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[Trade] Canucks trade Riley Stillman to Sabres for Josh Bloom


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One thing I haven’t seen mentioned yet is that Bloom appears to be a capable fighter. He’s only dropped the gloves fives times in the OHL, but owns four wins and one draw in those five fights.

 

The best fight video I could find was of him pounding on a smaller guy, which doesn’t necessarily mean too much. But I did like the way Bloom stopped the fight when the little guy had clearly had enough, just sort of froze there standing over his defeated opponent, with a raised fist, and waited for the refs to step in.
 


Nice respect and restraint shown for a clearly beaten opponent. Plenty of guys would have kept chucking a few extra shots and not stopped until the refs made them.

 

Here’s a short fight with a very young Bloom against an older and much bigger guy where Bloom is the only one landing any kind of shots:

 


(He doesn’t just fight guys named Ryan. Although I’ve yet to find video evidence to support this. ;))

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4 hours ago, Westcoasting said:

So with your signature…are you going to temporarily jump on the Sabres bandwagon? I know it needs help, I have one friend who for the last 45 years has faithfully cheered for the Sabres!! But he is the only one I have known.

I love this team too much

This is the home of Loui Eriksson after all

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2 hours ago, mll said:

The Buffalo explanation via Lance Lysowki for the Buffalo News - they are basically hoping that a system change is going to help him get back to where his game was at in Florida.  They moved Bloom because they already have too many wingers.  Adams also knows the Stillman family.

 

https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/sabres-acquire-defenseman-riley-stillman-from-vancouver-for-prospect-josh-bloom

[...]

 

This trade signals that Adams wasn't comfortable with his three defense options in Rochester: Lawrence Pilut, Jeremy Davies and Chase Priskie. Stillman brings the NHL experience that the group lacks. He's appeared in 140 regular-season games since debuting with the Panthers in 2018-19.

 

Stillman ranked second-to-last among Canucks defensemen in Evolving-Hockey's goals above replacement, which measures a player's overall contributions to his team. He was acquired by Vancouver in October in a salary-cap move by the Canucks to trade away Jason Dickinson's contract.

 

The Sabres are betting on Stillman improving because of Don Granato's fast-paced, up-tempo system and their roster being far better than what's in Vancouver. Stillman has the skating and puck-moving ability, but he's struggled defensively since leaving Florida in 2021.

 

Stillman has experience with Granato's system. The Panthers used a similar one when Stillman was in Florida under coach Joel Quenneville, whom Granato worked with in Chicago. During the 2019-20 season, Stillman played 19-plus minutes in 20 of his 37 games in the Panthers' lineup. He skated on their second defense pair in their Game 2 win of the qualifying round in the playoff bubble.

 

Stillman aggravates opponents by playing a physical game. He finishes checks and has 14 fighting majors in the NHL. His skill set will be a fine complement to the rest of the Sabres' defense corps if they get him back to playing the way he did in Florida.

 

Adams has always stressed the importance of knowing whether a personality will mesh with the rest of the locker room. He knows the Stillman family well. Riley's father, Cory, who played 16 seasons in the NHL, won the Stanley Cup with Adams when both were alternate captains for the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.

 

Adams used one of his signed prospects to add some help for Granato. Bloom, 19, was a third-round draft pick of the Sabres in 2021 and signed his entry-level contract in April. He has totaled 26 goals and 58 points in 59 games this season between Saginaw and North Bay of the Ontario Hockey League

 

Bloom was a nice find for the Sabres in a challenging draft. The OHL didn't have a 2020-21 season, so the club had to scout him through video clips from his first year of junior hockey and by watching individual workouts in Bloom's hometown if Oakville, Ontario. 

 

The Sabres were going to have trouble fitting Bloom onto their roster, though. They're well-stocked on the wing and dealt from a position of strength to address an organizational deficiency.

 

I read 3 paragraphs then just decided to trust you. 
 

 

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