On the Buffalo Sabres …
Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News: There has been lots of speculated the Sabres will trade forward Ryan O’Reilly by the draft. Yes, it could happen, but O’Reilly could be just another player who has his name in the rumor mill that doesn’t get moved.
The Sabres will likely have Rasmus Dahlin and Casey Mittlelstadt in their lineup next season, so why trade O’Reilly now? If trade O’Reilly who will take those minutes and win faceoffs?
From what he said after the season – that hated losing and his passion for hockey was lost as too many people in the locker room didn’t care – doesn’t think it makes sense to trade him because of it.
Yes, his cap hit of $7.5 million is a little high, but there appears to be many teams interested in him.
GM Jason Botterill isn’t shopping O’Reilly, but teams will call and he has to listen. If he’s going to talk about him, he has to aim real high on the return.
The Vancouver Canucks are interested in O’Reilly and the Carolina Hurricanes are looking for a center. If they are talking to the Hurricanes, the Sabres starting point show be Eichel’s close friend Noah Hanifin.
If the Sabres are going to move one of their core players, while Sam Reinhart could be the guy, defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen may make more sense.
Ristolainen has four years left at $5.4 million. The risk to move him is high and the return would have to high as well, but moving him wouldn’t hurt the team as much as moving O’Reilly.
The Sabres could buyout the final year of Matt Moulson‘s contract. A buyout of defenseman Zach Bogosian would cost them $8 million over the next four seasons.
The Sabres need to make an adjustment in net, and thinks they should look at Capitals backup Philipp Grubauer. The New York Islanders could also be looking at Grubauer. Would the Islanders consider Sabres Robin Lehner?