Quoting: mac11_716
How so? Marner is the same age as Thompson, still an elite player, and has playoff experience. While I must admit I don't think there is even the slightest chance the Sabres do anything other than develop their own players and draft, I'm running out of different roster ideas and having a roster of young players is boring (on paper) to continuous post.
No, I didn't mean age, although Kane and Marner are both elite first line wingers. Probably Kane will be cheaper than Marner, he is a local boy and Pegulas can somehow sell tickets. It's just that I find it hard to believe this move and Toronto would probably be looking for some other deal, and Buffalo shouldn't be trading so many young pieces and picks.
My opinion. We have Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power, but they need help, we need to develop them properly. I would look for two top 4 RD's, one of them could be an versatile D, the other one would be a DFD, I just don't buy Jokiharju and Borgen can't even play Seattle regularly yet, for a third pair they might be good but they almost have no experience in every sense. Also need a proven goalie, you signed Holtby and I'm fine with that.
That being said, I agree that we're missing a first-line elite talent, but will Marner be too expensive, Kane? Maybe it depends on the price, but I would prefer a draft, we are already in the top 5, there are guys like Wright, Savoie, Cooley and Lambert, here he is our potential first line talent.
Again, this is just my opinion, but I would now focus on the development of Dahlin, Power and UPL. We have someone to play in attack, especially next season, but we don't have good defenders on the right side. Even the choice of Nemec or Jiricek will not help Dahlin and Power in the next couple of years, and these two years can be very important, especially for Dahlin.