I still believe especially if you’re going to retain half the contract that you should be able to get a first round pick in return for Olofsson, not a late second.

If olofsson can return another Jiri Kulich... I would ______

He's probably worth a 3rd without retention.

A second is the most I would give up for him

He is a perennial 25 to 30 goal scorer (and 50 point player) who contrary to popular opinion is no longer powerplay dependent. If that’s not worth a late first at less than $2.5 million cap hit for you Buffalo should find a team that will pay that price. Just because no one on this website happens to like him doesn’t mean that no one in the league sees his value.

He has never scored 50 points and has scored 25+ once

I absolutely agree with your assessment, the major problem is- the winger market is weak. There isnt going to be a bidding war. If adams decides to move him, it's not going to be nice. The good news for adams is- the majority of the fan base wants him gone, so there's no pressure to make a move that actually would benefit the team.

Olofsson went 16 games without a goal (Jan. 28-March 7,) broke that streak with Buffalo's 4th goal in the third period with Dallas up 9-3, then proceeded to score two third-period goals, both on the power play, after Philly went up 4-0 then 5-1. He's presently in the midst of a seven-game goal drought and is in line for the green jacket with a two-stroke lead over Jacob Bryson (-26 to -24). I'd take a late second for him.

This is true.

Maybe if you ignore everything negative about his game. He's been on the ice for 52 goals against 5v5 compared to his 31 goals for. He hurts your team more than he helps. There's a reason why he has the worst +/- and no other forwards are even close. He's terrible defensively. Not physical at all. Brings down his linemates (Mitts is totally different player away from him). Granato has healthy scratched him multiple times.

Nobody is gonna pay the price because they actually watch him play.

It’s probably time he move on, and he’s not good defensively, but that was never his game. Now that Buffalo’s top 6 is pretty well settled and he’s not in it there should be another team he’d fit with. He’s still an elite shooter who can reliably score 20+ goals next year without fail, and close to 30 if he’s playing with a playmaker. I felt a lot of his offense this year was overmatching his 3rd line opponents. Since the Sabres have offensive depth now teams no longer key on him. Giving him away would be a mistake.

He's just not good enough offensively to be in any top 6 of a team trying to win games. An elite shooter should have scored at least 30 goals once in his career. He did have a playmaker when he was stapled to Eichel's line. He's an extremely streaker shooter who will have 6 goals in a week and have 0 goals for 2 months. He's just kind of a one trick pony who sits in the same spot. That's just not worth 4.75M.

'Giving him away would be a mistake" I don't think so. I'd be ecstatic with a 2nd round pick. He's a negative to the team on the ice. You gotta cut off the dead weight. With how little minutes he's played recently + healthy scratches Donny seems to think the same.

Like I said, it seems pretty clear that it’s time he moved on. He’s not a top six forward on this team anymore. That doesn’t mean they should throw him away and take whatever someone will give them. You’ve made your opinion obvious enough. For the record I do believe he would’ve scored 30 goals his first full season in Buffalo if he had not gotten hurt. He played an bit over half a season that year and managed 20 before getting hurt. Considering that he was getting top six minutes and power-play time I will always believe 30 would have been totally possible. Is it more likely that Buffalo takes less than a first round pick in return for him if he is on his way out this off-season? Obviously. If teams think they can pay less, why would they pay more? I think it’s definitely possible he gets moved. I just don’t know if it will be at the draft or sometime after that. But the Sabres backed themselves into a corner and had to give away Apslund. Doing the same with Olofsson is just bad asset management, if nothing else.

"Selke" Asplund hasn't scored a goal since November 10, 2022. Since getting traded to the Preds on March 4 he's played in 16 games for Nashville, has zero goals, zero assists, is a minus-6 and averaged 10 minutes, 25 seconds of ice-time which is the lowest atoi of any player on that team. Asplund took a dive this season, not sure why, but the former second-rounder nose-dived right into a trade that netted the Sabres a mere 7th-round pick.

Olofsson was a 7th-round pick and fell off of a cliff for most of the calendar year. If the Sabres were to get a 2nd-rounder for him that would be a good return and actually balances out "Selke" Asplund's fall from grace.

As for "bad asset management," a point could be made for that, but it's more a case of hanging on to an asset for too long and selling low, imo. Not that I'm mad at management, because I saw Asplund as a solid fourth-liner with defensive acumen and the ability for modest offensive contributions while I thought "Goalofsson," despite his shortcomings, would contribute in a meaningful way. Neither really did that this season.

Part of Apslund’s problem this year was simply not playing. Even when injuries crushed the Sabres they called up Hinostroza to play over Apslund who was already on the roster. Sure, if he was more effective when he was out there he’d play more, but it’s a self fulfilling prophecy to a point. You drive down his value by never having him in the lineup. I’m well aware that Victor was a 7th round pick, and has exceeded all expectations for a player drafted that late. When you consider that almost any trade you make with him is a net positive, but I still would hope for at least a mid round 2nd over a late one. He’s the last player with a chance at 30 goals for the year, however unlikely, since he’s not played lately. It would be pretty cool to say the Sabres had 5 30 goal scorers this year. When was the last time we could say that?