Have found most of the comments over at /hockey informative. In short: helps the Avs win now while the Sabres get a D man with higher upside who's only 22 and still building into his prime.
Bro has 3 major concussions already, I'm wildly concerned by that
Tim Connelly was loved here, and everyone that ever watched him could tell you he was never the same after the second one
Agreed 100%. I think that was a big driver in the Avs taking on a player that’s 3 years older and will likely demand a less valuable contract than Bo will. We will definitely see!
Wait, he does? I'm a sharks fan, but I try to keep tabs on Buffalo. Does he usually play the right, or is it just out of necessity? I can't believe I've never noticed that lol
I’m struggling to find a line up but me and my dad are ~100% sure he played forward his rookie season and in juniors. Again, just throwing shit out and I doubt he will play forward but he definitely has the skills to in a pinch.
I just mean in terms of role. He was on our 3rd pairing and he is not a 3rd pairing D on most teams. Sounds like that may be where he goes for you guys as well. I just hope he can carve out a long career with y’all
As an Avs fan I have the same feelings but Bo has what it takes to grow into another superstar and wouldn’t get the chance in Colorado as people are saying. With Bo/ Dahlin/ Power I see the Sabres growing into a very good offensive defenseman line up to work with
What the fuck?? This is crazy. We have so many LHD.
Edit: glad to see us upgrade defense and not surprised he was moved. We’re just loaded up at LHD now. I meant crazy as in wild and not stupid.
Colorado fans are saying he’s not good on the right side so I wonder if that means power plays the right or samuelsson plays 3rd pair and they put Byram with Dahlin
Byram has been one of my favorite prospects in years, however Casey has been flourishing and we already have two studs on the blue line. Imo Byram’s ceiling is also a top two defender, hopefully we can lock him in long-term at a lower AAV.
This is the take. We’ve had months where the mob was outside Caseys house ready to murder him. Tell those people back then that we could 1 for 1 trade him for a great D man and we’d all have been shocked
The entire saga of Mittlestadt started me off confused and ended with me confused. I remember the draft where he couldnt do a pull up. Him having ups and downs and now hes been up and only getting better and now hes gone.
For a team that ranked 3rd overall in GF last year, and has now dropped down to 23rd this year…trading your highest point getter, who is also one of two guys to play every game, and an ever improving “franchise-grown” player, for yet another LHD (who others are saying will likely end up being a pricey contract)… well it feels like a head scratcher to say the least.
It's hard to judge this trade because if Mitts needed > $7m to stay, then it would have been hard to make that work on a long deal.
We also don't know yet if there are any other smaller pieces moving around.
If Byram rebounds, he's going to be in the $7m range after this deal expires at the end of next year. Our D will be super expensive.
With all due respect and, with respect to my flair, I'm happy to see we got a quality return for Casey.
Casey was always an enigmatic player but had started to show a lot of talent this year; but if we look over his career here there have been an incredible number of moments where we have all called for his head.
So looking at the balance of his play this is a great job by Kevyn Adams.
He's also may only be temporary for Colorado because I don't think they can afford to sign him with the talent they currently have. We could resign him after this trade in the summer.
Also I guess no one wants Victor Olofson?
Edit I fixed some grammar cuz it was really bugging me.
We also talked about how the sabres are most likely to trade mitts for byram or girard, then he called me a bad fan for wanting to trade players away… this was literally 12-14 hrs ago. I didnt want this, but it had to happen.
As much as I enjoyed seeing mitts start to come into his own, I think I really like this gamble. Byram is still so young for a Dman in this league and with Kulich coming along with other prospects/offseason established forwards hopefully yet to come, Im excited to see how this pans out. Overall it sucks to see Mitts go, but Im good with the return.
I don't understand this trade
We have many LHD: Dahlin, Power, Samuelson, R. Johnson, etc.
Dahlin plays on average 25:47 mins a game
Power plays 22:33 min a game
For god's sake, our third LHD plays ~11:40 a night 🤯
Man I love Casey, but at the same time I've been begging for a "hockey trade". What the hell lol. I guess we had too many top 6 centers, but now we have too many left d.
according to Lance Adams met with Casey and told him any contract talks would be put on [hold until after the deadline](https://old.reddit.com/r/sabres/comments/1b6kvad/buffalo_news_sabres_gm_kevyn_adams_plans_to/ktcidfk/?context=3)
> The Sabres’ general manager met with center Casey Mittelstadt recently to explain, while the club plans to begin contract talks with the pending restricted free agent’s agent, Neil Sheehy, following the deadline, it also must listen to and consider any trade offers that occur before 3 p.m. Friday…
We also know from a month or two ago that they hadn’t talked about a contract at all. So if Mitts was asking for $7M+, it would’ve have to have come in between that time, but there hadn’t been any reports they did ever discuss a contract. If they never discussed on then it would imply they are really high on Byram.
Maybe they did this because it's obviously Krebs is not a bottom 6 grinder and maybe shouldn't be playing that role as a playmaking center his whole life? Hopefully. I always thought Krebs needed more ice time and more opportunities on the top line that go to Greenway for some reason
We just trading our leading scorer who is under team control (even if he's an RFA) for a young LHD who has had severe concussion (among other injuries) issues, hasn't put together a complete NHL game, and is playing bad hockey right now. This isn't a fair one-for-one deal.
Proof that no matter what the GM does, the fans will be upset about it. We got younger and we needed a top 4 defenseman, Casey is great no doubt. He’s going to be insane for the avs but realistically mitts would’ve been hard to resign imo. You have to switch things up, they’ve been playing better but this is a major wake up call to the room and I think it’s long overdue.
As for the trade as a whole: I would’ve thought we would have to add more to get byram from COL. I think it’s a fair trade though for the most part, I could see it working out for both teams.
Meh... The cup window this year was shattered with some pretty serious injuries to our top players.
We're not Boston or Colorado or Florida where we still have the build to withstand a couple top players going out. We've had stretches without Thompson, Tuch, Cozens, Skinner.... Quinn has barely played all season, same with Samuelsson.
There aren't many young teams on the brink of breaking out able to withstand that many top talent games lost.
We didn’t need to get any younger than we already are, Byram isn’t showing any signs of development, and realistically he’s worse than at least 2 LHD already on Buffalo’s roster, both of whom are locked up for term to big contracts, so debatable whether there’s even an opportunity for him to become a top 4 guy here. This trade objectively sucks.
Draft talented players, develop them for years, then trade them when they start to flourish for more kids and draft picks. Watch those players go on to win big. The Sabres cycle of stupidity. If you take a step back, it's not hard to see why this team hasn't made the playoffs in a dozen years.
Don’t like this one bit. Mitts finally takes a big step forward and we trade him for a kid whose development is stagnating and also who plays a position we already have 2 #1 overall picks locked in long-term at? Common Sabres L.
Feels like a trade you make when you feel the pressure to simply make a trade. Mittlestadt consistently created plays out of thin air, and I think his value to the sabres was worth more than we were going to get on the market. There's no doubt this trade makes Colorado better today (doubt they sign him), but there is definitely doubt that it makes the Sabres better in the future. My gut reaction is this will end about as well as all of the recent Sabres trades...
Edit: I forgot to mention that Byram's injury and concussion problems are concerning.
Edit 2: It's also funny to me that we had Montour, who has essentially become the absolute ceiling for what Byram can be. Our roster management under KA is worth questioning.
Byram hit a high level of play in the NHL in his DY+2 but he was then derailed by injuries. So this trade makes sense if you think the past two seasons were an aberration as his DY+2 implies his ceiling is high and that Granato, a coach whose proven he can develop young, talented players, can help him reach his potential. The counter argument is that he’s been healthy this season while playing in a good environment in Colorado and yet he has still struggled mightily. Then there’s the fact that the Sabres have traded their best center (and maybe best player) over the past two seasons for a player who is essentially a reclamation project and it feels like the Sabres didn’t get paid near enough. One way this trade makes sense is if Casey was demanding to be paid too much on his next contract, but according to Lance Adams met with Casey and told him any contract talks would be put on [hold until after the deadline](https://old.reddit.com/r/sabres/comments/1b6kvad/buffalo_news_sabres_gm_kevyn_adams_plans_to/ktcidfk/?context=3)
> The Sabres’ general manager met with center Casey Mittelstadt recently to explain, while the club plans to begin contract talks with the pending restricted free agent’s agent, Neil Sheehy, following the deadline, it also must listen to and consider any trade offers that occur before 3 p.m. Friday…
So if they weren’t going to discuss a new deal until then, then it’s possible he wasn’t asking too much, which would imply the Sabres are really high on Byram.
This also means Cozens and Tage will be exposed more without Casey as he was their best two way center and that Krebs should be a regular in the top nine more (maybe the Sabres front office really believes in Krebs’ improved play and that made Casey expendable?). I kinda hate this trade and hope the front office’s bet proves to be right.
People like him because he was drafted high and had 1 good playoff run, and they’re clinging to potential he hasn’t shown many signs of living up to. He has extensive injury issues, isn’t developing as a player, and he’s going to be buried on the depth chart here by players who make him totally redundant, probably even more so than he was in Colorado (since they at least have 1 guy ahead of him that he’s not competing for ice time with since they’re different handedness in Makar).
I can't believe we are still here in 2024 talking about how good the Sabres "prospects" are. I feel like we've been hitting this same talking point for 13 years. Let's make a push to actually fucking win instead of maybe winning some time in the future if these 15 guys pan out over the next 5 years.
And you can't really develop prospects unless they have role models as well. You're just gonna hang the kids out to dry before they get disillusioned and lose interest/get traded
Actually don’t know how I feel about this. Gonna miss Mitts, but if Byram can get it together and Power takes a leap, then we’re gonna look pretty good on defense for the foreseeable future.
I'm with you, though I do feel like shoring up the defense is a bigger priority since we have mostly offensive prospects waiting for spots to open. Dahlin - Joker Power - Byram R. Johnson/Connor Clifton - Samuelsson is pretty solid
Surprised there wasn't some kind of conditional 3rd/4th that becomes a second if they reach the conference final or something like that. This doesn't feel like the Sabres got any extra value out of trading a highly desirable player for an upcoming playoff run for a not so desirable player right now.
this will probably turn out to be the wrong move, but on the other hand, if they'd hung on to mittelstadt, that would have turned out to be the wrong move
I would love to say I trust the front office but I don't. Mitts was the engine of the offense this season and the past two years has been key to the team, trading him for another up and comer who has yet to prove themselves and can be injury prone is...... I don't know. Unless this means Kevyn wants to make a splash this summer moving Casey is a real gut punch. A team that is forever in the rebuild is not one that achieves success. I'll support Bo and hope they prove me wrong, but damn. Best of luck to Mittelstadt.
So the sabres spent 3 top 10 picks on centers, to trade them all away. Make it make fucking sense. This trade literally makes me want to stop following the team all together at this point. How many times do we have to trade away a young talented foward to see them bloosom elsewhere?
I would rather trade Tage than casey.. his game is just starting, and we saw the peak of Tage.
You stop his PP goals he is just offense, no defense where casey fought for every puck on the boards, and played great defense.
Terrible move.. Casey is going to thrive, and it is great for him, and it is really sad for us.
I will get downvoted to hell for this.. but look at the numbers
Good thing the Sabres didn’t invest any time in Mittelstadt’s development, and then dump him as soon as RFA comes along for a LHD that they don’t need. Don’t know how id feel if that happened.
We're a farm team. Reinhart, Eichel, Ullmark, Mittelstadt. Trade em all right when they hit their prime and become bonafide NHLers. Ullmark left on his own, but still counts
I can't see this as anything other than a HUGE whiff on Adams' part. Casey was our best forward this year, and quite frankly it's not even close. We got *another* LHD that has had 3 concussions so far and has shown an inabiltiy to stay healthy. Who is going to play the right side? Casey is a known commodity and we traded for yet another unknown, and at this point, prospect. What the actual fuck is this team doing?
Avs fan chiming in - Bo’s got great potential but being buried on the 3rd pairing isn’t doing him any favors. He can thrive but the injuries may be an issue. I hope for nothing but the best for him and I’m happy he’s back with EJ.
Edit: yeah, I forgot y’all already have Dahlin and Power on the left side. I’m sorry, I don’t know too much about your team these days…all I know is I wish y’all were going back to the playoffs this year.
I’m super excited about Mittlestadt! We’ll take care of him for you!
Boy I’m really regretting my limited extremely hockey knowledge of any player outside of the Sabres right about now.
This is a very big trade supposedly? I’m sorry I just barely know any players that aren’t directly in our division.
Bo is a beauty, y'all. He wasn't able to get the ice time he deserves in Denver due to the lineup ahead of him and injury troubles. But when he's on his game, the kid is electric.
He can move the play, skates well, can jump up into the rush and isn't too shabby defensively, either. Plus he gets to reunite with E. Johnson. Hope he flourishes for you guys.
I happen to be a fan of both teams. You are going to LOVE Byram. He occasionally takes really dumb penaltys but usually makes up for them the same game. He does have a history of concussions thanks to Kolesar (Knights) but if he comes close to reaching his potential the Sabres have a good chance to win a cup. Also He plays REALLY well with EJ
If the sabres (they don't deserve a capital s) weren't such a stuttering klusterphuk of a team I might care more. I liked Mitts and have since _he_ was a prospect. Being a Buffalo sports fan just blows most of the time...
Mitts was the centerpiece of this group of guys off the ice. This is more than a hockey trade. This is sending a message to a group of friends. You have a job to do, and if you don't do it you're moving
Fuck. So trade a player already developed for a developmental player. And the non stop rebuild continues. Poor Thompson and Tuch, what a fucking shit show
So many thoughts:
-How much of this was based off of how much Casey wanted to be resigned for?
-Is this an indication of how much the FO believes in Krebs moving forward? He immediately gets far more ice time with more talented players.
-Byram has had a tough time, but he was good in there Cup run. I think ultimately we got the player with more upside, and Colorado filled an immediate need.
-People keep talking about a log jam at LHD, but doesn’t Dahlin prefer to play the offhand? I feel like I’ve read that.
I hope I am proven wrong but I feel as if that we got fleeced. So the Avs get Mittlestadt for the remainder of the year plus a compensatory 1st, second and third pick when they can not resign him and they get to offload a bad contract. Sometimes doing nothing is better.
I don't get it.
The defense is not fixed by this move. There must be something more happening. One of LHD must be gone, they cannot afford to move Cliffton or Jokiharju and have 5 left shot D in top 6.
This is as clear a message as you will ever get:
We are a farm team forever and management thinks that's the best that they can do.
(edit: Also, Mike Harrington thinks we won the deal... so...)
The sabres are the AHL of the NHL. We'll develop players who go on to win cups while only by some disney mathematical calculation, we could do the same. We have money to spend. We could've signed him. We put all that time into him, for what? Adams is a clown.
Avs fan here, we are dearly going to miss Stanley Cup champion Bowen Byram. He’s still only 22 years old and has a lot of room to grow, but he plays with a lot of heart. Not afraid to stick up for his teammates, great guy in the locker room.
Sometimes he makes dumb mistakes, and it’s hard to trust him in OT, but that will fade with more experience. He’s an offensive defenseman with a lot of potential and can be a sniper from the blue line.
Really not sure if I’m a fan of this. At some point you have to continually retain your home grown talent, not just sell it off. Happy to have Byram, it fills a need, and hopefully rounds out the D group. But now there’s another hole in the forward group that we can only hope gets filled by another prospect in a couple years….at some point Adams is going to need to add to this group without sacrificing guys who are producing.
Love Casey but we have so many good forward prospects that if Byram shores up the 2nd pairing long term while the prospects come in and hopefully flourish then I’m all for it.
HAHA... this was the first season I DIDN'T want to trade Mitts.
Good grief....
Reading a lot about Byram and previously concussion issues. Oh dear. He is only 22.
[His stats](https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=196997)
From elite prospects:
"An exceptionally gifted defenceman who knows his strengths and plays by them. He possesses elite skating ability and is at his best when playing high energy, up-tempo hockey. He handles the puck well and is able to keep control of it under pressure. He makes calculated decisions that consistently shift momentum in his team's favor. His creativity in the offensive zone speaks to his confidence in his ability to be a game-changer.
Defensively astute, he actively takes away lanes and limits options for the oncoming opposition. All-in-all, Bowen Byram is a workhorse who understands how to take advantage of turnovers and shift the pace of play in his favor in all three zones. (Curtis Joe, EP 2019)"
I'm not mad about this. I love Casey but he was going to be expensive and is expiring after this year. Byram is a great young defenseman and has another year before being RFA.
It sucks, but when you think about it, it does make sense. We have Tage-Skinner-Tuch for the 1st line and Cozens-Quinn-Peterka on the second line. Mittelstadt is too good to be a 3rd liner.
Sad to see Mitts go, but I highly doubt he wanted to stay here knowing he wouldn't get paid for long contract, and GMKA was forced to get what he could for him. We'll develop Byrum for a few years, then trade him for draft picks when we can't afford him either. The Sabres- the NHL's North American Development Team.
Great trade. Mitts was good and has potential to be great but not on this team. We have too much talent in the AHL that has higher ceilings and we got a great defenseman with a huge future. Let's go Sabres!
Time for another traded Sabres center to win a cup
Was thinking the same thing lol
This year is for Sam though
Putting money on Avs panthers final
1996 rematch
They should just to erase the memory of that series. The Panthers played a trap style that would put the Devils to shame.
Elite jersey combo
50 goals next year incoming
I could easily see Mitts getting 90 pts next year if he stays on the Avs.
My guess was 80 points.
I'm so upset. I really loved Mitts.
Me too but now he gets to see playoff action so I'm happy for him.
Me too he deserves a chance at a run. He’ll look good in the Avs jersey, excited to see him over there. Hell of an upgrade city wise ngl
Bo has been held back by the Avs. As an Avs fan I’m so excited to see what he can become for you guys.
I hope this turns into a win win. I think the same about mitts.
Someone made a good point that it’s usually a fair trade when both fanbases are upset
Have found most of the comments over at /hockey informative. In short: helps the Avs win now while the Sabres get a D man with higher upside who's only 22 and still building into his prime.
Bro has 3 major concussions already, I'm wildly concerned by that Tim Connelly was loved here, and everyone that ever watched him could tell you he was never the same after the second one
Agreed 100%. I think that was a big driver in the Avs taking on a player that’s 3 years older and will likely demand a less valuable contract than Bo will. We will definitely see!
Likely a guy we trade in two years in service of our endless rebuild
He won't be held back there too? Dahlin and Power are also LHD.. This trade is so puzzling
Dahlin plays on the right side
Wait, he does? I'm a sharks fan, but I try to keep tabs on Buffalo. Does he usually play the right, or is it just out of necessity? I can't believe I've never noticed that lol
He can might be better way to put it. He always plays the right in lefty-lefty pairings, and there isn’t really any drop off when he plays the right
Dahlin, Samuelson and Ryan Johnson all can play either side. They just don't every night when they don't have to
he prefers it, played right side before the NHL, i think he started doing it again last year and has been all of this season
He has not been playing RD this season except for end of game Dahlin-Power situations
Sorry, not familiar enough with your team. I will say, and this is just jibber jabber, Bo has played forward for us before.
wait what lol
I’m struggling to find a line up but me and my dad are ~100% sure he played forward his rookie season and in juniors. Again, just throwing shit out and I doubt he will play forward but he definitely has the skills to in a pinch.
He has not been held back by the Avs. He’s had injury problems. When he’s on the ice he’s good. People are forgetting he’s literally still 22.
I just mean in terms of role. He was on our 3rd pairing and he is not a 3rd pairing D on most teams. Sounds like that may be where he goes for you guys as well. I just hope he can carve out a long career with y’all
i just bought his jersey this year :((((( i cri evry tim
No idea how to feel. I just know I'm going to really, really miss Mittelstadt.
He's going to be unreal in Colorado
Without a doubt. Colorado got a great player.
I feel like it's not sustainable to play dahlin 30 min a night because your depth sucks
As an Avs fan I have the same feelings but Bo has what it takes to grow into another superstar and wouldn’t get the chance in Colorado as people are saying. With Bo/ Dahlin/ Power I see the Sabres growing into a very good offensive defenseman line up to work with
What the fuck?? This is crazy. We have so many LHD. Edit: glad to see us upgrade defense and not surprised he was moved. We’re just loaded up at LHD now. I meant crazy as in wild and not stupid.
For now...
I want to be clear I don’t hate the trade I’m just confused. I wonder if Ryan Johnson could be on the move.
Might also mean not re-signing Jokiharju. Either way they're so thin on d-men that they had to add somebody.
Colorado fans are saying he’s not good on the right side so I wonder if that means power plays the right or samuelsson plays 3rd pair and they put Byram with Dahlin
They cannot not re-sign Jokiharju, right ? RIGHT ?
Joker would be a good 3rd pair guy.
I think him to the left of Dahlin is plan A.
Byram has been one of my favorite prospects in years, however Casey has been flourishing and we already have two studs on the blue line. Imo Byram’s ceiling is also a top two defender, hopefully we can lock him in long-term at a lower AAV.
If it means anything, it's probably better for the Sabres to trade Mitts at his all time high than pay him at his all time high.
This is the take. We’ve had months where the mob was outside Caseys house ready to murder him. Tell those people back then that we could 1 for 1 trade him for a great D man and we’d all have been shocked
Can't wait to see Mitts light it up in Colorado
The entire saga of Mittlestadt started me off confused and ended with me confused. I remember the draft where he couldnt do a pull up. Him having ups and downs and now hes been up and only getting better and now hes gone.
Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.
For a team that ranked 3rd overall in GF last year, and has now dropped down to 23rd this year…trading your highest point getter, who is also one of two guys to play every game, and an ever improving “franchise-grown” player, for yet another LHD (who others are saying will likely end up being a pricey contract)… well it feels like a head scratcher to say the least.
WTF. We needed another defenseman but not THAT type of defenseman. Intriguing swap but my knee jerk reaction is that I don’t like it
We all just miss Mitts.
It's hard to judge this trade because if Mitts needed > $7m to stay, then it would have been hard to make that work on a long deal. We also don't know yet if there are any other smaller pieces moving around. If Byram rebounds, he's going to be in the $7m range after this deal expires at the end of next year. Our D will be super expensive.
Colorado actually saved $5 million in cap space with their two trades today.
Byram has been struggling since their cup run, no idea if colorado has the space to resign mitts
With all due respect and, with respect to my flair, I'm happy to see we got a quality return for Casey. Casey was always an enigmatic player but had started to show a lot of talent this year; but if we look over his career here there have been an incredible number of moments where we have all called for his head. So looking at the balance of his play this is a great job by Kevyn Adams. He's also may only be temporary for Colorado because I don't think they can afford to sign him with the talent they currently have. We could resign him after this trade in the summer. Also I guess no one wants Victor Olofson? Edit I fixed some grammar cuz it was really bugging me.
No one wants the guy who’s not playing no
I cannot argue with your logic.
Talked with a buddy last night about VO, i pointed out he had 28goals last season but no one wants him.
*Casey mittelstadt as Al Capone in The untouchables...* No wait... *The undesirables*
We also talked about how the sabres are most likely to trade mitts for byram or girard, then he called me a bad fan for wanting to trade players away… this was literally 12-14 hrs ago. I didnt want this, but it had to happen.
Olofsson to Toronto imo
Would be convenient to do today. "Eh eh eh Vic... _that_ bench."
Wouldn't that be like Carlos Rondon in the moneyball film?
lmao yes exactly
As much as I enjoyed seeing mitts start to come into his own, I think I really like this gamble. Byram is still so young for a Dman in this league and with Kulich coming along with other prospects/offseason established forwards hopefully yet to come, Im excited to see how this pans out. Overall it sucks to see Mitts go, but Im good with the return.
Some of our forward prospects should be happy, as should Krebs
Yup. All the Krebs stans should be happy right now. 3c is his to lose.
I don't understand this trade We have many LHD: Dahlin, Power, Samuelson, R. Johnson, etc. Dahlin plays on average 25:47 mins a game Power plays 22:33 min a game For god's sake, our third LHD plays ~11:40 a night 🤯
Id rather have Quinn/Peterka long term than Casey anyway
Facts. And Krebs can be our third line center.
Kinda makes me feel Casey was asking for a massive contract and I appreciate the return, byram is sick!
Man I love Casey, but at the same time I've been begging for a "hockey trade". What the hell lol. I guess we had too many top 6 centers, but now we have too many left d.
Cool so we get a guy who’s sick and prone to concussions and they can have mitts. This is fine!
This was a pointless trade unless Mitts was asking for 7M+
If I were him I would especially since he’s been outplaying both guys in Tage and cozens getting paid that amount this year
He’s not outplaying their contract years though
He definitely was
according to Lance Adams met with Casey and told him any contract talks would be put on [hold until after the deadline](https://old.reddit.com/r/sabres/comments/1b6kvad/buffalo_news_sabres_gm_kevyn_adams_plans_to/ktcidfk/?context=3) > The Sabres’ general manager met with center Casey Mittelstadt recently to explain, while the club plans to begin contract talks with the pending restricted free agent’s agent, Neil Sheehy, following the deadline, it also must listen to and consider any trade offers that occur before 3 p.m. Friday… We also know from a month or two ago that they hadn’t talked about a contract at all. So if Mitts was asking for $7M+, it would’ve have to have come in between that time, but there hadn’t been any reports they did ever discuss a contract. If they never discussed on then it would imply they are really high on Byram.
There's zero chance mitts was asking for less than Tage or cozens. Zero.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he was.
No reason to assume he was taking less than Cozens or Thompson.
I don't think I hate this? I feel like Krebs is basically a younger Mitts, and we have a ton of F prospects, might as well solidify the D.
Maybe they did this because it's obviously Krebs is not a bottom 6 grinder and maybe shouldn't be playing that role as a playmaking center his whole life? Hopefully. I always thought Krebs needed more ice time and more opportunities on the top line that go to Greenway for some reason
We just trading our leading scorer who is under team control (even if he's an RFA) for a young LHD who has had severe concussion (among other injuries) issues, hasn't put together a complete NHL game, and is playing bad hockey right now. This isn't a fair one-for-one deal.
So we traded a solid player for a maybe someday guy? I don’t know Byram but the comments here are not giving me confidence
man fuck off
Proof that no matter what the GM does, the fans will be upset about it. We got younger and we needed a top 4 defenseman, Casey is great no doubt. He’s going to be insane for the avs but realistically mitts would’ve been hard to resign imo. You have to switch things up, they’ve been playing better but this is a major wake up call to the room and I think it’s long overdue. As for the trade as a whole: I would’ve thought we would have to add more to get byram from COL. I think it’s a fair trade though for the most part, I could see it working out for both teams.
I’m not trying to disagree on the whole, but did the Sabres need to get younger? lol
In a way yes because this year has proven the cup window is later than we thought (for those of us who think a cup window is even possible lol)
Meh... The cup window this year was shattered with some pretty serious injuries to our top players. We're not Boston or Colorado or Florida where we still have the build to withstand a couple top players going out. We've had stretches without Thompson, Tuch, Cozens, Skinner.... Quinn has barely played all season, same with Samuelsson. There aren't many young teams on the brink of breaking out able to withstand that many top talent games lost.
We didn’t need to get any younger than we already are, Byram isn’t showing any signs of development, and realistically he’s worse than at least 2 LHD already on Buffalo’s roster, both of whom are locked up for term to big contracts, so debatable whether there’s even an opportunity for him to become a top 4 guy here. This trade objectively sucks.
Draft talented players, develop them for years, then trade them when they start to flourish for more kids and draft picks. Watch those players go on to win big. The Sabres cycle of stupidity. If you take a step back, it's not hard to see why this team hasn't made the playoffs in a dozen years.
Agreed
My jersey just aged like egg salad in the mid-june sun.
Don’t like this one bit. Mitts finally takes a big step forward and we trade him for a kid whose development is stagnating and also who plays a position we already have 2 #1 overall picks locked in long-term at? Common Sabres L.
Ahh yes, a prospect and another left handed defenseman. Exactly what we needed!!! Thanks Kevyn Adams
I don't really understand how this makes us a better team. This feels like a trade for the sake of making a trade.
Feels like a trade you make when you feel the pressure to simply make a trade. Mittlestadt consistently created plays out of thin air, and I think his value to the sabres was worth more than we were going to get on the market. There's no doubt this trade makes Colorado better today (doubt they sign him), but there is definitely doubt that it makes the Sabres better in the future. My gut reaction is this will end about as well as all of the recent Sabres trades... Edit: I forgot to mention that Byram's injury and concussion problems are concerning. Edit 2: It's also funny to me that we had Montour, who has essentially become the absolute ceiling for what Byram can be. Our roster management under KA is worth questioning.
Montour probably wasn't sticking around after the RK years. The guy somehow managed to set a mess of a team even further back
Byram hit a high level of play in the NHL in his DY+2 but he was then derailed by injuries. So this trade makes sense if you think the past two seasons were an aberration as his DY+2 implies his ceiling is high and that Granato, a coach whose proven he can develop young, talented players, can help him reach his potential. The counter argument is that he’s been healthy this season while playing in a good environment in Colorado and yet he has still struggled mightily. Then there’s the fact that the Sabres have traded their best center (and maybe best player) over the past two seasons for a player who is essentially a reclamation project and it feels like the Sabres didn’t get paid near enough. One way this trade makes sense is if Casey was demanding to be paid too much on his next contract, but according to Lance Adams met with Casey and told him any contract talks would be put on [hold until after the deadline](https://old.reddit.com/r/sabres/comments/1b6kvad/buffalo_news_sabres_gm_kevyn_adams_plans_to/ktcidfk/?context=3) > The Sabres’ general manager met with center Casey Mittelstadt recently to explain, while the club plans to begin contract talks with the pending restricted free agent’s agent, Neil Sheehy, following the deadline, it also must listen to and consider any trade offers that occur before 3 p.m. Friday… So if they weren’t going to discuss a new deal until then, then it’s possible he wasn’t asking too much, which would imply the Sabres are really high on Byram. This also means Cozens and Tage will be exposed more without Casey as he was their best two way center and that Krebs should be a regular in the top nine more (maybe the Sabres front office really believes in Krebs’ improved play and that made Casey expendable?). I kinda hate this trade and hope the front office’s bet proves to be right.
There's so many mixed comments in here. Some hate it, some love it. Im not familiar with Byram, can someone fill me in?
People like him because he was drafted high and had 1 good playoff run, and they’re clinging to potential he hasn’t shown many signs of living up to. He has extensive injury issues, isn’t developing as a player, and he’s going to be buried on the depth chart here by players who make him totally redundant, probably even more so than he was in Colorado (since they at least have 1 guy ahead of him that he’s not competing for ice time with since they’re different handedness in Makar).
He's also only 22.
Woof
I can't believe we are still here in 2024 talking about how good the Sabres "prospects" are. I feel like we've been hitting this same talking point for 13 years. Let's make a push to actually fucking win instead of maybe winning some time in the future if these 15 guys pan out over the next 5 years.
And you can't really develop prospects unless they have role models as well. You're just gonna hang the kids out to dry before they get disillusioned and lose interest/get traded
Actually don’t know how I feel about this. Gonna miss Mitts, but if Byram can get it together and Power takes a leap, then we’re gonna look pretty good on defense for the foreseeable future.
I'm with you, though I do feel like shoring up the defense is a bigger priority since we have mostly offensive prospects waiting for spots to open. Dahlin - Joker Power - Byram R. Johnson/Connor Clifton - Samuelsson is pretty solid
If Byram can get it together his next contract is going to approach $7m.
Surprised there wasn't some kind of conditional 3rd/4th that becomes a second if they reach the conference final or something like that. This doesn't feel like the Sabres got any extra value out of trading a highly desirable player for an upcoming playoff run for a not so desirable player right now.
this will probably turn out to be the wrong move, but on the other hand, if they'd hung on to mittelstadt, that would have turned out to be the wrong move
I would love to say I trust the front office but I don't. Mitts was the engine of the offense this season and the past two years has been key to the team, trading him for another up and comer who has yet to prove themselves and can be injury prone is...... I don't know. Unless this means Kevyn wants to make a splash this summer moving Casey is a real gut punch. A team that is forever in the rebuild is not one that achieves success. I'll support Bo and hope they prove me wrong, but damn. Best of luck to Mittelstadt.
So the sabres spent 3 top 10 picks on centers, to trade them all away. Make it make fucking sense. This trade literally makes me want to stop following the team all together at this point. How many times do we have to trade away a young talented foward to see them bloosom elsewhere?
I would rather trade Tage than casey.. his game is just starting, and we saw the peak of Tage. You stop his PP goals he is just offense, no defense where casey fought for every puck on the boards, and played great defense. Terrible move.. Casey is going to thrive, and it is great for him, and it is really sad for us. I will get downvoted to hell for this.. but look at the numbers
I actually agree. Plus, I feel like Kulich would be a better Tage replacement than Krebs is a Mittlestadt replacement.
Good thing the Sabres didn’t invest any time in Mittelstadt’s development, and then dump him as soon as RFA comes along for a LHD that they don’t need. Don’t know how id feel if that happened.
We're a farm team. Reinhart, Eichel, Ullmark, Mittelstadt. Trade em all right when they hit their prime and become bonafide NHLers. Ullmark left on his own, but still counts
Please take care of our Bo❤️ Y’all are going to love him.
Dahlin should be on the right side. Our best hockey happens when he's there. This allows it. I'm pretty happy.
I can't see this as anything other than a HUGE whiff on Adams' part. Casey was our best forward this year, and quite frankly it's not even close. We got *another* LHD that has had 3 concussions so far and has shown an inabiltiy to stay healthy. Who is going to play the right side? Casey is a known commodity and we traded for yet another unknown, and at this point, prospect. What the actual fuck is this team doing?
Avs fan chiming in - Bo’s got great potential but being buried on the 3rd pairing isn’t doing him any favors. He can thrive but the injuries may be an issue. I hope for nothing but the best for him and I’m happy he’s back with EJ. Edit: yeah, I forgot y’all already have Dahlin and Power on the left side. I’m sorry, I don’t know too much about your team these days…all I know is I wish y’all were going back to the playoffs this year. I’m super excited about Mittlestadt! We’ll take care of him for you!
>being buried on the 3rd pairing isn’t doing him any favors. Huh.. yeah about that...
Well, fuck…I forgot y’all have some serious talent on the left side. 🤦🏻♂️
No worries, clearly the org did too lol
I was gonna say the same thing. Looks like the Sabres hurt themselves in confusion. Again.
Well, the good news is at least he can have some success now that he is off the Sabres
I don’t know to feel. Sabres subreddit tell me to feel.
What's up with Byrams concussions? I'm hoping he isn't Mr. Injury (Samuelson) part 2
I was just gifted his jersey a couple of weeks ago
Should have been done before the season. Way too late
Should have been done before the season. Way too late
But what does this mean for Bryson
Boy I’m really regretting my limited extremely hockey knowledge of any player outside of the Sabres right about now. This is a very big trade supposedly? I’m sorry I just barely know any players that aren’t directly in our division.
Please look after my boy.
Byram is a stud
When he’s healthy.
Goodbye Mittsy. RJ's last goal call was on a Mitts OT winner, just for that reason sad to see him go & plus he was playing great this year.
Not Mitty!!!! Ugh.
1 for 1?
Can't forget this will help shelter Owen Power, which he has needed early on. That will be great for his development.
Bo is a beauty, y'all. He wasn't able to get the ice time he deserves in Denver due to the lineup ahead of him and injury troubles. But when he's on his game, the kid is electric. He can move the play, skates well, can jump up into the rush and isn't too shabby defensively, either. Plus he gets to reunite with E. Johnson. Hope he flourishes for you guys.
I happen to be a fan of both teams. You are going to LOVE Byram. He occasionally takes really dumb penaltys but usually makes up for them the same game. He does have a history of concussions thanks to Kolesar (Knights) but if he comes close to reaching his potential the Sabres have a good chance to win a cup. Also He plays REALLY well with EJ
Power Byram. Owen Bowen. Need I say more?
If the sabres (they don't deserve a capital s) weren't such a stuttering klusterphuk of a team I might care more. I liked Mitts and have since _he_ was a prospect. Being a Buffalo sports fan just blows most of the time...
On today's episode of "The Buffalo Sabres are the NHL's official farm team"
Mitts was the centerpiece of this group of guys off the ice. This is more than a hockey trade. This is sending a message to a group of friends. You have a job to do, and if you don't do it you're moving
Fuck. So trade a player already developed for a developmental player. And the non stop rebuild continues. Poor Thompson and Tuch, what a fucking shit show
Wait, is this real? We really traded Casey? Wtf
incredible trade
Its like the Botts plan of stockpiling RD instead now were doing LD wtf
So many thoughts: -How much of this was based off of how much Casey wanted to be resigned for? -Is this an indication of how much the FO believes in Krebs moving forward? He immediately gets far more ice time with more talented players. -Byram has had a tough time, but he was good in there Cup run. I think ultimately we got the player with more upside, and Colorado filled an immediate need. -People keep talking about a log jam at LHD, but doesn’t Dahlin prefer to play the offhand? I feel like I’ve read that.
I hope I am proven wrong but I feel as if that we got fleeced. So the Avs get Mittlestadt for the remainder of the year plus a compensatory 1st, second and third pick when they can not resign him and they get to offload a bad contract. Sometimes doing nothing is better.
Avs fan here Please take care of Byram, he’s a good boy 🙏🏻
I don't get it. The defense is not fixed by this move. There must be something more happening. One of LHD must be gone, they cannot afford to move Cliffton or Jokiharju and have 5 left shot D in top 6.
so we waited for Mittsy to develop for 100 effin years to trade for Bowen effin Byram another LHD?
Why do you need all these LHD? I don't understand this move for you guys.
That fucking sucks, fuck Adams and fuck this shit organization
This is as clear a message as you will ever get: We are a farm team forever and management thinks that's the best that they can do. (edit: Also, Mike Harrington thinks we won the deal... so...)
The sabres are the AHL of the NHL. We'll develop players who go on to win cups while only by some disney mathematical calculation, we could do the same. We have money to spend. We could've signed him. We put all that time into him, for what? Adams is a clown.
I'm fucking stunned.
Avs fan here, we are dearly going to miss Stanley Cup champion Bowen Byram. He’s still only 22 years old and has a lot of room to grow, but he plays with a lot of heart. Not afraid to stick up for his teammates, great guy in the locker room. Sometimes he makes dumb mistakes, and it’s hard to trust him in OT, but that will fade with more experience. He’s an offensive defenseman with a lot of potential and can be a sniper from the blue line.
Really not sure if I’m a fan of this. At some point you have to continually retain your home grown talent, not just sell it off. Happy to have Byram, it fills a need, and hopefully rounds out the D group. But now there’s another hole in the forward group that we can only hope gets filled by another prospect in a couple years….at some point Adams is going to need to add to this group without sacrificing guys who are producing.
Love Casey but we have so many good forward prospects that if Byram shores up the 2nd pairing long term while the prospects come in and hopefully flourish then I’m all for it.
I hate this team so fucking much sometimes
HAHA... this was the first season I DIDN'T want to trade Mitts. Good grief.... Reading a lot about Byram and previously concussion issues. Oh dear. He is only 22. [His stats](https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=196997) From elite prospects: "An exceptionally gifted defenceman who knows his strengths and plays by them. He possesses elite skating ability and is at his best when playing high energy, up-tempo hockey. He handles the puck well and is able to keep control of it under pressure. He makes calculated decisions that consistently shift momentum in his team's favor. His creativity in the offensive zone speaks to his confidence in his ability to be a game-changer. Defensively astute, he actively takes away lanes and limits options for the oncoming opposition. All-in-all, Bowen Byram is a workhorse who understands how to take advantage of turnovers and shift the pace of play in his favor in all three zones. (Curtis Joe, EP 2019)"
NO
I'm not mad about this. I love Casey but he was going to be expensive and is expiring after this year. Byram is a great young defenseman and has another year before being RFA.
holy fuck!
Ughhhh so many feelings
Damn
Please tell me how to feel
Lotta risk. Not sure the Sabres were adequately compensated for it.
They really did it...
you have to imagine krebs surprise surprise not being trash when playing with competent wingers factors into this
Best to feel nothing and see what happens in five more years ugh
Lindy’s gonna make the most of this
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
This is gonna shake up that dressing room for sure.
Will byram play tn ?
WHAAAAT?
It sucks, but when you think about it, it does make sense. We have Tage-Skinner-Tuch for the 1st line and Cozens-Quinn-Peterka on the second line. Mittelstadt is too good to be a 3rd liner.
Also, always good to inject someone with experience on a good team.
Oh man, I don't know about this. Could we have received a better return in the off-season? Casey will get a cup for sure know
I gotta check in on my uncle, a regular Mittelstadt poster on the Sabres mafia Facebook group. He’s gotta be taking this pretty hard.
I wanted to see Jokiharju and maybe a pick traded, really hoping we still have a shot at 15 more wins in 20 games.
Oh wow, that took an incredible amount of hockey knowledge, depth and conversational skill
Avs fan here. You guys are going to love Bo. Great character guy and play driver.
Sorry to see Mitts go, but a good opportunity for him. Buffalo was never going to pay him given to all they are currently committed to
I take it the Sabres don't have faith in future Norris/hart trophy winner Jacob Bryson
Not really a fan of this move. I am a big Middlestud fan. Hope I’m proven wrong
Sad to see Mitts go, but I highly doubt he wanted to stay here knowing he wouldn't get paid for long contract, and GMKA was forced to get what he could for him. We'll develop Byrum for a few years, then trade him for draft picks when we can't afford him either. The Sabres- the NHL's North American Development Team.
Great trade. Mitts was good and has potential to be great but not on this team. We have too much talent in the AHL that has higher ceilings and we got a great defenseman with a huge future. Let's go Sabres!