NHL Rumors: Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens

On the Buffalo Sabres …

Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News: Heading to last night’s game, Evander Kane was second in goals on the Sabres with 16, 14 coming at even strength.

Kane has another year left on his deal, but off-ice issues had the Sabres wishing they could trade him this past offseason.

Do the Sabres keep him as part of their re-build, or do they try to sell high on him to get a top-four defenseman?

The Sabres don’t have a lot of prospects left to trade, and they could use some help on the blueline. There have been lots of scouts watching the Sabres this past month.

Maybe the Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks or Anaheim Ducks would be interested.

On the Montreal Canadiens …

Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Darren Dreger on TSN 690 on if the Montreal Canadiens have been inquiring about players who could be available at the deadline. Dreger thinks they have been, and from talking to teams, it’s clear the Canadiens would like to add a center. Martin Hanzal rumors continue, and maybe there is some interest Brian Boyle or Matt Duchene.

“And also, it’s widely known that they’re still in the market for a defenseman. The Nesterov trade with the Tampa Bay Lighting was good from a depth perspective, but I think everybody can appreciate he’s a 5-6 guy. So if there’s a marginal upgrade, I think Bergevin would look at that as well.

“But because of the standings and because of so many teams in the mix, particularly in the East, the sellers certainly haven’t been defined yet. But we’ll get that clearly with March 1 looming.”

Dreger later talked about if the Canadiens could be showcasing Michael McCarron. Dreger thinks Bergevin doesn’t want to trade McCarron in any deal.

“And there’s no guarantee that Hanzal is going to be a considerable upgrade. I mean, they love his size at 6-foot-6. And yeah, he’d be good in that No. 2 spot potentially. But maybe they’re also giving McCarron another look. Sometimes patience in the best option. You don’t overpay to get a certain player or what have you, and you find out that you’ve got that player internally.”