while he is our captain which makes this trade unlikely, I think the value is fine

I like the premise of the Ducks and Sens trades

Make the pick in the Sharks trade this year's first and it's a deal.

no thank you. couture is 31, has 56 million dollars left on his deal and is coming off an injury. a protected 1st and a prospect is plenty

Ok then Sharks decline.

That deal is way too much for Ottawa to give up.

the horror of only having ::checks notes:: FIVE 2nd rounders left over the next 2 drafts after this trade.

They definitely should, and likely will trade some of their 2nds. Doesn't mean give them away for nothing. Montour is nothing special, and for the price of two 2nds including the 33rd overall pick the sens should look to be getting far more value back than that. For that price they could probably move up into the 1st round to pick up a mich more impactful piece that fits better long term for Ottawa.

Interesting trades. My only concern is that defense. I don't think you can argue removing Montour and Risto and replacing with Hutton and Borgen will have the Sabres finishing anywhere close the the playoffs again. The offense clearly improved but defensively and in nets is still going to be a major issue IMO.

I would argue that losing ristolainen alone improves the defense. The offense was the problem.

Its not just replacing them with borgen and hutton, its giving dahlin and jokiharju more minutes too.

Miller is not a top pairing guy, hardly even a top 4 on a good team. Joki is a good promising young dman but if you think he is the next Karlsson, you are going to be disappointed. I think that defense is going to get exposed on a nightly basis. Ullmark isn't good enough to shelter them like a Carey Price did in his prime for the Habs.

Yeah, you'll score more goals but I think you'll be letting in more also.

Miller played his best hockey with Dahlin and I never said jokiharju was erik karlsson.

the forwards i brought in are two way guys too. defense is a team effort and krueger put in a fine system.

Sure he might have looked good but he also was playing a lot less......... and the Karlsson bit was obviously sarcastic. Im just saying if you expect him to go from what he has been so far to a quality top 4 over night, i think you may be disappointed. Its not like he's playing alongside Lidstrom to help get him there.

I agree the team defensive game needs no passengers but Im not sure Couture and Silvferberg are enough to compensate. This is largely the exact same team as last year with more leadership and top skill added up front but arguably the same or IMO a worse back end. Dallas and Columbus both had less goals than the Sabres this year yet were playoff teams.

Either way, IMO yes the offensive part of the team got better and Couture and Silfverberg should help the overall team defense game a bit too but I think you may be discrediting the loss of both Risto and Montour. As bad as they may have been I think you are simply replacing them with a less qualified Miller and a less experienced Joki. I personally don't think they are up to the task, is Joki's case, not yet at least.

Btw Im not advocating NOT trading Risto and Montour. Just that only replacing them and their minutes with Borgen, Joki and Miller will yield the same results as last year and in a perfect world, only slightly better because of the additions of Couture and Silfverberg. The Sabres need a lot better.