Evander Kane: Buffalo's best player?

[LGR4GM]

Is he our best player? He went to a new line and it magically produced. I'm really wondering if trading him is a bad idea.

[Eleven]

Yes he is and yes, trading him is a bad idea.

[inkman]

Is he our best player? He went to a new line and it magically produced. I'm really wondering if trading him is a bad idea.

He needs to want to stay here

[WildCard]

Flagg had it right, trade him

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Yes.  And, yes.  To both questions.

[Rasmus_]

Yes, and yes he should be traded.  If they want to go all out and try to re-sign him in the offseason, maximizing his value and explaining that it's for the betterment of the team is what happened with Moulson.  If Kane was going to sign an extension what makes you think he wouldn't if he spent some time in a winning environment.  The team/management does right by him by trading him for a chance to make the playoffs and retain him after we get some cap off this summer.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Yes.  And, yes.  To both questions.

 

To be clear ... my second yes is saying that trading him is a bad idea.

[dudacek]

Right now? Yes, he is our best.

Lehner is his only competition.

 

Overall, he’s a less valuable piece than Jack and Risto and ROR, but he’s still a core piece I like to watch.

 

Ideally, we trade him for a small fortune to a contender and re-sign him this summer to an Okposo-esque deal.

But like Ink says, he’s gotta want to do that.

More than likely we trade him for two useful pieces and spend our money elsewhere.

[Rasmus_]

To be clear ... my second yes is saying that trading him is a bad idea.

 

I truly believe if you do right by him now so he doesn't sour on a bottom place finish and let him see that we care about his ability to win.  I think it benefits.  Now, you try to gauge his interest in coming back before doing so.  IMO, trading him is what you need to do for the betterment of the team long term.

[7+6=13]

Such a tough call.  If the stage is set that we aren't giving him an extension during the season - or he doesn't want to sign an extension - then I think you have to trade him, there's little choice.  Keeping him and not signing him although it would cause a massive void on our team would be a huge missed opportunity for the future.   

 

I wouldn't keep him to just show good will towards him for signing him in the off season - that's just a simple conversation with his agent - otherwise you sign him now. 

 

If the Sabres want to sign him but his agent is saying we are open to signing back with Buffalo but my client does want to take advantage of seeing the open market - then obviously that decision is already made for the Sabres and you trade. 

[jsb]

Yes.  And, yes.  To both questions.

Wait..... what??? There's more than one Bozo on this site????

Where are all the ROR fans????

Jack is the best player on this team but Kane is 2nd!!!!

 

 

 

Dang, there I go with all the punctuations again , that and putting dates on things..... when will I ever learn

[French Collection]

Maybe I'm pessimistic but I keep going back to his history of missing 20 games every year. He is due to get hurt and it may make him impossible to trade. I don't think he re-signs here so we lose him for nothing in July.

 

Yes he is a good player but trade him while his value is at a career high.

 

He may have matured a bit but I still don't think he is the type of leader they need.

[Robviously]

He's having the best season but he's not our best player.

 

I'm open to both re-signing and trading him. This is Botterill's first test and could determine the future of the organization.

[7+6=13]

He's having the best season but he's not our best player.

 

I'm open to both re-signing and trading him. This is Botterill's first test and could determine the future of the organization.

 

Kane isn't our most talented player - that's obviously Jack.  Kane is playing the best and hardest (playing hard never an issue with Kane).  

 

I think you'd agree if he's not being signed during the season - you trade him, right?

[Ross Rhea]

Best, debatable

 

Trade, no way

[Robviously]

Kane isn't our most talented player - that's obviously Jack. Kane is playing the best and hardest (playing hard never an issue with Kane).

 

I think you'd agree if he's not being signed during the season - you trade him, right?

Definitely. If we could get a key prospect or two for him, we could change the team's trajectory. If we think he's a guy we can build around, we re-sign. But I appreciated Flagg's point last night that no team has ever been able to build around him to date. I'm skeptical, even with the season he's having.

[Weave]

No more prospects for the best players on our team.

[Tondas]

Seems pretty simple.  Either JBOT signs him before the deadline or he HAS to trade him.  Asset management 101.  Now whether the Sabres want him or can afford him or Kane wants to stay in Buffalo, who knows?

[Thorner]

I think Eichel is our best player, right now. He's producing close to Kane, and I feel like he draws the most attention from opposing forces, upping the degree of difficulty on his performance.

 

But Kane is a clear top 2, and no other skater is even close this season.

 

I wanted Kane extended before this breakout season. Been on record for that for a long time. When he would have cost less. Faulting Botterill for not signing him earlier is hard to do for several reasons.

 

Ideally Botterill would have locked him up for something substantially lower than what I believe he's going to command now, as one of the best players in the league right now. But it didn't/couldn't happen.

 

If we can't move Okposo, I'm not investing the 7.5/8 million he'll command on the open market on another winger. We've already seen what happens. In a vacuum I think it would be a viable move, but GMTM didn't leave us wth the luxury of taking that chance, with the terrible contracts he handed out.

 

Move Okposo, sign Kane. Or Trade Kane.

[erickompositör72]

Move Okposo, sign Kane. Or Trade Kane.

 

Dream scenario: package Okposo in a trade with Kane, then re-sign Kane July 1

 

EDIT:

 

I just thought about this more- it'd only work if we take someone who's salary is equal to Okposo's, but would be UFA after this season

Edited December 23, 2017 by erickompositör72

[WildCard]

There's something about him that isn't conducive to a winning team. Trade him and let someone else find that out

[darksabre]

There's something about him that isn't conducive to a winning team. Trade him and let someone else find that out

Winnipeg certainly doesn't seem to miss him.

[Thorner]

There's something about him that isn't conducive to a winning team. Trade him and let someone else find that out

I'm not sure we know this to be true. He's only been with two organizations. We can hardly pin the reason we haven't been successful on him, and there were a ton of issues on those Atlanta/Winnipeg teams as well.

 

Winnipeg certainly doesn't seem to miss him.

Correlation not causation in this case. They've been drafting well for a good while.

 

And the Jets were terrible in the two seasons immediately after trading him.

Edited December 23, 2017 by Bjorn Borg

[erickompositör72]

I'm not sure we know this to be true. He's only been with two organizations. We can hardly pin the reason we haven't been successful on him, and there were a ton of issues on those Atlanta/Winnipeg teams as well.

 

.....

 

And the Jets were terrible in the two seasons immediately after trading him.

 

Yeah, this is kinda a lazy take, IMO:

 

There's something about him that isn't conducive to a winning team. Trade him and let someone else find that out

[Taro T]

There's something about him that isn't conducive to a winning team. Trade him and let someone else find that out

Disagree. If Housley ever figures out that he shouldn't be Eichel's 5v5 LW, the Sabres will have 2 effective lines which MIGHT cause opposing teams to be concerned w/ matchups so much so that the 3rd line won't seem to be as useless as the 4th line.

 

OK, that bit about the 3rd line is mist likely wishful thinking, but the part about 2 effective lines isn't. ;)