My guy.. I don't think you have improved the defense at all

My guy, look at the Sabres defense last year. I don’t think you know much about these players

If Buffalo moves both Reinhart AND Scandella to Calgary, we need to acquire more than that. All we get is a young LW that has nowhere near panned our yet, a decent RHD prospect, and a 4th liner.

That defense is insanely young! I’d hope we grab a veteran of some sorts to give them a steady presence like Philly does with Macdonald. And that forward group is scary. Eichels wingers include a bottom-6 guy and a struggling prospect... and that bottom-6 has no talent whatsoever sans Mittelstadt. Just keep Pominville and Larsson up if this is the alternative

Lazar has the talent and advanced stats to show me he can rebound, especially if he’s playing with talent. That is why I put Bennett on the left there. Bennett and Lazar get a shot at wing with less pressure and more talent at the pivot. To say their is no talent in the bottom 6 is hyperbolic. Bennett could be on Eichels line on this roster. If Lazar clicks, he’s a steal. Even Girgensons and Bailey aren’t traditional 4th liners. Rodrigues gets a shot but is a place holder, CJ smith could get a shot there too. Denisenko may be 1-2 year out. I’m assuming Nylander takes a step up in camp. I also disagree that he is struggling. I bring in Komarov to bring the grit Nylander lacks. He has the speed to keep up with them. Komarov also played with brother Nylander. The D will have Bogosian but only Dahlin does not have NHL experience. Dahlin also doesn’t need it. McCabes in his 3rd full year. Risto has been around enough to be the mature presence. Guhle and Nelson have taken the step to get bottom pair minutes. They don’t need an old guy to legitimize themselves. They also won’t get much for Scandella, nor is he worth keeping and dumping a talented Dman. The team is young but to say their bereft of talent is nonsensical. If advanced stats in the NHL matter, then this team is vastly improved

I think I’m more at the point where I hope Nylander can take the next step forward, all I hear about him is he seems to lack that drive to give his all every shift and to get to the dirty areas necessary to be successful in this league. I hope he can figure it out. I’d rather see Bennett in this scenario higher as I don’t value Komarov very highly and believe Eichel could use help. Komarov is a solid bottom-6 but top line is a bit much. I just dont see how Sislo could beat out Pominville here. Maybe similar scoring (still have to believe Pommers can score more) but Pommers also brings much more on the leadership and defensive responsibility.

In this scenario you would have Dahlin, Andersson, Guhle, and Nelson all entering their 1st full nhl season and I feel that is just a recipe for failure. You’d like to thing Bogosian can hold help with reeling them in but his injury past just makes that highly unlikely. There are UFA defenders out there that will still bring nhl talent level to this team for cheap. You don’t need to sign a big money player, even a player like Sbisa, Hickey, or Holden can hold down a spot on the 2-3 pairing and help these young guys learn. I completely disagree on your evaluation of Scandella but you know that already

Your questions about Nylander are why I put Komarov there, Komarov also had an A last year and had a 19 goal season 2 years ago. He’s not a permanent solution but maybe he can teach the kid a little something like his brother. Pommer is just older and slowing down, the team has to be able to buy in and execute the game plan down all 4 lines. Pommer and Larsson can not. For the D, I don’t think it matters how old they are, they have talent and have NHL experience. Bogosian would be the planned 2 RHD pair and I hope he can play 60 games, but they also have a coach who played in the NHL at 18. I also don’t want to shell out cash on a way too long contract for an aging defenseman, just for “experience”. I’ll take talent over experience, especially on the back end where their are not that many spots. Andersson is the only one I would pull out of there and he isn’t the planned 2nd RHD, but likely due to Bogo getting hurt. They have experience up front if they need it. Maybe Sislo will be straight trash and they can carry Pommer as their 13th forward to share his experience.