Sabres trade deadline

Unlocking Byram’s Full Potential the Key to Swap with Avs

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Kevyn Adams exhibited quite a bit of patience over the last 24-plus months, making scant few trades since sending Jack Eichel to Vegas in November 2021.

That all changed on Wednesday when he acquired Bowen Byram from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Casey Mittelstadt. A hockey trade in the purest sense, Adams made the acquisition that eluded him in the offseason as he bolsters his blueline with another U25 player with team control.

This trade won’t lack criticism. Mittelstadt had found his game over the last two seasons and he’d been one of Buffalo’s most consistent and effective forwards this season. He was delivering on his draft pedigree and provided the Sabres with three reliable centermen on a nightly basis. Mittelstadt’s next contract was going to be a challenge for the Sabres as the potential for the deal to upset their salary structure was a real possibility. Still, his contributions over the last two seasons were terrific. He had evolved into a two-way weapon, adept at winning battles along the wall with the impressive playmaking attributes that made him a high draft pick.

At 25, with team control, Mittelstadt was also a prime trade candidate, especially considering the extensions the Sabres had given to Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens. Extending him wasn’t out of the question, but he offered Adams a trade chip few other GMs had at their disposal.

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The Instigator Podcast 12.28 – NHL Trade Deadline Preview

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It’s deadline week and the rumors are flying left and right. We run through a number of topics on this week’s show, including the most recent trades to have been made around the league while offering up one trade that each of us would make if we were in charge of another NHL team.

We then talk about Buffalo’s apparent strategy ahead of this year’s deadline and the trio of pending UFAs Kevyn Adams appears poised to move. We close the show with a pair of trades we’d like to see Adams make before the 3 p.m. deadline on Friday.

The Instigator Podcast 8.23 – Kahuna Matata: NHL Trade Deadline Review

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In one of the most eventful trade deadlines in years, the Sabres made a pair of moves as they attempted to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Jason Botterill acquired Wayne Simmonds and Dominik Kahun ahead of Monday’s deadline, picking up a rental and a potential long-term addition for his club. We discuss some of the larger moves made around the league on Monday along with what the larger implications are for the Sabres after acquiring Simmonds and Kahun.

Sabres at the Deadline: Time for the First Step

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Jason Botterill and the Sabres have hit another deadline season no nearer to the playoffs that the year before. Once again, the Sabres aren’t quite sellers but they aren’t quite buyers either.

It’s been a rough season for the club, as a summer of anticipation over improving the forward corps came and went. The lack of action at the tail end of the summer carried all the way to January when Botterill finally acquired a forward, flipping a pick to Calgary for Michael Frolik.

That deal has played out about how you would have expected. Frolik has been forgettable during his time in Buffalo as he was a player better acquired in the wake of a larger acquisition. But instead of Frolik supplementing the roster after a move for a top six forward, he’s slotted into an already crowded and forgettable bottom six. That bottom six accounts for the list of deadline rentals the Sabres have to offer. Cheap rentals, but still rentals.

Frolik, along with Zemgus Girgensons, Johan Larsson, Conor Sheary and Jimmy Vesey are Buffalo’s pending unrestricted free agents. As a restricted free agent who previously requested a trade, Evan Rodrigues could still be on the move as well. Add in trade rumor regular Rasmus Ristolainen and Buffalo’s other defensemen, specifically Brandon Montour, Colin Miller and possibly Jake McCabe, Botterill could have a busy Monday. Continue reading →

Botterill Takes a Swing, Acquires Brandon Montour

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It was a busy Sunday if you’re a Sabres fan. Andy Strickland kicked things off with speculation that connected Rasmus Ristolainen with the Tampa Bay Lightning but that was quickly squashed by Darren Dreger.

But Strickland’s Tweet got the Sabres fanbase frothing and it was only a few hours later that Jason Botterill pulled the trigger on his biggest trade since acquiring Jeff Skinner, sending a first-round pick and Brendan Guhle to the Anaheim Ducks for Brandon Montour.

As someone whose been a fan of Montour’s for some time, I’m over the moon that he’s going to be wearing blue and gold for the foreseeable future. Botterill paid a fair price for the honor of acquiring Montour, but he also pulled from two areas he has additional assets so he isn’t stripping his cupboards bare with the package. Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast 5.33 – Eichel, Booing and more Sabres Deadline Talk

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Chris and Tyler spend far too much time discussing the fallout from Jack Eichel’s harmless comments following the Sharks victory in addition to hitting on Buffalo’s You Can Play Night and the fast approaching NHL trade deadline. We also focus in on the continued rumors surrounding the Coyotes and Islanders while hitting on a few more trade deadline storylines as Brian Gionta, Dmirty Kulikov and Cody Franson are starting to come up on watch lists.

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The Instigator Podcast 5.32 – Evander Kane, Trade Chip or Building Block?

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With Evander Kane’s name still floating around trade chatter in Sabres Nation, Chris and Tyler discuss whether or not moving Kane in exchange for a defenseman serves Buffalo’s short and long term needs. Also on the program: the sudden trouble for the Islanders and Hurricanes and the new news on Vegas’ options at the trade deadline.

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The Instigator Podcast 4.17 – Unwinding the Deadline

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It was a slow deadline but a few interesting trades were made, including one by the Sabres. Chris and Tyler look back at today’s deadline and look forward from the Sabres perspective.

Despite High Prices, Murray Hasn’t Harmed Buffalo’s Depth via Trade Market

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Some of Buffalo’s struggles this season can be traced to their man games lost and the general lack of depth through the pipeline which enhanced the losses caused by various injuries.

That lack of depth has been pointed to as a side effect of Tim Murray’s efforts to add NHL talent to Buffalo roster. In some cases it’s being seen as a primary fault of the general manager. However, despite the number of bodies that moved out of the Sabres organization since last February, the overall impact those moves have had on the organization’s depth maybe isn’t as harmful as you may believe.

This represents a general reflection of the organizational depth after the 2015 draft, it is not a direct representation of the roster in terms of lines, current performance or talent.
This represents a general reflection of the organizational depth after the 2015 draft, it is not a direct representation of the roster in terms of lines, current performance or talent.

In acquiring Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian, Ryan O’Reilly and Jamie McGinn, Murray surrendered a pair of draft picks (a first and second in the 2015 draft), Tyler Myers, Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko, Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux and JT Compher. Drew Stafford was also part of the trade with Winnipeg but as a pending unrestricted free agent who appeared to have no future in Buffalo, it’s hard to count him as a direct loss due to those trades. Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast 4.14 – Resetting Expectations

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Tyler and Chris discuss Buffalo’s 7-4 loss to the Panthers and whether or not their failure to climb out of the league basement should be the only barometer for success this season.