Toughness for Skill

People that want Old School Hockey probably aren't too happy with what Darcy Regier did yesterday. The Sabres traded away two big forwards in UFA-to-be Paul Gaustad and Power forward-to-be Zack Kassian and got back a 2012 1st round pick and 22 yo skilled center Cody Hodgson.

Hodgson was the 2nd best prospect in The Hockey News' 2009 Future Watch rankings, he's 2nd in the NHL is goals and 5th in points amongst rookies this season, and folks in Vancouver are pretty distressed that he's been traded away.

I really liked Zack Kassian as a potential Milan Lucic. But, I'm really excited about this deal. The Sabres need for top 6 centers has been well documented here and elsewhere. Hodgson was a player that I always liked, but thought was pretty much an untouchable. There was a mention on TSN's TradeCentre show yesterday that there are GMs out there that will be upset that Hodgson moved as they were told that he was untouchable. The fact that Regier was able to acquire a young top 6 center that was previously untouchable is awesome.

There is some risk with the deal. Hodgson butted heads with the Canucks over a back injury that cost him most of the 2009-10 season and over a lack of playing time this season as he was behind Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler on the Canucks depth chart. There is also the risk that Kassian does develop into a dominant power forward that can hit, fight, and score like Lucic, Todd Bertuzzi, Cam Nealy, and other prototypical power forwards.

But, the Hodgson deal could free Regier up to move Derek Roy in the summer to further move along with the remaking of the leadership core of the Sabres.

The other move that removed size and grit from the Sabres lineup was trading Paul Gaustad and a 2013 4th round pick to Nashville for their 2012 1st round pick. That deal gives the Sabres two picks in the first round (Nashville and their own) and two picks in the second round (Calgary and their own). With four picks in the top 60, the Sabres have options. And things could get better as if the draft were held today, the Sabres would own the 6th, 26th, 36th, and 41st picks in the draft. The Sabres picks may improve if the team falls off the rest of the season. The Nashville pick will improve if they get knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. So, thongs could get even better. With that many picks, the Sabres will have options if they want to try and trade up from the 6th pick, if they want to trade up fromn the 26th pick, or if they want to move a pick or picks in deals for NHL talent.

In the past, the Sabres had financial reasons to not sell when they were in a similiar place at the trade deadline. I'm glad that they didn't have that pressure this year and I'm glad that they pulled off the deals that they did. This gives Regier a ton of options this off-season. It will be very fun to watch what happens heading into next season.