WTF is this? That is WAY too much for Tuch and to take on Reaves' contract. There is zero chance Botterill would be this stupid.

There is no reason to trade so many prospects, that would be devastating to the future when we need cheap ELC's to fill the lineup.

Thompson could be just as good as Tuch in a year or two...and Davidsson could be an excellent swiss army knife that could move all around the lineup.

Botterill isn't trading his prospects...so Smith, maybe, but definitely not Davidsson and Pekar, and most likely not Thompson since he was the main piece in the O'Reilly trade.

okay just keep all the kids and hope they can eventually maybe one day actually turn into a player as good as Tuch is and just keep sucking for the next 3-5 years awesome

Tbh Vegas probably doesn't even do this.

That’s an absurd return for Tuch. Why is Reaves even there?

Sorry but Vegas declines that.

not really at all honestly:


Risto is way overrated - hes a 2nd/3rd pairing D man PP specialist but defensive liability

Thompson was atrocious last year....could only pray he turns into a player as good as tuch is right now

Davidsson is a wildcard but projects as bottom 6 fwd maybeeee 2nd liner at best but who knows—gotta give up some sort of asset to get a very good young established player

Smith is likely a career AHLer who can hold his own if called up

3rd round pick in 3 years—i dont care to lose it it means u get a young top 6 forward with 7 years of term at a very reasonable cap hit


dude look at most of the comments on here people are saying that BUF isnt even giving up enough...saying that we are overpaying here is absolutely ridiculous

wow everyone here either hates it for BUF or hates it for VGK. I don't think its bad... but not as good as my isles one

Vegas says no. A bunch of nobodies and an average/overrated defenseman for a 50 point power forward on a great contract..... yeah no thanks.

Dear buffalo fans when you use words like “could be” or “in a few years” that doesn’t help your case. Tuch right now is a top 6 forward with a great physical game. Vegas isn’t trading a great player for a bunch of maybes players. Remember how good you guys thought nylander was then he got traded and you roasted him. Bc you got screwed in the ROR trade doesn’t make Thompson good. I’m sorry it doesn’t

Lot of Buffalo fans though Nylander was insanely overrated tho. Myself included. Thompson is better than him imo. All other points are valid though.

Why the **** would Vegas do this?

You are 100% Tuch is a good 50 pt power forward.
OK let's be clear here, right now Thompson is Buffalo's best prospect. Large players take longer to develop and no one really knows if his growth was stunted last year, but once he was sent to Rochester he netted 6 goals and 9 pts in 8 regular season games and half of the Amerks playoff goals. He was out standing in the 3 on 3 french connection and was voted the hardest working prospect.
I wish I could talk to other NHL GM's to get their input on Ristolainen, but we know BriseBois wanted him at the TDL. Tampa had Hedman, McDonagh, Sergachev, Coburn and Stralman WANTED Ristolainen IMO speaks to the respect other GM's have for Ristolainen's skills. In addition, Ristolainen has played 24 minutes a night for 3 different coaches, he hits, already had 4 40 pts seasons (only 5 fewer pts than Tuch has over the last 2 years) and plays against other teams top lines.
Finally, I watched Nylander play from day one and never thought he was good and was just another one of DATM's draft mistakes.
Edit, in closing let me add, what did O'Reilly do for Buffalo other than say he quit on the team? I do not care what he did in STL and remember until Binnington joined the team they were in last place. Right now that trade has netted Miller, Thompson and Johnson. We will see how Thompson does this year, but if he can break out as I suspect, then that trade IMO will be a good return.

Yup, Thompson IMO will have a break out year and as you and others have pointed out may have more pts than Tuch.

i would literally bet no joke, $10,000 that Tuch has more points then Thompson next year....barring any injuries of course....

not to mention Thompson might not even start the year in thr NHL lol people fail to realize just how bad he was last year....and if you dig into the advanced metrics he was actually one of the worst players in the NHL last season

im honestly pretty confident that Thompson will never be as good as Tuch already is now and Tuch is only going to get better too

a lot of ppl here were giving different reactions to the trade-some say big overpayment and some say Vegas says hell no

if Vegas were to do this trade I would be absolutely thrilled-Sabres get a young, solid top 6 forward, with 7 years of term and at a very reasonable cap hit for a bunch of peices that may or may not amount to anything....why would you want a keep some kids that or may or may not turn into good NHL players in 3-5 years rather than acquire a legitimate NHL power forward right now

kinda blew my mind that some people were saying that BUF giving up too much here like its not like were trading Luukkonen or Cozens here its not a lot to give up really

and woah i didnt even see that you called Thompson buffalos best prospect that couldnt be further from the truth—not to mention Thompson isnt even considered a prospect anymore Cozens, Luukonen, Olofsson, are all definetly better prospects than he is

I misspoke I meant to say he was Buffalo's most NHL ready player and gave evidence to that point. But he is considered a prospect because he was part of the French connection round robin, he was the best player on the ice and the voted the hardest working participant.
It is unlikely that Thompson will have more pts then Tuch next year because I hope he starts in Rochester, but that is not the point, he was rushed by STL and BUF. But if you read my comment carefully, and you devoted nearly half of your reply to this, I never said next year.
You have your opinion, which is fine, I would not give that for Tuch but you like the deal good. The fact that Vegas fans would not make that trade does not mean Buffalo is the winner only that they would not make the trade.
One of the reasons I do not like the trade is that Tuch had only 5 more pts than Ristolainen had over the last 2 years.
Second, as I said Tampa wanted Ristolainen even though they are loaded with good defensemen, this IMO is a good barometer to determine how other GM's value his talents.
So let's agree to disagree,

yeah i mean dude you cant consider a player with 106 career NHL games a "prospect"

sure he was voted the best at development camp but i mean i would hope so considering he was competing against a bunch of kids who are wayyyy smaller and younger than he his and most of the kids there were at least 2-3 years from sniffing the NHL while he already has a full year and a half of NHL experience so honestly anything less would have been a let down for him...


Well obviously TB was not that high on him or they would have pulled the trigger on acquiring him...

IMO the reason he hasnt been dealt yet is because other NHL GMs are beginning to realize he has some serious flaws in his game and Botterill is very underwhelmed with the potential return

Jason must be thinking that coach #25 can finally fix his game ugh

at what point as a GM do you just realize that maybe its not the coach/systems fault and just that the player really isnt as good as you think...

Ristolainen is at best a #4 d-man on a solid team....ya he can put up 40 points but its sort of counter productive if the other team scores 200 goals/year when he is on the ice. he is a big defensive liability and he needs a very solid stay at home d partner to be effective...