E.115 "Answer Has To Be In The Room"

Connor Hellebuck has finally been traded.

The deal is Connor Hellebuck for Nico Dawes, Dawson Mercer, Nick Bustad, Alexander Command, which we'll ask you about him.

He is the first round pick of the Devils this past draft.

I believe, yes, this past draft.

A 2027 seventh round pick, so a big one there.

And then a 2029 second round pick who could maybe crack the lineup.

in like 2032.

So Walt, your initial thoughts on the trade, and then we will obviously circle this back to the Sabres, but your just initial thoughts on the trade.

I think it makes a lot of sense for a team like New Jersey because they're a team that's probably a goalie away from being a cup contender.

They've been dominating teams just in terms of expected chances this season, and they have a really talented roster and kind of a very analytics-focused GM, too.

So he was someone who was... kind of a bit hesitant on upgrading the goaltending spot this off season but he saw an opportunity to upgrade it in season and you know their goaltending wasn't looking too great uh with what they had there so yeah i think it makes a ton of sense for new jersey the return was probably about what i expected like it's always tough with these returns because you don't know how gm's value like certain pieces Like someone like Dawson Mercer, for example, like I wouldn't value him crazy high, but I could definitely see why an NHL GM would value him a ton.

So it's just tough to kind of measure those pieces like that.

and kind of find what their equivalent would be on the Sabres because you really just don't know how that GM values that certain piece.

And I think we kind of saw it this offseason, too, with Bo and Byron going for the fourth overall pick plus additional pieces.

I never would have guessed in a million years you would get anything near that value-wise.

So who knows how those pieces were valued, but it wasn't really a crazy return.

You know, it made sense for Winnipeg to do the deal at the time because they probably weren't going to get too much more if they waited any longer.

Yeah, I think shovel day off.

I mean, if you're if I'm a Winnipeg fan, I'm really angry with shovel day off.

This is not the best deal they could have gotten.

And they wait until the last second their backs were against the wall and they had to do something or else they were going to start paying him to not play.

And so, first off, I think Winnipeg really messed this up.

Second is, relating this back to the Sabres, the Sabres, and relating it to the Winnipeg's mistakes, Sabres reportedly made at least one, if not two, offers to Winnipeg, especially the one of the draft, to swap the fourth overall and eighth overall.

I believe 20 was involved as well.

And then there is, depending on who you ask, there's Jack Quinn that's involved.