Good GMs don’t like to win their trades hands down. They don’t hate earning them, of course, but cheating a colleague is never good for business.
This one risks being wary during the next discussions and winning too many exchanges will make your other colleagues cautious. For the majority of them, the famous good transaction for both teams, as we like to say in the industry, remains the perfect exchange.
In this regard, the Buffalo Sabers and the Vegas Golden Knights completed this type of transaction to the satisfaction of both clans, in November 2021.
Jack Eichel picked up another point Tuesday night. His sixteenth in fourteen games since the start of the playoffs. The Golden Knights have beaten the Stars for the third straight time and are one win away from advancing to the final for the second time in their short history which began in 2017.
This second overall pick by Buffalo in 2015, behind Connor McDavid, is not only Vegas’ best scorer in the playoffs, he is the number one center the Sabers have dreamed of in vain: explosive offensively, responsible defensively, exemplary leadership and self-sacrifice.
Not only was Eichel associated with the Sabres’ failures to make the playoffs in his first six seasons at Buffalo, but he was at the heart of an ugly feud with management over what medical treatment to choose to recover from his severe injury to the cervical vertebrae.
Even though he was producing at a full-season prorated 90 points in his final two years at Buffalo, divorce was inevitable.
Despite all the fine qualities of Chandler Stephenson and William Karlsson, the Golden Knights did not have a decent first center. At 26, Eichel would join a core of the same age. Vegas has built its team this way: never hesitating to sacrifice prospects and draft picks to acquire prime-age players.
The Sabers and their new general manager Kevyn Adams were entering a new phase of rebuilding, following previous disasters, and Adams was looking to rejuvenate his squad to finally start Buffalo on the right path.
The Sabers received then-20-year-old prospect Peyton Krebs, drafted two spots after Cole Caufield in 2019, the Knights’ 2022 first-round pick, a 2023 second-round pick and forward Alex Tuch, six months older than Eichel.
Tuch, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound colossus from Syracuse, a two-and-a-half hour drive from Buffalo, has not only become a good leader for young Sabers players, he’s turned into a winger for power. He had 79 points, including 36 goals, last season.
His annual salary of 4.75 million until 2026, compared to Eichel’s 10 million, for a similar term, also gave Adams some interesting salary leeway going forward.
Krebs hasn’t developed as expected yet, he had just 26 points in 74 games last winter, but he just turned 22.
With the first-round pick, the Sabers drafted Swedish center Noah Östlund 16th overall. He is coming off a 26-point, 37-game season at Djurgardens at just 18 (he turned 19 in March). He is in the entourage of the school club during the American League playoffs (in the company of Quebecer Olivier Nadeau, of the Gatineau Olympiques, a fourth round choice of the Sabers in 2021), but has not yet chosen its destination in anticipation of next year.
Kelly McCrimmon of the Golden Knights and Kevyn Adams of the Sabres, in their own context, would make the same trade 18 months later.
Adams’ decision may get Vegas a first Stanley Cup, but the Sabers would likely still be in a bind with an unhappy captain. They weren’t aiming for the Cup this year anyway, but within five years.
Leo Carlsson recently became at 18 years and 136 days the youngest Swede to participate in the World Championship with the national team.
The young man, one of the highest-rated prospects ahead of the 2023 draft, is doing well there with five points in seven games, including two goals in a 4-3 loss to the Americans on Tuesday.
Carlsson, a 6-foot-3, 198-pound center, played mostly center for young Red Wings sensation Lucas Raymond and Detroit teammate Jonatan Berggren.
Employed on the wing in the regular season at Orebro, in the Swedish Premier League (SHL), Carlsson amassed 25 points in 44 games, a league high for players 19 and under.
Carlsson believes he can make it to the NHL next season. He was born on December 26, so he is one of the oldest players in his class. “I believe I can be able to play this year. I already face the best opposing players in every game here. »
The Canadian picks fifth. Barring a big surprise, Carlsson will have already been drafted, by second-place Anaheim, third-place Columbus or fourth-place San Jose.
1-Nick Suzuki is tired of losing. Simon-Olivier Lorange collected his comments on Tuesday during a visit by the captain to the Bauer innovation center in Blainville.
2-The Stars were not only downgraded by Vegas, in the fourth game of their series on Tuesday, they played the braggart without success. Katherine Harvey-Pinard’s analysis.
3-A request for authorization of class action was filed Wednesday morning at the Quebec City courthouse against the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (LHJMQ), its 18 current teams and the Canadian Hockey League, learned The Press. The details of Ariane Lacoursière.