Two in the Box

My how things can change in an instant. 

Most of the reporting surrounding Kevyn Adams and this year’s trade deadline was low key. The Sabres were expected to send out their pending unrestricted free agents, but it seemed any significant work would have to wait until the summer. 

Then Wednesday afternoon, Adams swapped Casey Mittelstadt for Bowen Byram and dropping the biggest bomb of the 2024 deadline season. 

Much of this post had been written at that point, with a hope that Adams would be able to pull off a big deal by Friday. The combination of cap troubles around the league and difficult fits seemed like that might be a longshot. even if the hope of a deadline surprise always lurks. Any deal Adams would have made outside of selling Zemgus Girgensons, Erik Johnson and Kyle Okposo would’ve been a surprise addition in some way. Though I’m not sure anyone was truly prepared for the magnitude of the trade he made with the Avalanche.  

Not only is the Mittlestadt for Byram deal a shock to the system, it’s the first truly significant deal Adams has made this side of the Jack Eichel trade. This isn’t the first time a Sabres GM has managed to land a surprise acquisition around the deadline. In fact, Adams did a decent job of that last year when he brought in Jordan Greenway, a player very few people had on their radar. Looking back on the team’s history, the deadline season has offered an opportunity for several franchise altering moves, building block hockey trades and other swaps that helped to define the seasons to come. Rick Martin and Don Luce were both traded to Los Angeles ahead of the 1981 deadline. The Martin trade can be linked to Buffalo’s current roster as its tentacles continue to grow to this day. In their most competitive years, the team has been proactive in investing in players to put them over the top, some becoming fan favorites like Stu Barnes. 

My hope was that Adams would find a way to make a surprise deadline addition and he delivered. The Byram trade can be added to a list of deadline deals that fall outside the traditional buyer or seller market. Ahead of this year’s deadline, I compiled some of the most notable “hockey deals” the Sabres have made over the years. I tried to keep out trades that were strictly deals made in rebuilding years when players were sent away for futures. Similarly, I tried to avoid deals that were made when the team was a deadline buyer, so moves like the trades that brought in Barnes, Joe Juneau and Rhett Warrener in 1999 won’t make this list. I did expand the parameters a bit to capture a window of time immediately around the deadline to cast a wider net as looking at the “deadline season” seemed more productive than simply analyzing deadline day. 

March 3, 1972 – Buffalo acquires Rene Robert from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Eddie Shack

The final piece of the French Connection is acquired nine months after the Sabres first claimed him in the Intra-League Draft before subsequently losing him to the Penguins in that same draft. Shack was brought in early in the 1970-71 season and played a total of 111 games for the Sabres. Robert, at the time, hadn’t found a foothold in the NHL. He had only played 54 games between Toronto and Pittsburgh, but Punch Imlach coveted him. It wound up being one of the best trades the Sabres ever made as Robert scored 500 points for the club and formed one third of the most famous trio in franchise history. 

March 6, 1989 – Buffalo acquires Clint Malarchuk, Grant Ledyard and a 1991 6th round pick (Brian Holzinger) from Washington in exchange for Calle Johnasson and a 1989 2nd round pick (Byron Dafoe) 

Buffalo had spent the 14th pick on Johnasson just four years earlier and the Swede broke into the league as a 20 year old in the 1987-88 season when he earned All Rookie Team honors. He only made it through 118 games with the Sabres before he was moved in an effort to bolster the team’s goaltending and bring in a more rugged, seasoned presence on the blueline. A surefire blockbuster involving multiple players and picks, this deal doesn’t stand the test of time as Johnasson became a stalwart for the Capitals over the next 14 seasons. He wrapped his career with 1,109 games played and 535 points. 

The 1989 deadline also saw the Sabres ship their captain away, sending Lindy Ruff to the Rangers for the pick that would later become Richard Smehlik. 

March 18, 1997 – Buffalo acquires Miroslav Satan in exchange for Barrie Moore and Craig Millar

Derisive as he may have been to the fans, Satan had a massive impact on the franchise. He was their leading offensive weapon during their most competitive years in the late 90s. He eclipsed 30 goals on three occasions, hitting 40 in 1998-99. Satan had only played one full NHL year at the time he was acquired, while Moore and Millar were young players just breaking into the league. Neither Moore or Millar had extensive NHL careers while Satan wound up playing over 500 games in Buffalo. 

March 11, 2003 – Buffalo acquired Daniel Briere and a 2004 3rd round pick (Andrej Sekera) in exchange for Chris Gratton and a 2004 4th round pick (Liam Reddox)

Gratton’s acquisition three years prior is another deal worth noting in this collection, as that March 9 trade brought the big center to Buffalo from Tampa. Gratton was just one year removed from posting back-to-back 60-point campaigns when he arrived in Buffalo. The former third overall pick had scored 30 for Tampa in 1996-97 and was still a highly touted young player when the Sabres acquired him in 2000. 

But the Gratton trade in question is the one that sent him back out of Buffalo. Gratton never found the scoring touch he had in 96-97 or his first year in Philadelphia and after a pair of so-so seasons, Darcy Regier sought a deal. In exchange for Gratton, the Coyotes offered up Daniel Briere, a former first round pick himself who hadn’t quite found his footing despite a 32-goal season the year prior. It was effectively a swap for two somewhat underperforming first rounders. Gratton continued to put up middling stats, never surpassing 20 goals or 40 points after departing Buffalo. Briere would wind up as a cornerstone of Buffalo’s post-lockout surge, serving as co-captain and a face of two of the most exciting teams the Sabres have ever put on the ice. As a kicker, on both sides of the Gratton swaps, the draft picks kicked in by Tampa and Phoenix turned into Derek Roy and Andrej Sekera. A healthy fringe benefit for a deadline deal that brought a huge payoff for the Sabres. 

February 27, 2012 – Buffalo acquires Cody Hodgson and Alexander Sulzer from Vancouver in exchange for Zack Kassian and Marc-Andre Gragnani 

A true deadline surprise, the Sabres were just finding ways to plug Kassian into their lineup when he was plugged into this deal. Kassian was the 13th overall pick in 2009 and offered Buffalo the promise of a rugged, top six power forward. His rookie year was rocky for the club and earlier in the day, Regier had taken the first step towards dismantling the core that the Sabres took with them out of the 2007 offseason and into playoff berths in 2010 and 2011. That trade (Paul Gaustad to Nashville) was expected for some time. But to send out one of the teams most recent draft picks, was not. To bring back another former first rounder was even more unexpected. 

Hodgson arrived in the midst of his first full NHL season, having scored 16 goals for the Canucks prior to the deal. He was the 2009 CHL Player of the year and one of the most highly touted prospects in the NHL. A centerman with a high ceiling, Hodgson was an extremely exciting acquisition in a hockey trade that doesn’t come around all that often. Unfortunately, Hodgson’s career trajectory petered out due to injury. A shame given his first full season with Buffalo was the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season where he posted 15 goals and 34 points – a 25-goal, 58-point pace. He followed that up with 20 more goals in 2013-14 before the bottom fell out.

February 24, 2019 – Buffalo acquires Brandon Montour from Anaheim in exchange for Brendan Guhle and a 2019 first round pick (Brayden Tracey)

I couldn’t do a deadline deals post without referencing the Montour deal. Not only because he was a player many fans discussed as a potential candidate, myself included, but it represented a big step by Jason Botterill to improve his roster. The Sabres utilized a top prospect and a first round pick for a more proven NHL commodity who fit their age profile and, theoretically upgraded their defense group. There was hope Montour would partner with Rasmus Dahlin for the foreseeable future, giving the Sabres a pair of stalwarts on the blueline behind the Jack Eichel-led forward group. 

Then Ralph Krueger showed up and everything imploded. Montour wallowed the next two years before being sold to Florida at the deadline in 2021. He found himself again with the Panthers, posting a respectable 37 point (11+26) campaign in 21-22 before exploding for 73 points (16+57) last year. 

Like the Hodgson deal, the track record here didn’t work out for a number of reasons. But the logic of the trade was sound. In fact, leveraging futures for ready-made NHL talent is what so many in the fan base have been clamoring for and it just so happens to be the area where Adams’ war chest is strongest. The deal that Adams made didn’t pull from the club’s pipeline, but still inserts an NHL-ready body into their lineup. This isn’t quite the same deal that brought in Montour in 2019, but it’s not far off. Now we wait and see if Adams has any more tricks up his sleeve.