we're trying hard to repair our rep with russians, cant move our only one with three of them coming through the minors over the next 1-2 years

I assure you, that wouldn't care

lmao they absolutely would. And Im sure other russians in the nhl would care too. Sabres had a terrible rep with them for a while.

Even taking that out, Boosh has been solid in a third-pairing role so I can't see them trading him anyway.

-I'd pass on this. I could see swapping LHD Salo for a similar post-prospect RHD, but Rathbone can't get minutes on a lottery team and has looked worse than Salo in his limited NHL time. This one is a trade for the sake of making a trade.

-Kyle Palmieri's scoring at a 25 goal/50 point pace this year, and only has 2x$5M left on his deal. At this point, I'd rather ride out his deal than give a 5x$5.5M contract to Bertuzzi, a guy who's seemingly forgotten how to score and has had a ton of trouble staying on the ice. Moot point because Palmieri's from the Island and isn't waiving to go play out his deal in the desert.

-Fair price for Lyubushkin but I don't think it's a great trade for Buffalo. They don't need to clear cap and he's a perfectly cromulent player with one year left - just flip him at the deadline if he doesn't fit in your lineup.

-Agree on Bailey - I'd shop him at full retention for whatever you can get; if not, buy him out. Feels like his time on the Island is done, though.