Quoting: sabresparaavida
The way I see the team, the Sabres have 3 Weaknesses: C, RW, and G. You definitely improved the weakness at C by adding Cirelli. You then justify making RW significantly weaker by getting rid of our only top 6 RW. (Kahun may become one, but we can't say that he is one yet). That is not a "perfect trade target". You grabbed Virtanen "praying" that he'll be a 2nd line winger. We tried the same thing with players like Sheary and Vesey- you don't trade your only top 6 RW for an established player you are praying will become one. In this scenario you would also be praying Kahun could become a 1RW, not a great idea.
UPL is NOT ready for NHL action. He spent most of the year in Cincinnati, and when he did come to Rochester, he had an abysmal .874 save percentage-terrible for Rochester. What can possibly make you say he's ready for NHL action?
Trading Sam gives you options. Cap space to make other deals, another high draft pick. Both of these could be HUGE at a trade deadline, where maybe they make a play for a winger? Just spitballing some ideas here. I know Sam going isn't good. Personally, I would like to see him stay. But this roster I made wasn't from what i wanted, it was from what i could see them actually doing. If its me, keep sam on the roster. Kahun as a L1 winger definitely isn't guaranteed, but I feel like he has the best chance to succeed there.
And the UPL situation is obviously up for debate, I just think they may have him get some NHL time. There are plenty of players who struggled at AHL level but have had success in NHL (Keith, Shattenkirk, Tanev, Sheahan), and even some goalies (Pickard, Talbot), so going solely off his limited AHL performance doesn't worry me too much. I get its still a risk, but I'm ok with taking this one.