Conscientious thoughts on the Buffalo Sabres trade deadline
By Zach Jezioro
The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone. How did the Buffalo Sabres fare? Here are my thoughts on each trade general manager Kevyn Adams made.
The 2023 NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone. It is the final time where general managers can improve their roster for a playoff run or trading players for future assets to build for next season and beyond. For the Buffalo Sabres, they added a couple of players.
The Sabres made six trades in 2023, all near the deadline. At the end of February, Buffalo traded forward Josh Bloom to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for defenseman Riley Stillman. On the first day of March, they traded the rights of goaltending prospect Erik Portillo to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 2023 third round pick.
Only one trade was made on the second as they would trade forward Anders Bjork to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for future considerations. On deadline day, Buffalo made three trades. To start off the day, the team traded defenseman Chase Priskie to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenseman Austin Strand.
To conclude the deadline, Buffalo acquired forward Jordan Greenway from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a 2023 second round pick from the Jack Eichel trade and a 2024 5th round pick. To wrap it up, they sent forward Rasmus Asplund to the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2025 seventh round pick.
How did the Buffalo Sabres fare at the 2023 deadline?
Here are my thoughts. On the Stillman trade, it was a bit surprising to me. Stillman is not known for putting up points, but he is known for being physical and that’s what Buffalo needed. In fact, he made his Sabres debut against the Boston Bruins and showed off some of his physicality.
As for the Portillo trade, Kevyn Adams said that Portillo didn’t want to be in Buffalo so they may as well get something for him. I don’t have a problem with trading Asplund, but what I want to talk about the most is acquiring Greenway from Minnesota.
I absolutely LOVE this trade. Ever since he was with Team USA in the World Juniors, I love the way he played. He’s a big body and is physical. As I mentioned earlier, that’s exactly what Buffalo needs. If there was anything I wanted, I wanted more help on the blue line but I do love this deal.
Sabres receive high grades for 2023 trade season. light. Hot
I’m excited to see Greenway on this roster, I think he can help this team make a push for the playoffs. So there you have it, overall I don’t think Buffalo killed it but they also didn’t stay inactive. We’ll see if it helps them when it comes to breaking the playoff drought.
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