Confirmed with Link: Sabres trade Taylor Fedun to Dallas for conditional 2020 7th round pick

[dugman]

Is there a chance we could change the title of this thread to something like, “Taylor Fedun Hall of Fame Consideration Thread”? Every time I see “confirmed with link” and “trade” at the top of the list I get all excited.....

 

[joshjull]

Moving on from fedun isn't the end of the world but when it comes down to it, it's not insignificant.

Good teams have to pay players like skinner, eichel, reinhart, dahlin.

When you have big contracts like that you need guys who fly under the radar, don't demand much money, and have a net positive impact.


If we are going to be successful, we have to pay our stars and ice guys like fedun at 1 mil rather than bogo at 5.5 or whatever, and scandella at 4

I get what you’re saying about needing cheap depth going forward but your premise doesn’t apply to last season. We had no cap issues and we were tripping over options for defense. We carried 8 dmen on the NHL roster and had a lot in Rochester, to the point some prospects didn’t dress regularly. Fedun was traded to get one of those prospects to dress regularly (Dougherty).

The best option for cheap talented depth is to draft or find talent as UDFAs then develop them properly. Its not to hang onto AHL vets who’ve had mixed results in minimal NHL playing time. Not that they can’t play a role but it shouldn’t be a big concern or focus unless you fail on the draft/development front.

We have a decent stable of young defensive prospects at the moment; Pilut, Borgen, Bryson, Fitzgerald, Hickey, Doughtery and Laaksonen. Most of them will be depth options next season with the Amerks. I don’t think we need to worry too much about inexpensive defensive depth within the organization at the moment.

Another reason that talented prospect depth on ELCs is so important are the guys you bring up at the end of your post (Bogo/Scandella). No matter how flawed they are viewed now, they were paid to be top 4 dmen. Almost anyone replacing them and their minutes will likely be paid similarly with the except of talented prospects on ELCs. Fedun doesn’t belong in that discussion.

 

[dortt]

I distinctly recall that when we first got Fedun and he played for us initially, he looked like a legit top 6 NHL Dman. I think the metrics even bore it out. Just like this season in Dallas. And then the next year? Was god-awful.

How much of his awful play was due to HOUSLEY?

 

[Husko]

Parting ways with Fedun in and of itself isn't a big deal at all. He's inconsequential long term. And getting any asset at all for a guy you're going to expose to waivers, great.

The troubling thing for me is that it reveals he was placed below the likes of Tennyson in the pecking order. It worries me about the sort of players/defensemen that Botts might covet. To me, both the eye test and the metrics indicate Fedun is a competent player when he's on the ice. You can't say the same for Tennyson. So why was one chosen over the other?

Again, Fedun himself is inconsequential in the long run, but good metric competent players that fly under the radar are key to unlocking successful lineups (especially when you're paying top dollar to your top end guys). We've had a few examples that indicate this organization really struggles to identify, bring in, and keep those players when we have them. How many of our "oh well they're just depth guys" have we seen find success in such roles on good teams? I see the Penguins just re-signed Ruhwedel... And Carrier just scored 8 goals on Vegas's 4th line this season... Can't wait for Girgensons and/or Larsson to be heralded as superb shutdown players I some cup team's checking line in a year or two.

 

[dortt]

I don’t really see Fedun playing before Ristolainen, Montour, Bogosian or Nelson. At best he’d be #5 on our right wide depth chart.

Then you have to factor in Borgen and Dougherty, both of which I’d rather see called up over Fedun.


And that’s not taking into account the extra bodies we have on the left side.

That shows the Sabres have no clue how to evaluate talent. How can he be a top 6 on a team that nearly made the conference finals, yet not be a top 6 on a defense that is among the worst in the league?

Maybe we have one of the worst defenses in the league because we think the guys named are top 6 players

 

[tsujimoto74]

Parting ways with Fedun in and of itself isn't a big deal at all. He's inconsequential long term. And getting any asset at all for a guy you're going to expose to waivers, great.

The troubling thing for me is that it reveals he was placed below the likes of Tennyson in the pecking order. It worries me about the sort of players/defensemen that Botts might covet. To me, both the eye test and the metrics indicate Fedun is a competent player when he's on the ice. You can't say the same for Tennyson. So why was one chosen over the other?

Again, Fedun himself is inconsequential in the long run, but good metric competent players that fly under the radar are key to unlocking successful lineups (especially when you're paying top dollar to your top end guys). We've had a few examples that indicate this organization really struggles to identify, bring in, and keep those players when we have them. How many of our "oh well they're just depth guys" have we seen find success in such roles on good teams? I see the Penguins just re-signed Ruhwedel... And Carrier just scored 8 goals on Vegas's 4th line this season... Can't wait for Girgensons and/or Larsson to be heralded as superb shutdown players I some cup team's checking line in a year or two.

I mean, we don't know that Botterill "chose" Tennyson over Fedun. I think it's more likely Dallas did the choosing. Buffalo was gonna have to either waive or trade somebody. Maybe Dallas liked Fedun and saw absolutely no NHL upside in Tennyson (as any reasonable talent evaluator would), so Buffalo took the pick over losing him on a waiver claim.

 

[valet]

Fedun is a 7/8 dman tbh. Calling him a surefire 3rd pair guy is insane......

 

[coastal]

really?

How is the thread 3 pages?

 

[Dingo44]

Fedun is a UFA but he was also the Stars' nominee for the Masterson Trophy so there you go.

Is anyone really suggesting we desperately need to bring him back? Because it will just cost dollars.

 

[Reddawg]

really?

How is the thread 3 pages?

Same way every other thread gains multi page status. Lots and lots of Botterill bashing.

 

[Buffaloed]

Fedun has been on a long strange trip. Ironically he was on the Sharks 2015 team with Tennyson.

There's a nice article about him here:
Stars' journeyman defenseman Taylor Fedun earns Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy nomination

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

I nominated him on Chain's UFA thread.

 

[Fezzy126]

8th defenseman? He is a top 6 on a second round playoff team. The fact that he was a 10th on our terrible defense corps shows our team cannot evaluate talent

That shows the Sabres have no clue how to evaluate talent. How can he be a top 6 on a team that nearly made the conference finals, yet not be a top 6 on a defense that is among the worst in the league?

Maybe we have one of the worst defenses in the league because we think the guys named are top 6 players

Stars fans nearly universally agree that the guys is at best a #7, but more likely a career AHLer.

And he wasn't a top 6 guy, here's his playoff summary:
St Louis Game 7 - 14 Mins (L)
St Louis Game 6 - 14 Mins (L)
St Louis Game 5 - Healthy Scratch (W)
St Louis Game 4 - Healthy Scratch (W)
St Louis Game 3 - 9 Mins (L)
St Louis Game 2 - 8 Mins (W)
St Louis Game 1 - 11 Mins (L)
Nashville Game 6 - Healthy Scratch (W)
Nashville Game 5 - Healthy Scratch (W)
Nashville Game 4 - Healthy Scratch (W)
Nashville Game 3 - Healthy Scratch (L)
Nashville Game 2 - 9+ Mins (L)
Nashville Game 1 - 7 Mins (W)

If you want to check his metrics, he mostly got caved in (in very limited minutes) and the team lost when he played. Dude's a nice little story, but he's not an NHLer.

Now, hopefully someone kills off this thread once and for all.