PKane or EKane?

Because the first Kane literally held Chicago hostage and refused to go anywhere else and threatened walk for nothing in return. I’m sure Chicago got much better offers
- lulags

And Hall held us hostage

When Oloffson is off, he is really off. I still say move him
- lulags

I'm sure his value has dropped significantly from when he was on a heater.

The time to move him was then.

The other thing about this team is their failure in "big" games. Every time they've had one, particularly at home, they've folded. It would be one thing if they played them tight and came up short, but they've got their asses handed to them in these games, with the exception of Tuesday, where they did come back from a mile down to cut the lead to one against one of the worst teams in hockey.

Of course it means nothing to the players.

It should mean something to the owner and GM. They should read the room.

It’s just all around dumb not to improve when you can.

Is the entire Tampa and Boston roster retiring at years end?
- sbroads24

This failure to deviate from a plan set last summer is baloney.

Imagine you are prepping to make a road trip.

You plan your route carefully.

2 hours in and you encounter a serious traffic blockage.

Do you look for an alternate route, one that will still get you to your destination in an expedient manner, or do you just sit in gridlock because it's part of the initial plan?

Adams acquisitions have been trash, his trades have been borderline but hey he is sticking to his plan so thats what matters.

Bjork
Clague
Comrie
Sheahan
Subban
Bishop for a 7th
Hagg
Jankowski
Pysysk
Butcher
Dell
Cagguila
Lazar

Adams is nothing more than Botts 2.0

[url]

Remember Adams traded away Montour for a 3rd round pick?

Montour has 48 points in 60 games and is crushing it in Florida.

Well Done Botts! I mean Adams.

Adams acquisitions have been trash, his trades have been borderline but hey he is sticking to his plan so thats what matters.

Bjork
Clague
Comrie
Sheahan
Subban
Bishop for a 7th
Hagg
Jankowski
Pysysk
Butcher
Dell
Cagguila
Lazar

Adams is nothing more than Botts 2.0


- sabresfan69[url]

stillman

The other thing about this team is their failure in "big" games. Every time they've had one, particularly at home, they've folded. It would be one thing if they played them tight and came up short, but they've got their asses handed to them in these games, with the exception of Tuesday, where they did come back from a mile down to cut the lead to one against one of the worst teams in hockey.
- buffalofan19

They've been bad at home period.

Big game, small game, weekday or weekend. They've got to clean that up. They have the same amount of fans in Florida but they put on a show there.

Remember Adams traded away Montour for a 3rd round pick?

Montour has 48 points in 60 games and is crushing it in Florida.

Well Done Botts! I mean Adams.
- sabresfan69

Please..............This is such a horrible take. Montour Did absolutely Nothing in a Sabres Uni , Now he is having 2 good years in Florida and we want to throw Adams under the bus.

Yikes... Like I always say hindsight is 20/20

Isn't that what Hall did?
- jochfr

Yes, but return for Hall was much closer to comp than return for PKane. The Rangers fleeced Chicago

Pierre LeBrun
@PierreVLeBrun
My sense is the ask right now from Chicago on pending UFA Max Domi is a second-round pick that's down the road, similar to the price Colorado paid on Lars Eller

Please..............This is such a horrible take. Montour Did absolutely Nothing in a Sabres Uni , Now he is having 2 good years in Florida and we want to throw Adams under the bus.

Yikes... Like I always say hindsight is 20/20
- hehateme

Wasn't he playing fvckin forward here?


Guy wasn't utilized properly. Like everyone in the Stank era

Please..............This is such a horrible take. Montour Did absolutely Nothing in a Sabres Uni , Now he is having 2 good years in Florida and we want to throw Adams under the bus.

Yikes... Like I always say hindsight is 20/20
- hehateme

You mean the organization didn't have patience with a 23-24 year old defenceman that we traded a 1st round pick for and flipped it for a 3rd.

Ya you right. How dare we question it.

They've been bad at home period.

Big game, small game, weekday or weekend. They've got to clean that up. They have the same amount of fans in Florida but they put on a show there.
- DirtyDan

I said it a month or so ago, their home record is gonna be the reason the don't make the playoffs.

you just cant lose to Cbus at home

Pierre LeBrun
@PierreVLeBrun
My sense is the ask right now from Chicago on pending UFA Max Domi is a second-round pick that's down the road, similar to the price Colorado paid on Lars Eller
- jochfr

Domi is said to be a locker room cancer. No way in hell Adams touches that.

Adams acquisitions have been trash, his trades have been borderline but hey he is sticking to his plan so thats what matters.

Bjork
Clague
Comrie
Sheahan
Subban
Bishop for a 7th
Hagg
Jankowski
Pysysk
Butcher
Dell
Cagguila
Lazar

Adams is nothing more than Botts 2.0


- sabresfan69[url]

Stillman

My fear is the East just got 1/2 of the Wests good players. All of our competition for a playoff spot got a major upgrade. Chychrun didn’t have a clause and went for way less than sticker price.
East is stacked now. It will be an even bigger challenge to make the playoffs this and next year.
It could be mid 90’s to get a wild card spot moving forward.
We will need upgrades on defense, possibly 2
A real goalie
A winger for Cozens
Some grit and size on bottom 6

Our GM is seemingly a sleep at the wheel.
“Not willing to give up assets to rebuild” is obviously antiquated logic.
- lulags

Panthers finished 9th a few years ago with 96 pts.
Last year every East playoff team had 100 pts, I think

Pierre LeBrun
@PierreVLeBrun
My sense is the ask right now from Chicago on pending UFA Max Domi is a second-round pick that's down the road, similar to the price Colorado paid on Lars Eller
- jochfr

Perfect addition for us and we have 3

Panthers finished 9th a few years ago with 96 pts.
Last year every East playoff team had 100 pts, I think
- Ratsreign

It’s getting vicious in the East.
NHL might have to add a playin round to give at least one more team a shot.

Isn't that what Hall did?
- jochfr

Bingo. People like to forget details when it doesn’t fit their narrative

Stillman
- lulags

I gave Stillman a pass until he suits up but could put him on the list.

Perfect addition for us and we have 3
- lulags

WTF does he do for this team

Remember Adams traded away Montour for a 3rd round pick?

Montour has 48 points in 60 games and is crushing it in Florida.

Well Done Botts! I mean Adams.
- sabresfan69

Another player RK didn't use correctly. Wasn't there talk to use him as a forward when he was here?

The Athletic

NHL trade deadline: What options are left for the Buffalo Sabres?

Feb 18, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Kraken defenseman Carson Soucy (28) skates with the puck against the Detroit Red Wings at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports
By Matthew Fairburn
Mar 1, 2023
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres’ trade deadline conundrum was on full display in their 5-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

The start of the game was a disaster for Buffalo. Playing without Rasmus Dahlin for the second straight game, the Sabres were careless defensively. Through two periods, they allowed 12 high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick, and were in a 4-1 hole entering the third period. At that point, the Sabres played a frantic and desperate period to climb back into the game, but the comeback fell short despite goals from Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka.

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“Not a lot of lessons this time of year,” captain Kyle Okposo said. “You’ve got to win. We know our game. We know our foundation. We know what we have to do to be successful. We didn’t come out and play well enough in the first two periods to win a game. We move on and try to win the next one.”

The next one is on the road against the Bruins on Thursday. It’s the Sabres’ final game before the trade deadline on Friday. On Monday, the Sabres traded forward prospect Josh Bloom to the Canucks for defenseman Riley Stillman. Stillman joined the team Wednesday after going through the immigration process, but it’s fair to wonder if he alone is enough to boost the Sabres’ defense.

The Athletic has live coverage of the NHL trades with the latest news, deals and analysis.

Against the Blue Jackets, Owen Power had to play more than 28 minutes. He thrived in a similar situation on Sunday but struggled in this game. While he was on the ice at five-on-five, the Sabres allowed eight high-danger chances and generated only three. According to Natural Stat Trick, Power led the Sabres with three turnovers. His partner, Jokiharju, struggled just as badly. Don Granato leaned on Power, Mattias Samuelsson and Jokiharju, who all played more than 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Ilya Lyubushkin, Kale Clague and Jacob Bryson were all limited to fewer than 15 minutes each.

The return of Dahlin will fix some problems. He’s still day-to-day, and his absence has further highlighted that he’s the Sabres’ most important player. Without him, the defense is spread thin.

Stillman could provide some useful minutes on the third pairing once he’s up to speed. There could be room to add another defenseman to the bunch, too. If Granato felt better about how Bryson and Clague were playing, their minutes would reflect that.

The issue is this deadline has already been a busy one. Vladislav Gavrikov, Dmitry Orlov, Mattias Ekholm, Jake McCabe, Luke Schenn, Jack Johnson and Kevin Shattenkirk are among the defensemen who have already been traded. The Sabres don’t want to be in the high-end rental market. A few of those players cost a first-round pick or more.

“Especially this time of year and July 1st, everybody’s talking about the big guys and the big moves,” Granato said. “We, as an organization, just make sure we keep moving forward. By virtue of our age, by virtue of our young skill, we’re not in a situation where we’re desperate to make a big move. We’re getting better every day. The experience we can allow our young guys to immerse in right now, competing for a playoff spot, means these young guys will be better next week than they were this week because they’re playing more intense hockey than they’ve ever experienced. So, to keep bringing in people to bump them out and they don’t get that experience means they don’t develop and it may stunt their development.”

That should tell you the Sabres aren’t eager to dip into their top-end resources to make a trade. The Sabres’ first-round pick should be off limits unless it’s at least top 10 protected. So should prospects Devon Levi, Jiri Kulich and Matt Savoie. That would put them out of the running for Arizona defenseman Jakob Chychrun unless the Coyotes decide to reduce their asking price. Adams will be monitoring that situation throughout the week because if the ask becomes more reasonable, that’s a player that could give them a significant boost through 2025 at least. If the first-round pick is not in play or the asking price on Chychrun remains too high, the Sabres may not be able to add to the list of splashy deals that have already happened early in deadline week.

What assets could they trade?

The Sabres have three second-round picks with which to work. Those are valuable assets not just for the way they could deepen the prospect pool but because they could be used as trade chips in the offseason. Parting with one would be palatable.

Outside of that top tier of prospects, the Sabres also have Isak Rosen and Noah Ostlund, first-round picks in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Parting with either one should only be considered if the return is significant. That seems like a trade Adams is more likely to consider in the offseason when the market is different and he has more clarity on the roster.

The team traded Bloom and has other recent draft picks at forward like Viktor Neuchev, Prokhor Poltapov and Aleksandr Kisakov who could be appealing to teams. But like those second-round picks, the return needs to be worth it.

The easier assets to trade would be third-round picks or later. They don’t have a third-round pick in 2023 but otherwise have all of their picks in the next three drafts. University of Minnesota defenseman Ryan Johnson and University of Michigan goalie Erik Portillo could be used as trade chips as well and would make the value of a mid-round pick in Portillo’s case and possibly a second or third-rounder in Johnson’s case.

So what are their options to add? As we’ve seen with Stillman, sometimes it’s the less obvious, unheralded names the Sabres look into. But here are a few noteworthy names still left on the market if the Sabres choose to make a bigger deal.

Carson Soucy, defenseman, Kraken

The Kraken are likely heading to the playoffs, but Carson Soucy’s name has come up in trade talks because he’s in the final season of his contract and has value as a 28-year-old, proven defenseman. The Sabres are being mindful of the cost to acquire at this time of year, so they may not want to pay a premium for a player of Soucy’s caliber. But he could be useful now and in the future if signed beyond this season.

Dante Fabbro, defenseman, Predators

With the Predators in sell mode, it’s worth checking in on Dante Fabbro, a 2016 first-round pick who has struggled some in his fourth season with Nashville. He does fit the profile of a young player who could have untapped potential. That seems to be in line with what the Sabres have targeted. He has a cap hit of $2.4 million and is a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

What about a forward?

The Sabres will be without Alex Tuch for multiple weeks. That has put Jack Quinn on the top line and given Vinnie Hinostroza another opportunity in the NHL lineup. But another middle six forward would be a useful reinforcement for the final stretch of the season. James van Riemsdyk would fit as a goal-scoring power forward with playoff experience, but other teams could be vying for his services and he’s a rental as an unrestricted free agent after the season.

Jordan Greenway from Minnesota is also intriguing. He played under Granato at the United States Development Program and has not played up to his $3 million salary. He’s the type of bigger, physical forward the Sabres could use more of, and he fits the mold of a young player with untapped potential.

It’s tough to envision the Sabres adding a center considering the top two centers are locked in, and Peyton Krebs and Tyson Jost have impressed the coaching staff while playing in the middle. A veteran center like Nick Bonino or Lars Eller would give the Sabres needed help in the faceoff circle and on the penalty kill, but that would require Jost moving to the wing. Krebs has been much more comfortable at center than on the wing, so he’s likely staying put there.

The other option? Don’t make any moves

Granato mentioned that last year Adams told the team he wasn’t going to sell off pieces or make any major moves because he believed the group was coming together and ready for a strong stretch run. That turned out to be the case, but this team is obviously in a much different position in the playoff race than it was a year ago. Still, Granato seems to think it’s wise not to stray too much from that.

“It turned out to be the best move of all, not to make any big moves,” Granato said. “It was the same thing with the summertime, and here we are as one of the top-scoring teams in the league and showing, continuing to show signs of growth. This is a growth opportunity. We don’t want to boot somebody out to take that ice time away from a growth opportunity unless it’s impactful and it doesn’t jeopardize our progress. I think Kevyn’s been really consistent with that and I think our team’s been consistent with that as a result.”

Another player RK didn't use correctly. Wasn't there talk to use him as a forward when he was here?
- Dannymik

They did for like a game or 2