2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I also think the Eichel situation is where everything started to go wrong for the Sabres. He was their franchise player and they totally mishandled that situation. And now here we are.

If they could have a do-over there and let him get his surgery who knows how things would have progressed but the common denominator in Buffalo is that their GM's (Murray, Botterill, Adams) after Regier have been terrible as have been the associated head coach hires. Ruff is past his prime as a head coach and I shudder to think about what he could do as a GM. Sabres really need to get the GM hire right and that will give them a chance to turn the corner but it's not going to happen as long as they keep hiring the wrong people.

[BigThief]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Dahlin and Thompson recently signed long term deals with the Sabres. What's their leverage here as this isn't a McDavid situation?

Your two best players doing that isn't good for anyone. Make things better before that happens because once it does there isn't any going back.

Edit - guys the average age of Calgarypuck is 50+, I think we can all handle seeing a swear word

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

If they could have a do-over there and let him get his surgery who knows how things would have progressed but the common denominator in Buffalo is that their GM's (Murray, Botterill, Adams) after Regier have been terrible as have been the associated head coach hires. Ruff is past his prime as a head coach and I shudder to think about what he could do as a GM. Sabres really need to get the GM hire right and that will give them a chance to turn the corner but it's not going to happen as long as they keep hiring the wrong people.

I don’t think any great GMs want to work for the Pegulas

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by robertsfanatic

would love Thompson for the right price but he will be 28 this month...don't want to give up too many futures.

Calagry should be chasing any 28 year old player unless their goal is to remain in the mushy middle forever.

Which might just be their goal.

[Burning Beard]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Calagry should be chasing any 28 year old player unless their goal is to remain in the mushy middle forever.

Which might just be their goal.

Do you really believe this?

[MrButtons]

Say what you will about us having some older players but Buffalo is a team that shows what happens when you have zero vets. Jason Zucker is the only vet on the team and then maybe Tage Thompson is next at 27 y/o. No vet leadership on that team and I think it screws 'em.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Burning Beard

Do you really believe this?

Actually no, but their moves are in line with doing this, as they are doing nothing to secure top draft picks.

Thrir true goal is to hope they get lucky with middle draft picks.

[Harry Lime]

Buffalo is extremely top heavy. Their bottom six is pretty atrocious. If they realize this at some point, Calgary is a treasure trove of solid bottom 9 players.

Alex Tuch is UFA and will ask for 8M+.

Calgary could pretty much fix their team, for the cost of one player.

[Mitch]

Originally Posted by MrButtons

Say what you will about us having some older players but Buffalo is a team that shows what happens when you have zero vets. Jason Zucker is the only vet on the team and then maybe Tage Thompson is next at 27 y/o. No vet leadership on that team and I think it screws 'em.

I think this + having Rasmus Dahlin as your captain hurts them a lot. Dahlin is an elite player, but has never experienced playoff hockey. How can you expect your teams captain to effectively lead if they haven't been in a competitive situation in the NHL? You need a lot of vets in your room with playoff experience to make up for that.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bonded

I don’t think any great GMs want to work for the Pegulas

Then they should look to hire an experienced AGM from a club that does things the right way. Habs were smart to hire Gorton who had a history of making solid moves and his hire of Hughes looks like a stroke of genius. Look at Bill Zito's resume the guy really worked his way to the GM chair and it shows. The NHL still has teams continuing the trend of hiring ex-coaches and ex-players short on managing experience and expecting the same results as career hockey managers.

Conroy looks to be at the very least a competent GM and we really shouldn't be surprised as he spent over a decade in the Flames organization learning how to run a team. The fact that it's even a rumour that Ruff could be considered as the next GM is a terrible, terrible, thing for Sabres fans.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Actually no, but their moves are in line with doing this, as they are doing nothing to secure top draft picks.

Thrir true goal is to hope they get lucky with middle draft picks.

You sure?
- $20M in cap space for what three straight seasons.
- Two 1st round picks in three straight drafts.
- Didn't add at the deadline within striking distance of a playoff spot

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I also think the Eichel situation is where everything started to go wrong for the Sabres. He was their franchise player and they totally mishandled that situation. And now here we are.

a real curse of the bambino scenario.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I don't think there is a better fit in the NHL for a coach like Darryl Sutter at the moment than Buffalo. I think Sutter is retired, and probably wouldn't want that job anyway, but that's what I think Buffalo needs. They need a coach that can come in and dramatically change the culture, and get everyone working together on the ice.


I like Ruff, but i think he just hasn't got it any longer. I would kick him upstairs into either an assistant GM or even as President, but I don't think I would promote him as the GM. That's asking too much from him right away, and also just doing 'more of the same', which hasn't resulted in any improvement.


I have Buffalo as a team that should have been a successful rebuild, but their ineptitude at hiring decent GMs and decent coaches (not even good ones - just average or even sllightly before average even!) has really cost them. They need a coach really badly I think that can just change the culture on that team. With that being said, watch them promote Ruff and then go and hire Torts (who I think would be awful).

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Burning Beard

Do you really believe this?

Never confuse this teams incompetence for malice!

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Calgary could pretty much fix their team, for the cost of one player.

I would love to hear how Flames players can fix the Sabres unless we're giving them Wolf, Weegar, Kadri and Cornato for free!

[Toast_Man]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I don't think there is a better fit in the NHL for a coach like Darryl Sutter at the moment than Buffalo. I think Sutter is retired, and probably wouldn't want that job anyway, but that's what I think Buffalo needs. They need a coach that can come in and dramatically change the culture, and get everyone working together on the ice.


I like Ruff, but i think he just hasn't got it any longer. I would kick him upstairs into either an assistant GM or even as President, but I don't think I would promote him as the GM. That's asking too much from him right away, and also just doing 'more of the same', which hasn't resulted in any improvement.


I have Buffalo as a team that should have been a successful rebuild, but their ineptitude at hiring decent GMs and decent coaches (not even good ones - just average or even sllightly before average even!) has really cost them. They need a coach really badly I think that can just change the culture on that team. With that being said, watch them promote Ruff and then go and hire Torts (who I think would be awful).

I think Sutter is too old school for that group. A Mitch Love type would work a lot better.

[Matty81]

The sabres need to grow a backbone.. move players on long term deals when it is right for the team. If they want to sulk fine but they can't afford to have another situation like peterka.


Roster is decent once kesselring and their goalie are back, though the one major issue is that I don't know how they expect to win with Danforth as a 2nd liner, looks like a older career ahler getting way too much ice I know Norris left a big hole but still have to add a decent veteran for picks to fill that gap once teams start selling just to shore up Morale and have a decent year

[Funkhouser]

Just for reference, their non-injured lineup would be:

Benson - Thompson - Tuch
Quinn - Norris - Kulich
Zucker - McLeod - Doan
? - Krebs - Greenway

Byram - Dahlin
Power - Kesselring
Samuelsson - ?

Helenius (C), Ostlund (C), Mrtka (RD) as soon to graduate prospects.

Not a bad linup by any means. Their second line is not consistent, but I would argue they have competitive 1st and 3rd lines up-front. They have a solid D-core that should be dominating.

If there was an opening to get some prospect depth from them in order to help them fill out their middle six (Zary, Pospisil, Sarongovich, Farabee, etc) - we should be all over it.

Their issue IMO is 100% management. Bad GM, hired with no experience and no supervision. Bad ownership. Bad coaching.

Not all bad though. I feel like recent trades for McLeod, Kesselring & Doan were all positives and filling gaps in their identity. Eichel, and maybe Cozens, were errors IMO. Will be interesting to see what they do with Tuch.

Sabres fans deserve better.

[GioforPM]

Everyone says the Buffalo lineup is good. But then claims the GM is bad. Aside from mishandling Eichel (admittedly a huge black mark), what other things were done that make Adams bad? Pusruing a tank strategy? Not being able to convince guys to stick around?

[UKflames]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Coaching matters. A lot.

Fair point and that seems to be their problem.