On the Buffalo Sabres …
Dennis Bernstein: The Kings have given the Sabres permission to talk with Mike Futa about their vacant GM position.
Dennis Bernstein: Think that Futa has a clause in his contract that allows him to talk to teams about GM roles during the offseason.
Dennis Bernstein: The Kings promoted Futa to assistant GM when Rob Blake took over as GM. He is happy in LA but would have to assume that being close to his home base in Toronto could make the Sabres opportunity more attractive.
John Vogl: The Sabres have asked the Kings for permission to speak with Futa, but have not asked for permission to speak with Dean Lombardi.
Elliott Friedman: The Ranges denied the Sabres permission to speak with Chris Drury. Drury did not decline.
On the Buffalo Sabres and Vegas Golden Knights …
John Vogl of the Buffalo News: Former Sabres GM Tim Murray held talks with Vegas GM George McPhee about players they they didn’t want to lose on the expansion draft. McPhee confirmed that he and Murray held “productive talks” but nothing was finalized. McPhee said that he’ll reach out to the new Sabres GM after they’ve been hired.
McPhee has been talking to many teams about the draft.
“If they want to give us draft picks to encourage us to take a certain player or leave another player alone, we’re open-minded and we’re going to listen to everyone,” McPhee told the AP. “You usually build your team, historically, through the entry draft, so we’d certainly be interested in acquiring picks.”
ESPN: GM McPhee told the AP that he’s held preliminary talks with most teams about trades that could be made before the draft. McPhee said that talks are focused on who teams don’t want to lose or who they’ve like the Golden Knights to select.