Minnesota doesn't have the cap space to sustain this roster beyond one season
Staal may have liked it here, but he's washed up and Guerin got rid of him for a reason, he's not going to bring him back

Boldy, a 1st in 2024, and a goalie they dont need? Pretty easy no from the Sabres IMO

Your logic on Wallstedt is flawed, he's likely 5-6 years away from making the NHL

Even if the package was enough, there's no way Buffalo accepts a 2024 1st round pick.

Based on what? Vasilevski made the NHL two seasons after being drafted, Knight didn't even take two full years. Hart made it his third year post draft. Oettinger was there after three years. Blackwood took three years.

By what standard is Wallstedt 5-6 years away from playing in the NHL at minimum?

I changed my comment before you answered to "likely 5-6 years" and that is based on the average growth of goalies.

It's still not likely either. How many goalies were drafted after playing against men and took 6 years to play in the NHL? If Wallstedt is the quality of player/prospect he was touted to be, he's going to be much closer to 2-3 years than 5-6. There was already some talk of him coming to the WHL/AHL this season. Next year he'll almost certainly be in Iowa. After that, it's not going to take 4 more years for him to make the Wild unless his career completely derails.

Believe what you want man, I'm not calling him a bad prospect or trying to undermine him in any way. All I'm saying is goalies usually take a lot longer to develop, you shouldnt have high expectations for him to come up earlier than average. My guess is his age 22/23 year he will be the earliest he make his NHL debut, any sooner than that is pretty unrealistic

Except... professional scouts have routinely stated and said that they believe him to be 2-3 years away from the NHL.

5-6 is the typical average projection range for most typical average goaltenders. Wallstedt isn't your average goalie prospect.

Can you provide a link to this? In either scenario Talbot's contract is over and you are banking on signing another filler goalie while trying to remain competitive instead of just keeping your good young goalie in Kahkonen

Here's the problem I'm having with taking your opinion seriously. I asked you to tell me what you're basing your 5-6 year timeline on, and you told me it's the average timeline for all goalies to make their debut. That's it. That tells me you don't know a whole lot about Wallstedt, because if you did, you would have brought up something about him specifically, which is fine, but then it's a little weird that you're offering your opinion so matter of factly.
Further, what your point takes into account, that you don't seem to acknowledge, is that an average includes numbers higher and lower than the average. Wallstedt is a highly regarded prospect who was already playing in a top men's league at 17. As said above, professional scouts have noted his games maturity and offered the opinion that he's relatively close to the NHL. In other words, he is not an average goalie prospect, he is above average.

Goligoski says no so this trade ends before it starts. Even if it somehow went though MN wouldn't be able to ice a team next year without dumping a top of cap.

Again I changed my original statement to "likely" I am saying he will probably make the NHL at age 23 or 24, you are trying to argue he makes it at age 20. 6 current NHL goalies made NHL debuts at age 20 or under; Fleury, Price, Vasilevskiy, Lehner, Gibson, and Knight. That's a really high standard to hold him to. Those teams that brought up those goalies also didn't have that much in terms of goalie depth and more or less forced the job upon them, or the goalie was held to such high regard that they won a spot right out of camp

Minnesota does not have a goalie depth issue currently and should not be forcing themselves into one just for the sake of rushing a prospect

I am not talking about rushing a goalie prospect, I am talking about a goalie winning a spot on the roster out of camp at age 21 or 22, not age 23 or 24.

The only argument you seem to have is aggregate data that means nothing when it comes to talking about an individual. I'm talking about the level of prospect/player he is.

He's 18, you said 2-3 years, that's age 20-21. I'm not going to sit here and argue this since you know your prospects better than me but generally speaking thinking he comes up that early is not realistic. Ill leave it at that

Sabres decline and Minnesota has to worry about the cap for 2 years after this season

This is his 19 year old season.

Generally speaking, most NHL players (forwards) go pro at around 20. Yet this year Stutzle was 18 and Kaprizov was 23. You can't use averages to make your case because by their nature they have data points above and below the actual average. It's disingenuous to say he won't be there for 5-6 years because of "the average". You're completely disregarding the individual, and the data points that go into creating that average.

Wallstedt dropped, so you may want to temper expectations, there were a lot of teams that needed goalies that passed on him and even a goalie that went before him. Plus hes in the SHL now, theres no need to rush him. He'll probably be about 22 before he gets a taste of the NHL, let alone a starter

I don't temper my expectations (or raise them) for prospects based on other peoples opinions. I know them well enough to form my own opinion.

Wallstedt is not an average goalie prospect....

Kaprizov is not an example for a forward making a debut, he's been NHL ready for a while just didn't come over until now

I didn't call him an average goalie prospect, I said baised on average goalie growth, completely different things

Goalies drop, it happens. So do steals. Wallstedt was a steal. One of the, if the the single best goalie prospect since Vasy or Price. He's right there with Knight and Askarov when it comes to how good of a prospect he is.

Draft position has nothing to do with the equation

Your saying his growth will likely be that of an average goaltending prospect. I'm saying it won't because he is not nearly an average goaltending prospect. No tendie in their draft year has ever had the type of role he had this past season

I'm saying his growth rate will be about the same. Where he was in his development at the time changes things

based on what pre draft hype and biased fluff pieces?