Sabres Trade Ilya Lyubushkin to Anaheim for a 2025 4th Round Pick

[Eleven]

8 minutes ago, shrader said:

It’s news about hockey. We’ll take what we can get. 

It really is like a crust of stale bread to a starving person!

[K-9]

When was the last time we worried so much about the loss of a 7th defenseman? 

[nfreeman]

37 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

The Sabres Analytics Department would disagree with Boosh being a better option. Stillman and Bryson are actually have better metrics in enough categories to justify keeping them over Him. 

I did some digging on this -- Loobie was indeed at or near the bottom in a bunch of team D fancystats.  OTOH, Bryson and/or Stillman were worse than Loobie in several of them.  I think it comes down to (i) which fancystats they consider important and (ii) not wanting to play hardball with a veteran they signed in free agency who wanted to play more -- in his contract year -- than the Sabres thought he would play.

For those who didn't know (like me until just now, for example) Moneypuck has a great customizable fancystats tool:  https://moneypuck.com/stats.htm

 

35 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

This is dumbass.

Second highest shot blocker on the team.  He was far from perfect, but he should have stayed in the bottom pairing. Joker should have been moved ahead of him if you wanted to dump a body. 

Just dumbass. 

I think there are valid reasons to prefer Loobie over Bryson and Stillman, but not over Joki.  Frankly I don't think it's even close.

 

[Derrico]

11 minutes ago, K-9 said:

When was the last time we worried so much about the loss of a 7th defenseman? 

When was the last time it mattered?  When was the last time the playoffs became the expectation? 

[PromoTheRobot]

 

 

 

[Brawndo]

1 hour ago, Derrico said:

Boosh only had one year left on his deal.  Novikov won't be a factor for the Sabres this year.  Let's hope Johnson is an upgrade.

Really?  Bryson looked like a tirefire liability all season.  Stillman didn't look much better when he was dressed.Booth was slightly better in terms of offensive metrics, but Bryson has better at defense and PK metrics 

Bryson has better defensive and PK metrics

Stillman is full pedal to the metal with no brakes when he is out on the ice. The Sabres are better on offense when he is on the ice, but he gives it all back when the puck is in the Sabres Zone. 
 

None of the three should see regular minutes, but Boosh’s Tendency to take penalties at a higher rate, given the Sabres lack of PK Ability made him the most likely one to be moved 

 

[K-9]

6 minutes ago, Derrico said:

When was the last time it mattered?  When was the last time the playoffs became the expectation? 

If the playoffs are riding on the retention of a 7th defenseman then I’m not sure it’s a realistic expectation. 

[Brawndo]

7 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I did some digging on this -- Loobie was indeed at or near the bottom in a bunch of team D fancystats.  OTOH, Bryson and/or Stillman were worse than Loobie in several of them.  I think it comes down to (i) which fancystats they consider important and (ii) not wanting to play hardball with a veteran they signed in free agency who wanted to play more -- in his contract year -- than the Sabres thought he would play.

For those who didn't know (like me until just now, for example) Moneypuck has a great customizable fancystats tool:  https://moneypuck.com/stats.htm

 

I think there are valid reasons to prefer Loobie over Bryson and Stillman, but not over Joki.  Frankly I don't think it's even close.

 

I use Hockey Viz which is Micah Blake McCurdy’s Site and His Models are reportedly more well respected around the analytics community. 
 

Lawrence Pilut and Casey Fitzgerald were the only two defenders who did not get worse when on the ice with Boosh 

[Brawndo]

12 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

 

 

Sweet! 

[That Aud Smell]

6 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Doing right for the player is what losing franchises do. We continue to be sad sack.

It is?

I’m asking.

[Dr. Who]

14 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

It is?

I’m asking.

If you execute them, everyone respects you, but it's harder to sign free agents.

[pastajoe]

1 hour ago, K-9 said:

When was the last time we worried so much about the loss of a 7th defenseman? 

Have some respect, he was a 6th defenseman, darn it ! 😡

[...]

54 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

I use Hockey Viz which is Micah Blake McCurdy’s Site and His Models are reportedly more well respected around the analytics community. 
 

Lawrence Pilut and Casey Fitzgerald were the only two defenders who did not get worse when on the ice with Boosh 

By now the Sabres' Analytics team has likely run models of every player combination with variations on circumstances. They know exactly who they want to keep and jettison. They are also making suggestions on who to play with whom in what situations at least for the first 10-20 games.

[RangerDave]

1 hour ago, K-9 said:

If the playoffs are riding on the retention of a 7th defenseman then I’m not sure it’s a realistic expectation. 

I think a 7th defenseman of Lybushkin's calibre could have made the difference in the 2006 Conference Finals versus Carolina.

[TRIP65]

20 hours ago, shrader said:

I’d rather have his physical side over Stillman. As taro’s suggesting, I think/hope something else is in play. 

That is what Clifton is for. Stillman is 7th defensiveman.

Dahlin Samulesson

Power  Clifton

Joki  Johnson/Stillman

 

Some of Amerks will be coming up to, like Davies, Johnson, etc...

 

Sabres are loaded now.

 

Liked Ilya Lyubushkin but he would not have played often. Best for him to move on at 28.

 

[That Aud Smell]

6 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Do you honestly not get tired of being bitch to 31 other teams?

We must study his brain.

[LGR4GM]

You know Clifton and E. Johnson are being undervalued when we're upset the 4th rhd on the roster gets traded. What a strange thread. 

[Doohicksie]

52 minutes ago, RangerDave said:

I think a 7th defenseman of Lybushkin's calibre could have made the difference in the 2006 Conference Finals versus Carolina.

We were down to our 19th defenseman in that series.

[GASabresIUFAN]

12 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

You know Clifton and E. Johnson are being undervalued when we're upset the 4th rhd on the roster gets traded. What a strange thread. 

I don’t think they are being undervalued.  The fans here understand that players get injured and after last season, when we played 10 D a minimum of 17 games, we need the best depth we can get.

[LGR4GM]

2 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I don’t think they are being undervalued.  The fans here understand that players get injured and after last season, when we played 10 D a minimum of 17 games, we need the best depth we can get.

Seems some fans may not understand roster limits or that we have waiver exempt backups in Rochester. 

[Taro T]

4 hours ago, Derrico said:

I don't think Boosh was amazing or anything but if we see an injury or two I would feel better running him out there than Stillman/Bryson/more E Johnson minutes etc.

He played injured a LOT last year.  When healthy, he was a solid stay at home D-man.  Was really looking forward to seeing how he'd perform this year in his 2nd year in Granato's very different style of play; especially if he would stay healthy.

Spacek went from a healthy scratch in the playoffs in his 1st season to team captain at the innaugural Ice Bowl.  D-men often look significantly better in their 2nd season on a new team than they did in their 1st season.

But, from Granato's perspective he can now justify his love of all things Jokiharju and keeping him in the top 6.  Was a much closer call should Lyubushkin been back.

Still hoping this means a bigger D trade is in the works.  Because if they do bring in another true top 4 quality D-man, can see not wanting to have 11 NHL capable D-men in the organization (not necessarily 11 GOOD NHL D-men as Bryson and Clague aren't, but there are at least a handful of NHL teams that they could legitimately be the designated pressbox sitter when fully healthy and it would be terribly discouraging to know there were 4 guys ahead of you (plus they may want to look at Ryan Johnson before going to the 10 or 11 should injuries hit hard) to actually play in the NHL again).

[GoPuckYourself]

I was really excited when Lybushkin 1st signed, all i heard was he hit's everything that moves and is solid defensively. I didn't see him hit enough and his defense at least when I focused in on him was just decent to meh. I think Stillman is a younger, better hitter and better defensively so I'm ok with this but we still have Bryson on the roster and we pick up yet another draft pick? We won't have enough room in Rochester pretty soon! Hopefully we can start dealing these picks for a better goalie. 

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

I was really excited when Lybushkin 1st signed, all i heard was he hit's everything that moves and is solid defensively. I didn't see him hit enough and his defense at least when I focused in on him was just decent to meh. I think Stillman is a younger, better hitter and better defensively so I'm ok with this but we still have Bryson on the roster and we pick up yet another draft pick? We won't have enough room in Rochester pretty soon! Hopefully we can start dealing these picks for a better goalie. 

It's a 2025 4th round pick. That guy might, and I mean might, be in Rochester in idk 2027

Edited August 20, 2023 by LGR4GM

[Doohicksie]

11 minutes ago, Taro T said:

He played injured a LOT last year.  When healthy, he was a solid stay at home D-man.

The most important ability is availability.  Dude just isn't available enough.

12 minutes ago, Taro T said:

But, from Granato's perspective he can now justify his love of all things Jokiharju and keeping him in the top 6.  Was a much closer call should Lyubushkin been back.

Incorrect.  Joki ranks above Boosh (and should).

[thewookie1]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I don’t think they are being undervalued.  The fans here understand that players get injured and after last season, when we played 10 D a minimum of 17 games, we need the best depth we can get.

It doesn’t work that way though, you can’t hold onto 10 NHL defenseman and tell 2/3 of them they’ll be on a bus in the AHL unless we lose 2+ defenseman at the same time. They’ll want to go elsewhere. There’s a reason most teams will have some issues if they lose multiple defenseman, it’s not exactly an avoidable situation due to roster sizes.
 

This trade is more about helping Bush find playing time versus getting rid of him.