Sabres were in prelim talks with seattle involving okposo. Why get rid of okposo just to replace him with eriksson? For a 2nd? I wouldnt, but more importantly, i dont think the sabres would.

Fair enough. Eriksson is a buy out candidate whose signing bonus for 2021 has already been paid. So BUF buy him out this month he would cost only $1m this year and $1m next year. For that very low cost, you would get a 2nd rounder and 5th rounder. I think the deal is pretty fair.

Ya know thats an interesting point. If i had to place a dollar value on a first, i assume 5m is about right (talking 11-20, nobody is moving a top 10 first to shed cap, and after pick 20, theres more risk. Is it worth 2 million to pick up a second?- guess it depends on your front office.

Edit- his cap hit is still 4 million this year, its 1m next year.

Correct regarding his cap hit after a buy out, but I don't see BUF being overly concerned with cap hit this year. A cheap way to buy a 2nd + 5th is how I would look at it, but if BUF did not take the deal then totally understandable. There's no way VAN moves a 1st to clear cap (as you well note).