Still the Flames baby baby still the Flames

Buffalo is in no position to be trading Reinhart, their defense is fine, it doesn't need Hanifin and while getting Rittich might make their goalie tandem a bit better they really can't afford to lose Reinhart from their top 6.

Also the Sabres aren't set for life at center, Staal is a stopgap till one of Middlestadt or Cozens is ready for the 2C job, by trading Middlestadt you're losing one of those potential options.

This would also be putting the rush on Cozens and Thompson which is a bad move, this isn't good for the Sabres from multiple angles.

Trading Reinhart for 2 UFA's that you likely won't resign is not the best idea. And does BUF really need Hanifin anyway?

Thanks for the replies guys. All fair points. I'm certainly not eager to trade Reinhart. My logic though is the following:

- Skinner and Okposo, and their contracts, are not going anywhere soon
- While it is not a certainty, I'm banking that Hall will mesh well with Eichel and that he will be signed to a long-term deal; this will 1.) Eat up valuable cap space and 2.) Make it logical to move Olofsson to the right-side in the future if not as early as this year
- While Thompson, Quinn and Pekar are far from sure things, the three of them combined with Olofsson gives the team long-term right wing options
- Room for Hanifan is basically made by moving Miller (who has two years left) and by Montour and McCabe being UFAs next year and Risto being a UFA in 2 years. Long-term, Dahlin, Hanifan and Jojiharju are the top 3 with Dahlin playing either the left or right side depending on which of the Sabres D prospects develop the best for the NHL
- At some point a huge key to long-term success is taking a step forward in the short-term. Strengthening centre depth and solidifying the backend on D and in net is the best way to do that this year. The addition of Rittich, Hanifan and Ryan make the Sabres a playoff team from a talent and depth perspective, in my view. If both Cozens and Thompson are not ready or if Okposo cannot sustain middle 6 play, then Olofsson can be moved to the right-side and Girgensens can move to third line LW. Ruotsalainen is also a potential option.
- Losing Reinhart would hurt to be sure, but I would rather have a hole on RW than multiple additional weak-spots in centre depth, penalty killing, left-side D and goaltending.

I think you'd just be creating a bigger hole in your top 6 which could cause your offense to sputter somewhat. If you want more depth on LHD and C just sign some of the remaining UFAs to cheap deals cause that's all they're going to get at this point, they may not be as good as Hanifin or D.Ryan but there's still some serviceable players left at those positions that could really help round out the lineup for the Sabres.

At this point there really isn't any UFA goalies to sign so to upgrade there you would need to make a trade, it's too bad the Sabres didn't sign Greiss, he would've made a decent tandem with Ullmark. Think the Sabres should just go with Ullmark/Hutton to start and see how it goes and who around the league might fall down the standings and if someone might come available.

You also seem to be a bit hung up on left shot/right shot being slotted on their proper side, really wouldn't worry about that so much especially with wingers.

I think the Sabres are fine as is.