Prepare for a bidding war with any team looking for veteran depth. The more desperate you are the higher the price gets. And as a Sabres fan that suits me just fine, at least something should go right for us this season.

Chicago Accepts

I hope Buffalo doesn't mess up Beniers they did Dahlin. Not trying to take a shot but he legit could develop into a Couturier-Barzal combo player and that would be so fun to watch

I would be thrilled if the Sabres have a chance to get Matt Beniers. I imagine playing him with Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn. Acquiring a top level player like that would make a big difference, once we get a competent head coach.

This season is a throwaway, especially with the makeshift divisions. I knew as soon as we were stuck in the most difficult division they created that this season was going to be a bust. Then our schedule got compressed even more thanks to the New Jersey Devils, and every key player we have got hurt. A big shock right? Realistically the Sabres are bad, but I don’t think they’re actually as bad as they look. All the really ****ty teams that usually play in our division are disbursed in the other divisions. Canada is the easiest Division by far, nobody plays any defense and every game has 10 goals scored. Half of the Northeast division is there. Then there’s the Red Wings, and they’re pretty awful too.

here come the panic posts. They'll be fine, don't expect anything major.

Howden is not an option wtf

Travis Zajac

Oilers would take that.

No panic. I think we were planning on adding someone regardless.

Has he been that bad? He has struggled this year, but he could still be decent no?

I feel like Zajac does not want to go anywhere.

I'd agree but there is no future in NJ. At least last year there was a thought that maybe. Fitz can tell him we're done, let's get you a chance

He had the chance to go to NYI last deadline and rejected. I feel like he wants to play his career there. If not, I consider him for the right price.

He's been horrible. Rangers fans have been complaining about him non stop for two years. Just recently a healthy scratch finally. He's a Sam Lafferty level borderline player.

He is 22 though. Might be worth the slight risk, I dont know.

I think if they upgrade someone it's toward trade deadline and it's a nothing of a deal. This is someone else's roster now. They aren't going to try to salvage the mess someone else left behind.
Especially not Hextall. He'll be patient and next year he'll worry about major changes on the ice.

Cody Eakin would be another interesting option from Buffalo.

Agreed. I dont think any of these deals are monster deals. Picking up a rental for a like a 3rd max could really help us. Both Blueger and Malkin are now on IR. Blueger has already been confirmed as out longer term, but no clue what this means for Geno. Our C core is weak right now. We need to pick someone up just to help with this playoff push. All I want is to make the playoffs, especially this year without our 1st.

Could be. I would personally go for Turris before Eakin, but he could be an option if there is really nothing else.

even if this team was totally healthy we aren't going far in the playoffs. I don't think Zucker is coming back, Malkin, Blueger and McCann will be back. So I see no reason to panic.
Hextall is basically going to see what they can do this offseason. There is no point throwing good after bad. If there was more to work with on this team to begin with, it might be a different story. I hope they are spending their time more efficiently like trying to recruit some of the better FA out the NCAA.

I felt the same way before the season started but you gotta look at how they have been performing. In the standings (both with points and points %), they are 11th in the league and 3rd in their division. In my opinion, the hardest division in the league. Out of their 7 opponents, 4 of them are solid teams (NYI, WSH, BOS, PHI). NYR is showing that they could put up a fight and will be dangerous soon. NJD and BUF are the 2 weaker sides, but we have only played 2 of our 16 games against them, the least amount of times compared to our opponents. You also need to realize that we have been injured all year round. I dont remember when we played a game with our full healthy roster.
Dont get me wrong, I am not one of those fans that is saying go out there and trade your 1st and all your prospects for a sick forward and then make your expansion draft list even more difficult. I am even hesitant to move a 2nd, but if you dont think this team can be good in the playoffs, I think you are wrong. I really think adding a player of need for a 3rd rounder max does very little to hurt our draft choices, but can really help this season. I am all for giving this team a fair shot of going for it this year while we still can, and I think moving a 3rd is more than fair. This team can be very very good.

This team is going to have to go through BOS, WSH and TB to actually get to the cup. And while the they might be 50/50 to be the first two, "might", the last one they aren't going to beat.
This team They aren't one player away. They never were, and losing Zucker for the year Only makes that worse. They are no less than 3 pieces away from being a contender, and that's with Malkin and Blueger back. They don't have the assets to get 3 pieces and it's not worth doing that to begin with.

Zucker is skating now and slowly making progress, so he might be back. Playoffs are also a whole different beast, you never know what can happen. Are they cup favorites? No, but give them a shot.

I have not seen anything on Zucker skating. Even if he started to, that doesn't mean anything.
There are plenty of guys who try to skate but end up not being able to go. Hope the best for him but we'll see. I do know if it was a minor injury he'd be back on the ice by now, It's been 3+ weeks. Minor ligament injuries only take like 2 weeks to return to normal. Most people can walk on then in like 2-3 days and back at sports in 2 weeks. He clearly did not have that.
The playoffs are a different beast, and lets be honest, this team has not showed up for playoff hockey in a long time. They are clearly not a cup favorite. Yeah sure anyone has a chance, but lets be honest about it. As it stands right now, their odds aren't great. They need a serious 3rd line to be competitive. The power play sucks. There are so many things that make this team not really playoff competitive it's not even funny. I don't think anyone could really have watched this team this year and thought them to be a playoff worthy team. They have spent most the year playing from behind sleepwalking.
That really doesn't say, team that's going to win in the playoffs to me.