Facepalm

I would hate to see what an underpayment looks like

He’s really nothing special.

Wouldn't give mitchell for him 1 for 1

I'm fine with Lafferty. We have Jones, Murphy, and Regula/Mitchell on the right.

The Ian Mitchell who is the same age and can't make one of the worst teams in the NHL?

Sabres have no reason to move Jokiharju

They have too many D prospects that need ice time.
Beaudin's been on the 3rd pair in Rockford. Can't help it when a 3rd round pick shows up out of no where and takes advantage of the opportunity given to him at the NHL level. Mitchell is easily the Ice Hogs best Dman.

I mean, so what? Jokihajru has played top 4 minutes for more than 2 years now, is locked up for 2 more years cheap and you want to get excited over a 23 year old being good in the AHL?

I'm not attacking you. Nor saying Joki's a bust. Just giving you a better understanding about Ian Mitchell. I don't mind Dmen taking more time to develop.

Here is the deal, it really does not matter if Mitchell has a higher ceiling than Jokiharju or not, it is the other pieces of the trade.
Kubalik is an RFA whose qualifying offer will be $4,000,000, he plays LW a position that Buffalo has decent depth.
Buffalo could resign Vinnie Hinostroza at a fraction of that as Vinnie's goal production/60 was a bit better than Dominik's
Next, I just do not see where anyone would expect Johnson to fit into any line up for the next two years at $2,500,000 AVV.
Drake Caggiula provided almost the same offense as Tyler in less games at less than 1/3 the salary while Drake can PK and Tyler does not.
Johnson is a pure cap dump.
Kubalik will not be qualified by Buffalo as they have other less expensive options and he will most likely sign elsewhere.
We can agree to disagree if a RHD who has established himself as an NHL defenseman has more value than one who has established himself as an AHL defenseman, so let's not debate that.
At the end of the day Buffalo swaps out a proven NHL RHD for a possible NHL RHD, adds a cap dump and a second round pick.
Please tell me how this is good asset management for Buffalo.

I'm with you! I think this is a lose lose trade. Joki is a fine Dman. He won't play over either Jones or Murphy so he's defaulted to bottom pair and the Hawks should develop their own Dmen.

It's also not good asset management for BUF either. You're spot on about a current NHL dman vs potential NHL dman. And about Kubalik too. He might very well end up being a UFA this summer. I'm not sure the Hawks qualify him. The 2nd is a late 2nd and TJ at $2.5M can have a healthy debate. He did just get the Eichel surgey...so I'd find it extremely unlikely BUF as an organization wouldn't allow it for Eichel but all of a sudden got real cool with it for TJ.

I think it is unfortunate when a proposed trade is dissed by both parties.
Thank you very much for your insightful comments.
I completely agree that the Jokiharju bus left a long time ago and while he plays top four minutes for Buffalo he would be a third pairing for the Hawks.

To be completely honest with you, adding Caleb, Seth and Jake to any defense is a huge upgrade.
Throw Fleury into the line up and one would think they would have a very stingy defense, instead rank nearly the worse.
I fully expected the Hawks to greatly improve and not digress.
I guess Toews, Kubalik, Dach and Johnson did not produce as well as expected.
I certainly feel your pain and hope the Hawks can rebound.
IMO they did really well to get two firsts for Hagel and a conditional second for Fleury.

He's been out of college for a year lmao. Players develop at different rates. I've seen both guys play quite a bit, assuming you've only seen jokiharju. I highly doubt you've followed the icehogs at all this year where Mitchell was fantastic. One of the best dmen in the entire AHL this year.

Nobody cares if a 23 year old is a good AHL player