A lot more than meets the eye, at first look at least.
While both are left-shooting wingers, the former is a part of Sabres history as part of the French Connection (alongside Gilbert Perreault and Rene Robert), and the latter has a chance to become future Sabres lore on a yet-to-be-named line (alongside Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart), if Vesey chooses to sign with Buffalo that is.
Chris Ostrander (of Two in the Box fame) has produced this spectacular graphic which details the Rick Martin trade tree, and all the players that have come and gone through Buffalo since that time.
Going through the tree is like a walk down Sabres memory lane, and when you look at the number of players who can be linked back to that original trade, the ‘Butterfly Effect’ of every single move an NHL General Manager makes really comes into perspective.
As mentioned by @JeremyWGR this morning, here is an updated Rick Martin trade tree. #Sabres pic.twitter.com/nh5vPxl6f3
— Chris Ostrander (@2ITB_Buffalo) July 13, 2016
Click here or on the image below to see a blown-up version of this trade tree.
And as Chris mentions, with Vesey, Dmitry Kulikov and Rasmus Asplund all tied into this, there’s more to come for sure.