Buffalo Sabres: Breaking down the 3 trades that brought a new hope

The Buffalo Sabres traded away three former first round picks between July and November 2021. And the trades brought a new hope to the franchise.

The Buffalo Sabres were among the NHL’s most exciting teams between 1996-97 and 2010-11. They earned nine playoff trips, an appearance in the 1999 Stanley Cup Final, and they even won the President’s Trophy in that span.

Following the 2010-11 season, everything crumbled and the dark times began, culminating with the Sabres setting a record no professional sports team wants to associate themselves with: The longest streak without a playoff appearance in league history. 

But, General Manager Kevyn Adams worked the phones and traded away some established performers for the unknown. First, he shipped Rasmus Ristolainen to Philadelphia, before moving Sam Reinhart a day later. In November, Adams sent Jack Eichel to Vegas.

Now that those trades are in hindsight, it is safe to say a new hope has arrived for the Buffalo Sabres. And while nothing is guaranteed in life, we might just say a return to relevancy because of these three trades. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Three trades that gave the Buffalo Sabres a new hope: Trade #1 – Rasmus Ristolainen

The Buffalo Sabres traded Rasmus Ristolainen to the Philadelphia Flyers on July 23rd, 2021 after he spent eight seasons with the organization. Ristolainen was a good, not great player, though he displayed two-way ability with the Sabres, something that was rather fringe in Philadelphia.

Trading Ristolainen gave the Sabres defenseman Robert Hagg, a first round pick that they used to select Isak Rosen, and a second rounder in 2023. As we know, Hagg did not work out in the Queen City, and the Sabres shipped him to Florida for a 2022 sixth round pick, which they used to select Gustav Karlsson.

Rosen signed his entry-level deal earlier in 2022, and he is expected to debut in North America this season for the Rochester Americans. So far, this trade is one we will not get the full results of until at least a half-decade down the road. But every time a top 15 pick is involved, it has the potential to be franchise-changing.

Sam Reinhart

Rasmus Asplund can legitimately hold bragging rights over Reinhart this past season, having beaten the former first round pick in the Selke voting. Asplund doesn’t score in the same way Reinhart does, but the underrated Swede has evolved into one of the league’s better defensive forwards.

Anyway, back to the trade at hand. The Buffalo Sabres shipped Reinhart off to the Florida Panthers for Devon Levi and a first round pick that turned out to be Jiri Kulich. The latter of whom absolutely tore it up over the first three days of development camp. Check out the clip below:

And of course, we cannot forget about goaltender Devon Levi. The former seventh round pick could wind up being the steal of the 2020 NHL Draft. For his efforts at Northeastern in 2021-22, Levi earned First Team All-American honors. He was also selected for the Hockey East All-Rookie Team, and the All-Hockey East First Team.

So why return to school? Levi said in a presser from development camp that he wants to prove that he can go out and enjoy repeat results. Genius.