Quoting: Shibbal18
The Sabres have 0 need to dump cap. So they end up trading Dahlin for Gardiner. Thats horrible
Zero need, unless they're jump starting their rebuild like they are in BBB's Sabres build of the same trade. I actually don't think it's that bad.
Quoting: Subbanator7667
Generational defenceman we haven’t seen since Karlson gets traded for Jake Gardiner and two late first round picks, ow and some garbage.
This is where I'd make the trade: defensemen are just so darn difficult to scout. Erik Karlsson was picked in the first round, but 15th overall. You know who went 3rd and 5th?
https://www.hockey-reference.com/draft/NHL_2008_entry.html
Other defensemen taken in the top five of their respective recent drafts? Jack and Erik Johnson. Kevin Shattenkirk. Thomas Hickey and Karl Alzner in 2007. Hey, off the subject of defensemen, Pouliot went one spot ahead of Price in '05. But that '05 first round featured defensemen like Brian Lee, Ryan Parent, Sasha Pokulok, Jakub Kindl, Joe Finley, and.... after all of them and a couple others were gone, Dallas pulled a kid out of a rural Minnesota high school named Matt Niskanen at 28th. Those '05 draft picks are all about 31 years old, now. How many of those names do your recognize? Just Niskanen? Right.
If Buffalo is hoping to add a solid defenseman through the draft, two late firsts are just as likely to get a good one as one first overall. Picking up Lievo, Komarov and Martin for cap dumps, and getting a #1 defenseman who already plays in the NHL? I'd make that trade. The questionable value of the UFA rights to guys Buffalo didn't know it had cap space for, and who have no idea what they'd be signing up for in joining the Sabres is indeed worthy of a laugh. But without them, if Buffalo can get a top four defenseman and two 1sts for one high 1st in a draft whose top prospects are defensmen, I'd probably do it.
For further reference, look up the trade that sent Rod Langway to the Washington Capitals and took them from being one of the worst teams in the history of sports to making the playoffs for twelve straight years. They gave up a 1st overall pick defenseman and another top prospect defenseman to get a proven solid top pairing D, a questionable young top line forward, and a checking forward, and the three guys (off the Cup winning Habs, not just off their neighbors, but.... same idea) led their band of underperforming top draft picks to respectability, and kept them there.