The mailbag is back for the dog days of summer. This version runs down a host of topics ranging from an arena update to the sustainability of the roster. As this is a longer one, I’ll spare you any sort of protracted introduction and get right to the questions.
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The Instigator Podcast 13.24 – 2025 Sabres Trade Deadline Preview
With the trade deadline just a few days away, we run down the players on Buffalo’s roster who may be on the move by Friday. We touch on Jordan Greenway, Henri Jokiharju and Jason Zucker while also devoting some time to Alex Tuch as trade rumors around Buffalo’s assistant captain won’t seem to go away.
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The Instigator Podcast 13.23 – Deadline Names to Watch & Listener Questions
Just a week remains until the trade deadline and the Sabres have won six of seven games. This episode shares a few Buffalo Sabres players I’m keeping an eye on ahead of the deadline before diving in to a few listener questions that touch on the potential downtown soccer stadium, Alex Ovechkin’s record pursuit, Devon Levi and Buffalo’s blueline.
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Over Thought: Rumors Galore Ahead of 4 Nations
Over Thought is a semi-regular series that takes a look at some of the more interesting and notable tidbits shared by Elliotte Friedman in his weekly 32 Thoughts column. Each edition will feature some unique thoughts on the state of the Sabres or league as a whole before digging in on some of the notes from Freidman’s weekly column.
The Sabres will probably welcome this 4 Nations break with open arms after spending the weeks in the crosshairs of the NHL’s water cooler. The fallout from the Tage Thompson hit will probably linger beyond the 4 Nations Face Off as well, but I doubt it will be quite as focused as it was for the last few days.
Buffalo wasn’t part of the trade flurry ahead of the 4 Nations Face Off, not that they had to be, but there has been an awful lot of chatter about who is and isn’t available lately, setting the table for a very interesting week leading up to the March 7 trade deadline.
What sort of long term effect this saga has on the Sabres will be fascinating to follow. Darcy Regier allowed the Milan Lucic hit completely reshape how he was building his roster. Buffalo put an onus on getting tougher after that incident and two years later they were in a tear down rebuild. This iteration of the Sabres doesn’t have any recent success to look back on, so any sort of retooling wouldn’t have quite the same impact as it did in 2011. Additionally, Kevyn Adams was very outspoken about his desire to shift Buffalo’s identity and bring in players who would make them harder to play against last summer. The result was a remade fourth line and the addition of Dennis Gilbert on the blueline. On Sunday, only one of the three newcomers to the fourth line was in uniform (one was in Rochester) and Gilbert didn’t see the ice in the third period.
The Sabres have plenty of items on their to-do list to get back to the playoffs, and I’d worry if toughness suddenly trumped some of the other, more pressing matters. I maintain that the solution to these issues is only going to be found if the group comes around to the realization of how they have to play. You can add tough guys left and right, but if there isn’t a desire in the room to have the fortitude and accountability to stand up in these situations, almost any acquisition will fall flat. In addition, any player the Sabres do pursue in the name of toughness needs to be able to play. Sam Bennett, for example, is the sort of guy who embodies the attitude the Sabres need to carry. He’s also a capable forward in this league. Compare him to Sam Lafferty, who is watching the Sabres from the press box. That’s the sort of calculus that will be needed if the Sabres once again try and address their toughness and identity this offseason.
Continue readingThe Instigator Podcast 10.35 – Sabres 2022-23 Season Recap
Another season is in the books and we look back at the way the Sabres played over the course of 2022-23 and what it means for them going forward. While we don’t assign grades to any individual, we break down each of the team’s position groups to see where the bright spots were and where the Sabres need to improve most.
We wrap up the show with a brief conversation on the NHL playoffs and which early storylines in the postseason stand out most to us.
The Instigator Podcast 10.28 – Good Vibes and Sabres Trade Targets
We are bathing in the good vibes surrounding the Sabres this week as we discuss how things have seemingly started to gel for the team and its young core. We discuss the impressive win over the Maple Leafs in the Heritage Classic, touch on the impressive impact that the likes of Alex Tuch and Jeff Skinner have on the club and look ahead to next week’s deadline.
Our deadline discussion focuses on players the Sabres could attempt to target as acquisitions at the deadline, in hopes of finding another key piece to help build this new core around.
The Instigator Podcast 9.24 – Alex Tuch Appreciation Hour
The main focus of this week’s show is Alex Tuch and the impressive impact he’s had since arriving in Buffalo. We talk about the underlying numbers he’s carrying, the incredible point production and simply how good he’s looked taking a step up in the lineup and helping to anchor Buffalo’s top line.
We add some thoughts about how Tuch’s emergence can help fuel the next moves the Sabres make in terms of free agent or trade acquisitions, and how he’s become a cornerstone of the young core they’re building with.
Prior to that, we touch on the trade between the Montreal Canadians and Calgary Flames that saw Tyler Toffoli head to Alberta. We discuss Jack Eichel’s impending return and the disappointment in not seeing Devon Levi receive any action for Team Canada at the 2022 Olympic Games.
The Instigator Podcast 10.18 – Quarantine Takes
The Sabres have dropped three straight since returning from the holiday break. We discuss the debuts of Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs and JJ Peterka, offering thoughts on how each looked as they played their first games in blue and gold. We also touch on the roster issues that face the Sabres as they work through what appears to be a growing COVID outbreak in the locker room.
Looking Forward in the Wake of the Eichel Deal
Kevyn Adams pulled out the final piece of his rebuild in dealing Jack Eichel to Vegas on Thursday. The move the entire hockey world had been waiting on since the spring was finally completed, ending a months-long saga once and for all.
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The Sabres come away with Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, a first round pick and a second in exchange for their wantaway star. It’s a package that on the heels of Thursday’s deal, feels mostly adequate, if not slightly underwhelming. Of course, you’re always going to want more when you’re trading a player of Eichel’ stature. That’s just par for the course.
Overall, I think Adams did well here. If a deal with Vegas was going to be made, Krebs was the piece they needed to get. Add in the first-round pick with fairly minimal protections (pick pushes to 2023 if Vegas is picking in the top 10) and two key futures that were believed to be q requirement for the deal were included. Tuch comes over on a team-friendly deal with plenty of term. At 25 he’s right in the window the Sabres should be looking for as they build out the roster. Maybe an additional mid-level prospect like Lucas Elvenes would have moved the needle a bit more. Or perhaps building a condition on to the 2023 second rounder that would make it a first based on Eichel reaching some basic games played benchmarks beefs this up a bit. But given the circumstances and the leverage each side had; I don’t think Adams deserves too much heat for this deal. At least in the short term.
The real value of this deal will play itself out in the long term for both sides. Particularly the Sabres. At best the first-round pick will be a year from contributing, if not longer. The second rounder will require more than that. Which is fine. The Sabres have wisely stockpiled picks and prospects over the last six months, an effort that has started to replenish a depleted pipeline. Krebs also represents a great deal of long-term value for the club. He’s only seen action in 13 NHL games between last spring and the start of this year. What he has to offer as an NHL player is still an untapped well and given his pedigree as a prospect, should be exciting for Sabres fans to track.
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Two in the Box 