Ducks didn’t think they’d be able to sign Karlsson if they acquired him
Elliott Teaford of the OC Register: Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray that they could have offered up a similar package of draft picks and prospects that the San Jose Sharks sent to the Ottawa Senators for Erik Karlsson, but being able to re-sign him past this season wouldn’t have been .
“You’re not going to trade for him for one year,” Murray said. “You’ve got to be able to think you can sign him going forward and I just didn’t feel we would be in a position to sign him going forward. That’s the way it is right now with our hockey team.”
The Ducks are usually aren’t a salary ceiling team. They are around $6 million below the cap.
“I couldn’t afford him, so I didn’t hold Pierre up,” Murray said, referring to Senators general manager Pierre Dorion. “I said, ‘Hey, I can give you the things you got.’ I was more than capable of giving him what he got. But, if you can’t afford a person, why are you going to do that?”
Sabres and Skinner’s camp to wait
Chris Nichols of Nichols on Hockey: Darren Dreger was on WGR 550 radio yesterday and said there haven’t really been any contract extension talks between the Buffalo Sabres and Jeff Skinner. Skinner is in the final year of his deal and the Sabres and Skinner’s camp agreed to let the season start before getting into anything.
“Both sides essentially agreed, ‘Let’s get the season going. Let’s see how Jeff is fitting in with the Buffalo Sabres.’ Obviously there is a lot of youth there that Jason Botterill is going to have to contend with contractually moving forward, but they just want to play the season a little bit. Not play it out, but play it in a little bit to see how Skinner fits into the bigger picture, and then they’ll perhaps discuss contract extension in the second half of the year.”