Trade Speculation and Rumors 2018-19

[Huckleberry]

I think the returns for the Sens and Rangers will be underwhelming.

[Hoss]

Tampa has so many great pieces to give that it feels like it’ll be hard to underwhelm. It might not end up being the names everybody has in the front of their minds, but it’ll be a good package.

Tampa being this close on Karlsson is also further evidence that the cap is not a worry for good teams.

[Samson's Flow]

10 minutes ago, Falstaff said:

It's not because good teams have good players that other teams want to have, not Matt Moulson, Zach Bogosian, Johan Larsson, Jason Pominville, Zemgus Girgensons, Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka.

If we fire up the time machine and go back 5-10 years those players might be leading us on a long playoff run.?

[Brawndo]

14 minutes ago, Falstaff said:

It's not because good teams have good players that other teams want to have, not Matt Moulson, Zach Bogosian, Johan Larsson, Jason Pominville, Zemgus Girgensons, Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka.

Next year only three of those players will still be on the roster, the year after that only Berglund will be left. So when the Sabres are a good team, they will not have those players either. 

[dudacek]

So am I the only one on Sabrespace who thinks Berglund and Sobotka are NHL hockey players?

I swear everyone here thinks we just reacquired Pouliot and Josefson.

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, Falstaff said:

I forgot to include Okposo.  And you are presuming that they don't add any more garbage contracts.  I wouldn't make that presumption.

They WERE NHL hockey players.  now they are overpaid underperforming crap.  Are they better than the crap we had?  Yeah probably but that's an incredibly low bar.

 

You watched a lot of Blues hockey last year?

Honest question. I didn’t.

I've read Blues fan commentary, but I take it with a pinch of salt because I know how fanbases tend to scapegoat veterans when they are disappointed in team results. A guy like Jochen Hecht comes to mind.

[Weave]

4 minutes ago, dudacek said:

So am I the only one on Sabrespace who thinks Berglund and Sobotka are NHL hockey players?

I swear everyone here thinks we just reacquired Pouliot and Josefson.

No.  I expect they will be reliable players.  Our roster on wing no longer looks like an AHL roster.

[Drunkard]

20 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Next year only three of those players will still be on the roster, the year after that only Berglund will be left. So when the Sabres are a good team, they will not have those players either. 

So we've already wasted the ELC's of Ristolainen, Eichel, and Reinhart and now we're already planning to waste the ELC's of Mittelstadt and Dahlin waiting for more of these bums to free up money to be competitive? Or are we gonna wait for Berglund and Okposo to be gone as well?

Edited July 6, 2018 by Alkoholist

[TrueBlueGED]

13 minutes ago, dudacek said:

So am I the only one on Sabrespace who thinks Berglund and Sobotka are NHL hockey players?

I swear everyone here thinks we just reacquired Pouliot and Josefson.

They're definitely NHL players. It's just that mediocre 3rd liners aren't anything to be really excited about. 

[Randall Flagg]

Just now, TrueBlueGED said:

They're definitely NHL players. It's just that mediocre 3rd liners aren't anything to be really excited about. 

I'd be a lot more excited about them if we were adding them to a center spine that had ROR in it for Bailey and a 4th ?

 

Also, Berglund is definitely a mediocre 3rd liner, but Sobotka legitimately found his way off of roster projections for next year among Blues fans well before the trade, regularly penciling in a couple bad 4th liners. I think he's going to spend some time on the bench even here. Especially if the youth wave actually happens for once.

[Hoss]

31 minutes ago, dudacek said:

So am I the only one on Sabrespace who thinks Berglund and Sobotka are NHL hockey players?

I swear everyone here thinks we just reacquired Pouliot and Josefson.

Berglund is 100% a solid NHL player. Sobotka is borderline but still better than what we had.

[Taro T]

19 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I'd be a lot more excited about them if we were adding them to a center spine that had ROR in it for Bailey and a 4th ?

 

Also, Berglund is definitely a mediocre 3rd liner, but Sobotka legitimately found his way off of roster projections for next year among Blues fans well before the trade, regularly penciling in a couple bad 4th liners. I think he's going to spend some time on the bench even here. Especially if the youth wave actually happens for once.

Not just Blues fans.  TSN's Blues roster projection post FA pickups & prior to the O'Reilly deal had Thompson as the 4RW & Sobotka was not included amongst the 12 F's. (Granted! it's TSN, so take it w/ a grain of salt.  But they usually don't drop over paid vets out of the lineup projections w/out compelling reason.)

[dudacek]

51 minutes ago, TrueBlueGED said:

They're definitely NHL players. It's just that mediocre 3rd liners aren't anything to be really excited about. 

 

Fair, but considering the black hole that has been the Sabres bottom six for a long time, I am grateful for even small improvements.

[TrueBlueGED]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

 

Fair, but considering the black hole that has been the Sabres bottom six for a long time, I am grateful for even small improvements.

Me too, but the cost of doing so zaps that gratefulness right quick. 

[pi2000]

1 hour ago, Alkoholist said:

So we've already wasted the ELC's of Ristolainen, Eichel, and Reinhart and now we're already planning to waste the ELC's of Mittelstadt and Dahlin waiting for more of these bums to free up money to be competitive? Or are we gonna wait for Berglund and Okposo to be gone as well?

Okposo is untradeable right now... you won't get much of anything back and probably have to overpay somebody just to take on his contract.... .BUT... If Okposo can somehow turn it around (a big "if" IMO), then he certainly becomes a tradeable asset at the deadline for a playoff team... assuming of course BUF isn't sniffing a playoff spot at that point.    

I expect him to be locked to Eichel's wing to maximize his statistical potential, which will make him more attractive.   

[Randall Flagg]

2 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Okposo is untradeable right now... you won't get much of anything back and probably have to overpay somebody just to take on his contract.... .BUT... If Okposo can somehow turn it around (a big "if" IMO), then he certainly becomes a tradeable asset at the deadline for a playoff team... assuming of course BUF isn't sniffing a playoff spot at that point.    

I expect him to be locked to Eichel's wing to maximize his statistical potential, which will make him more attractive.   

Completely agree with the whole post including the bolded, though I think they'd be wrong to assume that this would be true.

I think Okposo would benefit more from solid and predictable linemates who can cover more defensive responsibilities, and I don't think Jack is really any of that. I also think that Jack needs speed and some defensive help, which Okposo doesn't provide. It's a combination I fully expect to see for 40 games despite it being clear that it's not ideal within 3. 

[Brawndo]

1 hour ago, Alkoholist said:

So we've already wasted the ELC's of Ristolainen, Eichel, and Reinhart and now we're already planning to waste the ELC's of Mittelstadt and Dahlin waiting for more of these bums to free up money to be competitive? Or are we gonna wait for Berglund and Okposo to be gone as well?

Can you name one free agent acquisition or proposed trade that the Sabres were not able to make because of salary cap restrictions?  Per Mirtle and other sources the Sabres were heavily involved in the  JVR Sweepstakes, he chose to go home to the Philadelphia Area.  Tavares did not have Sabres Sheets on his bed growing up and did not get a meeting. 

Botterill’s Plan appears to be acculmating assets and talents and rebuilding the talent pool and I’m pretty sure that Pegula approved it. I am as sick of watching sh!tty hockey as much as anyone, but as Friedman said Botterill maybe looking to tear the team down to the studs and getting Dahlin makes that easier.  

The Sabres are in another rebuild whether fans like it or not. 

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Completely agree with the whole post including the bolded, though I think they'd be wrong to assume that this would be true.

I think Okposo would benefit more from solid and predictable linemates who can cover more defensive responsibilities, and I don't think Jack is really any of that. I also think that Jack needs speed and some defensive help, which Okposo doesn't provide. It's a combination I fully expect to see for 40 games despite it being clear that it's not ideal within 3.

Yep.  Though having said 60 games rather than 40 would also have been true.

[Brawndo]

1 hour ago, Falstaff said:

I forgot to include Okposo.  And you are presuming that they don't add any more garbage contracts.  I wouldn't make that presumption.

They WERE NHL hockey players.  now they are overpaid underperforming crap.  Are they better than the crap we had?  Yeah probably but that's an incredibly low bar.

I’m giving Okposo one more year, based on what I have heard the fact he was on the ice this season was quite surprising. Give him a full offseason of training and see what happens.

If Botterill wants to use cap space to acquire bad contracts along with good assets, go for it. By the time the team is legitimately ready to compete for a Cup, not just the playoffs most of these contracts will be gone. 

 

 

[Drunkard]

40 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Can you name one free agent acquisition or proposed trade that the Sabres were not able to make because of salary cap restrictions?  Per Mirtle and other sources the Sabres were heavily involved in the  JVR Sweepstakes, he chose to go home to the Philadelphia Area.  Tavares did not have Sabres Sheets on his bed growing up and did not get a meeting. 

Botterill’s Plan appears to be acculmating assets and talents and rebuilding the talent pool and I’m pretty sure that Pegula approved it. I am as sick of watching sh!tty hockey as much as anyone, but as Friedman said Botterill maybe looking to tear the team down to the studs and getting Dahlin makes that easier.  

The Sabres are in another rebuild whether fans like it or not. 

I have no way of knowing that information but I imagine the fact that we jettisoned our second best player in favor of a basket of lesser pieces probably doesn't paint us as an organization trying to win right now, so I have no idea why they were going to waste time and money on JVR. Signing a 29 year old to a long term contract for big money seems incredibly stupid to me, so I'm actually glad they didn't do that. It's almost as stupid as trading your second best player for lotto tickets and lesser pieces.

Based on the whole multiple pieces trade requirements for both Kane and O'Reilly I agree that Botterill is trying to accumulate assets and another rebuild is in process. That's his prerogative as GM, but I don't have to like it and the main reason I don't like it is because he's going to waste the cheap years of Dahlin and Mittelstadt.

[Drunkard]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

Okposo is untradeable right now... you won't get much of anything back and probably have to overpay somebody just to take on his contract.... .BUT... If Okposo can somehow turn it around (a big "if" IMO), then he certainly becomes a tradeable asset at the deadline for a playoff team... assuming of course BUF isn't sniffing a playoff spot at that point.    

I expect him to be locked to Eichel's wing to maximize his statistical potential, which will make him more attractive.   

I hope not. With O'Reilly gone it's going to fall on Eichel to carry the load defensively for the forwards and I imagine that will be harder to do while dragging Okposo along for the ride.

If they want to try to inflate Okposo's stats to make him more enticing they should try that in the 2019-2020 season with a God like Mittelstadt (pbuh) so they can possibly convince Seattle to roll the dice on him. Assuming he doesn't list them on his NTC.

I hope they put Okposo on the 3rd line with the FNGs (Berglund and Sobotka) and they let those guys mediocre their opponents into submission. Maybe the power of triple "meh" will create some synergy or something like that.

[nfreeman]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

I’m giving Okposo one more year, based on what I have heard the fact he was on the ice this season was quite surprising. Give him a full offseason of training and see what happens.

If Botterill wants to use cap space to acquire bad contracts along with good assets, go for it. By the time the team is legitimately ready to compete for a Cup, not just the playoffs most of these contracts will be gone. 

 

 

 

Agree with both of these.  Regarding KO, I saw enough good hockey out of him before he got hurt to make me think that if healthy he's a pretty good player.  However, I think there is NFW anyone trades for him at the deadline this year.

 

23 minutes ago, Alkoholist said:

I have no way of knowing that information but I imagine the fact that we jettisoned our second best player in favor of a basket of lesser pieces probably doesn't paint us as an organization trying to win right now, so I have no idea why they were going to waste time and money on JVR. Signing a 29 year old to a long term contract for big money seems incredibly stupid to me, so I'm actually glad they didn't do that. It's almost as stupid as trading your second best player for lotto tickets and lesser pieces.

Based on the whole multiple pieces trade requirements for both Kane and O'Reilly I agree that Botterill is trying to accumulate assets and another rebuild is in process. That's his prerogative as GM, but I don't have to like it and the main reason I don't like it is because he's going to waste the cheap years of Dahlin and Mittelstadt.

 

I agree with much of this.  However, I think that although some certainly will interpret the ROR trade per the bolded, it's likely that JB and PH do want to start winning now and liked JVR enough so that they thought he would be a good piece for the next 4 years and then a bad contract for the last 1-2 years of his deal.  Certainly the Sabres need a good scoring winger, and he's been one for a good while now.

[Randall Flagg]

Did I miss us signing James van Riemsdyk?

[3putt]

4 hours ago, dudacek said:

 

You watched a lot of Blues hockey last year?

Honest question. I didn’t.

I've read Blues fan commentary, but I take it with a pinch of salt because I know how fanbases tend to scapegoat veterans when they are disappointed in team results. A guy like Jochen Hecht comes to mind.

I caught about 15 or so games.  They play the Blues games when the Hawks and Bulls are idle and need to fill time on my cable package and I have the NHL.tv racket.  Berglund is a better Larsson.  He is better offensively and defensively but not a huge leap.  Think Sabres Legwand.  Sobotka is Stafford like inconsistent.  Shows flashes of his former self but is unnoticeable for long stretches.  Berglund did have a monster game against the Preds in March(?) not so much on the score sheet but on driving possession and play.  If he plays like that all the time he is a 20-25 goal scorer.  He doesn't set people up though.  Its weird in that he will drive the play and make a pass that goes to three others and in.  No assist, but make no mistake he was the catalyst.  In other games I watched he was JAG.  

[stenbaro]

A little birdie whispered a Pominville, Moulson to TB for Killhorn is all but done...Lets see if the birdie is correct