Trading Linus Ullmark

[dudacek]

Everybody loves him. I want to re-sign him.

But he is a pending UFA. What do you do if he says he's going to test the market?

 

Unilke Staal, and Hall, and Montour, Linus has been really good. He will — hands down — be the best goalie on the market if we make him available.

Should he be traded? Will he be traded? What kind of return is worth more to the team than him playing out the string and walking to UFA?

[Thorner]

I'd sign him to be the #1 with the caveat being we bring in a backup with a not unreasonable chance of pushing for the 1 position at any given stretch. As this season has shown, you need quality behind your starter.

I'd only deal him if it was a can't miss offer - I'd rather have a shot at winning games than a 2nd round pick. 

[nfreeman]

Trade him for whatever we can get. 

I like Linus but not enough to say he's definitely the #1 next year.  I'd be fine bringing him back along with someone like MAF or other legit NHL goalie and letting them fight it out for the top job.  I definitely don't want to give him an extension until Karmanos and hopefully Rutherford are here to opine.

It will probably make sense to wait until the deadline so he can prove he's healthy with a few starts.

[Randall Flagg]

I want him back. 

I would trade him for a reasonable return if he says he wants to test the market. 

In either case, I would attempt to bring in a goalie better than him in the offseason.

[LabattBlue]

I’d like Ullmark back on a 2 year deal...low end #1 money.  If he doesn’t want to come back...sell sell sell at the TDL. 

[darksabre]

6 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I want him back. 

I would trade him for a reasonable return if he says he wants to test the market. 

In either case, I would attempt to bring in a goalie better than him in the offseason.

Yup.

I like Linus and would like to re-sign him. You can always trade him later if UPL makes the jump.

That said, I would like to get a solid prospect or a first round pick for him if we trade him. I think he could probably start for a good team and take them deep in the playoffs. He's worth that price.

[SDS]

If you aren’t upgrading him then you have to keep him right? The idea can’t be to go into next year with worse goaltending.

[darksabre]

3 minutes ago, SDS said:

If you aren’t upgrading him then you have to keep him right? The idea can’t be to go into next year with worse goaltending.

There are a lot of viable starting goalies coming available next year. It's probably not make or break to keep Linus. This is goalie purgatory after all.

That said, I think Linus is going to be facing a lot of competition for roster spots at his price-point. He might be smart to take a reasonable deal and just stay here where he knows he's probably going to be the number 1.

[OhMyDahlin]

35 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I'd sign him to be the #1 with the caveat being we bring in a backup with a not unreasonable chance of pushing for the 1 position at any given stretch. As this season has shown, you need quality behind your starter.

I'd only deal him if it was a can't miss offer - I'd rather have a shot at winning games than a 2nd round pick. 

Winning games this year does nothing for this organization...a 2nd round pick is much more valuable to this team right now.

18 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

I’d like Ullmark back on a 2 year deal...low end #1 money.  If he doesn’t want to come back...sell sell sell at the TDL. 

That would be a perfect bridge to Luukkonen.

[Thorner]

Just now, OhMyDahlin said:

Winning games this year does nothing for this organization...a 2nd round pick is much more valuable to this team right now.

It's also an entertainment product. I enjoyed myself last game. Maybe I get hit by a bus this summer. I wouldn't mind enjoying the last 20 games.

[OhMyDahlin]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

It's also an entertainment product. I enjoyed myself last game. Maybe I get hit by a bus this summer. I wouldn't mind enjoying the last 20 games.

At the cost of a top-3 pick? No thanks. This team needs talent, not meaningless wins to appease a couple fans.

If this is how you feel, you might as well not trade Taylor Hall or anyone else.

[darksabre]

Another weird nugget to keep in mind with Linus is that he's very much a family man. If you follow him on Instagram he's all about his wife and kids. He's not in any way one of those "living the superstar life" kinda guys. So for him I bet he would prefer to stay on the east coast, and I bet he wouldn't mind signing somewhere that he's comfortable for a long term deal. This is the kind of guy who ends up moving to Buffalo and staying here for life, dig?

edit: He's also a big water guy. He likes boating and fishing. Pretty good boating and fishing round these parts...

Edited March 29, 2021 by darksabre

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, OhMyDahlin said:

At the cost of a top-3 pick? No thanks. This team needs talent, not meaningless wins to appease a couple fans.

If this is how you feel, you might as well not trade Taylor Hall or anyone else.

I don't want Hall back next season or most of the other UFAs. I see Linus in the longer term plans so it's different. I wouldn't mind the Cozens and Mittelstadts and Dahlins on the team to find some confidence down the stretch. I don't understand why the games have to be diminished to zero value. 

[Eleven]

Didn't we just get a really good look at how awful this team is without him?  His replacement isn't sufficiently advanced in the system yet.  Pretty much have to keep him.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

We can't just trade everybody, eh.

Sign him.  He's good and we don't have a lot of options here.

[OhMyDahlin]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I don't want Hall back next season or most of the other UFAs. I see Linus in the longer term plans so it's different. I wouldn't mind the Cozens and Mittelstadts and Dahlins on the team to find some confidence down the stretch. I don't understand why the games have to be diminished to zero value. 

The goal should always be to make the playoffs or acquire talent/improve the roster...we only have a chance to do one of those things, take it!

Those players can all find confidence without ruining the opportunity to get a top player in the draft.

(We're so far in the basement that it probably doesn't even matter if we win a couple games.)

[Thorner]

I'm pretty sure if we won enough games down the stretch to play our way out of the basement, considering how far down we are - it would foretell better things than a dead-last finish and what that guarantees, especially this year. Every year it's the same argument, people are afraid to rack up wins because it may be a detriment to our ability to....rack up wins. Something we haven't even managed to do. I'll take the wins whenever I can get them. 

We are so far back anyways. 

No draft consensus anyways. We'll be near the bottom. 

[miles]

ullmark deserves more than being on this team

[Norcal]

I'd like to see a combo including Linus in Buffalo next year but I wouldn't hang up if someone came along with a good offer.

He might be in need of a fresh start after the season he's had to endure. 

 

[Huckleberry]

I said no, I don't sign him for first goalie money.    but something between back and 1 goalie is what he is for now.

[LabattBlue]

16 minutes ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

We can't just trade everybody, eh.

Sign him.  He's good and we don't have a lot of options here.

You're assuming he wants to re-sign here?  If I was him, I'd at least wait to see how the 1st week of F/A looks this summer.  Who wouldn't want to get out of dodge right about now.

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Everybody loves him. I want to re-sign him.

But he is a pending UFA. What do you do if he says he's going to test the market?

 

Unilke Staal, and Hall, and Montour, Linus has been really good. He will — hands down — be the best goalie on the market if we make him available.

Should he be traded? Will he be traded? What kind of return is worth more to the team than him playing out the string and walking to UFA?

You have to sign him. There's nothing behind him for at least another 1-3 years. 

[LGR4GM]

This ties Ullmark for 16th in the NHL for sv%

I don't know about gsar (goals saved above replacement) but if someone has a place for that it would be cool. 

Edited March 29, 2021 by LGR4GM

[dudacek]

35 minutes ago, OhMyDahlin said:

At the cost of a top-3 pick? No thanks. This team needs talent, not meaningless wins to appease a couple fans.

If this is how you feel, you might as well not trade Taylor Hall or anyone else.

Linus Ulmark is not going to spoil the Sabres lottery position, not 12 points back with two dozen games remaining.

He might save the psyches of quite a few fragile skaters, and preserve a few potential paying customers.

[thewookie1]

I wouldn’t trade him unless a team quite literally blows my socks off. I’d much rather resign him so we at minimum have a 1B goalie on our roster.  Not to mention I’ll never root for a loss again after those two tank years. I want to win regardless of the unimportantance of a game.

The exception being if a team offers us a 1st and their top goalie prospect for some unbelievable reason.

Edited March 29, 2021 by thewookie1