Two or less

Well, even if he isn't traded, the Sabres still only have 5 forwards under contract next season not counting ERod.

Sabres are 21st in SOG.

I'm not a Lehner fan by any means, but it makes me laugh when people bring this up. The dude has only been in one shootout this season and has faced 2 shooters. One stop, one goal. As for breakways, yeah we all remember all the goals because those sting. But, is there a statistic that keeps tracks of goals and saves on breakaways? I tried looking around just to see how bad he is and where he ranks. I have center ice package and i watch a lot of hockey, and it seems many goalies allow breakaways often. I just wonder where he ranks in the league?

Yeah he was awful. Not a NHL caliber player. I thought the Sabres played a good game though. They didn't quit and fought til the very end. The bye weeks are great for the players but the records of teams coming out of the break are not very good. Sabres had something like 24 shot attempts in the first period and ended the game with 70. Sure they made mistakes, and NYR have a better goalie despite allowing 3 goals. The Sabres loss tonight had nothing to do with a lack of effort though and that was good to see.

hell of a finish in the ducks/pens game

Ducks came out dominating in the second period. Very impressive period so far by them.

I loved trading for ROR but if Botterill can get anything good in return, i'm all in. The guy is super inconsistent and makes many errors defensively and then beats himself up for it to the media after the game. This season, took him 7 games to score his first goal and later in season had a stretch with 0 goals in 12 games. For what he makes, Sabres just needed more.

Same. I think he underrated by Montreal fans. I think they are having major issues that go beyond him on the lack of scoring there, such as Drouin only has like 6 goals and beyond him and Galchenyuk there just isn't very much offensive upside on that roster. Despite all the hate, Galchenyuk has something like 19 points in his last 21 games and currently leads the Habs in points.

This would be very interesting. I wonder what kind of return they could get for him? Buckle up. If Botterill is ready to deal ROR, then i think we could be in for some real fire works in the next few weeks and into the draft as they try to rebuild this team.

Joel Ward gonna be 38 next season lol might wanna re-think that one

You're right, my bad. I jumped the gun there. Either way I don't see him coming back next season.

That's a wild story, i havn't heard that yet so thank you Brawndo for posting it. It makes sense. When COR got shipped out of here it was so random, i remember everyone was puzzled by it at the time and everything seemed like such a mess it was just like another day in Sabreland.

The only explanation for the high asking price by Botterill has to be that he has a offer he is willing to accept on the table. That’s my guess. As for Lehner, I never really thought their was a market for him until last week’s “31 thoughts” column. I spend the last several days wondering what could we get for him... and then Friedman comes out with the update. Lol im back to thinking there is no market for him & he will walk at the end of the season. Truly wasted 1st round pick.

But William also scored 77 points in 75 AHL games. Alex has 34 points in 82 AHL games.

Hope for Malcom & Aubameyang. Then hope Arsenal will be able to fully develop Malcom and that Aubameyang grows up a lil.

A lot of the comments i read from people who attend Amerks often is he looks lazy and lacks "compete". Which is odd, because isn't his brother considered one of the hardest workers?

I didn't watch as i had to work, but per some twitter posts i saw, such as from Matt Bove, Nylander didn't look good and didn't even get on the ice for over time. Ullmark looked great but the Amerks lost 2-1 in the shootout. Griffith with the Amerks goal.

I think the odds are against him, but I think it’s too early to give up on him. He’s only played 48 NHL games so far in his career. He could still be a useful NHLer.

Sabres are getting nowhere near Bellows or a first for Lehner. I don’t even think we’d get a second rounder for him tbh.

This seems right, and for that price no one would trade for him. Just better to keep him and develop him. If Nylander is dealt, i think it'd be part of some mega deal. But i don't see them moving him to be honest.

Im confused because the asking price reported multiple times (including in the post just above this with link to Garrioch and the Kessel trade is very similar. Maybe Sabres will need to sweeten a pot a little bit but Pens traded a high prospect (Kapanen, who was a first round pick), a first and two former second round picks for Kessel, a second round pick and Tim Erixon who was a just a AHLer by that point. In any case, the haul is still pretty solid. Like i said, Sabres may have to add a little to it to get everything they want, but i don't think Botterill will have many issues getting that high prospect and a first in return for Kane. SJ for me is the team to watch for in terms of a Kane trade. I think some of these teams are nervous about re-signing him, as Friedman has mentioned a few times. Committing to Kane for 4 months is easy, but giving him a 6 year deal, some teams could see it as a risk. I have nothing to base this on, but i feel like a market like San Jose, with the nice weather and the beaches, and a good leadership group, would be more open to committing to Kane long term. In terms of the Sabres, they have Josh Norris or Timo Meier they could part ways with. Neither of them is helping them this season, so throwing one in the package might not be a deal breaker for them. They don't have any 2nd or 3rd round picks though, so they might want to get one of those in return, as Cox mentioned similar to the Kessel trade.

I remember how ecstatic this board was in 2009 with Kassian. He was going to be to us what Lucic was to Boston. I think 2009 draft was okay though, besides Kassian. McNabb and Foligno also picked while not having a second round pick. In 2012, i think one of the biggest issues there was, we needed centers desperately, so Darcy took who he thought was the best and i think the development of both players poor, Grigorenko should have returned to the Q while Zemgus to college. In any case, i think that was a weak draft. Zemgus was picked 14th overall and ranks as 8th in NHL games played of all players drafted that year.

I like CJ Smith a lot. Hard worker, good speed, offensive creativeness. Reminds me of a Mike Hoffman.

I truly believe this. Those of us who also support the Bills got a taste of this two weeks ago when Dalton made that pass. The joy was real and not manufactured. I could never change my team bc i want to be as loyal to them as possible, but I also know the feeling we will feel when the glory days are back is going to be some special. As someone said, if i were to ever change my loyalties to the Sabres, it would only be to quit the sport.

Please! 8 is too small. lol Draft is tonight at 9pm. We just need two more people :) Cmon it'll be fun!