Ted Lasso Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 (edited) To Buffalo: Connor Garland To Vancouver: Ilya Lybushkin - 6’2” 201 lbs, 29 y/o RD, one year left at $2.75M SCOUTING REPORT The Russian defenseman is at his best when he keeps things simple and does not try to do too much offensively; he has never been much of a point producer at any level of his hockey career. He is a physical presence on the blueline and will be even more effective as he continues to get accustomed to the smaller ice surfaces in North America. Long Range Potential: Defensive defenseman. from 2022 Maple Leafs Hot Stove: Lyubushkin is…a fine skater. However, you shouldn’t expect much from him offensively, as he has just one goal and 18 assists in 180 career games. He needs to play with a strong puck mover, but he’s used to matching up against opposing top lines and has graded out quite well defensively by Evolving Hockey’s RAPM in three straight seasons. The modern game is too fast for the physical defenseman who can’t skate, but I see Lyubushkin as a fine transition defender; he reminds me a bit of Zach Bogosian. Lyubushkin is a zero offensively, but his relative-to-teammate metrics have typically been strong in terms of suppressing shot quality in a tough environment in which to thrive defensively on mostly weak Arizona teams. He led Arizona defensemen with 96 hits and is top 30 in the NHL among defensemen (min. 30 games played) in hits thrown per 60 this season. Some highlights: Why does Buffalo do this? With the injury to Jack Quinn, the Sabres could have used another experienced forward to round out the forward depth chart. They have some younger prospects who could jump in, like Jiri Kulich and Matt Savoie, but finding one more experienced player on the wing would have been a bonus. — Matthew Fairburn They also appear to have great depth at RD: If he fits well with Hughes, it allows Soucy and Cole to play farther down, and on their natural sides: Hughes Lyubushkin Cole Hronek Soucy Myers We get harder to play against, while saving $2.2M, allowing us revisit Suter, or other minor changes to the bottom six. What do you think? Edited August 17, 2023 by Ted Lasso Spelling 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil_314 Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Maybe? I think we'd do it but Buffalo has Olofsson who should be top-6 anyways while Quinn is away. Slotting Garland, with term, for a 3rd line spot just might impede Quinn's progress, and he'd be too much to scratch or send to the 4th line. I wonder if Buffalo would do it for Beauvillier, since there's less term commitment and he's younger than Garland too (not by much but he'd probably fit better in their timeline IMO). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 All the best UFAs left are all forwards. Surely they can better value for Lyubushkin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 They have a lot of defencemen signed and surely Power is going to steam-roll his way into their top-4 next year, so someone's going to be playing less. I always liked Lyubushkin but he's just another bottom-2 pairing guy. Mainly a bottom pairing guy and big hitter, not fantastic defensively but not bad and brings minimal offence. A bit like a heavier Burroughs, so not a bad player, but we just don't really have room for him with Cole and Soucy coming in, Myers still on our bottom pairing and Hirose and Rathbone chomping at the bit to make an entrance. Plus we've got Irwin for those tougher, grittier matchups. We'd have to flip Myers to make this work realistically and that'd be hard. Lyubushkin for Beauvillier + Myers They have the cap space for it, Myers plays bigger minutes and is better on the PK (or so we advertise him as), they get a better, younger, cheaper winger in Beauvillier. Cap-wise it works for them, and they can re-sign Myers cheaply next season or let him go. We can't do anything with the cap space now anyway (or could we...) 1st + 2nd + Rathbone for Pesce or Hanifin Hughes - Pesce Cole - Hronek Soucy - Lyubushkin Hirose Irwin or Hughes - Cole Hanifin - Hronek Soucy - Lyubushkin Hirose Irwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86Viking Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Cheers OP! I think I mentioned something along these lines in a thread on this forum recently or if I didnt here I mentioned it to someone in person recently. After reading your post my preference now is to keep Garland as a near 50pt hopefully 60pt player signed just under 5m in prime years is NOT bad at all! He gets too much hate in my opinion. He should be top 6 winger with JT and Boeser? Di Gusieppe tried real hard last year and got a nice 2 year deal while riding soling minutes on JT Millers wing in top 6. We need a more skilled guy like Hoglander/Pod or a more expensive guy like Boeser or Garland to play in top 6. I then go to think abou the Buffalo deal and I propose this: Beauvillier 4.1m for Lybushkin 2.75m? We clear 1.35m in cap. We trade Myers before game 1 and then sign Suter to a 2-3 yr deal to be #3C then let the better FO% guy be #4C in Blueger or Aman. Or leave Aman #4C and hope his faceoffs improve and use Blueger on wing in bottom 6. Maybe also sign Bear to cheap 1 yr pro rated deal sometime between after Myers trade or after Bear is cleared by MULTIPLE physicians to be cleared to FULL game action. Bear then gets loaned to Abbotsford for a week or 2 for a conditioning stint then gets a call up due to injury, or replace Juulsen or bottom pair or if Lybushkin busts with Hughes then you put Bear with Hughes, they were decent stat wise I think but would prefer a D partner for Hughes to have more SIZE so a trade for Lybushkin to me makes sense and worth the gamble for say Beau? That is my 86 cents worth... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 I like this trade proposal. I'd do it for either Garland or Beauvillier. If we can do this trade, then we can free up some cap space to go after another forward who's got more size and grit. I would go hard after Trent Frederic. Not sure Boston can sign him as both he and Swayman are going to arbitration and then Bergeron and Krejci may come back for one last run. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Lasso Posted July 12, 2023 Author Share Posted July 12, 2023 7 hours ago, Neutral said: Cheers OP! I think I mentioned something along these lines in a thread on this forum recently or if I didnt here I mentioned it to someone in person recently. After reading your post my preference now is to keep Garland as a near 50pt hopefully 60pt player signed just under 5m in prime years is NOT bad at all! He gets too much hate in my opinion. He should be top 6 winger with JT and Boeser? Di Gusieppe tried real hard last year and got a nice 2 year deal while riding soling minutes on JT Millers wing in top 6. We need a more skilled guy like Hoglander/Pod or a more expensive guy like Boeser or Garland to play in top 6. I then go to think abou the Buffalo deal and I propose this: Beauvillier 4.1m for Lybushkin 2.75m? We clear 1.35m in cap. We trade Myers before game 1 and then sign Suter to a 2-3 yr deal to be #3C then let the better FO% guy be #4C in Blueger or Aman. Or leave Aman #4C and hope his faceoffs improve and use Blueger on wing in bottom 6. Maybe also sign Bear to cheap 1 yr pro rated deal sometime between after Myers trade or after Bear is cleared by MULTIPLE physicians to be cleared to FULL game action. Bear then gets loaned to Abbotsford for a week or 2 for a conditioning stint then gets a call up due to injury, or replace Juulsen or bottom pair or if Lybushkin busts with Hughes then you put Bear with Hughes, they were decent stat wise I think but would prefer a D partner for Hughes to have more SIZE so a trade for Lybushkin to me makes sense and worth the gamble for say Beau? That is my 86 cents worth... 6 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said: I like this trade proposal. I'd do it for either Garland or Beauvillier. If we can do this trade, then we can free up some cap space to go after another forward who's got more size and grit. I would go hard after Trent Frederic. Not sure Boston can sign him as both he and Swayman are going to arbitration and then Bergeron and Krejci may come back for one last run. Beau might be more appealing, and narrows the cap differential. I’d do that as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mll Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 1 hour ago, Ted Lasso said: Beau might be more appealing, and narrows the cap differential. I’d do that as well. Buffalo was 3rd in scoring last season. Their defensive game and PK was the problem. This trade doesn't really address their needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 4 minutes ago, mll said: Buffalo was 3rd in scoring last season. Their defensive game and PK was the problem. This trade doesn't really address their needs. Isn't Buffalo one of the teams chasing Pesce? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mll Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 1 minute ago, Elias Pettersson said: Isn't Buffalo one of the teams chasing Pesce? They are trying to improve their D-corps and are looking for a top-4 D. They signed Johnson and Cliffton in free agency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 1 minute ago, mll said: They are trying to improve their D-corps and are looking for a top-4 D. They signed Johnson and Cliffton in free agency. Yes, so if they are chasing Pesce they would have Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson and Pesce as their top 4. They would still have Jokiharju as well. Plus Johnson and Clifton. Lyubushkin is a pending UFA. I don't see him in their plans long term. If they get Pesce or someone else I think they might bite on trading him... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 This is a good proposal. I this player as a third pair, and save some cap to trade Garland. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuck73_3 Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 13 minutes ago, Rabbit said: This is a good proposal. I this player as a third pair, and save some cap to trade Garland. Trade Beau, trading one of our best 5 on 5 players is a mistake 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alflives Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 5 minutes ago, canuck73_3 said: Trade Beau, trading one of our best 5 on 5 players is a mistake If we could move one of Beau, Bess, or Garland (no sugar or retention) in this scenario it’s a win. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuck73_3 Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 9 minutes ago, Alflives said: If we could move one of Beau, Bess, or Garland (no sugar or retention) in this scenario it’s a win. Trading Garland is risky considering how good he is 5 on 5, not really a win imo, trading Beauviliier especially for a dman is a win 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mll Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Elias Pettersson said: Yes, so if they are chasing Pesce they would have Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson and Pesce as their top 4. They would still have Jokiharju as well. Plus Johnson and Clifton. Lyubushkin is a pending UFA. I don't see him in their plans long term. If they get Pesce or someone else I think they might bite on trading him... Trading a D doesn't mean adding a player they don't need. That's not a good use of cap space. If they don't think Lyubushkin should be part their opening roster they are better to try and trade him for a player that fills a need or then just waive him. It's not efficient to have players that don't fit the lineup. This is adding 3 years of Garland when they could be done with Lyubushkin after a year. Edited July 12, 2023 by mll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mll Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 (edited) 24 minutes ago, canuck73_3 said: Trading Garland is risky considering how good he is 5 on 5, not really a win imo, trading Beauviliier especially for a dman is a win Not sure that Garland is guaranteed a top-9 spot under Tocchet. Tocchet says Joshua has more to give. Höglander is now waiver eligible. Mikheyev will be healthy - he was shut down when they acquired Beauvillier. Pearson could be ready at camp. It's really crowded on the wings. Edited July 12, 2023 by mll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 1 minute ago, mll said: Trading a D doesn't mean adding a player they don't need. That's not a good use of cap space. If they don't think Lyubushkin should be part their opening roster they are better to try and trade him for a player that fills a need or then just waive him. It's not efficient to have players that don't fit the lineup. This is adding 3 years of Garland when they could be done with Lyubushkin after a year. True. I don't think they would be interested in Garland. But they might be interested in Beauvillier with some retention plus a pick. Beau has always played well in the playoffs. What Buffalo really needs is a veteran goalie. Not sure they are gonna rely on Devon Levi to take them to the promised land. I'm sure they'd love to have Demko. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuck73_3 Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 10 minutes ago, mll said: Not sure that Garland is guaranteed a top-9 spot under Tocchet. Tocchet says Joshua has more to give. Höglander is now waiver eligible. Mikheyev will be healthy - he was shut down when they acquired Beauvillier. Pearson could be ready at camp. It's really crowded on the wings. I still think moving him is a massive mistake, this team is still softer than baby shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mll Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 2 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: True. I don't think they would be interested in Garland. But they might be interested in Beauvillier with some retention plus a pick. Beau has always played well in the playoffs. What Buffalo really needs is a veteran goalie. Not sure they are gonna rely on Devon Levi to take them to the promised land. I'm sure they'd love to have Demko. Don't see why they would want Beauvillier. There's no real role for him. It's a lineup spot for someone that doesn't quite fit. Also it's not like Buffalo is going to be ready to contend already next season. If they get in the playoffs they seem better off to let their young players get that experience. Buffalo decided to remove the glass ceiling to make room for their young players - don't really see them changing approach. Quite a few teams would want Demko. He's 3 years to UFA though and their window probably opens when he's nearing UFA. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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