Sabres may not be interested in trading Ristolainen
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: The fate of interim coach Bob Boughner in San Jose is still up in the air. The New Jersey Devils are still deciding on interim GM Tom Fitzgerald and are also interviewing head coaches.
The Buffalo Sabres have missed the playoffs for nine consecutive seasons and Jack Eichel sounded off last week about all the losing.
The non-playoff teams are able to make trades but it’s unlikely to happen as they’d be eliminating the majority of the market.
Rasmus Ristolainen was called a ‘core player’ by Sabres GM Jason Botterill and “a centerpiece” by coach Ralph Krueger. The Sabres may not need to trade Ristolainen.
The Sabres will have the salary cap space that they don’t need to buy out Kyle Okposo or give up on Jeff Skinner already.
Yzerman on free agency
Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News: Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman is they will be aggressive this offseason with trades and free agency.
“I’d say maybe, slightly,” he said. “Ultimately the plan is to hopefully draft well, hopefully run a good development program. We want to have as competitive a team as we can at this time, to help the Dylan Larkins, Anthony Manthas, Tyler Bertuzzis, the young core get better. But I don’t want to go into free-agency to make a splash. We’re gonna look to make sensible signings.”
It’s not as easy these days for the Red Wings to lure free agents.
The Red Wings have plenty salary cap space to re-sign Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi and Robby Fabbri.
The Red Wings could have interested in pending free agent defensemen Torey Krug and Tyson Barrie, as well as goaltender Robin Lehner. It’s not known if they would have interest in playing for the rebuilding Red Wings though.
“We’re prepared to do anything we can in free-agency, but it’s not get a player at all cost, that’s not the plan,” Yzerman said. “We’re not trying to do everything overnight because that can really handcuff you. The reality is, I think it’s very difficult to do that with free-agency, to get those elite players. You’ve got to spend a lot of money for a long time, and I don’t know if we’re a market for those type of players at this time. That’s the reality.”