The Sabres give up on this season and trade a 25 year old center with 42 points in 49 games this season for an up and coming prospect center and a late 1st round pick. A mini-mini-mini-retool involving one player from their roster. Ritchie should hit his prime roughly around the same time as guys like Jack Quinn, Peterka, Kulich, Benson etc. Not a bad fit.

Col now:

Drouin - MacKinnon - Rantanen
Parise - Mittelstadt - Lehkonen
Wood - Colton - O'Connor
Cogliano - Johansen - Kiviranta/Olofsson

Col when Valeri is back from his time away:

Drouin - MacKinnon - Rantanen
Lehkonen - Mittelstadt - Nichushkin
Parise - Colton - O'Connor
Wood - Johansen - Cogliano

Sabres don't need another forward prospect that might become as good as mitts. They aren't trading him for futures. Stop this nonsense

I would change the offer to this
24 1st
26 3nd
Sean Behrens
O. Olauuson

Deal!

Ship Mitts over here!!!

Well I'm an Avs fan. Curious what Buffalo fans think of the offer... Just think they would rather a solid puck moving defenseman on an ELC who is close to NHL ready in Behrens and a potential scoring threat in Olausson for their 3rd line plus a first and 3,rd chips... Still doubt Buffalo moves Mitts but maybe with them locked into Tage and Cousins long term maybe they move Mitts.

Given the market set by Lindholm, the underrated and underdiscussed Mittelstadt should probably fetch a pretty fine return, given his age, RFA status and 70-ish point pace. Sky's the limit for this player if he gets on the right team with the right linemates. Won't dominate a game himself, probably ever, but skilled enough to rack up points.

The one thing I'll say about your proposal is that the Sabres may not go for a small, left shot defenceman in Behrens, having Dahlin, Power and Samuelsson all left shooting D-men, and all signed for 6 or more seasons following this one. They'd probably prefer a right shot defenceman, as I don't think Jokiharju and Clifton blow anyone away. But Ritchie and a late 1st might feel like an underpayment to the Sabres, is my point.

Agree Behrens isn't ideal but I think he played some on the right side at world Jrs and he was very good there. Avs have no young right handed defenseman in their system with anything... Middlestadt is probably a pipedream for the Avs.

Hey man, this is an old one now, but hey, you were pretty much right on the money, Mitts for a puck moving defenceman... just beyond his ELC but still close.