Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – With what general manager Kevyn Adams acquired before Friday’s NHL Trade Deadline, it was obvious he knew they had to get bigger.
Winger Jordan Greenway comes in from the Minnesota Wild at 6-foot-6 and 231 pounds. Defenseman Riley Stillman came from the Vancouver Canucks and is 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds.
“What I noticed wasn’t that we were getting pushed around, but teams were trying to bully us. I don’t think there’s any way around it," said Adams following the NHL Trade Deadline on Friday. "If you watch our games, a number of teams going after our top players and just game-after-game targeting them, it was clear.”
Teams will know when both Greenway and Stillman are on the ice. Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato feels that will be a plus going forward.
“There’s certain players that when they’re on the ice, everyone is aware. I put Jordan in that category," said Granato on Friday. "He can skate and he can make plays, but he’s got the presence physically that people are aware when he’s on the ice.”
Granato coached Greenway when they were with the U.S. National Team Under-18 program. Tage Thompson was also on that team.
Many feel Greenway was an underachiever with the Wild. Of course, Adams talked a lot about how Granato felt about the 26-year-old winger.
“It’s exactly why we did it," he said. "One of [Granato's] greatest strengths is his passion for the players and the relationships that he builds. He was pounding the table on this one and said, ‘I know that there is more to this player, and I believe that if we acquire him and we get him in our environment, I believe that we’re getting a really important hockey player.’ I put a lot of stock in that.”
As I’ve mentioned many times, when teams call about a player with the organization, they will ask for different things. Adams made mention of Jiri Kulich and Matt Savoie, saying they were non-starters when teams asked for them.
“I’m really excited about the prospect pool that we have, and so is the rest of the league, because there’s a lot of questions about guys," Adams said.
“I feel we moved our franchise forward today without compromising on things we weren’t willing to do.”
When it came to the Jakob Chychrun trade, Adams said the ask was totally different between what they wanted from the Ottawa Senators and what they wanted from the Sabres. Ottawa ended up giving up draft picks, while the Arizona Coyotes wanted Buffalo’s young players.
That wasn’t the only trade proposal where teams were after the Sabres' young players.
“You have to be careful just saying, ‘If this team traded for this, then we should’ve done it.’ That’s not the way it typically works," Adams said. "There is a line where we would draw in a situation, and we are not going over it. There’s high prices, and I get it, but we’ll always be in conversations when it comes to good hockey players.”
The Sabres also sent Rasmus Asplund to the Nashville Predators on Friday for a 2025 seventh-round pick. Adams says he just felt it was the right thing to do for Asplund to help him move forward with his career.
Rasmus Dahlin skated with the team on Friday. Granato says he won’t rule him out for Saturday's matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and they are going to monitor him closely right up until game time.
Eric Comrie was the goalie who didn’t alternate during practice, so there’s a good chance he may start Saturday in Buffalo.
Join Brian Koziol and Pat Malacaro for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 11 a.m. EST when you'll hear from Adams, Granato and Dahlin.
