Eric Robinson acquired by the Sabres from Columbus for a 2025 conditional 7th Round Pick

[GoPuckYourself]

Just now, inkman said:

No there really aren’t many options for bottom 6 players in Rochester.   Murray has the size but has cement skates, Weissbach is a tiny scorer, Kozak (everyone’s future Mike Peca 🤪) brings zero offense in the AHL,  Nadeau is a few years away, everyone else is either all offense or an ECHL talent.  

Great team we've assembled here 🙃

[GASabresIUFAN]

This is a garbage trade for a garbage player. At least we didn't give up a 3rd rd pick (Bloom) like we did for the great Stillman.  

Why does this GM always shop from the discount rack or garbage bin?  This is just another acquisition of crap depth for a team desperate for a real shot in the arm and it is another in a long line of acquisitions over the last 3 seasons that failed to materially improve the team (Anderson, Dell, Subban, Comrie, Lyubushkin, Greenway, E Johnson, Clifton, Stillman, Clague, Pysyk, Butcher, Hinostroza, and Jankowski).   

[Pimlach]

3 hours ago, Mustache of God said:

This trade has me thinking ahead to the trade deadline...were not going to be in a position to buy and we really have nothing to sell. Our upcoming UFAS are OLOFFSON, Okposo, Girgensons, Just, Robinson, EJohnson, and Comrie.

Teams hoping to shore up for the playoffs aren't going to want any of these guys to help them, except maybe Johnson for depth at the very bottom of the barrel.

Free agents don't want to sign here, how does this team actually get better?

EJ and Girgs will be in demand. 

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

This is a garbage trade for a garbage player. At least we didn't give up a 3rd rd pick (Bloom) like we did for the great Stillman.  

Why does this GM always shop from the discount rack or garbage bin?  This is just another acquisition of crap depth for a team desperate for a real shot in the arm and it is another in a long line of acquisitions over the last 3 seasons that failed to materially improve the team (Anderson, Dell, Subban, Comrie, Lyubushkin, Greenway, E Johnson, Clifton, Stillman, Clague, Pysyk, Butcher, Hinostroza, and Jankowski).   

Because he signed up for the E,E, and E method.  

Edited December 7, 2023 by Pimlach

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, Believer said:

Let’s give Robinson a chance to show us why KA made such a winning trade, as Thorny sees it.

We’ll know soon enough if he adds value.

Why? What do you honestly think a guy who couldn't stay in the Columbus line up will bring us? Ridiculous. 

4 hours ago, Thorny said:

I’d wager to say he’ll help us more this season than that 7th round pick. If KA has proven anything it’s that he believes in a baby steps approach. 

Well that's true, team is chock full of babies. 

 

[SabresBillsFan]

5 hours ago, Mustache of God said:

This trade has me thinking ahead to the trade deadline...were not going to be in a position to buy and we really have nothing to sell. Our upcoming UFAS are OLOFFSON, Okposo, Girgensons, Just, Robinson, EJohnson, and Comrie.

Teams hoping to shore up for the playoffs aren't going to want any of these guys to help them, except maybe Johnson for depth at the very bottom of the barrel.

Free agents don't want to sign here, how does this team actually get better?

^ This is spot on about free agents. Buffalo really needs to start drafting guys that have sand paper to their game.  Plus The defense is way too soft.

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, Pimlach said:

EJ and Girgs will be in demand. 

Because he signed up for the E,E, and E method.  

EJ maybe, not so sure about Girgs. If Girgs was "in demand" he'd probably have already left here a few times as a free agent.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

14 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

 

He has played over 250 NHL games and has scored 82 points.  Not terrible.  He actually may have a roll to play on the Sabres that is longer than the duration of Girgs IR term.

[Norcal]

5 hours ago, SabresBillsFan said:

^ This is spot on about free agents. Buffalo really needs to start drafting guys that have sand paper to their game.  Plus The defense is way too soft.

But the analytics dept doesn't have a stat for that 

[Spoonman]

Whew! 

Our savior. Season saved. 

[DarthEbriate]

10 hours ago, inkman said:

No there really aren’t many options for bottom 6 players in Rochester.   Murray has the size but has cement skates, Weissbach is a tiny scorer, Kozak (everyone’s future Mike Peca 🤪) brings zero offense in the AHL,  Nadeau is a few years away, everyone else is either all offense or an ECHL talent.  

Yup. Their only real bottom 6 option from Rochester this season is Rousek. He didn't look out of place when the Sabres were rolling last season and Granato trusted him on the ice to close out a win only a few weeks ago.

The only other person I think you could list is Cederqvist as a cup of coffee reward and skate him for 5 protected minutes.

9 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

This is a garbage trade for a garbage player. At least we didn't give up a 3rd rd pick (Bloom) like we did for the great Stillman.  

Why does this GM always shop from the discount rack or garbage bin?  This is just another acquisition of crap depth for a team desperate for a real shot in the arm and it is another in a long line of acquisitions over the last 3 seasons that failed to materially improve the team (Anderson, Dell, Subban, Comrie, Lyubushkin, Greenway, E Johnson, Clifton, Stillman, Clague, Pysyk, Butcher, Hinostroza, and Jankowski).   

Don't besmirch the Butcher! His trade turned into Vsevelod Komarov. 😇

8 hours ago, Pimlach said:

EJ and Girgs will be in demand. 

Because he signed up for the E,E, and E method.  

I don't like the EEE method for my sports teams.

[Mustache of God]

8 hours ago, Pimlach said:

EJ and Girgs will be in demand. 

Because he signed up for the E,E, and E method.  

Girgs, the guy with zero playoff experience in a decade + in the NHL? I can't see him fetching more than a conditional mid-round pick.

[In The Buff]

Not easy for a team like ours to go dumpster diving, but here we are. Congrats to KA & welcome to the Sabres-party Eric!

[Mr. Allen]

My issue with this is the fans are so desperate for a change.  So desperate for something big to happen that could turn this season around.  And all Adams does is this tiny little move. 
Almost a slap in the face of the fans. 

[inkman]

16 minutes ago, Mr. Allen said:

My issue with this is the fans are so desperate for a change.  So desperate for something big to happen that could turn this season around.  And all Adams does is this tiny little move. 
Almost a slap in the face of the fans. 

I’m as angry and disappointed as anyone with this team right now.  I don’t want them to make a trade just just to appease fans.  We don’t know what the hell we’re talking about.  What’s the old Marv Levy quote “If you start listening to the fans, soon you’ll be sitting with them”.   

[PASabreFan]

The internet has changed a lot of things. This trade gets attention, clicks, chatter. It's elevated in importance bc we all have hammers and there's a nail.

Yeah that's right inky.

Back in the day of a daily paper, couple of radio stations and 2-4-7, this would have been nothing more than filler.

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, Mr. Allen said:

My issue with this is the fans are so desperate for a change.  So desperate for something big to happen that could turn this season around.  And all Adams does is this tiny little move. 
Almost a slap in the face of the fans. 

A few posters here mentioned trading for Boon Jenner.   He probably has a NMC with Buffalo on the list.  

Edited December 7, 2023 by Pimlach

[msw2112]

17 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Not so fast on Greenway.  He didn't add a thing last year.  He looked better in preseason and at the start of the year he was a pleasant surprise. 

Since his one and only fight as a Sabre, he has been out of the lineup twice, and in that period he was not doing much to get noticed.  

Robinson is an emergency depth piece.  So much for Rousek being a viable NHL fourth line checker/player, as he never even got a 2nd look.  

I'm not saying that Greenway is an all-star, but he's a defensive forward on a team that sorely lacks that type of player.  He's also great on the penalty kill, which is the one area in which the Sabres have improved this season.  He's been a big part of that.  While he's not a fighter, he's got a lot of size that is tough for opponents to deal with.  Given the amount of draft picks and young, smaller forwards the team has, Greenway was a good acquisition.  I know very little about Robinson, but he may also be the type of guy that the team lacks/needs right now.  They need a 4th line grinder.  Rosen is not that.  Kulich is not that.  Biro is not that.  Rousek could be that.

I guess my overall point is that small moves like this can help the team and are not a negative.  That said, if small moves are the ONLY moves, then it's a problem, as this team needs a whole lot more to get over the hump.

[Pimlach]

17 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Maybe you should look at who've they've drafted outside of round one. Or just buy into this tired narrative, your choice. 

 

 

Well I looked.   Sure, I can see some diverse draft selections in the past few years, not much over the longer term.

Speaking of tired narratives, how about the one concerning the Sabres best in the league prospect pool? 

Why can't a team with the "best prospect pool" provide a capable replacement for 4th liner Zemgus Girgensons?   They called up Biro, Kulich and Rosen.  None of them are suited for that job.   We are replacing Girgensons - so what happened to Rousek, Murray, Cedarquist, Kozak, or anyone else? 

As it stands, Robinson should be a very decent 4th line filler forward on lower level teams.  And he might even be free so he fits the efficient, effective, and economic model.   Now that is great news!   Terry should give Kevyn a Christmas bonus!  

 

[LGR4GM]

5 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

 

Well I looked.   Sure, I can see some diverse draft selections in the past few years, not much over the longer term.

Speaking of tired narratives, how about the one concerning the Sabres best in the league prospect pool? 

Why can't a team with the "best prospect pool" provide a capable replacement for 4th liner Zemgus Girgensons?   They called up Biro, Kulich and Rosen.  None of them are suited for that job.   We are replacing Girgensons - so what happened to Rousek, Murray, Cedarquist, Kozak, or anyone else? 

As it stands, Robinson should be a very decent 4th line filler forward on lower level teams.  And he might even be free so he fits the efficient, effective, and economic model.   Now that is great news!   Terry should give Kevyn a Christmas bonus!  

 

I like it when ppl answer their own questions. You answer your own question here.

The Sabres only started drafting even average in about 2020ish maybe 2019 if you want but personally I would argue 2020. So let us say in 2020. Their top picks from 2020 are in the NHL and good. Their only other picks from 2020 are a 5th and two 7th rounders so I wouldn't worry about that because thats a long shot in 5-6 years post draft maybe but probably not. Okay so lets go to 2021, now 2021 is a strange draft year because Covid but outside of their first round pick (Power), no one is ready yet with Rosen being the closest. Now do I think 21yr olds should be relied upon to replace Zemgus? Not really. Maybe if they were a bit older. Now we could go on to 2022 and 2023 but we already crossed the threshold of too young. 

The short answer is the prospect pool is good but it isn't mature and it won't be for another year maybe 2 or 3 and that is why Adams fails, he thinks he can just start replacing NHL players with 20 and 21yrs old and most don't work that way. 

[Pimlach]

36 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

The internet has changed a lot of things. This trade gets attention, clicks, chatter. It's elevated in importance bc we all have hammers and there's a nail.

Yeah that's right inky.

Back in the day of a daily paper, couple of radio stations and 2-4-7, this would have been nothing more than filler.

So true.

We would have read about a move like this in the transactions section of the Buffalo Evening New or the Buffalo Courier Express.   If the Sabres made the move it could get mentioned is the notes sections of bigger articles, probably under cute titles like: "ice chips" or "around the boards".  

The Hockey News, a weekly paper, might have had a bit more.     

 

[MattPie]

28 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

 

Well I looked.   Sure, I can see some diverse draft selections in the past few years, not much over the longer term.

Speaking of tired narratives, how about the one concerning the Sabres best in the league prospect pool? 

Why can't a team with the "best prospect pool" provide a capable replacement for 4th liner Zemgus Girgensons?   They called up Biro, Kulich and Rosen.  None of them are suited for that job.   We are replacing Girgensons - so what happened to Rousek, Murray, Cedarquist, Kozak, or anyone else? 

As it stands, Robinson should be a very decent 4th line filler forward on lower level teams.  And he might even be free so he fits the efficient, effective, and economic model.   Now that is great news!   Terry should give Kevyn a Christmas bonus! 

I think the Sabres probably still have the best prospect pool in terms of talent, but not for building a complete team. I wholeheartedly believe in Best Player Available, but the second part of that is you need to be willing to trade some of those players for other equivalent quality players that bring something else to build the team. If seems like we're stuck at that point. Some of these guys, as much as we all like them, need to be turned into good gritty forwards and D for the Sabres to improve.

[Quint]

Could be a steal!

[HumanSlinky39]

Another JAG. Championships.

[Marvin]

Dare I hope that his presence could indicate that Krebs is headed to Rochester once enough forwards are healthy?

Don't wake me up.  I like this dream.

[Drag0nDan]

2 hours ago, MattPie said:

I think the Sabres probably still have the best prospect pool in terms of talent, but not for building a complete team. I wholeheartedly believe in Best Player Available, but the second part of that is you need to be willing to trade some of those players for other equivalent quality players that bring something else to build the team. If seems like we're stuck at that point. Some of these guys, as much as we all like them, need to be turned into good gritty forwards and D for the Sabres to improve.

Right on.  Deep prospect pool means

1 - find your untouchables in that group.  We seem to determine... that they're all untouchable.  

2 - future NHLer's who are blocked by a current player, or aren't as good as the untouchables.  These are the trade chips to help fill out a roster.  

3 - Identify the players that you don't see having a future, and move them earlier rather than later.  Move them when the thing next to his name says "2nd round pick", not "13 points in 60 AHL games".  

We just drafted a ton of people... and now have a ton of prospects in basically the same spots.  Not enough spots at AHL, and not enough NHL ready talent - and an unwillingness to part with any of the future pieces to help fill out the NHL roster.  The main core of this team is extended - Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson, Thompson, Cozens.  You can probably add mitts to that list.  There are a few competent vets in Tuch, skinner, and greenway.  Then you have young players on the roster in JJP Quinn Krebs and Benson. 

The problem is that the rest of the roster is filled out with UFA's who are passed their prime (Johnson, Girgs, Okposo), or never had a prime (clifton looking a lot like a product of a sick boston team).  Add in fringe players like Jost and Olofsson.  Nothing was done to complement that core.  Our forward depth is all young prospects - and we already have quite a few of them on the roster.  

There were players available for trade - but the majority of contracts these days have some level of NTC which hurts us.  Debrincat.  Duclair.  Desmith.  All would be upgrades over players like girgs, jost, olofsson, okposo, and comrie.  

15 minutes ago, Marvin said:

Dare I hope that his presence could indicate that Krebs is headed to Rochester once enough forwards are healthy?

Don't wake me up.  I like this dream.

I'm at that point, seen enough.  Move him.