Sabres Acquire Center Eric Staal from Wild for Marcus Johansson

[DarthEbriate]

Execute... order 4!

Save cap space, get trade value at the deadline, no need to protect him in the expansion draft, mentor for Cozens, can play in all situations, can handle 2nd PP minutes, not an undersized/lightweight center like Ruotsalainen, and although he has declined statistically he hasn't fallen off a cliff statistically---he can still play, and we only need him to play well for one year, maybe two. It's a really solid single move. Now... stack a couple more good moves.

You may fire at will, GM Kheevyn.

Edited September 17, 2020 by DarthEbriate

[LTS]

4 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Who would you rather have... Bjugstad or Staal?

Staal, every day.  He's proven.

Also, if things don't totally pan out in Buffalo, he's worth more at the deadline than Johansson or Bjugstad.  He'd net a return just for his leadership and experience.

Why does Minnesota want him gone?  He's not a Guerin guy and Minnesota is about to rebuild, hard.  They want something younger.

[PerreaultForever]

59 minutes ago, LTS said:

Staal, every day.  He's proven.

Also, if things don't totally pan out in Buffalo, he's worth more at the deadline than Johansson or Bjugstad.  He'd net a return just for his leadership and experience.

Why does Minnesota want him gone?  He's not a Guerin guy and Minnesota is about to rebuild, hard.  They want something younger.

Yes, I think Minnesota wants to go younger and faster. Perhaps they see Donato taking a leap forward and they plan to use Johanson as a winger. If they see Johanson as a center they are likely making a mistake. 

Now I want them to give us back Marcus Foligno. 

[thewookie1]

8 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Yes, I think Minnesota wants to go younger and faster. Perhaps they see Donato taking a leap forward and they plan to use Johanson as a winger. If they see Johanson as a center they are likely making a mistake. 

Now I want them to give us back Marcus Foligno. 

According to Russo they intend for Johansson to be a C in Minnesota. 

[Flashsabre]

Minnesota were talking about bringing in Minnesota guys to the team.  I wonder if they wanted Mitts for Staal and Adams balked at it and they settled for  Johansson.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Flashsabre

[Thorner]

We have 3 second overall picks on the roster 

[Thorner]

Eric can pass, but I like that he's a bit more of a shooter. Skinner feasts on rebounds in close - it's why he scored 40 with Jack - who even as a playmaker is also a volume shooter. I just really like the Skinner - Staal fit. 

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

Eric can pass, but I like that he's a bit more of a shooter. Skinner feasts on rebounds in close - it's why he scored 40 with Jack - who even as a playmaker is also a volume shooter. I just really like the Skinner - Staal fit. 

I'm pretty sure they rarely played together in Carolina. Which is weird because I agree with your point.

Prime Eric Staal was a pretty similar package to Jack, in that he had all the tools.

[sabresparaavida]

Thinking about it, I think Skinner-Eichel-Kahun  would be a decent line. Kahun is good at primary assists, and would likely thrive on a line with 2 good scorers. That would free up a second line of Olofsson-Staal-Reinhart, which should be really solid. The third line though...

[Trettioåtta]

2 hours ago, sabresparaavida said:

Thinking about it, I think Skinner-Eichel-Kahun  would be a decent line. Kahun is good at primary assists, and would likely thrive on a line with 2 good scorers. That would free up a second line of Olofsson-Staal-Reinhart, which should be really solid. The third line though...

Third liners are much easier to pick up, so a much better position to be in.

I would quite like McCann or Copp or someone like that on the third line - a player who could step up to the second for short stints 

[Trettioåtta]

Broadly I really like this move. It fills the gap we needed and is clearly a show of confidence in Cozens. Johnson was a fine player for us, but nothing special so the cost was great.

I have two concerns with it. Firstly Staals age. He has played well last few years but you can’t not think on a rapid decline happening. Two, he was reportedly very comfortable in Minny and I worry he will be less productive because he doesn’t want to be here (a comment on Minny or Buffalo). But he is always touted as a professional and will help Jack and Dylan.

[MODO Hockey]

Yawn.

 

[Huckleberry]

3 hours ago, sabresparaavida said:

Thinking about it, I think Skinner-Eichel-Kahun  would be a decent line. Kahun is good at primary assists, and would likely thrive on a line with 2 good scorers. That would free up a second line of Olofsson-Staal-Reinhart, which should be really solid. The third line though...

3rd line is easy.   You put the best prospect not in the NHL  that is Cozens as 3 C and get him a UFA winger.

Thompson - Cozens - craig smith.   But all depends on what kind of ufa RW we can get.   Kahun will slide to 3rd line where he should be if we sign dadonov or hoffman.

[Huckleberry]

Personally I'm thinking more like this now.   But also depends on what we do with our 8OA -  I'm really hoping Holtz drops to us and we fix our RW hole.

VO - Eichel - Samson

Skinner - Staal - Thompson

Kahun - Cozens - Craig smith / ufa

[Sabre1974]

59 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Personally I'm thinking more like this now.   But also depends on what we do with our 8OA -  I'm really hoping Holtz drops to us and we fix our RW hole.

VO - Eichel - Samson

Skinner - Staal - Thompson

Kahun - Cozens - Craig smith / ufa

Or Jarvis, Raymond at 8. That would do

[matter2003]

4 hours ago, Trettioåtta said:

Broadly I really like this move. It fills the gap we needed and is clearly a show of confidence in Cozens. Johnson was a fine player for us, but nothing special so the cost was great.

I have two concerns with it. Firstly Staals age. He has played well last few years but you can’t not think on a rapid decline happening. Two, he was reportedly very comfortable in Minny and I worry he will be less productive because he doesn’t want to be here (a comment on Minny or Buffalo). But he is always touted as a professional and will help Jack and Dylan.

It's a 1 year deal.

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

3rd line is easy.   You put the best prospect not in the NHL  that is Cozens as 3 C and get him a UFA winger.

Thompson - Cozens - craig smith.   But all depends on what kind of ufa RW we can get.   Kahun will slide to 3rd line where he should be if we sign dadonov or hoffman.

Thompson is a right wing, there's no reason to play him on his off wing. I would be very hesitant to play a line of ???? - Cozens - Tage

1 hour ago, Sabre1974 said:

Or Jarvis, Raymond at 8. That would do

None of them are NHL ready. Raymond in particular is probably 2 years away (1 more SHL year, 1 full AHL year). 

[Taro T]

4 hours ago, MODO Hockey said:

Yawn.

 

Welcome back! 

🍺

[GASabresIUFAN]

6 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Thompson is a right wing, there's no reason to play him on his off wing. I would be very hesitant to play a line of ???? - Cozens - Tage

We’ve done it before with great success.  Vanek Roy and Max for example.

Maybe there is a stop gap RW to play with Staal and we can move Kahun to Cozens line.

Edited September 17, 2020 by GASabresIUFAN

[Claude Balls]

When I saw this trade, it didn't move. I'll wait to judge until I see the old bastard play a handful of games.

[LGR4GM]

16 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

We’ve done it before with great success.  Vanek Roy and Max for example.

Maybe there is a stop gap RW to play with Staal and we can move Kahun to Cozens line.

That was very different. All 3 of those players had AHL experience or other pro experience before that line did its thing. 

I lied, Vanek only played college prior to that line doing its thing. Roy had NHL/AHL experience and Max had KHL, NHL experience. 

I think it is difficult to project the same thing out when one of the pieces is a newly rehabilitated Tage and a first year pro in Cozens. 

Edited September 17, 2020 by LGR4GM

[miles]

8 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Minnesota were talking about bringing in Minnesota guys to the team.  I wonder if they wanted Mitts for Staal and Adams balked at it and they settled for  Johansson.

That would have been even better for the Sabres. I honestly dont see mittlestadt in the nhl much. I get the impression that he thinks he belongs in the nhl because he "deserves it " not because he earned it

I hope he proves me wrong.

 

Even a day later, I feel the sabres stole Staal 

Edited September 17, 2020 by miles

[GASabresIUFAN]

It's funny, but the initial reaction on NHL Tonight was all about Minn GM's working to get younger and faster and getting MoJo to help.  They didn't say a single word about Buffalo getting Staal.

[LGR4GM]

Interesting write up on Staal and what he can bring even at his age. 

Quote

In Evolving Hockey’s expected goals above replacement model, the Canadian-born center remains well above replacement. Over the last three seasons, Staal ranks 27th among all forwards in even-strength offense in the twins’ GAR model.

They (Skinner and Staal) played 957 minutes together at 5 on 5, according to Natural Stat Trick. They posted a 52% shot share and 49% shot quality share in their time together. The part that could be a concern is that they posted a 43% goal differential.

https://www.expectedbuffalo.com/eric-staal-fills-the-two-year-void-at-center-for-the-buffalo-sabres-minnesota-wild-trade/

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I like Eric's name ...

😎