The Sabres are now entering the most highly anticipated – and most tightly condensed – portion of the offseason schedule that could see them radically alter their franchise in numerous ways by Sunday morning. As a refresher, the crucial upcoming dates include: the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft tomorrow at 8 pm, the lifting of the NHL trade freeze Thursday at 1 pm, and round one of the NHL Entry Draft Friday at 8 pm. Rounds two through seven will be held Saturday starting at 11 am.
Much has been made of the potential moves the Sabres could orchestrate between now and sunrise Sunday so let’s take a look at a chronological to-do list for General Manager Kevyn Adams before going over the “to-don’t” list for the Sabres management team.
To-Do:
1.) Protect Will Borgen from the Kraken.
This is necessitated by the decision Sabres brass made to put Rasmus Ristolainen on their expansion protection list instead of Borgen. Originally it would have been my opinion to simply let the Kraken select whomever they so desire, but the availability of Borgen means altering that gameplan. The Sabres can’t waste the half-decade of diligent development that they poured into Borgen. This organization has a spotty track record when it comes to properly and carefully developing players to make them better NHL starters, but in this case, they did things well and Borgen is now ready to go. Allowing the Kraken to select him would be a real shame. Still, the Sabres should not overpay to keep Borgen in the fold. For example, the Boston 2nd round pick would be a bridge way too far in order to retain the rights to Will Borgen. If they do indeed lose Borgen or if they have to overpay to keep him in the fold, then the expansion draft will have been a failure for Adams even though he did a nice job with the forward protection list. The Sabres will have to thread the needle and demonstrate that they made the correct expansion decision, which leads us to number 2.
2.) Demonstrate Why Ristolainen Was Protected.
Conceivably Kevyn Adams protected Ristolainen because the GM believes the hulking defenseman has some decent trade value around the league. It’s time to see it. If the trade return offsets or exceeds the price to protect Borgen then it’ll be a positive outcome, assuming they do indeed protect Borgen. Frankly, what the market will bear for the big Finn is a complete mystery to me. My assumption is that he would be persona non grata in some organizations due to his poor analytics, but I also believe that some GMs will think they can fix Ristolainen’s defensive deficiencies and use him as powerplay quarterback. It only takes two teams bidding against each other to drive the price up high. If I had to guess at the return, I imagine it would be something like a 2nd and a 3rd round pick in different years, though they may be able to start a bidding war and nab a late first. Conversely, Adams may have totally overestimated the market for Ristolainen and the return could be underwhelming.
3.) Sort out the Sam situation.
It would be terrific if the Sabres could convince Reinhart to sign a long-term deal with the organization that drafted him, although that possibility seems pretty unlikely when considering how depressed he seemed at his year-end press conference. Although my preference would be for the Sabres to extend Reinhart if at all feasible, the team absolutely must move him now if he is indeed checked out. The center-turned-winger-turned-center conceivably has enormous value right now as a 25-year-old, 30-goal center, restricted free agent who has a strong two-way game. In a twist of fate that is emblematic of his entire tenure as a Sabre, his potential departure has played second fiddle to captain Jack Eichel (more on that later though). The Sabres cannot dawdle on this move any longer. They’ve consistently given him short contracts and now it’s time to pay the piper and either sign him or move him. His value will only decrease from here on out when he is no longer able to sign a new deal with a new team, assuming he would only sign a one-year-deal with the Sabres.
4.) Get Three Goalies
The Sabres actually probably need to get four goalies this offseason, but this article isn’t addressing free agency. The Sabres should target two goalies in the draft and one goalie via trade (perhaps in either a Sam Reinhart or Rasmus Ristolainen trade). The fan base might find the idea of the Sabres selecting top goaltending prospect Jesper Wallstedt in the top-10 to be an unpalatable decision if the Sabres were able to land such a pick in a trade, but it could turn out to be a brilliant pick. There is so much uncertainty in the draft and Wallstedt is seen as a virtual can’t-miss prospect.
Famous last words there, I know.
Beyond Wallstedt there are other goalie options for different places in the draft: There’s Sebastian Cossa later in the first, Benjamin Gaudreau around the same area. Aleksei Kolosov, Patrik Hamrla, Olivier Adam and many others can be found later on. The Sabres are critically lean in the goaltending position at all levels of the organization. Now some will say that a team shouldn’t draft for need, and I think that’s basically right. However, with 10 draft selections this year, the Sabres should be able to find two goalies in reasonable positions to draft. After the 4th round it’s such a guessing game that a team might as well take some shots on a positional need.
As for a goalie trade, there are a few different ways they could go with that. They could acquire a cap dump like Jonathan Quick in an Eichel trade or they could target a prospect/younger goalie like one of the New York Rangers goalies (Igor Shesterkin, Alexandar Georgiev). Quick wouldn’t provide any meaningful upgrade over any replacement level goaltender but he’d at least be a warm body in net, and if it helps the Sabres land Quinton Byfield, go for it.
5.) Draft Owen Power at 1
This comes with an enormous caveat: I believe the Sabres should trade down. My preferred approach would be to lure both Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale out of Anaheim by swapping picks 1 and 3 along with Eichel. At 3, they could then take either Luke Hughes or William Eklund. If they do stay at one, though, they need to take Power there. Plenty of teams would be willing to expend additional draft capital to move up and make that decision and the Sabres need to recognize that. Taking anyone other than Power at 1 is a waste of resources. Pick the big guy and move on with the weekend.
Ok, so that’s the to-do list. Now let’s talk “Don’ts.”
Don’t Do What Donny Don’t Does:
I will always take an opportunity to include a classic Simpsons clip.
1.) Don’t trade Jack Eichel because you think you have to.
The Sabres do not need to trade Jack Eichel. The media and other GMs definitely want the Sabres to believe they need to trade Jack Eichel, but they do not. Jack Eichel will have enormous trade value at the draft next year just before his no-trade clause kicks in, especially if his rehabilitation progresses nicely and he actually gets onto the ice and into live games. The worst thing the Sabres can do is accept a terrible deal like the Ryan O’Reilly deal because they feel pressure to do something when they truly don’t have to. If there is an awesome deal on the table, then absolutely take the deal. Don’t make a bad deal. Just don’t do it.
2.) Don’t double down on expansion draft decisions.
I already hit this point to some extent but don’t overpay to keep Borgen. In the Vegas expansion draft, GMs galaxy-brained themselves into making some truly awful side deals. Now that they’ve made their Borgen decision they have to understand the repercussions. Does a 4th round pick get the Kraken to take Adrew Ogelvie or Zemgus Girgensons or Colin Miller instead of Borgen? If so, that’s fine. They can’t pay a small fortune, though. Likewise, don’t hang on to Ristolainen if the offers underwhelm post-trade-freeze. Ristolainen will always be the same player he has always been and his value isn’t going to change unless they can prop him up with Jake McCabe for a half-a-year. Just move on already.
This should be an incredibly exciting week for Sabres fans as the team is completely remade in the next five days. Some of it will likely be bitter sweet as the Sabres trade away pieces that were supposed to be part of a new core that would lead the team to the Stanley Cup promised land. That promised land turned out to be a mirage and it appears the Sabres will be wandering the desert for a little while longer. It’ll be interesting to see who makes the journey.
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Pierre Lebrun penned a piece for The Athletic about Nashville Predators prospect Luke Prokop who recently became the first openly gay NHL prospect. It’s an incredibly powerful story and one that has been a long time coming. There are many LGBTQ+ hockey fans and players who have waited a long time to have representation in the big league, and although Prokop has a long way to go before he makes the show, he will be an inspiration to a lot of boys and girls out there. It was great to read Pittsburgh Penguins President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke voice his comments in the article which were absolutely vintage Burke:
“I wouldn’t go into what I said to Luke other than what I would say to any gay person who is coming out, it’s a big burden off your shoulders,” Burke said. “In Luke’s case, I think he’ll find his teammates, players and officials completely, and I mean completely, supportive. But he’s going to have to deal with the social media idiots and I think he’s quite prepared for that. He seems like a very mature young man.’’
Burke and his son Patrick founded the NHL’s You Can Play initiative in honor of another of Brian’s sons, Brendan, who died in a car accident in 2010. Brendan was an openly gay student manager at the University of Miami hockey team. It’s no surprise that Burke was there for Prokop but it’s also great to see Predators GM David Poile reach out and be so supportive of his third-round draft pick.
Prokop will undoubtedly have to face some obstacles in hockey, but he can rest assured that his legacy is an important one.
I’ll link to the full story below. It’s well worth a read.
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