So far, the reporting on Buffalo’s trade deadline outlook has painted the picture of a team that won’t do much by Friday. The league’s biggest insiders are all saying the same thing – the Sabres aren’t looking for futures and they aren’t getting offers that meet their asking price on any of the players they’ve made available.
If it’s true that the Sabres won’t be especially active on Friday, it will be hard for anyone associated with the team to sell the idea that they’re serious about breaking their playoff drought. The deadline isn’t an ideal venue for the sort of deals the Sabres would need to make in order to bring about any sort of meaningful change, but the indications that Kevyn Adams will stand pat (after a season of inaction) will certainly set off additional frustration within the fanbase. At least however many fans are left to pay attention to such things. I wouldn’t blame anyone for that added frustration. Just follow some Buffalo Sabres live scores and you’ll see just how incomplete this group is.
I would argue that this doesn’t need to be a week to completely overhaul the roster, or even have a really active deadline. The Sabres only have a few pending UFAs and I think they’d like to keep at least one of them. Any potential for a hockey trade has had cold water thrown on it, but those things can change quickly. Either way, I think you’re talking about one move of that magnitude by the end of the week. And if that happened, I think that would exceed most expectations too.
Adams’ real work needs to come in the summer. He could and should have done more when the season was younger, but he failed at that task. The summer will be the time when he needs to push the right buttons and jettison passengers. Whether or not he’s capable of it, or has the financial flexibility from ownership remains to be seen.
9. On a higher level are Brock Nelson and Brayden Schenn. Schenn played his 1,000th game on Thursday, and Blues GM Doug Armstrong has made it clear it’s a high price or don’t bother. I do think Toronto is weighing it, among others. Nelson is under the Lou Lamoriello Shroud of Secrecy, with teams waiting for the opportunity to make their pitch.
The fit certainly isn’t there presently as Schenn is a pure rental at this point, but he’s the sort of guy I could see the Sabres coveting either in a future trade or free agent setting. Same goes for Sam Bennett. I’m expecting another offseason with a focus on being Tougher To Play Against and maybe even drawing in a bit more veteran leadership. Maybe they don’t go after Schenn specifically (I’d prefer Bennett), but I have a feeling that’s the sort of player the Sabres have on their shopping list come summer.
10. The one team everyone believes will absolutely 100-per-cent trade for a centre? New Jersey.
Might we interest you in one, lightly used Sam Lafferty?
If Jack Hughes is out long term, I wonder if Dylan Cozens becomes a talking point. Maybe too late for these two sides to consummate a deal, and the Devils would probably be better served with a rental, but I wouldn’t rule anything out.
11. Buffalo has indicated it is trying to sign Jordan Greenway.
I mentioned on this week’s podcast that I felt the Sabres may lean towards keeping Greeway over Jason Zucker because of the sort of role Greenway fills. At 33, there’s a bit more risk in re-signing Zucker as opposed to Greenway at 28. Plus, Zucker’s impressive season could be a decent windfall for the Sabres at the deadline.
But for a team that has talked a lot about the identity they play with and the outside noise about their toughness, Greenway checks a lot of boxes for them. He’s also been a really solid contributor this year, I think the Sabres missed him badly while he was out. I’ll be interested to see what they offer him.
14. Another scratch for Matias Maccelli on Thursday night, has not played since Feb. 8. He hasn’t been up to his standard, for one, and the Utahns have one of the league’s smallest forward cores, which doesn’t help him, either. But he’s very talented, and could thrive with a move.
I like Maccelli quite a bit. He’s having an oddly difficult season after flirting with 50 points the last two years. I wonder if Jack Quinn were to be shipped out if Maccelli could be a fit for the Sabres in a middle six scoring role. Not a perfect solution, but his track record is that of a quality contributor.
20. My biggest take-away from the 4 Nations is there can never be another All-Star Game under the current setup. It will be too much of a letdown and too much of a punching bag, sandwiched by the World Cup and the Olympics. But, the sponsors want it and cities wish to host it. Next season (Islanders hosting) provides a unique opportunity: the gateway to Milan. There should still be a skills competition — most players compete at that — but I’d like to see the other day be a massive, televised hockey convention, where fans and sponsors get their face-time for selfies and baby-kissing.
This is spot on. The midseason All Star Game cannot return. I can’t believe they bothered to schedule one for next year at all, but the league should get to work on torching that as well.
With the cadence of Olympics and World Cups, leaving the off years without a midseason event won’t hurt anyone and we know no one will miss the All Star Game in that window. The bye week can be staggered so the schedule isn’t affected and the league can get to work on reimagining the event.
I’d argue that this is the time to move the NHL All Star weekend to the beginning of the year. Whether they play the game or not doesn’t matter much to me. I like Friedman’s suggestion of just keeping the skills in place, but if they kept both, that would be fine as well. But building the event with a significant off-ice, NHL-con component, as an opening weekend celebration seems like a better allocation of resources than any sort of weak return in the years between international tournaments. Playing in late September/early October brings better weather into the picture, meaning more outdoor activations and you can roll the weekend directly into the first game of the year and the banner raising for the Cup champions. I’d picture something like this:
Thursday & Friday: NHL convention kickoff and related events. TedTalks, merchandise and collectible sales, Hockey Hall of Fame exhibits, player media day and appearances at NHL Con etc.
Saturday: NHL Skills Competition, various events during the day (street hockey, etc.), continue player appearances at NHL Con
Sunday: Travel day for All Star participants, final day of NHL Con
Monday (or Tuesday if avoiding MNF): Cup Champions kick off season
25. Other stuff from the 4 Nations…This is going to be met with a groan from some, but I also got real pushback on the 3-2-1-0 points system. There was a scenario last Monday where Sweden could have gone to the final with one win and two losses; while Canada would be erased with two wins and a loss. That was not popular.
Win your games in regulation, you babies.
I shouldn’t be surprised that there were complaints despite loser points playing a not insignificant role in the makeup of the standings each year. And yet, here we are. The three-point system rewards regulation wins, that’s the point! Where’s that Mugatu crazy pills meme?
The one drawback to using the 3-2-1 system in this format is that the round robin round was simply too short to offer any significant insight to its effectiveness. Yet, there was the potential for drama on the final day. Leave it to NHL executives to be too short sighted and whiny about this given that it actually worked quite well despite the sample size drawbacks.
28. A few GMs said commissioner Gary Bettman made it clear at the November GMs meeting that he’s not a big fan of the new decentralized draft. His quote last weekend in Los Angeles — “Remember, the clubs asked for this” — means this setup is not guaranteed to be permanent.
It was a tough look for the NHL and GMs to lean in on the change in format after last year’s draft. The Sphere made the event a spectacle and will almost certainly make this year’s decentralized version look toothless by comparison. We still need to see how this all plays out, the NFL seems to do just fine with a decentralized version after all. But, NHL GMs regularly complain about how hard their life is, so I’m hoping they get dragged back to a centralized draft by the scruffs of their neck.
Two in the Box 