who I have 9th on my board) 33 - Olausson or Pinelli (if we get lucky) or Samu Toumaala add L’Heureax. 53 - Jack Peart or Owen Zellweger

That's my preferred idea, but just trying to read the tea leaves

or by getting this pick they get the D they want in Power and a quality center prospect with this pick. Maybe this trade is a hint that Power is the pick. I still hope not, but maybe.

What's Risto going to return? Answer: More then we thought!

What? The goal is to keep UPL and Tokarski in the AHL next season. Seeing them in Buffalo would not be a positive sign for the team.

Changes noted with Bold print.

Does this make it more likely Power is the pick at 1?

WOW! I'm honestly shocked. If we have to trade Risto, I think we did very well. Kudos to KA. I actually really like Hagg and think he'll be a good fit here. Also the 13th overall pick is a solid pick in this draft. A few good centers like Lucius, Sillinger, Raty and Svechkov will be available here. Anyone still angry we protected Risto over Borgen? Didn't think so.

@rakish Here is my 64 for what it's worth Rank Player pos 1 Owen Power D 2 Matthew Beniers C 3 William Eklund LW 4 Brandt Clarke D 5 Luke Hughes D 6 Dylan Guenther RW 7 Simon Edvinsson D 8 Mason McTavish C 9 Kent Johnson C 10 Jesper Wallstadt G 11 Chaz Lucius C 12 Cole Sillinger C 13 Fabian Lysell RW 14 Fedor Svechkov C 15 Aatu Raty C 16 Sebastian Cossa G 17 Matthew Coronato RW 18 Carson Lambos D 19 Brennan Othmann LW 20 Nikita Chibrikov RW 21I sak Rosen RW 22 Oskar Olausson RW 23 Francesco Pinelli C 24 Corson Ceulemans D 25 Xavier Bourgault C 26 Zachary Bolduc C 27 Simon Robertsson RW 28 Logan Stankoven RW 29 Samu Toumaala RW 30 Zachary L'Heureux LW 31 Zach Dean C 32 Mackie Samoskevich RW 33 Danill Chayka D 34 Sasha Pastujov RW 35 Sean Behrens D 36 Stanislav Svozil D 37 Ayrton Martino LW 38 Sean Morrow D 39 Ville Koivunen W 40 Prokhor Poltapov LW 41 Aleksi Heimosalmi D 42 Wyatt Johnston C 43 Jack Peart D 44 Olen Zellweger D 45 Tyler Boucher LW 46 Tristan Broz F 47 Benjamin Gaudreau G 48 Dylan Duke LW 49 Matt Knies C/LW 50 Kirill Kirsanov D 51 Anton Olsson D 52 Aleksandr Kisakov F 53 Ilya Fedotov RW 54 Evan Nause D 55 Samuel Helenius C 56 Samu Salminen C/LW 57 Artyom Grushnikov D 58 Aidan Hreschuk D 59 Matthew Knies LW 60 Shai Buium D 61 Redmond Savage C 62 Sean Tschigerl LW

That's true. No real benefit to announcing them now, but I haven't even seen any credible rumors. It's weird.

Oh I agree. However I was pointing out that teams do want to see the medical records. They aren't making offers for Eichel blindly.

.....or acquiring Hill or putting in a waiver claim for Nedeljovic when he was waived last year. He seems to be missing for forest through the trees. He has no idea what to do even when it's obvious.

I'm sure the medical situation has kept some teams from making an offer. For many teams, the chance to acquire a bonafide top line center doesn't come around very often and must be explored They will kick the tires and explore the trade. They want the medical records so that their doctors can help them make an informed decision. That's why the Rags let slip they Buffalo hadn't sent them the medical records yesterday.

Seeing a Jack currently remains a Sabres and the rumor mill seems to be implying that the market for Jack isn't great given his injury status., do we (Sabrespace) continue to believe that Jack is worth more in trade then Sam?

Given his medical situation, I understand why they want a discount. I've said for weeks that his trade value to limited until he gets back on the ice or gets a clean bill of health. Neither is happening any time soon. IMHO Reinhart has more trade value right now.

Just under 7 hours to the draft. I don't think no news is good news.

The team rotted from the Head (owner) down. TP hired Patty who hired TM etc....... Since TP took over I believe we have finished at the bottom of the NHL standings 4 times. I believe it happened only once in the 40 or so seasons prior to TP's arrival. What evidence is there to say that the inexperienced and unqualified GM TP/KP hired will do better the actual qualified TM and Jbot? KA's first season was a unmitigated disaster. He waited way to long to fire RK, his two best players want out, and his team finished dead last in the NHL. His trade record is terrible although with limited samples (see HALL and Staal). His FAs sucked (see Hall, Eakin etc). He didn't address the goaltending that everyone on this board and in Sabres fandom knew needed to be upgraded. Yes hiring Karmanos and the analytics guy seem like smart moves, but what evidence is there so far to show they are influencing the incompetent KA in the right direction. They didn't acquire (or sign) a goaltender to fill vacant goaltender slot in expansion and if Ullmark doesn't re-sign they wasted that slot and opportunity. Yes we have to reserve judgement until after this next season to see if they actually have a plan and I have no choice, other then giving up on the team, to wait and see. However, as @Taro T knows, I am generally an upbeat person about the team, but I'm also analytical and all evidence points to a team heading even further into the abyss under KA. I sincerely hope I'm wrong as I think there are some real building blocks here like Cozens, Mitts, R2, Samuelsson, Dahlin, Quinn, UPL and JJP to build around. However I have zero confidence in this management team from TP on down to execute and made a good team from those building blocks.

TP has owned the team for a decade plus.

You mean the day he was promoted to GM with no experience, no training and no knowledge of how to run a hockey team.

My patience with this management team ended a decade ago.

This is the longest soon to be announced signing ever. Not surprising considering the source. The silence on the signing if deafening.

Tick, tick, tick, tick………….

From McKenzie on Twitter. This is exactly what my consensus ranking shows. I have 64 players with at least one 1st rd grade.