grade the deadline

[gallagt01]

Breaking it down by return...

Mitchell for Nevins, 7th: Not quite the return I was expecting. I wanted -- and was expecting -- a fourth/fifth. As such, the return wasn't ideal. But subtracting Mitchell helps the tank.

Flynn for a fifth: A very, very surprising move to me, but I'm alright with parlaying an asset that was acquired for free into an of-value asset.

Neuvirth for Johnson, third: Wasn't expecting Neuvirth to move at all but am more than happy with getting a third back.

Stewart for a second: Better value than I expected. Murray stood firm on his price and eventually found a suitor.

B+

 

[struckbyaparkedcar]

A-. Would've liked to have seen a better return on Mitchell, but that's my only gripe. The goaltending market has been set by deals for Scrivens, Enroth, Dubnyk, Neuvirth (x2) over the last 14 months, so the Neuvirth deal was a par. Even in a seller's market, I was surprised he got a 2nd for a player with a stigma like Stewart. Most importantly, all of the deals furthered the primary objective. Good work.

The Flynn and Neuvirth trades really made the difference for me. Murray had a comprehensive tank-enabling deadline.

 

[Montag DP]

I said B+. He moved the guys he was supposed to, but didn't really haul in anything surprisingly good for them.

 

[Gabrielor]

A. Nothing extraordinary to push it over the top to A+, but really solid.

Moved everyone I hoped he'd move.

 

[SabreOil]

A+


Expecting anything more was just a pipe dream.

This.

I hope lindback and Johnson are as bad as advertised.

 

[paulmm3]

B+/A-. Liked all of our deals, and I'm glad we were able to offload/get something for Mitchell, Neuvirth, and Flynn. Only thing keeping me from voting A or A+ is I hoped we could get more for Stewart after seeing the returns on Vermette and Coburn. I trust TM did his best though, at least we got that 2nd rounder.

 

[sba]

Held onto Stewart too long by all accounts, similar guys got more of a return and crushed his market.

Neuvirth got back what he gave originally, despite him being a better player than he was last year.

Mitchell and Flynn moves were whatever.

I gave him a C- based on the moves - but if you consider the fact that he assured we probably won't win another game all year, he did great.

 

[gallagt01]

Held onto Stewart too long by all accounts, similar guys got more of a return and crushed his market.

None of us will ever know for sure, but I'd wager that holding on to Stewart helped him get a second.

Neuvirth got back what he gave originally, despite him being a better player than he was last year.

Hasn't Nuevirth only played 20-some games this year? This is a stretch.

Mitchell and Flynn moves were whatever.

You sure the bolded player being traded isn't why you didn't care for Murray's deadline day?

 

[sba]

None of us will ever know for sure, but I'd wager that holding on to Stewart helped him get a second.


Hasn't Nuevirth only played 20-some games this year? This is a stretch.


You sure the bolded player being traded isn't why you didn't care for Murray's deadline day?

They ate half Stewart's salary and got a 2nd (2 years from now) at the very last minute, Murray himself said he had to circle back to Minny to get it. Glencross/Cole got more of a return, and no salary was retained on them.

They traded for Neuvirth coming off an injured year where he became WSH's third string goalie for a decent stretch.

And no, I'm not happy about that move, but it has nothing to do with the day overall.

If Murray's goal was guaranteeing 30th by ditching as much as he could for nothing, he did great. But the returns weren't good, and it sounds like his patience might have been the cause of that.

 

[Paxon]

They ate half Stewart's salary and got a 2nd (2 years from now) at the very last minute, Murray himself said he had to circle back to Minny to get it. Glencross/Cole got more of a return, and no salary was retained on them.

They traded for Neuvirth coming off an injured year where he became WSH's third string goalie for a decent stretch.

And no, I'm not happy about that move, but it has nothing to do with the day overall.

If Murray's goal was guaranteeing 30th by ditching as much as he could for nothing, he did great. But the returns weren't good, and it sounds like his patience might have been the cause of that.

I don't get why some people act like it's bad the 2nd is two years from now. There are thirty 2nd's every year. We don't have to worry about draft pick inflation devaluing the pick. A 2nd is a 2nd. The only thing that matters beyond that is the quality of the draft with respect to that position. We have an extra 1st and 2nd this year. Next year we have four extra 3rd's and some other extra picks (a 5th for sure). How many picks do we need this year and next year? Now we're guaranteed to have at least one extra pick in 2017 as well, pending a trade obviously. That means one extra player in that wave of prospects that will be coming up when all our identified core players are off their ELCs. We will likely be a cap team by the time a 2017 2nd round pick is ready to crack the NHL, if he ever is. This is a good thing.

 

[Jame]

Held onto Stewart too long by all accounts, similar guys got more of a return and crushed his market.

By what accounts?

He got a 2nd... Which is far more than stewart is worth.

 

[Jame]

They ate half Stewart's salary and got a 2nd (2 years from now) at the very last minute, Murray himself said he had to circle back to Minny to get it. Glencross/Cole got more of a return, and no salary was retained on them.

They traded for Neuvirth coming off an injured year where he became WSH's third string goalie for a decent stretch.

And no, I'm not happy about that move, but it has nothing to do with the day overall.

If Murray's goal was guaranteeing 30th by ditching as much as he could for nothing, he did great. But the returns weren't good, and it sounds like his patience might have been the cause of that.

Stewart isn't half the player glencross/cole are

 

[ZeroPT*]

Glencross, Winnik, Cole and company are miles more valuable than Stewart. I honestly have no clue why teams like him so much. He's big and inconsistent as hell. Arguably one of the dumbest hockey players in terms of hockey sense.

If I were a contending team I'd pay more for Mitchell than Stewart.

 

[Paxon]

Glencross, Winnik, Cole and company are miles more valuable than Stewart. I honestly have no clue why teams like him so much. He's big and inconsistent as hell. Arguably one of the dumbest hockey players in terms of hockey sense.

If I were a contending team I'd pay more for Mitchell than Stewart.

Yeah. Hey, I like Stewart well enough. He said all the right things, worked hard in the offseason with a lot of the kids, and seemed like he really wanted to make an impact for us. He just isn't that good because his hockey sense is limited and his consistency is very erratic. When you're a contender and you're adding a depth player, most of the time you're going to prefer a guy like Winnik or Glencross who will probably give you the same production in a more consistent manner with better defensive play.

I don't know how it could be clearer that Stewart's value wasn't that high. Murray tried getting more for him for months. Obviously teams just didn't want to pay more than this for him.

 

[ZeroPT*]

Honestly a 2nd for Stewart is a coup. I think most here would've taken a 3rd and probably less. His value was shot. The hot streak totally changed that and GM's having boners over size.

The fact that it's a 2017 2nd is also really nice. Spread out the assets and the ability to use him in a deal down the road is massive.

 

[Jumpinjackflash]

I gave him a b. glad neuvrith was moved. same with Stewart and Mitchell. Pretty much went as expected although I was a little uneasy wondering if we could ship neuvrith out. I would love to resign him in the summer I think he's proved his worth in Buffalo. Now start putting the legos together and build this team!

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

C+

C is average, and everything Murray did today was average aside from the 2nd for Stewart (but half salary retained so...). I don't see much point in the Flynn trade , or the garbage for Mitchell either but whatever.

An above average job today would have been to find a better return with a package of UFA + pick/prospect. That didn't happen. Not a criticism, just saying that would have raised the grade. I acknowledge that Murray didn't have much to work with in roster players, but more in futures. Not bad...not much above average either.

 

[Jeremy2020]

The value sucks, but...there wasn't much to get any value with

 

[EichHart]

I expected Stewart to get a 4th and a 3rd at most. A 2nd was a huge surprise.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

I voted A- but meant to vote B+

achieved mastery level and even managed an additional trade to drive the point home, no deals where made that made the team better by addition and that prevents me from wanting to give it an A, all in all he didnt do anything I wouldnt have expected Darcy to do, or Schopp for that matter, but he did what he should have done and got a few things back that could have value at a later point

 

[Afino]

Value wise, meh. C.

But he did what he "had" to do, getting anything he could for any asset that he could/would deal. On top of that, he probably secured 30th just by trading Neuvirth. So A there.

Averages out to a B....I'll be nice and give a B+.

 

[flashsabre]

A

I don't know what value people expected for what we traded. As some have mentioned, I think he did Mitchell a favor and sent him home to Montreal regardless of the return.

Not only did he trade the key pieces that could hurt the tank, he held onto the pieces that will help drive the tank, Benoit, Mez, Strachan, Lindback.

Any of those two dmen leave and McCabe and Pysyk (Hopefully healthy soon) are inserted then the team gets much better.

The two Sabres-Coyotes games might be some of the ugliest hockey this league has seen in years!!

 

[PunchImlach is Alive]

B+

Like Nolan, Murray can only play the cards he's dealt. Unfortunately (or fortunately), there isn't a whole lot left to tear down. He could have moved some of our UFA D-men, but I can't imagine there being enough value out there for what were essentially castoffs from other teams. He moved the important parts and I have a feeling we could see at least one of those people coming back via free agency. I'll give him a B+ for preserving the pipeline for the future. A+ would be exceptional and I would consider "exceptional" being able to move Benoit, Mez, and / or Strachan. He didn't but that's ok. Realistically, what did we really lose today anyways? Tank fan or not, we mostly gave up players that are replaceable within our own system. There wasn't anything that improved this team today, but it's not like there was anything that torpedoes it either. Outside of Stewart, I'll gladly take draft picks for players that are basically replaceable with AHL parts.

 

[enthusiast]

this is the platonic ideal of an average job, C in the truest sense

 

[BornBuffaloFan]

went down a letter grade for it taking a week too long