Uhhh...cj Smith for a 6th?????
I think he is with more than that even if ur moving Sobotka...

yeah because they are taking on sobotkas awful contract here

without dealing him wouldnt be under the cap

Jets say absolutely, Sens maybe.

Nah, you could get a higher pick

cj smith is alright and all but dude hes a 24 year old undrafted LW with 13 career NHL games and 3 points

if he didnt crack the NHL squad as a regular with how sh*tty the team has been past couple years hes likely gunna be a career AHLer

if it costs cj smith to get rid of sobotka off the books i wouldnt lose any sleep

Most Jet fans i've seen absolutely say no way on a Ehlers for Ristolainen trade.

yeah most say no to McDavid for Ehlers so take it
for what you will

As a die hard Sabres fan I think both trades are an overpay by the Sabres:

1. WPG is in an extremely tight position with having to sign Laine & Connor. No reason for GMBots to be the one who goes first. He just needs to sit back and wait for one of the two RFA's to sign in WPG. In addition no way does GMBots deal Thompson as he was the key piece that the Sabres picked up the ROR deal. I also do not see GMBots adding Pekar to any deal. This was a GMBots pick he will stick with the kid and the kid has shown promise at a positional need for the Sabres;

2. The Ottawa trade is a knee jerk reaction to how pitiful Sobotka was last year. GMBots does not have to throw assets at a team to take Sobotka. The organization has gone through this before with Moulson. They have the ability to just waive him and bury him in the minors and organizationally they have the stones to eat the salary. Why give up CJ Smith and Stephens when the best option is pay the man his contract by burying him in the minors;

Both of the trades you make hurt the Sabres.

No, not absolutely. I would give it some consideration, most Jets fans here's don't want Ristolainen at all. It really doesn't make sense to move Ehlers though, I think most fans are underrating Ristolainen and don't like the price.

Thompson was atrocious last year....he can only hope to be as good as Ehlers is one day

Ristolainen was awful as well im ready to move on from him already

Pekar i do not care if we lose him- he projects as a bottom 6 forward...if you can trade one of those in a package to aquire a legit top 6 forward who is still young on a very reasonable contract w term you do it



sobotka is terrible
cj smith is likely a career AHLer
It’s hilarious that you even consider Devante Stephens an “asset”

even if you bury Sobotka in Rochester 50% of his salary still counts against the Sabres cap

Your rage and detestation of Sobotka is clouding your judgement. My whole point is that you are not using the best option to torpedo Sobotka which is send him to Rochester by placing him on waivers. No team will claim him and if they do then you are off the hook..... if he does not get claimed and fails to report you are off the hook.... if he does report he plays in Rochester or below.

CJ Smith might never be an NHL player I really do not know if he will or he won't what I do know is that he had a very good year in Rochester therefore if you do not need to deal him (see above) then he will serve a very solid role in Rochester again this year. The organization has to start developing a winning culture and that starts in the minors. You can not expect to gut your minor league affiliates just to get yourself out of a bad contract that has only one year to go. CJ Smith will be plenty useful in Rochester again this year;

Devante Stephens is an organizational asset. He had a very good year in Cincinnati. If you plan to elevate Pilut, Borgen et al at any point in the year from Rochester you will need a filler for that vacated spot in Rochester. Stephens has earned the right to be in Rochester. Do I ever expect him to be in the NHL no but I do think he can fill a spot and be productive player for Rochester. Why give him away if you do not have to see Sobotka solution above.

Is Thompson equal to or better than Ehlers no probably never will be...... you must keep in mind that GMBots wants to keep his job.... by admitting he missed completely on the ROR trade he will be a goner.... He is able to sell Terry & Kim that Thompson has high upside since he is only 21 etc.... do I believe it no not really..... but I do not see him throwing the three players for Ehlers with the situation WPG is in.

I find it interesting you only look at how bad each of the players for the Sabres have been I just ask you to look at the complete ORGANIZATION before you ship off multiple assets...... Does Risto's bad performance have anything to do with being in multiple systems none longer than 2 seasons..... or how awful the forwards were in the defensive zone.....

I really appreciate your point of view and the back and forth dialogue.

As I alway say reasonable people will differ!

Fair enough me neither but I would see return a little higher

The only, and I mean the only way botterill can justify the trade is by saying "you told me you didn't wanna pay the 7.5 signing bonus and I had 9 hours left to take the best deal I could get". Ehlers is a great skater, Thompson is not. My impression of Thompson is slow first couple strides, the he gets faster because he has long legs. I think that makes chip and Chase more difficult and I've seen one too many toe drags as it is. He does have a nice shot, and he is probably gonna be a big boy when he fills out, but that skill set is going to make him awfully reliant on his linemates to get him the puck in space. I see a 3rd liner, which isn't the end of the world- some of the other young forwards like olofsson, mittelstadt, cozens (not this year), and maybe asplund can make it work if they reach their potential, and trading for a good rw wouldn't hurt either.

i would not lose any sleep if Thompson was part of a deal to aquire a player of Ehlers’ caliber

I disagree with your WPG take, I would do that package in a heartbeat to get Ehlers. Thompson has a lot of promise, but if he breaks out there's still a huge chance we lose him in the expansion draft anyway

Do you think Roslovic or Vesaleinen could fill Ehler's spot in the top 6 without too much drop off?

We're hoping Roslovic can fill Little's spot in the top six very soon. Long term, maybe one of those guys could do it. But I can't see either of those guys putting up sixty points this year. Roslovic played well in top six minutes when Ehlers got hurt, but not as good as Ehlers would have.
And Ehlers could put up seventy points. He's that talented.