Quoting: Funksoljah
First off the Sabres are not cup finalists with Barrie. They still aren't even a playoff team with him.
Second, Tampa Bays top 3 Dmen in ice time were all Left handed. Their top RD was Cernak who played 19 minutes a game, followed by Rutta who played a little more than 16 and Bogosian who played 15 minutes a game. They lined Serg up on the right side far more often than you seem to realize.
Colorado also played Girard and Byram on the right side for significant minutes, and in Fact 3 of their top 4 Dmen in minutes played were Left handed with Makar being the lone RD in that top 4 for icetime.
I get it, you want them to be good. The way forward is for Power, Joker, Samuelsson etc to improve. That won't happen unless they are getting the ice time they need in order to do that.
First, never ever did I say Barrie would make the Sabre cup finalists, I said
"Giving the Sabres an offensive defenseman on each pairing".
Second, yes the top 3 Tampa defensemen are left handed so obviously they would get the most ice time.
Tampa understands the importance of RHD that two of their RHD are really bad, do remember Zack Bogosian?
Third, Barrie is not the only player in the trade.
Raphael Lavoie is a HUGE (6'4" 210 lb) RHC, Drafted #38 overall in 2019.
I hope all Sabre fans will remember how long it took for Thompson to become a force, since Raphael is only 21 it may take him a couple more years for him to reach his potential.
Jack Smith is one of the worse prospects in the Canadian system and may have been included to balance the rosters.
It is very unlikely the Sabres will find a prospect with the same potential as Lavoie in the third round.
Fourth, with Barrie on the third pairing I do not understand why that would impact the playing time of Dahlin, Power, Jokiharju, or Samuelsson.
Finally, at the TDL even with a year remaining on his contract, there will be teams interested to add a PP RHD.
The Sabres would most likely get more than a third in return and still have a HUGE RHC prospect.