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Trade and Free Agency Thread - C'mon More Trades!

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Three days ago Reinhart received the inaugural Rick Martin award for embodying what it means to be a Sabre, today he wants out. His exit interview was super cringey too.

I feel sorry for whichever one of Wright or Bedard ends up there.
 
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Korg said:
Three days ago Reinhart received the inaugural Rick Martin award for embodying what it means to be a Sabre, today he wants out. His exit interview was super cringey too.

I feel sorry for whichever one of Wright or Bedard ends up there.
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Reinhardt, Risto and Eichel all want out. Ullmark likely going somewhere else. They were bad this year, are likely to lose their best players and I can’t imagine how many free agents would have them as their first destination to sign. We’ve seen some bad teams, bad ownership and bad management in different franchises over the years, but this Sabres team might be the worst situation that I can recall.
 
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Fogelhund said:
I have a gut feeling, that Eichel is part of the culture problem there. I have nothing to base this on, just a feeling.
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Thankfully the Leafs didn’t have 2nd overall in that draft. Would have been a tough choice and they may have missed out on Marner.
 
Korg said:
Three days ago Reinhart received the inaugural Rick Martin award for embodying what it means to be a Sabre, today he wants out. His exit interview was super cringey too.

I feel sorry for whichever one of Wright or Bedard ends up there.
Click to expand...

What did Reinhart say?
 
I wonder what the asking price is. Feels like the vultures will be circling the carcasses. Most of those buffalo players I wouldn't touch. Never been an eichel fan, reinhart has underwhelmed for large portions of their career and ristolainen lol.

It's wild to look at both the leafs and buffalo and see the similarities in drafting high for a few years with vastly different results.
 
Contenderorpretender said:
I wonder what the asking price is. Feels like the vultures will be circling the carcasses. Most of those buffalo players I wouldn't touch. Never been an eichel fan, reinhart has underwhelmed for large portions of their career and ristolainen lol.

It's wild to look at both the leafs and buffalo and see the similarities in drafting high for a few years with vastly different results.
Click to expand...

Reinhart has decent offensive stats, though his shooting % this year is unsustainable. Defensively, terrible plus minus.... Underwhelming for a 2OA for sure though.

Reinhart, Risto, Dahlin... it's hard to judge any of them... are they not as good as expected, are they part of the problem, or by products of "Buffalo" being a terrible franchise? Look how many ex-Buffalo players have gone on to look so much better elsewhere....

If all three of Eichel, Reinhart, Risto get moved, it's hard to believe they'll get full value. With Cap being tight...

Dahlin, Middlestadt, Reinhart, Jokiharju, Asplund all RFA's this year... If they don't demand to be moved, how many are going to demand walk me to UFA contracts?

Ullmark UFA....

As bad as things have looked for Buffalo so far, things could really come undone this offseason.
 
Korg said:
A lot of non-answers to be honest. But his tone and body language were of someone who is completely defeated.
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Translation: "Overpay me wildly or I'm gone in 1 year."

There seems to be more "going through the motions" in these sparse/absent audience situations these pro leagues are operating in. Buffalo has tanked without grace, Columbus has completely given up. 4 no hitters in a month of baseball, no hitters are supposed to really really difficult to finish, well they apparently aren't when the opposition just wants to get back to their hotel rooms. There's virtually no one to jeer at players who appear to have given up or going through the motions.

Ratings are down across all pro sports leagues despite more potential viewers because I believe the product just doesn't "feel" right. Fake crowd noises reek of the brain manipulation of those near extinct network tv sitcoms from a different age. The event aspect of a game is gone. It's just tv programming now. Maybe some of us are too young to remember the event nature of a Saturday night hockey game. Butterflies would churn in the stomach in anticipation of a big Saturday night matchup. Even a quiet crowd had an underlying energy ready to explode as the game unfolded. Even those of us who rarely went to the games had been to the occasional game carried memories of attending the events and could project ourselves into that crowd energy. Today a blast of recorded goal horn and goal theme song and canned cheering rings false. We feel it. The players feel it. If their season is over, why care about anything other than not getting hurt and surviving to get that next contract. /rant
 
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Fogelhund said:
Reinhart has decent offensive stats, though his shooting % this year is unsustainable. Defensively, terrible plus minus.... Underwhelming for a 2OA for sure though.

Reinhart, Risto, Dahlin... it's hard to judge any of them... are they not as good as expected, are they part of the problem, or by products of "Buffalo" being a terrible franchise? Look how many ex-Buffalo players have gone on to look so much better elsewhere....

If all three of Eichel, Reinhart, Risto get moved, it's hard to believe they'll get full value. With Cap being tight...

Dahlin, Middlestadt, Reinhart, Jokiharju, Asplund all RFA's this year... If they don't demand to be moved, how many are going to demand walk me to UFA contracts?

Ullmark UFA....

As bad as things have looked for Buffalo so far, things could really come undone this offseason.
Click to expand...

Definitely not a good spot to be in if you're a Sabres fan.

I think it's safe to assume that Eichel is as good as gone. I would think that you can trade Ristolainen as well, but I would keep Reinhardt because you can't completely strip the entire roster. Seattle will also take a guy like Eakin or Miller, so they will have some more salary cap.

This off-season they have the opportunity to overpay for a lot of players through free agency to get competitive.

They need to find a good defensive partner for Dahlin and if they get the top pick, find a partner for Power as well. Give Alec Martinez and David Savard some term and big signing bonuses. Keep Jokiharju on the bottom pairing with a vet like Matt Irwin.

I would give Freddy Andersen 5 years at 5 mill per season. Enough of trying to get by with 1 and 2 year deals with guys like Carter Hutton. Overpay for a solid starting goalie. Not elite, but a guy that can give you games. A lot of teams will be scared off due to injuries, but if your franchise is in a bad spot, you need to take those gambles.

Up front, they will get some returns from Eichel trades. I've heard rumours about him going to the Rangers. Maybe that's Strome/Lafreniere/ that take up portions of your top lines.
 
ACC1224 said:
Thankfully the Leafs didn’t have 2nd overall in that draft. Would have been a tough choice and they may have missed out on Marner.
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Would have been a different story for Eichel if he was drafted by the Leafs and had Matthews, Tavares and Wille to win with. Watch what heppens if he is moved to a team that has some stability and success. The guy is still a bonifide franchise #1C IMO.
 
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If I'm Calgary, I'd look at re-tooling and making a strong push for Eichel. They have some nice defensemen already in Valimaki, Hanifin, and Andersson.

Something starting with Monahan + 2021 1st + a good prospect

A first line of:

Tkachuk-Eichel-Lindholm is a good first line for many years.

Then move Gaudreau for a 1st + a good prospect to recoup some assets to keep building.
 
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ToneDog said:
Would have been a different story for Eichel if he was drafted by the Leafs and had Matthews, Tavares and Wille to win with. Watch what heppens if he is moved to a team that has some stability and success. The guy is still a bonifide franchise #1C IMO.
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Eichel is likely a more valuable player than current Marner if he ended up in Toronto, but Eichel and Matthews likely means no JT, so we’d have 3, not 4, of the big boys.
 
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ToneDog said:
Would have been a different story for Eichel if he was drafted by the Leafs and had Matthews, Tavares and Wille to win with. Watch what heppens if he is moved to a team that has some stability and success. The guy is still a bonifide franchise #1C IMO.
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Talented for sure but a bit of a head case. Personally I like Marner better as a player.
 
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ToneDog said:
Would have been a different story for Eichel if he was drafted by the Leafs and had Matthews, Tavares and Wille to win with. Watch what heppens if he is moved to a team that has some stability and success. The guy is still a bonifide franchise #1C IMO.
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Yup but seems to be a bit of a dick
 
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Lumberg said:
Yup but seems to be a bit of a dick
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Really disliked him his first few years in Buffalso but I saw a change last year. I think losing and all the coaching and GM changes has left him with a bitter taste in his mouth. Put in the right situation he could change it around.
 
ToneDog said:
Really disliked him his first few years in Buffalso but I saw a change last year. I think losing and all the coaching and GM changes has left him with a bitter taste in his mouth. Put in the right situation he could change it around.
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He needs a better team, and some veteran presence to put him on the right path.
 
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Fogelhund said:
Reinhardt, Risto and Eichel all want out. Ullmark likely going somewhere else. They were bad this year, are likely to lose their best players and I can’t imagine how many free agents would have them as their first destination to sign. We’ve seen some bad teams, bad ownership and bad management in different franchises over the years, but this Sabres team might be the worst situation that I can recall.
Click to expand...

The Sabres were a year ahead of the Leafs in their rebuild, and were 'favored' to get Babcock. ...things just didnt pan out the same.
Oilers had been rebuilding since what 2006-7?
Leafs were a disaster since about the same time as the Oilers, except they bottomed out and got #1 picks, we didnt.
 
Fogelhund said:
I have a gut feeling, that Eichel is part of the culture problem there. I have nothing to base this on, just a feeling.
Click to expand...
I don't think so. ROR went from being a guy who drunk drove a vintage car into a Tim Horton's and fled the scene to a Stanley Cup champ. Buffalo is just poison
 
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The Podium said:
Eichel is likely a more valuable player than current Marner if he ended up in Toronto, but Eichel and Matthews likely means no JT, so we’d have 3, not 4, of the big boys.
Click to expand...
Two paths that could also have happened.
If you have Eichel and Matthews, Tavares may have pushed one of them onto the wing.
or
Instead of Tavares, Leafs go after someone like John Carlson (who was cheaper) and keep Kadri as a winger.
 
Buffalo's handling of the Eichel injury situation is going to absolutely sewer his value. An outside team looking at this sees a player with a laundry list of injuries, who doesn't believe they were dealt with properly.
 
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