What would you trade for Elias Petterson?

[JohnC]

7 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

This is more to my thinking. Pettersson is very good, but his ceiling is not Power's ceiling.

Personally, I don't trade for EP from the Sabres perspective because he's yet another easier-than-average-to-play-against forward, if capable of 1 point/game on a top line and PP1 time. So are Skinner/TNT/Tuch.

But, if it were to happen, I think it requires a 3-team trade, because moving Power or Byram to Vancouver puts them in the same spot they are with the Sabres, which is behind Hugues who is going to play every waking moment on the powerplay.

EP to Sabres, Power to team #3, and another center from #3 to VAN. Then, do the add-ins for cap and balancing.

Any deal that sends Power out is a deal I'm adamantly against. 

[DarthEbriate]

27 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Any deal that sends Power out is a deal I'm adamantly against. 

Which is absolutely fair. Power needs time to grow and he needs a 2-year (maybe even 3) veteran defensive D partner to guide him through his learning and development curve.

34 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

But who is EP? 

A playmaking 1C capable of 100 points, or a soft floater that doesn’t show up every night and gives you 60 points?  

The answer is likely right in the middle. He's capable of 100 points, but is going to average 82. Through his 7-year career his 82-game average is: 33-48-82 +10, exactly 1 point/game.

He is a 1C, just not that elite tier.

Edited Saturday at 03:12 PM by DarthEbriate

[GASabresIUFAN]

People here are funny.  Don’t trade Power because he has potential.  Don’t trade Cozen’s because he’s still young and can rebound and we don’t have enough centers.  Don’t trade for Pettersson because he’s only had one 100 season.  Don’t trade prospects because they have great potential and will help us down the road.  My favorite - Don’t ever trade for defensive defensemen.  These are all arguments on this board about why not to make a move and you wonder why Adams doesn’t get a major deal done.   

There are never guarantees. Risks must be taken to try to fix the team.  LV took a huge risk in acquiring Eichel and it helped make them Champions.  The status quo isn’t working.  
 

Sure acquiring Pettersson is a huge risk.  Maybe he never scores 100 pts again.  So, but what if he recovers to 80 points a year? Doesn’t that make us better?  What is we trade Power and use his cap space on two 20 minute a night defensive D.  Doesn’t that make us better? 

To change the narrative here, Adams or his successor needs to be bold.  The current plan is t working and never will. 

 

 

 

 

[Pimlach]

22 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Not only 'capable' of 100 points but he has done it already. 40 goals and 100 points while being a +16 (technically 39 goals but he missed a couple of games)

The question is WHY has his game changed since he signed that contract?

He signed that deal last spring.

The season before he signed it: 39g, 63 assists, 102 points

Last year before he signed: 63 games played, 29g, 46 assists (82 game pace of 38 goals, 60 assists, 98 points)

SINCE signing his new deal (including playoffs): 67 games played  16goals  32assists (82 game pace of 20 goals, 39 assists, 59 points)

Well that is my point.  He DID get 100 points and now he is a very wealthy 60 point player with a bad attitude.  

Why is Vancouver shopping him?   Cozens and a mid tier prospect and then I am liking it.  

 

[LTS]

13 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

People here are funny.  Don’t trade Power because he has potential.  Don’t trade Cozen’s because he’s still young and can rebound and we don’t have enough centers.  Don’t trade for Pettersson because he’s only had one 100 season.  Don’t trade prospects because they have great potential and will help us down the road.  My favorite - Don’t ever trade for defensive defensemen.  These are all arguments on this board about why not to make a move and you wonder why Adams doesn’t get a major deal done.   

There are never guarantees. Risks must be taken to try to fix the team.  LV took a huge risk in acquiring Eichel and it helped make them Champions.  The status quo isn’t working.  
 

Sure acquiring Pettersson is a huge risk.  Maybe he never scores 100 pts again.  So, but what if he recovers to 80 points a year? Doesn’t that make us better?  What is we trade Power and use his cap space on two 20 minute a night defensive D.  Doesn’t that make us better? 

To change the narrative here, Adams or his successor needs to be bold.  The current plan is t working and never will.

There some risk for Vegas acquiring Eichel, but not huge. They gave up Tuch and Krebs basically. Krebs who people want traded and Tuch who sometimes plays to his potential and sometimes does not. Neither of which have been the answer here, nor would they have been the answer there.

Acquiring a player is more than the 100 pts. It's the $11.5M salary that comes with it. For that much money you want something a little more solid than what Pettersson brings to the table. This isn't like Eichel where you bring on $10M salary and if he cannot play he's off the books. This is $11.5M for a player who if they cannot perform is still $11.5M and cannot be moved.  Think Jeff Skinner, but more expensive.

You bring in Pettersson for Power and you lose cap space, not gain it.  Perhaps you meant just move Power out for nothing or for a lower cap space player, not sure. Either way, $8M less the salaries of the player coming in likely do not get you very good defensive D.

The decision time for this organization is now on Cozens, that's a given. As soon as he moved from 24 to 25 the thought process on what a player will be begins to change.

The contract given to Power is unfortunate, but 22 is way to early to decide what he will become. He makes some bad plays and he's not physical, but he makes a lot of good plays too. 

Yes the plan is not working and has not worked. I don't see Pettersson being the help the Sabres need. Regardless of his one time output what he has shown is an inability to take a team on his shoulders and lead. If all the discussions about him are concerning his mental approach to the game does he really make sense to add to a team whose entire identity is concern over their mental approach to the game?  No.

 

[Flashsabre]

I would definitely welcome this move. Give Power a partner. We have the pieces to get it done.

[mjd1001]

I'm watching Hockey night in Canada right now with the Leafs playing Vancouver. Its the first Vancouver game I have watched in a while but Pettersson is playing a strong game away from the puck.  He is the anti-Cozens. He's in the right spot most of the time, he's very good at stick checking enough to cause a defender to lose the puck but not enough to get a penalty.  He actually covers for his teammates that go into corners.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 minute ago, mjd1001 said:

I'm watching Hockey night in Canada right now with the Leafs playing Vancouver. Its the first Vancouver game I have watched in a while but Pettersson is playing a strong game away from the puck.  He is the anti-Cozens. He's in the right spot most of the time, he's very good at stick checking enough to cause a defender to lose the puck but not enough to get a penalty.  He actually covers for his teammates that go into corners.

….but he doesn’t have 100 points this season……

 

[mjd1001]

A follow up on Pettersson...

Its one game, I get it, and he didn't score. but he was all over the ice.

All the guys on the NHIC studio commented on how he played a good overall game. He slid in front of his own net to block a shot.  He took the body a few times.  He had a couple good stick checks where he caught a guy from behind and loosened up the puck.

I still am concerned about his contract. You NEED 25-30 and 80-90 points if you are paying him that money. But he did not look like a soft, lazy, or perimter player at all tonight. Not one bit.

If Pettersson plays 80% of what he did tonight, and You do nothing at all but swap him in at 2c and Cozens out, and this team is 10 points better right now.

Edited Sunday at 03:10 AM by mjd1001

[Brawndo]

I would love EP on the Sabres. 
 

Realistically there are 10 million reasons on July 1st, it doesn’t happen. His contract is heavily loaded with signing bonuses 10 million in 2025-26 and then 5 million per year for the final five seasons starting in 2027-28. Dahlin, Tage Samuelsson and Cozens were the last four long term deals signed by the Sabres and they had a total of 11 million dollars in signing bonuses paid over their entire contracts. Dahlin got 5 million in the first year of his new deal while the rest got two million a piece in their first years. 
 

This could be an Adams ploy for newer contracts, but it does appear to fit perfectly with the economic, efficient and effective mantra and I cannot see the owner agreeing to paying out 35 million dollars in bonuses for Petterson 

[JP51]

Quite honestly, mot sure I want to spend assets on a talented player who is under performing and bring him here to re ignite... just seems like a recipe for more wasted assets.  

[Pimlach]

6 minutes ago, JP51 said:

Quite honestly, mot sure I want to spend assets on a talented player who is under performing and bring him here to re ignite... just seems like a recipe for more wasted assets.  

Come to Buffalo to be the best version of yourself.  Works for McDermott.  

[WhenWillItEnd66]

Does it really matter at this point??? WHat are we playing for? 

[Weave]

10 minutes ago, WhenWillItEnd66 said:

Does it really matter at this point??? WHat are we playing for? 

Wins.  At some point this team needs to prioritize wins.  What is a good reason to not start doing so now?

[JP51]

21 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Come to Buffalo to be the best version of yourself.  Works for McDermott.  

So true lol and it does work for him.  Seems to work in reverse for the Sabres... all those that go elsewhere and seem to thrive... 

[Pimlach]

22 minutes ago, WhenWillItEnd66 said:

Does it really matter at this point??? WHat are we playing for? 

They should be playing for personal pride.  To win, to get better.  For something to carry forward.  To entertain their fans.  

[WhenWillItEnd66]

1 minute ago, Pimlach said:

They should be playing for personal pride.  To win, to get better.  For something to carry forward.  To entertain their fans.  

I think they missed that memo....

[LGR4GM]

Here's the thing, this is the 3rd full year of this core and you could argue it is year 4, they don't get it. Now, I don't think they should burn it all down and start over like they did in 2014, and somewhat in 2020/21 but they need to look at their top 6 forwards and their top 6 defenders and start making the adult decisions that Adams and his "wants to be here" cuddly childish attitude seems incapable of. If I can somehow move Cozens and Byram for Petersson and something (mild sweetner) than you do it. Then you start figuring out how you are moving Joker, Samuelsson, and one other top forward off this roster. I would look at Quinn and Peterka and ask if I can move either for a defender around the same age. If you want to keep both that's fine but still need a defender for Owen Power, like Zach Whitecloud. 

This game of "everyone will get better" and "what if we move the wrong guy" has to end. Doing nothing is the same at this point as doing something wrong, at least if you make a move you have a chance of doing something right. 3 years of the same core and they will be further away from the playoffs this year. You need all new assistants (except for Bales) and you need to make hard decisions about who stays and who goes. 

[mjd1001]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Here's the thing, this is the 3rd full year of this core and you could argue it is year 4, they don't get it. Now, I don't think they should burn it all down and start over like they did in 2014, and somewhat in 2020/21 but they need to look at their top 6 forwards and their top 6 defenders and start making the adult decisions that Adams and his "wants to be here" cuddly childish attitude seems incapable of. If I can somehow move Cozens and Byram for Petersson and something (mild sweetner) than you do it. Then you start figuring out how you are moving Joker, Samuelsson, and one other top forward off this roster. I would look at Quinn and Peterka and ask if I can move either for a defender around the same age. If you want to keep both that's fine but still need a defender for Owen Power, like Zach Whitecloud. 

This game of "everyone will get better" and "what if we move the wrong guy" has to end. Doing nothing is the same at this point as doing something wrong, at least if you make a move you have a chance of doing something right. 3 years of the same core and they will be further away from the playoffs this year. You need all new assistants (except for Bales) and you need to make hard decisions about who stays and who goes. 

I agree with the premise of not doing a full tear-down.

I don't want to burn it all down.  I'd start with moving Cozens up front because, he quite frankly is just bad (I literally think how much he hurts the team is greater than anything positive he brings)...and if you can get a real asset back for a bad player you do it.  Then on Defense, I didn't want this before... but I'm open to choosing Power or Byram and moving one of them. (hopefully part of the return you get is a quality D-man that can slot into your top 4).

If they could do those 2 moves in the next couple of weeks, I'd be happy. It would literally reset my entire expectations and view of the team for a while.  Do JUST that, evaluate the changes and then have a plan to make more changes if needed.

Edited Monday at 02:41 PM by mjd1001

[Pimlach]

6 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Here's the thing, this is the 3rd full year of this core and you could argue it is year 4, they don't get it. Now, I don't think they should burn it all down and start over like they did in 2014, and somewhat in 2020/21 but they need to look at their top 6 forwards and their top 6 defenders and start making the adult decisions that Adams and his "wants to be here" cuddly childish attitude seems incapable of. If I can somehow move Cozens and Byram for Petersson and something (mild sweetner) than you do it. Then you start figuring out how you are moving Joker, Samuelsson, and one other top forward off this roster. I would look at Quinn and Peterka and ask if I can move either for a defender around the same age. If you want to keep both that's fine but still need a defender for Owen Power, like Zach Whitecloud. 

This game of "everyone will get better" and "what if we move the wrong guy" has to end. Doing nothing is the same at this point as doing something wrong, at least if you make a move you have a chance of doing something right. 3 years of the same core and they will be further away from the playoffs this year. You need all new assistants (except for Bales) and you need to make hard decisions about who stays and who goes. 

Agree that move need to made.  I worry that EP will find Buffalo is good place to coast.  

[LGR4GM]

22 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I agree with the premise of not doing a full tear-down.

I don't want to burn it all down.  I'd start with moving Cozens up front because, he quite frankly is just bad (I literally think how much he hurts the team is greater than anything positive he brings)...and if you can get a real asset back for a bad player you do it.  Then on Defense, I didn't want this before... but I'm open to choosing Power or Byram and moving one of them. (hopefully part of the return you get is a quality D-man that can slot into your top 4).

If they could do those 2 moves in the next couple of weeks, I'd be happy. It would literally reset my entire expectations and view of the team for a while.  Do JUST that, evaluate the changes and then have a plan to make more changes if needed.

I move Byram. I think Power needs a new defensive coach and he will be fine, never super physical but will defend rushes better and he already gets puck up ice at excellent rates. 

[Weave]

38 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

To entertain their fans.  

This is where they lost the ball oh so many seasons ago, and it was my primary reason for opposing the tank.

Somewhere along the way Pegula got so enamored with being a hero that he forgot the greatest reason for the Sabres being is to entertain the fans.  And he still hasn’t been able to see this is the real forest among the trees.

[Stoner]

2 minutes ago, Weave said:

This is where they lost the ball oh so many seasons ago, and it was my primary reason for opposing the tank.

Somewhere along the way Pegula got so enamored with being a hero that he forgot the greatest reason for the Sabres being is to entertain the fans.  And he still hasn’t been able to see this is the real forest among the trees.

Cup Lust. It might be a curse in and of itself. How bout build yourself into a Top 8 team and take your chances? That would also be entertaining.

Serious question: Has Terry ever uttered the words Super Bowl champion?

[Pimlach]

16 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I move Byram. I think Power needs a new defensive coach and he will be fine, never super physical but will defend rushes better and he already gets puck up ice at excellent rates. 

I think we can move Byram and Cozens in separate deals (may need to add some sweeteners) and bring in a few players rather than trade both for EP, who scares me as being another high paid but talented floater.  

[Pimlach]

2 minutes ago, Stoner said:

Cup Lust. It might be a curse in and of itself. How bout build yourself into a Top 8 team and take your chances? That would also be entertaining.

Serious question: Has Terry ever uttered the words Super Bowl champion?

The bold is the way to build a Cup winner.  You have to get in the upper echelon first.  Looking for short cuts won't work because this team doesn't attract the right players.  Once you get to the top tier good players will come here and you can fine tune from there.  

A top 8 team in Buffalo, one that is a contender every year, will bring fans back and attract new ones.  

Winning games needs to be the priority again.  Not draft picks.