So the free agent class was lest than spectacular. Especially when what we needed was defence. I obviously saw that at the end of last season what broke us down was our lack of defence. I felt even with Myers we lacked a great two way defenceman. So I made a trade which we will get to later. First are the two signings.

(79) Kyle Brodziak: Thinking fourth line for him. I had (80) Luke Adam as trade bait and it looked like Adam was pretty much gone. So I decided I needed a new 4th line centre. I like Brodziak quite a bit because he is more of a two way fourth liner. He can score when needed but is also very good without the puck

(77) Robin Figren: AHL signing. I had expected him to play top line in the AHL but he will be used for something else.

So without delay here is the trade.

TO BUF
(83 **** 1/2)Oscar Klefbom

TO EDM
(80)Luke Adam
(77)Robin Figren
2018 2nd round pick

First off I have. tried to avoid trading with Edmonton, for a few reasons. One is that I don't want to make a bad trade because of my biased-ness.. Another is I don't want to turn the Sabres into a team full of Oilers. So I have avoided trading with them. For this trade I saw that Edmonton was the best possible option for making a trade and decided I had to make it. Klefbom is on an amazing contract (2.8 x 4) and will only continue to improve. I can basically guarantee he will be here for the next 4 years because even if I run into cap problems their are players on worse contracts that I can easily move.

Klefboms first few years have been

12/13 11-29-40
13/14 8-31-39
14/15 9-30-39

He has played every game since he started in the NHL. I like this deal a ton for us.


Our second trade was one that I saw coming for over a year, at least the centre part of it. I wanted another D-Man after Klefbom, one that was more defensive and would be able to be a Sabre long term (I will need to re-sign at end of year but I don't think he will want that much more than what he has right now.)

TO BUF
(84)Luke Schenn

To PHI
(82)Jhonas Enroth
BUF 2018 3rd
BUF 2019 3rd

We are starting to lose quite a few of our picks going forward but I would really like to make a push for at least 2nd round this season. That's my goal atm, win a round. Then go from there.

One more right before the season because I noticed we don't have a 4th liner. I wanted to add a player who could fight and saw a cheap one. Both the players I gave up were 2 stars and likely will not even become AHL players.

TO BUF
Mike Rupp

TO WPG
Stanislav Makarov
Kayla Doetzel

Players OTB for us: (Goes by priority of who I will likely be looking to trade first)

(84)Nathan Gerbe: I intended to trade Gerbe some point in last season, but I have had him reach 88 overall before and was hoping he would continue to get better. That obviously didn't happen and his value went down quite a bit. It sucks because Gerbe had really cashed in last off-season as I signed him to a 6.4 x 5 year deal.

(83) Thomas Vanek: Thomas Vanek has had an awful last couple of seasons. He hasn't put up 40 + points since my first season as Sabres GM. I guess he isn't being used to the best of him abilities on the third line but I still expect more out of him.

(83) Cody Hodgson: Hodgson is an amazing choice as 3rd line centre. He can consistently put up 30 + points and can be used in the top six if I have injuries. But obviously I have a ton of centre's being brought up through the system so it looks like Hodgson's days as a Sabre could be numbered.