Buffalo Sabres Make Pair Of Trades In Blockbuster Day

Buffalo Sabres fans: raise your hand if, when you woke up this morning, you thought Tim Murray would make not one, but two trades in the course of a few hours.

Raise your hand if you thought Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford and Jhonas Enroth would all be gone from the Buffalo Sabres. Add Joel Armia, prospect Brendan Lemieux and a draft pick to that — all gone.

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t see all of this coming – not today, at least.

The March 2nd trade deadline is still a few weeks away, but Tim Murray wasted no time.

It began early this afternoon, when the team announced the blockbuster eight-piece trade.

Just like that, two of the biggest-rumored players on the Buffalo Sabres roster were gone. Coming to Buffalo were Evander Kane, who’s out for the rest of the season with injury, and defenseman Zach Bogosian, as well as goaltending prospect Jason Kasdorf.

Just when Buffalo Sabres fans were starting to wrap their heads around that blockbuster, Murray pulled the trigger on another deal.

At his press conference after all was said and done, Murray said that the blockbuster deal had been in the works for a few days. He then received a phone call shortly after the early press conference, and that’s when the Enroth deal was made.

Needless to say, it was a crazy day in the world of the Buffalo Sabres, and it’ll be quite a different roster on the ice facing the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.

So — what do you think about all of today’s Buffalo Sabres trades?

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Let’s start with the Kane trade.

Many seem to be excited about the prospect of Evander Kane in the Buffalo uniform, though Sabres fans will likely have to wait until next season to see it happen since he’s on injured reserve.

Zach Bogosian has already played with Buffalo Sabres forward Tyler Ennis — the two won World Juniors gold together — and it’ll be interesting to see how he meshes in Buffalo.

All in all, it’s considered a high risk/high reward trade for both teams. If nothing else, it’s a change of scenery for a lot of moving pieces and we’ll have to see long-term how it pans out for everyone involved.

That’s a lot for the Buffalo Sabres to give up, though. Armia was a developing prospect in Rochester. Lemieux was a wildcard prospect still playing in the OHL. Those are two pieces that Buffalo fans will now have to watch grow in the Jets organization. Armia’s expected to report to the St. John’s IceCaps of the AHL for the time being.

Stafford and Myers had been talked about for weeks as being on the hot seat for trades.

It’s not exactly surprising that they’re gone — but I’m not sure I saw them going in such a big package together, today. Alas.

As for Jhonas Enroth — this is the deal that has a lot of people scratching their heads.

Both Enroth and Lindback are set to become UFAs in the offseason, and the draft pick coming to the Sabres is a conditional one, dependent on a) the Stars making the playoffs and b) Enroth winning four games in the playoffs for the Stars.

One of the major differences between Enroth and Lindback is their size. Enroth is 5-10, but Lindback is significantly bigger (6’6).

But does that deal make sense? Both are set to become UFAs, the draft pick is conditional, and Lindback isn’t going to come in and save the season for the Buffalo Sabres. Would he become a long-term piece for this team, or will he be gone in the offseason?

If that’s the case, the team needs to start seriously considering its goaltending situation for next season. Sure, you’ve got guys like Nathan Lieuwen, Andrey Makarov and Matt Hackett down on the farm in Rochester, but who are you going to have up at the NHL level? Who’s going to come in via free agency this summer?

I will say this: we know that GMTM isn’t done yet. There’s still several pending FAs on the team, including Chris Stewart and Patrick Kaleta, and Murray has said that he’s going to try and get something for each of them. With three weeks till the deadline, something tells me that Murray’s phone will be ringing off the hook in the next few weeks.

Have your say in the poll below and leave your comments. What do you think about today’s trades? What else would you like to see happen in the future?