Would you trade Devon Levi for Connor Hellebuyck with a contract extension?

[JohnC]

6 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

This question is kind of like asking if you’d be willing to trade Power for Hedman or Josi.

I would still say no to such a Power trade. 

[Ducky]

From the Sabres' point of view, it depends on how long and how much Helle's new deal is worth...5 x 9m...the Sabres should do it in a heartbeat.

Helle is what you would hope Levi will be.

 

I think Chevy tries hard to re-sign him.

[Georgia Blizzard]

Changed my vote to YES, once I realized it was Helle with an extension.

I don't think they would need to include Levi in a trade, however, so, I would be a little irked if GMKA did that, if that makes sense ?

The Jets basically have an asset that has a 1 year contract.  That diminishes the trade value significantly.  If Helle had 3 years left at $5M/year, than it's a much more valuable asset and they should demand Levi in return

[Doohickie]

22 minutes ago, klos1963 said:

It's not a small goalies game anymore.

Ah, so, UPL is definitely our guy then.  Is that what you're saying?

22 minutes ago, JohnC said:

30 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

This question is kind of like asking if you’d be willing to trade Power for Hedman or Josi.

I would still say no to such a Power trade. 

Of course.  That was GA's point.

[JohnC]

8 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Ah, so, UPL is definitely our guy then.  Is that what you're saying?

Of course.  That was GA's point.

And I'm making the same point. 

[Weave]

Goalies tend to age gracefully, so I am not worried about Helle’s age unless his next contract puts him into his late 30’s.  Even then, that’s alot of time to make changes.

For those saying Helle, yeah to the trade, are you more OK with…

Helle plus UPL/Comrie

or

Levi plus some other mid tier starting goalie.

If choice 3 is Levi plus UPL/Comrie, I am 100% on the Helle bandwagon.

[Doohickie]

7 minutes ago, JohnC said:

And I'm making the same point. 

And I'm agreeing with your point.

[Derrico]

9 minutes ago, Weave said:

Goalies tend to age gracefully, so I am not worried about Helle’s age unless his next contract puts him into his late 30’s.  Even then, that’s alot of time to make changes.

For those saying Helle, yeah to the trade, are you more OK with…

Helle plus UPL/Comrie

or

Levi plus some other mid tier starting goalie.

If choice 3 is Levi plus UPL/Comrie, I am 100% on the Helle bandwagon.

Agreed but that dream choice 4 being Helle plus Levi is what gets me going.  We're legit contenders overnight having those 2 for the next 5 years.

[GoPuckYourself]

I said no, I think Hellebuyck is a top notch goalie but I don't think he'll sustain it for another 5 years at this level of play but that's just my opinion. Levi has shown glimpses of what we could be getting and I don't think we need to give him away in a deal. I think there are options out there like Saros, Demko and others where we may have to deal UPL but definitely not Levi.

 

[Weave]

23 minutes ago, Derrico said:

Agreed but that dream choice 4 being Helle plus Levi is what gets me going.  We're legit contenders overnight having those 2 for the next 5 years.

But that isn’t a poll choice, and not what the thread discussion is about.

[Cascade Youth]

It may be one of those trades where as soon as it's proposed, the other GM suspects something's up.

[Doohickie]

13 minutes ago, Weave said:

and not what the thread discussion is about.

Since when has that ever constrained discussion on Sabrespace?

[Rasmus_]

 Nope.  Pass.  I'll keep the development track and trade with other assets.

[Buffalonill]

You trade devon Levi I guarantee he will haunt buffalo for his  Entire career

[...]

You forgot the poll option of "WTF is this s#^t?"

 

Edited June 8, 2023 by ...

[Thorny]

5 hours ago, Weave said:

That is an extreme take.  Although if we are talking about Helle with a contract extension, I’d call it less extreme because one of the “con” variables is removed.

This team needs to win now. The team can move a prized prospect to make that happen, or it can find a reliable goaltender to pair with that prized prospect to make that happen.  I don’t think either is an inherently wrong answer to winning now.

If the alternative were to stick with the 3 goalies we have now and the majority were on board with that, yeah, I think your statement would be totally warranted.

Neither here nor there, necessarily, where the board is concerned, but it should be noted that, to PA’s point, anecdotally the prevailing sentiment on Sabres twitter, at least, is *exactly* that, so I can see where he’s coming from 

 

Edited June 8, 2023 by Thorny

[klos1963]

3 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Ah, so, UPL is definitely our guy then.  Is that what you're saying?

Of course.  That was GA's point.

I didn't even mention UPL, this was about Levi and Hellebuyck.  

Not sure how you got there.

[Claude Balls]

NFW

[inkman]

Sorry y’all I added the contract extension part 12 hours after I made the thread but it seems not everyone was reading the tweet I posted soooo….

[bob_sauve28]

Well, if we did trade Levi there, one thing is for sure. Winnipeg would win the cup and Levi would be considered for the MVP 

[thewookie1]

No thank you, it’s certainly tempting but the sheer multitude of what a Hellebuyck extension would look like and the age/ window difference turns me away rather fast.

 

In no small part Helle’s age makes his conceivable window not align with the vast majority of players we have. His AAV + age will create issues by year 4 even if Hellebuyck continues to be a Top 10 goalie. How many 35+ year old goalies are still high tier in their play? 

The issue pops up since it’s borderline impossible for the Sabres to stun the world and conventional wisdom and win the Cup next year without any prior runs. Most commonly your core needs 2 or 3 serious runs before you can truly be considered a perennial Cup contender. Chicago did it in approximately 2. But that is rare. Pittsburgh took 3 to make the Finals and 4 to win. 

Hellebuyck’s age would be 34/35 in year 4 in this scenario. Most goalies begin to peter out at that point. Either they get bad, or less reliable with playing availability. 
 

I’d much rather have the goalie we could conceivably have for 15 years than one for 5.

[Thorny]

Even Ryan Miller started a total of 8 full seasons for the Sabres. Hellebuyck supposedly only having a 5 year window is much closer to the mark than a mythical “15 year term”

Time to win is now, our window is now, when our best players are in their prime and we have cheap talent still on ELCs. It’s only going to be more difficult 5 years from now 

Edited June 8, 2023 by Thorny

[Sabres73]

I vote "WTF is this s#^t?"

[Taro T]

11 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

No, but not because of logic. I think a smart person probably would.

 

I'm just pretty sure I know what I saw this April

Yeah, could be totally off on the evaluation of Levi, but he just really seems like he's going to be the real deal.  Hellebucyk could give the team Vezina quality goaltending for the next 3-4 years.  Starting 2 years from now, Levi could be doing that for the following decade.

There's also the issue of if the Sabres were to trade Levi for Hellebucyk, they are once again putting all their goaltending eggs in one single basket.  That has been a very poor plan for this team ever since Miller moved to St. Louis.

[Marvin]

21 minutes ago, Taro T said:

There's also the issue of if the Sabres were to trade Levi for Hellebucyk, they are once again putting all their goaltending eggs in one single basket.  That has been a very poor plan for this team ever since Miller moved to St. Louis.

As I think about it, this is more important than I made it.  I remember when the Sabres went all-in with Gerry Desjardins.  He put up the worst goalkeeping performance ever in the Stanley Cup Finals and got hurt in the eye a couple of years later.  The Sabres were hamstrung from 1974-9 because of inferior goalkeeping -- just having a better back-up could have had the Sabres getting a 1st round bye ahead of Boston and not have to play one of the other top 5 (Boston, Buffalo, Montreal, Islanders, and Philadelphia) in the Quarter-Finals.  As I look at the UFA goalkeepers and probable prices for available goalkeepers under contract, I think the Sabres must add to Levi rather than substitute for him.