LAK - BUF

Sabres agree.

Well, this certainly wasn't on the radar, but from an asset management standpoint, this was too good to pass up. Basically moving Byfield for Stamkos for Rielly here, plus a potential top-5 Entry Draft pick to nab someone of similar quality to Byfield.

Rielly is the perfect D for how I've evolved on how to approach my backend. Good defensively but producing offensively, he adds some big-time firepower to my top 4 now, and still have Heinola and company on the come-up.

Losing Stamkos was a luxury I could afford given my forward depth, and with Johansson playing basically out of his mind this year, even a little dip in production should yield a competent rerate. Nice extra to have in the top 9 moving forward under a long-term (and cheap) contract.

Plus this gets my finances settled to around $72 million after some other roster moves, so all in all...I'm happy with this.

Great talks Jay!