No to all the trades. First 3 teams decline, 4th one sabres decline, Sobotka and Scandella are realistic. Duchene is close to signing in CBJ, probably Dzingel too

Why do they say no? Look at the teams. Candians need LHD bad, Vegas and tampa are in cap hell. This saves them 7 million. I honestly think we gave up to much for tampa trade.

Not so bad they give up their RHD, Vegas and Tampa will get better offers, the Sabres give up nothing in the TBL trade Gourde is much better than Sheary. Vegas is close but theyd probably have offers for Haula straight up with out moving 2 other key players

Sheary will cost 1/4th of the salary. Tampa has to trade someone otherwise they will lose Point. In this trade they get RHD to play in top 4. His advance stats are very good. They get to dump callahan which cost picks/ prospects to do. also get 4th line gritty center who can kill penalties. I think sheary will put up more points then Gourde did if he played with tampa.
Haula was very good player but had serious knee injury and i dont think he will be same player. If you read what i wrote. If he comes back healthy they can keep him. I was only taking him for salary dump. That is why he is on 4th line. wilson can contribute as much as reaves for fraction of cost and Miller has been playing on third pair.

You can keep Risto. Don't need that defensive liability on the ice in Philly.

Yeah because Ghost is shutdown dman. They are the same player except Risto is more consistent and RHD.

Ghost isn't near the defensive liability that Risto is.

And ghost bear isn't?

Not like Risto is! Ghost has many good attributes defensively. Where he struggles is knocking people off the puck in the D zone.

Ghost was a -20 on team with a positive goal differntial and playing against 2nd and 3rd lines.
Risto consistently played against top lines and defensive zone starts. If he was protected like ghost and played on better team like Ghost he would have much better stats then Ghost.

So you want to use the +/- stat eh...name a year when Risto has a + +/-...

Nelson is a 7th d man on Tampa, Larsson wont be tendered and will be a UFA and you could argue that you think Sheary would have had more points (I dont see any numbers to support that). I think Vegas is close, like I said, but like i said they could move one piece like Haula that they wont need for a pick than give up a solid d man and Reaves (Wilson can not come close to Reaves btw)

Id prefer the Sabres to keep Risto

Name a year when Risto played against 2/3 line players, and played on team with positive goal differential. Also, Never said risto is good defensively but he doesnt get pushed around and defensive zone and is just as good in offensive zone as ghost. Risto and ghost are very similar players. He is bigger and a RHD which you need. If you put him on 2nd pair, more offensive zone faceoffs and 1st powerplay he have a great year.

Ghost played top pair last season and was +10. Everyone in the world knows Risto is very bad defensively. Ghosts ceiling is higher and he is on a better contract. We don't need Risto when we can find someone who will help in the areas we need help. Offensive D men isn't that.

Nelson is better then you think. Please look at his numbers. Also check out tampa depth charts they have 5 dman signed next year Rutta is dumpster fire.
Sheary scored 53 points 61 games with pit 2 years ago when he played on top 2 lines. he scored 34 points on sabres, which scored over 100 less goals then tampa. SO like i said if he was on tamp his numbers would be alot higher. HE is also good in both zones and won a cup. For what that is worth.
Like i said 3 times now. Haula had serious Knee injury and may never play again and if he does will not be the same player. And f he is they can keep him. added him for cap dump.
Scott Wilson averaged over 20 points a season past 2 years and is also physical player like reaves. He salso won a cup. So please explain how reaves is so much better then wilson that he is worth 6 times more on cap crunch team?

Gostibehere gets sheltered minutes, just 29% against elites*. He also gets the most O-zone starts of any defender on the team. He's 36.4 GF% in these minutes.
Ristolainen gets the hardest minutes, 41.7% against elites. He doesn't get the luxury of starting in the O-zone, 41.46% O-zone starts. Against elites he has a 40 GF%.

* That translates into "sheltered 2nd pair" or "3rd pair" usage.

2014-15. But that year his O-zone start % was 38. Ridiculous usage by the coaching staff for a 20-year-old in his first full season.

k...don't really care Ghost is more valuable to us than Risto. A 1 for 1 trade would be dumb.

Thank you this was very helpful and proves our point very well.

6 comments on this thread says otherwise.



This may be true. But to state defensive concerns as the reason isn't valid in the context of the above trade.

No, it absolutely is a good reason! We don't need a defensive liability. Ghost may not be good defensively but he also doesn't need top pairing minutes. Our D has been a cluster fk for years and we haven't had stable pairings. Same can be said for Risto but the fact of the matter is, he can't defend whatsoever!

That is what sabres fan have been asking for years now. He needs to be sheltered just like ghost. But you honestly think a guy who can play against better competition and more defensive zones, stats wont reflect that. He is as good offensively as ghost and as good or better then ghost defensively. All stats prove that. You say you dont want him because he is defensive liability but forget so his ghost.

Also just because he plays tougher minutes doesnt mean he is worth less. You need to take that into account and look at the whole picture.

The stats don't prove he is better defensively. He is worse against better competition. That doesn't mean he would be any better against worse competition.