First one in a while for me. Sabres get Hanifin, Dahlin plays right side.. also get Backlund, who magically agrees to go to Buffalo and probably extends a year or two.

The Flames get a third line center replacement in Tyson Jost, plus young D-man Jokiharju, who moves Weegar to the left side.. a 2024 1st, and C prospect Noah Ostlund.. a small player, yes, but perhaps worth the trade if the Sabres can extend one or both guys?

Sabres:

Hanifin - Dahlin
Power - Samuelsson
Erik Johnson/Clifton/Lyubushkin/Stillman/Bryson/Ryan Johnson

Skinner - Thompson - Tuch
Mittelstadt - Cozens - Peterka
Krebs - Backlund - Olofsson
Greenway - Girgensons - Okposo

Also Jack Quinn who is currently injured..

Flames:

Kylington - Andersson
Weegar - Jokiharju
Zadorov - Tanev

Huberdeau - Lindholm - Coronato
Pelletier - Kadri - Dube
Sharangovich - Jost - Mangiapane
Coleman - Ruzicka - Duehr

The Flames benefit more for the future here, allegedly.

From BUF I like the proposal; not sure CGY thinks this is enough of a return especially if they are both extended

I don't like it at all.

Unless they decide to put Weegar and Andersson together both players should be on their strong right side anchoring the top 2 pairs with Kylington and Zadorov as their partners.

Weegar - Andersson
Kylington - Zadorov

or

Zadorov - Weegar
Kylington - Andersson

or

Zadorov - Andersson
Kylington - Weegar

The real key is who plays with Kylington he's the least gritty of the defensemen and needs a grittier more physical partner which all three of the others are. But how physical does his partner need to be? Which player would complement Kylington's speed and puck skills best? Will it make much or even any difference which one he plays with?

Jokiharju would be good for the 3rd pair so we can move Tanev but counting on Jokiharju for the 2nd pair would be risky. There's no need for Jost either all he'd be is yet another left shot bottom 6 forward blocking young players/prospects. As for Ostlund Calgary already has a lot of smaller prospects we need a few big guys not even more little guys.

Fair enough! Thanks for the comments buds. I figure that since Jokiharju is younger than Hanifin, and with the other futures Calgary gets in exchange for a player in Backlund who has stated he will not re-sign in Calgary..

Besides, Conroy went full tank mode in the 2023 draft, another smaller skilled guy wouldn't hurt.

Unless it happened today Backlund has not stated he will not re-sign in Calgary. BTW, I was editing my post when you replied to it, I added some more comments.

I read in some post about a week ago that Backlund told the Flames he would test free agency. I will try and find it

Huh? Tank mode?

I thought Conroy did a great job in the draft. He got exactly what the Flames needed, players with both size and skill. I especially like Honzek. I was surprised when they picked him I had no idea who he was but after doing some research I think Conroy took exactly the right guy.

"Upon further inspection, these are loafers" .... anyone who gets that reference has my respect forever. I can't seem to find it, so it may have been a random bogus kind of rumor.

I wonder if Oliver Moore would have been the better choice, the centerman... but, it really seems like both he and the Blackhawks were desperate to get each other lol.

Tank mode... i.e. getting big players. Tanks.

Yeah there are lots of lazy writers who don't have a clue what's really going on saying stupid stuff.

Oh ok, in that case I agree!

I frequent spectorshockey.net for my main rumor source, but sometimes I venture to nhlrumors.com/net/whatever and while they generally source previous publications like spectors does, maybe the odd rumor mill thing slips in?

Honestly, I may have fallen victim to an Eklund post lol, who knows.

As a Sabres fan, I’d like this. I don’t think Jost or Joki are in the long term plans. Ostlund will likely be something added to a trade like this even though I’d like to see him stay a part of the Sabres org. If KA doesn’t trade our first this year to try and make a push I’d be very surprised. Very realistic from the Sabres perspective.