Where would you trade Robin Lehner's rights?

The Taco Bell club team? lol

I did forget about those rights though you are correct. Maybe EDM, CAR, DET, or Dallas... they all need backups.

If he's as bad a goalie as you say, who'd want his rights?

I'm not trying to be snarky, just trying to make a point. The Sabres need goaltending help as much as any team in the league, and we won't have to struggle with the salary cap like some teams have to. So if you're saying we should get rid of him at his RFA price, wouldn't teams like the Islanders and Hurricanes for example be saying the same thing?

Yes, they do, and Lehner needs a change in scenery.

The Sens trade isn't even remotely close. I love Reinhart and think he's a fantastic player, but this is one of the most confusing undervaluings of Mark Stone I've seen on here. This is a PPG player that is on the cusp of actually being recognized as a star by the league. Let's say Reinhart for Hoffman is a wash because, hey, it's kind of close so for the sake of argument we'll go with it. You can't get a top line winger that plays one of the most complete games around for Nylander (his development is questionable, but even if it wasn't...), a 1st and a 2nd. You can get a top line winger for Adam Larsson, maybe, but not that. To add to it, Stone is in line for a $7.5M contract, or in that area, so that contract is incredibly low.

I do like that ROR trade for its value, though I think St. Louis has no interest in trading Schwartz. He's a large part of their successes.

Your point is to keep Lehner for another year and suck at goal. That is failure. If you want Lehner on your team, go buy the Sabres or apply for an expansion team.

Personally, I want him back as a sens fan but I haven't really watched him play in Buffalo. Also, Stone will likely get 8x8 at least 7.5. I also don't want to see either of those two players go anywhere.

If I had any confidence that Alex Nylander would ever amount to anything in the NHL, I might do this, but I don't so I don't think I'd do this. Stone is just too valuable to trade with such a big maybe coming back.

Also I'd have to be extremely confident that Buffalo would be garbage next year, because that pick needs to be really good.

Blues wouldnt trade Schwartz for ROR straight up

The blues trade makes sense value wise, but I don't think the blues could stomach it. Schwartz is a 55-60 points winger before we acquired Schenn and is looking like a 65-70 point player with him compared to ROR 60-65 center. Schwartz has an injury history that is a little worrisome (seems to always have a freak accident), he is one of the very few "drivers" we have on our team. Obviously ROR plays the harder position, but with the chemistry Schwartz & Schenn had, they were both 70+ players, and Schenn didn't look nearly as good when Schwartz went down. While the blues are deep at LW now, it's because we have Schwartz anchoring the top slot. Without Schwartz, we have a declining Steen, who while still is a solid top-6 LW, is trending down; and we have a huge question mark in Fabbri coming off 2 ACL surgeries.

We have a bunch of LHS LWers in the system, but none project as sure fire top6 players, and none nearly at Schwartzy's level. Kostin could be a top6 option in the future and is LHS, but he is a still a question mark and plays more on RW.


While having ROR-Schenn down the middle would be a solid 1-2, I don't think significant drop in our LW depth would be worth it. If schenn turns into a 50-55 point center without schwartz instead of 70+ with, then it is going to look really bad, not to mention if Fabbri doesn't return as a top6 player or Steen's declines even faster.

Looking at things more deeply, I don't think there is a way the blues can trade for ROR without opening a huge hole somewhere else. It is likely going to take a deal like the above Schwartz+small add, Parayko, or Dunn ++, all of which either open a huge hole that we are not ready to fill (Schwartz/Parayko) or open a hole and deplete other important aspects (Dunn++). While he may never reach the level of ROR, we also have a promising Center prospect in Thomas who projects as a top6 center. The blues would probably be better off looking at a lesser 2C and see what they have in Thomas, instead of opening a huge hole for a 1C like ROR to play him at 2C.

Steen+Thompson+WPG first for ROR. I'd consider that. But i'm not a fan of ROR.

I'd easily do that, but Buffalo wouldn't, and I doubt Steen would waive for Buffalo anyway.

I like ROR a lot for the team, I just think the assets it would take to get him is going to be cost prohibitive

Well thought out. Thank you for the response.

It is often said that a good fair trade is one that both walk away slightly unhappy and that would be this scenario IMO. Looking at Schwartz and ROR head to head their numbers are almost identical actually. ROR has more of his production on the PP but is credited with more work towards the team's overall goals. As a center that is expected.

I'd happily take Parayko though too. Haha.

No chance the Blues consider this move if it starts with any one of Schwartz, Parayko, Dunn, Thomas.