Two in the Mailbox: Mid-Summer Mailbag

This is a question from Andy on Twitter.

I am Andy Baer.

And his question is, hypothetically, the Sabres don't make a big move this year.

They have a similar season to last year.

And McDavid wants out of Edmonton and would be open to coming to Buffalo.

What would it take to get him here in Buffalo? Now, there are a lot of caveats in this question.

Obviously, relying on the Sabres remaining very competitive.

The Oilers having a down year.

McDavid finally deciding the time is now to leave.

and then being willing to come to Buffalo.

So a lot of things would need to happen for this hypothetical to come true, but let's just grant Andy's hypothetical here because it is an interesting talking point.

I would add that it seems more likely to me that the Sabres would be on track to potentially regress a bit.

It doesn't necessarily mean that they would miss the playoffs, but division winner... one shot from the conference final.

The roster is not better than it was last year, so don't be surprised if there's a step back this season.

And that could affect things as well because we don't quite know what McDavid is going to want if and when he leaves Edmonton.

He could very well possibly be a guy searching for an advantageous tax situation and warm weather.

And so maybe Buffalo's just not going to be on his list no matter what.

But If we assume Buffalo would be on his list, I mean, you're talking a trade so seismic it would potentially eclipse the Gretzky deal in some ways.

It wouldn't be as newsworthy as the Gretzky deal, but we haven't seen a deal of that magnitude before.

of the McDavid magnitude, I should say, in the NHL, I mean, maybe since Gretzky, depending on what your scale is.

And so the Sabres are going to have to, or any team, you're talking about offering three, four truly premium pieces to the Oilers in addition to draft picks or prospects.

So, I mean, you're probably looking at a trade package that is going to be – you know, five, six pieces big, I mean, it would be truly, truly massive just in terms of what the Oilers would want and, quite frankly, need if they were going to trade away their franchise player.

I mean, maybe the closest comparable in recent years could be like the Matthew Kachuk trade from Calgary, right? where Florida gave up a lottery-protected but a first-round pick, Cole Schwint, McKenzie Wieger, and Jonathan Huberdeau.

I mean, Huberdeau was just off 100 points or 90 points or something like that, right on the heels of being moved.

Wieger was still a very good defenseman.