There's something about a late-night trade on a Friday, in August, that has to get you excited.

The Buffalo Sabres sent Ilya Lyubushkin to the Anaheim Ducks for little more than a draft pick, that's barely worth anything, and that's it? 

It has to get the wheels turning.

Yes, on the surface this trade happened because the Sabres had a big ol' logjam on defense. Before this trade, Lyubushkin was one of nine defenders they had under contract who can play at least passably at the NHL level. Your mileage may vary on the Riley Stillmans and Jacob Brysons of the world, but even still, the Sabres went out and signed Connor Clifton and Erik Johnson this summer to the kinds of contracts you don't sign if you're intending to spend a lot of time this season healthy-scratching them. So in some ways, Lyub