The Buffalo Sabres should push to finally land Nikolaj Ehlers in free agency

The Buffalo Sabres should push to finally land Nikolaj Ehlers in free agency

13 days until NHL free agency today we’re talking Nikolai Eers coming up on Locked on Sabres [Music] you’re Locked on Sabres your daily podcast on the Buffalo Sabres part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day what is up everybody and welcome in to day one of the NHL off seasonason at least for everybody else uh you know we’ve been doing this uh for a while since uh April 17th so this is day number 62 of our off season here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast and here in Buffalo but the Stanley Cup final is over it is the Florida Panthers for the second year in a row they win the cup and we’ve talked a lot about them very impressed by that overall team that is an all-time team that they have there in Florida there is fallout in Edmonton and hey McDavid going into the final year of a contract maybe that’s something to talk about with the Oilers so lot of juicy stuff coming out of the Stanley Cup final i’ve got something to say on all of it a little bit later on on today’s show so be sure to stay tuned for that a little bit later on but welcome in to the Locked On Sabres podcast thanks for making us your first listen every day free and available wherever you get your podcast you can check us out on our YouTube channel where you can watch the show be sure to hit the like and subscribe button if you want to do that there and you can also become a part of our Locked Onsabers text club do that by heading over to joinsubttex.com/lockedon savers today’s episode of the show is presented by FanDuel Sportsbook right now new FanDuel customers can get $200 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins with there being under two weeks until NHL free agency today we are going to dive back in and talk about another free agent option talked about JJ Purka on Monday and all the trade rumors surrounding him um if you would like to check that out be sure to hit that up in our feed as that’s really the number one internal question about the Sabres right now a lot of RFA contracts Purka being one of them but before that we’ll have the draft we’ll talk about that next week and today more about free agency we already talked about Mitch Martner we have talked about Sam Bennett and Aaron Ecklad those two having their seasons come to an end it continues to sound like Bennett is going to stay in Florida and that Eblad is more likely to get out of Florida let’s move on today back to the forward position the Sabres want to do something big and I do believe that this player would land under the category of something big i believe it would be the biggest name that the Buffalo Sabres would land in free agency since Taylor Hall five years ago maybe even Kyle Aoso before that it’s on that level maybe just a dip below in terms of the fame and the star power of the player i would look at this player though as the likely answer to the best free agent signing the Sabres would have in a decade or more who even is the answer to that question i got to go back to To Newman to find a free agent signing that everybody truly like liked the results of how about Nikolai Eers a player that we’ve talked about here in Buffalo i mean is it 10 years it’s been a long time maybe it’s not 10 years because he enters the league in 2015 16 so that would be right when he got into Winnipeg but Nikolai Eers who was always the trade target always the trade rumor winnipeg you know always having him on the market was the rumor but never ended up dealing him he plays a 10-year career with the Jets i don’t think I could have ever guessed that he would make it through 10 years with Winnipeg with all the trade stuff surrounding him from a couple of years ago has gone on to have a nice career with the Jets and is going to command a lot in free agency today his fit how good he is what type of player what the Sabres would have to offer and whether he’s a realistic idea for them he is not the number one forward free agent that would be Mitch Mner this would be your poor man’s Mitch Marner for any team in free agency looking to make a big swing and I think it’s a player that would help the Buffalo Sabres a lot so let’s tackle a couple of the key questions about Eers and let’s really start with what you’re getting what anybody would be getting from this player he is 29 years old he is from Denmark he was a firstround pick a top 10 pick of the Winnipeg Jets back in 2014 the Sam Reinhardt draft the draft class that’s getting a lot of pub in the last couple of days because of EClad and Bennett and Dry Idol well Eers ends up going ninth overall in that draft class a good pick by the Jets he has gone on to play 10 years in Winnipeg 674 games 225 goals 295 assists for 520 points in those 674 games his careerhigh in points goes back to his second season with the Jets 64 points he’s had four seasons of 60 points or more between 60 and 64 he has had a lot of 20 goal seasons he had uh four five in a row from 2016 to 2020 uh 2021 even and then you had a shortened year because of COVID and for him more so actually because of injury i guess that would be injury for him and the last two years back into the 20 goal mark he’s always consistent with his offensive production year to year to year by season starting with that second year we don’t have to go to his rookie year points 64 60 37 that was a tough one uh 58 46 and 47 games that’s the co year 55 in 62 games 38 and 45 games 61 and then 63 i mean he’s always giving you the same consistent level of production he has never made an all-star team he has never had a vote for an award other than for the Lady Bing in 2022 he’s just kind of existed in Winnipeg being a really good player for a decade and not really being somebody that anybody thinks about other than when he was a trade idea so what you’re getting a team that’s getting Nikolai Eers is a player that’s going to put the puck in the back of the net and more specifically he’s going to do it at even strength he has not been one of the more dominant power play players throughout his career since 201516 when he entered the NHL nikolai Eers this will really put into perspective his ranking about where he ranks in total goals and then where he ranks in even strength goals nikolai Eers in that time is 47th in the NHL in total goals 47th pretty good right he’s ahead of Tomas Hurdle and Patrick Line and an Kopitar and just behind Ricard Raquel Tyler Sean Terara Senko Eel uh Matthew Kachchock like pretty good company so 47th in total goals but he is 24th in even strength goals with 184 a little bit better company one behind Willie Knander and they’ve played almost the same amount of games just behind Jonathan Marshow and Braden Point and Sebastian Aaho little bit of a higher caliber of player when you just c specify it to even strength so Zabres have a lot of that right and maybe you’re already going “Well I really would like a guy that helps me on the power play.” That’s maybe not going to be specifically what you’re getting he might play on the power play for you and give you some production his careerhigh in power play goals in a season though is seven and that’s not necessarily what the Sabres need on that unit but of course anybody could use more goal scoring anybody could use more talent and anybody could use a veteran that is as consistent and reliable as Nikolai Elers is you might not get him on the power play but you really know what you’re going to get from him at even even strength this is a averagesized player 6 foot 172 lbs he is not going to be very physical for you he is not going to be the best defensive player in the world but he is fine in that department he is not going to penalty kill he’s not going to get any votes for the Selki but he doesn’t get run over in his own end compared to a guy I’m going to compare him to in a minute with like JJ Purka for instance he’s better than that um he’s a very fast skater looking through some of his NHL edge stats from this past season he reached the top skating speed on the year of 22.98 miles per hour it’s in the 95th percentile among NHL forwards speed bursts over 20 mph he was in the 80th percentile um and then also by the way his shooting speed 88 mph was his top shot that’s in the 88th percentile as well um 22 mph speed burst by the way 95th percentile he had four speed bursts of 22 miles per hour or more the league average by forwards was 0.9 he had quadruple what the average forward does at hitting that mile per hour so you’re getting a fast player you’re getting a consistent player you’re getting an even strength goal scorer fine playmaker doesn’t put up gouty numbers of assists i mean his goals to assist ratio is a little bit more weighted towards the goals it’s pretty close to the same which usually you get more of a shooter on that front plays on the left wing so all of this to me what you’re looking at is a player that is a topline left winger on a good team on a great team on an elite team you know if he was on Florida he might be on the second line right there will be a lot of teams in the league where he’s a second line stud winger but I think you could do a lot worse for a first line left winger than Nikolai Eers of the Winnipeg Jets and he’s kind of done that in Winnipeg i mean he’s never not never he’s a 18 minutes one season he did average in ice time um but like each of the last three seasons he didn’t even crack 16 minutes per night and some of that is the lack of special teams right he doesn’t penalty kill he’s not a very good power play player um hell two years ago man looking at some looking at some of his stats 23-24 nikolai Eers had 25 goals and 36 assists for 61 points he had zero goals and seven assists on the power play nothing at all on that unit so that’s the story i think he’s a very nice player where would he fit in the Buffalo Sabres lineup why I actually think he’s a good JJ Purka replacement if they are to make a trade sending him away and why I think they should be stop short of saying allin but they should be aggressive in going after Eers who I think you know is the poor man’s Mitch Marner of this um of this offseason in free agency that’s coming up here on the Lockdown Sabers podcast today’s episode of the Lockdown Sabres podcast is presented by FanDuel Sportsbook the NBA Finals have been awesome the Indiana OKC series has been great the blowout that everybody thought we might be getting ain’t happening every night’s been delivering highlight worthy performances major momentum shifts dunks three-pointers game-winning shots breakout players there’s never been a better time to get in on the action and FanDuel makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and live with player props and performance trends and same game parlays fans have more ways than ever to play smart and win big i’m looking at uh Jaylen Williams for tomorrow night’s game he has been awesome in this series and when all this attention is getting paid to SGA I like Jaylen Williams i have him going over on the point total for tomorrow night’s game Thursday night’s game i think he’s been awesome and I would expect him to continue his hot trend and right now if you’re new to FanDuel it’s a perfect time to sign up head to fanduel.com place your first $5 bet and if it wins you’re going to get 200 $200 in bonus bets make every moment more with FanDuel official sports betting partner of the NBA sneaky Jody Biosi back here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast free agent options and today we’re talking Nikolai Eers i expect the Sabres to be after some free agents i think Kevin Adams wants to do something big and sure I think trade usually is more of that but I think you might see them dip their toe into the expensive free agent market than more so than they have really at any point during Kevin Adams tenure i mean the most they’ve really done in free agency are Conor Clifton who signed a three-year deal for $3.3 million per year by NHL standards like that’s not really much of a contract ended up stinking as a contract anyway and then Jason Zucker last year right jason Zucker a one-year $5 million deal a player that they thought had a little bit left in the tank and he had more than that left in the tank and they ended up resigning him and that one ended up working out that one’s been great so this year like I would bet right now that if if the total money given out and I think I have this right that the total money given out in a free agent contract the high right now for the Buffalo Sabres under Kevin Adams is Connor Clifton right even remember Taylor Hall goes back to Kevin Adams isn’t that amazing taylor Hall was a Kevin Adams signing um even though it was really a Ralph Krueger signing 9 million bucks for Conor Clifton 9.9 million even right that is the most they’ve given out i’d expect they are going to give out the biggest free agent contract this summer that they’ve given out under Kevin Adams now that’s a very low bar and it shouldn’t be that hard to clear that bar but I think they’ll do it and I think they’ll do it by a lot eers I mean two years into his contract you could see him topping that number so let’s continue on nikolai Eers by the way where’s number 27 which off the top of my head it’s been a minute since I’ve been seeing the Sabres on the ice i do believe that that is available or am I missing somebody devin Levi it is not available kind of not really no Levi has got 27 so maybe 72 is unavailable he can’t do that maybe try to find something else um Eers we’ll get to the contract piece of it because I do think that’s interesting for what his market is and what the Sabres be willing to pay um the fit I like the idea if the Sabres are going to move JJ Purka really if they’re even if they’re not going to move JJ Purka but if the Sabres get to a place where they feel all right he doesn’t want to be here the contract demand is crazy high and we got a really good offer from blank I saw the guys over expected Buffalo uh debating a deal with the Rangers that involves Keandre Miller going back to the Sabres for Purka um and other pieces chad did not like that idea by the way which I guess I’m on the fence for it i I like to you know seed to their opinion on some of these defensive defenseman like Miller um so I trust them on that miller though for Purka let’s say that was the deal you’d want to replace JJ Purka’s goalc scoring production you’d want to do that you’d want to replace his spot on the left wing and you’d want to replace a player that was one of your best even strength scorers over the last two years because Purka has not been much of a power play guy eers would do that and he’s older and he’s more consistent so you know the Purka’s a little kind of stacked some of these point totals and goal totals at the ends of seasons when they’re out of it and maybe would be more trustworthy of Eers to produce throughout a whole year but either way like he would be your Purka replacement but again I don’t think he has to just be that i don’t think you only have to go after Nikolai Eers if you’re going to trade Purka and not get a really good forward back like a Jason Robertson i think you should be able to add to this group with Purka in the mix and if you look at the way that the Sabres lineup is presently constructed with everybody on the team let’s look at their left side at the moment jj Purka Jason Zucker Zack Benson and Jordan Greenway four guys on the left side that all you would expect to be in the lineup and you know maybe somebody is able to go to the other side of the wing benson has done it a little bit zucker’s done it a little bit throughout his career greenway too um how many of those guys should be definitive top six players because Zucker can play in the top six do I want him to play in the top six benson can play in the top six and I’m hopeful he grabs that and takes hold of it but do I want to go all in on Zack Benson being ready for top six minutes next year or do I want to continue to allow him to grow into that and not rely on him yet for it and continue to play him on the third line i think that is probably the better idea at this point so I do think there is a need for a second line left winger even if Purka is at the top of that lineup and if they trade Purka again that becomes a barren position that they will absolutely need to address and I think Eers would do that on a as good a level in this free agent period as the Sabres are going to find there are other good forwards available we’ll talk about Brock Besser on a future show although he plays on the other side um and we talked about you know Marner and there’s Marshon like there are some good forwards available but I think Eers is the one that most easily fits he’s the square peg in the square the square hole for the Sabres on the left side so I do think he fits the lineup i think you’d probably play him on the power play but again that’s not really why you’re getting him you’re getting him because you want to win right now and he’s a good player and you just want to add talent now the Sabres would have to pay him and they’d have to pay him a big contract because he’s going to have a nice market he is going to be the guy that is the consolation prize for whoever doesn’t get Marner whoever doesn’t get I think Besser probably outranks him a little bit i think Bennett outranks him just coming off a K smite win of course um but he’s going to have a big market and there was a report from James Myrtle earlier in the week that his market is looking at over $9 million per year his last contract $6 million per year um Eers by the way of these free agent forwards that we’ve been looking at I saw Greg Washinsky point this out that he has 3.5 points per 60 minutes and that is the best of any of th these free agents any of these free agents that are about to hit the market 3.5 points per 60 minutes of ice time is the best so efficient player um 9 million plus for Eers at 29 years old and I would not be afraid of that if I’m the Buffalo Sabres knowing yeah the final 2 three years at least of that contract let’s say it’s a seven-year deal let’s you know sixyear deal some of these players are a little bit more willing to go a little shorter six-year deal at 9.5 million bucks for a player whose career high is 64 points that’s going to sound like a lot but remember the cap is going up and 9.5 million is closer to what 8.5 million was before um you’ve got to be willing to overpay and to be aggressive on some of these moves and more so you have to be willing to say I’m good with eating two three years in the future five years from now where he’s not worth the contract anymore to get the benefit of the years right now the three four years on the short term where I would expect and project that the player is going to help me and maybe even help me a lot that’s the trade-off the trade-off is I’m going to trade two years of bad contract at the end for four good years of contract at the beginning and I think that is more how you’ve got to approach these free agent deals and for Eers I don’t see any signs of slowing down he’s a player that I would be pretty trustworthy of maybe even going through a whole six-year contract and still being a productive player because he could shoot the puck well he could skate really well and that speed could allow him to play into his mid30s at a productive level thinking about Chris Krider a little bit for this crider just finally fell off as a good player straight to Anaheim i can’t believe they did that deal but part why is part of the reason Chris Krider was able to be such a good player into age like 33 34 it’s because he’s super fast and I think that will always help a player age and Eers has that skating ability that I’d expect he’ll age well and the shot is there too so I think you can trust him to to pay a contract of that magnitude um it’s not you know nothing it’s a big price to eat and if you’re the Buffalo Sabres and the market is nine to nine and a half million dollars maybe you have to be the team that is willing to be criticized and goes for the sticker shock price of $10 million because hey I’m Buffalo and I got to pay the premium to get him to come here so hey 10’s the new nine and if everybody else offering nine and a half and I’m willing to offer him an extra $500,000 maybe I can get my foot in the door given that there will be a really good market for him so is this a good idea for the Buffalo Sabres to offer Nikolai Eers 9.5 to$10 million a year over the course of six seven years i believe it is i like this idea more than any of the previous free agent ideas that we’ve talked about except for Mitch Mner because I think that would just be ultra exciting and he’s an elite player i like it more than the Bennett idea i think the price comparison is probably pretty close and I know Bennett just won the K smite and Bennett is a gritty player and he’s fast too and he scores goals um and he’s got that winning DNA the winning culture that’s going to come with playing in Florida but who would I trust more to be productive through the length of their contract and who would I trust to be productive on the Buffalo Sabres the day they showed up i think you’re getting more consistency you have more talent and you have a player that I would trust to be good longer in Nikolai Eers than you would in Sam Bennett so if they’re willing to throw 9 and a half$10 million at a non Mitch Marner forward free agent Eers over Bennett in my opinion I would call Eers before I would call Sam Bennett let me know what you think about Eers if uh you would like to hear more about other free agents we’re going to get to Brock Besser on our next show as a free agent idea so stay tuned for that when we come back though let’s move on to last night’s game the end of the series and Conor McDavid I had a fun question for everybody on WGR this morning that I’ll read some text answers to and kind of just where these two teams are now the Panthers on this almost dynasty maybe it is a dynasty for you and then the Oilers who are maybe at a crossroads or trying to figure out what they should do going forward that’s coming up on Lockdown Savers today’s episode of the Lockdown Savers podcast is presented by Wonderful Pistachios if you’re looking for a snack that’s both delicious and nutritious crack into a good source of protein with Wonderful Pistachios one of the highest protein nuts wonderful pistachios each 1oz serving has six grams of protein that gives you over 10% of your daily value plus they’re packed with fiber and better for you unsaturated fats to help keep you feeling fuller longer i just throw a big bag in my golf bag it’s my go-to snack out on the golf course nice healthy snack don’t go for chips or anything if you’re looking for something salty i love the noshells varieties grab a handful and that’s it but if you like that satisfying crunch the inshell options are a classic favorite as well whether you’re running between meetings or running some errands Wonderful Pistachios are the snack that works as hard as you do so get snacking get cracking with the snack that packs a protein punch visit wonderfulpistachios.com today to learn more wrapping things up here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast the Panthers win the cup back-to-back years they have already dented the bottom of the cup and cracked the top of the cup so do is there an amount of damage you could do to the Stanley Cup that would cause you to lose access to it where they would take it from you where Phil Pritchard that comes in you’ve lost you’re in timeout basically with the cup because the Panthers maybe already should be in it maybe you saw the video of Sam Reinhardt at Elbow Room in Fort Lauderdale who listen he’s clearly hammered right as he should be the night after he scores four goals to win the Stanley Cup for the Panthers he is up on that balcony and someone threw him a Reinhardt Saber jersey to autograph and he did but then he he kind of had this face and attitude of like I can’t believe you just threw me a Saber jersey and he whipped it back but he did sign it so you know I don’t think there’s any ill over that i don’t really care about it i don’t think Saber fans are going to take it that seriously either but the Panthers win and I think their status as an all-time team should be recognized i don’t know that I would call them a dynasty yet i think you got to win three to be a definitive dynasty if they were to go to the finals again next year and it’s they’ve gone four years in a row they’ve won two of them like all right like were the Miami Heat a dynasty in the NBA were the Lightning a dynasty in the NHL like I think you’re on the verge of it but I think three is really the number that you want to see um over the course of at least four or five years so they’re an all-time team one of the best the best built team I’ve ever seen they have they had everything absolutely everything whether they’re a dynasty or not that’s the most well-built team that I have ever seen i am definitely interested in their story and how they did it and Bill Zto who yes interviewed with the Buffalo Sabres once upon a time um Edmonton’s place in all this though is even more interesting to me because look at look at that Steuart Skinner give up last night the the pop it right out in front for Barkov and he puts it to Reinhardt for the for his second goal of the game one of the worst moments a goalie’s had all season um that was something that they needed to do with the deadline everybody knew it everybody said it you got to get a goalie to go with Steuart Skinner because Cal Pickard is not a good enough plan B when Skinner probably fails in the playoffs and they didn’t do it and it cost them mcdavid was pretty frank right he was he was cursing and he said like “We keep trying to do the same effing thing uh year after year.” So he’s not happy he is he does not seem happy at all he is an intense dude but he looks upset he had just lost the game so he should but he also didn’t have his best series i think the Panthers did that to him though more than like he choked or anything i think Bararkov is the best defensive center in the sport and the ability to match up Barov with McDavid it’s going to make it a lot tougher on on him and then when you’re able to get McDavid away from Bararkov they have a baby Bararkov and Anton Lundell that’s sitting there in the third line with Brad Marshon and Litz Rainan so you can’t really hide you know get McDavid on a positive matchup because everything that everything that the Panthers have throughout their depth chart in their lineup is presented to kind of stop McDavid um so they did that he’s got one year left in his contract and I really do wonder what his opinion is of where he is and what his future holds and it’s tough to argue you could find a better spot to win a Stanley Cup than the team that’s gotten you within a game and then of two games of winning the cup in back-to-back years but I don’t think it’s also crazy for him to think you know this team 10 years has had a lot of trouble surrounding me with depth surrounding me with good defenseman surrounding me especially with good goalending it might feel like to him it’s just me and Leon that are carrying the show and everything else around us is just meh pretty good i’m recognizing by the way they were missing a topline left winger in Zack Heyman um but you’re looking at it and thinking like maybe I’m the reason that we’ve been going this far more than I should be i did have the thought could he Kevin Durant this thing and what I mean by that is instead of when Durant went to the Golden State Warriors after he couldn’t beat the Golden State Warriors that would be the equivalent of McDavid going to Florida right him going to the Panthers and creating a super team um the likes of the NHL has maybe never seen before he’s not going to do that i don’t think um he’s not going to come to Buffalo also the question I like LA maybe he could follow in Gretzky’s path i don’t know he’s eligible to sign in July 1st i’m very interested to see whether or not he actually does sign i think if you get to you know the fall you get to September and October and the season’s approaching and you don’t have a contract I would never trade him if I were Edmonton in a million years like even if I knew he was leaving I don’t think I would do it i don’t think there’s anything I would ever do to trade him like you get a player like that you hold on to him until the last hour that you have his rights to try to get him to sign and if he walks for nothing then he walks for nothing whatever there’s nothing that could make up for him so I would never deal him that being said fun question I asked this morning if the Oilers did want to move him and he told Edmonton and he told any team that’s going to acquire me I’m hitting free agency no matter what so if you trade for me we can Kawhi Leonard this thing and I’ll play one year for you and we’ll try to win the Stanley Cup but it’s it’s only going to be the one year and that’s it and then I’m gone if you knew that ahead of time and you were the Buffalo Sabres what would you be willing to give up you are going to get one year of McDavid but only one year of McDavid you know it’s only one year what would you be willing to give up i asked Jeremy White this question this morning and he instantly I asked him Ta Thompson he said yes he thought about it later and said “Uh maybe not.” But I did ask that to our texters and a couple of them were like “I think I’d give up Taige Thompson to get one year of Conor McDavid that would hurt.” And you’d kind of have to win the cup to really get the fruits of that but even maybe maybe not maybe if they just made the playoffs and won a couple of rounds that one year of fun would really be worth it and the year of getting to see him in a Buffalo uniform would be worth it giving up a top level player that’s going to be here for five six more years uh maybe you know he could ask for a trade also uh Purka and Bum one texter uh asked like “Would you trade Purka and Byum?” Like that that would be easy for me yes I would trade both of them for one year of Conor McDavid would you trade five first round picks for one year of Conor McDavid one tester asked and I think I would do that like is it impossible to think the Sabres could win the cup with one year of McDavid they wouldn’t be favored and in this division especially like I wouldn’t pick them to beat Florida in a playoff series but could they they could right like McDavid and Dalene and you know maybe you get a hot goalie you know it’s possible again I wouldn’t pick it but it would definitely be the most fun season we’ve had in 20 years um and would you go all in for that you know I I would I would say sure not going to happen um no team’s going to do that edmonton’s not going to trade him even if he’s hesitant to sign an extension that would be my expectation um but definitely definitely something to track and for Edmonton listen they’re what they in reality what Edmonton should be doing right now is one yelling at their GM and two doing everything in their power to get a goalender this off seasonason and Jake Allen’s not going to cut it he’s the top free agent like they got to go get a star they got to go get a star goalie call Winnipeg and see if Connor Hobbuck is available for anything just find a team that’s going to solidify that goalending because it got them beat this series um Florida was still the better team but it looked I mean the Panthers led for all but 30 minutes nhl record they It was a six-game series but they dominated that series and I think the biggest reason that it wasn’t closer and why it didn’t go to seven and why game six was such a blowout like I think the goalie was really the biggest the biggest difference between the two teams broski was stable and Steuart Skinner was anything but all right that’s going to do it for us we’ll talk Brock Besser on our next show next week we’ll talk NHL draft we’re just over a week away so lots of free agent coverage lots of draft coverage and we’ll keep monitoring Purka watch and uh if we get any more updates on that in the next couple of days you want more on the final and the Panthers winning the Stanley Cup be sure to check out Locked on NHL Game Night wherever you listen to your podcast they’ve got you covered leading in to the offseason here on the Locked On NHL feed on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast we’ll talk to you on Friday here on Lockdown Sabers part of the Lockdown Podcast Network your team every day

There have been rumors about the Buffalo Sabres and Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers going back years and years, but no deal has ever materialized. Now that Ehlers is about to become a free agent, will the Sabres finally land Ehlers? Sneaky Joe makes the case for why the Sabres should make an aggressive offer for a player that is super consistent, a great even-strength goal scorer, and a great skater.

Plus, why Ehlers fills a need in the Sabres lineup, and is a potential JJ Peterka replacement if he is traded. What reporters are saying about what Ehlers will get contract-wise indicates a monster offer will be needed. And should we be thinking about Connor McDavid leaving Edmonton in a year?

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