On Sabres Skinner, Eichel, Reinhart and Ristolainen
WGR 550: (thread) Darren Dreger on WGR on the Buffalo Sabres and the protected lists for the Seattle Kraken expansion draft.
“I don’t know that we’re going to be surprised by any big names that get left unprotected for the #SeaKraken Expansion Draft.”
“If #SeaKraken had interest in #Sabres forward Jeff Skinner, there’d be better ways to acquire him outside of the Expansion Draft.”
“As much as Bill Guerin and the #MNWild would like to acquire #Sabres center Jack Eichel, he doesn’t want to get caught up in a flurry of activity. Guerin is going to make an offer, or he already has, and that’s it.”
“#VegasBorn needs a center. That’s why we, the media, continue to link #Sabres forward Jack Eichel with them. Kelly McCrimmon would have to really sharpen his pencil to get a deal done given their cap situation.”
“There’s a market for Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel for sure. I don’t expect that the #Sabres are going to have to lower their asking price.”
“There’s teams digging in on Ristolainen. The #Sabres asking price is a young defenseman and a high draft pick. Maybe Ristolainen goes before Reinhart and Eichel.”
Wild in on Eichel with the Avalanche a dark horse?
Alex Reimer of Audacy Sports: The Minnesota Wild created out $10.3 million in salary cap space when they bought out Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. The Wild are a possible landing spot for Sabres forward Jack Eichel according to Elliotte Friedman, who added that the Colorado Avalanche could be a dark horse for Eichel.
“Don’t go crazy with that, but they can do it,” Friedman said with Andrew Peters and Craig Rivet. “They’ve sort of been around the elite of the league. They’ve been knocked out in the second round over the last two years.”
The Sabres asking price has down a bit. For the Avalanche to be in on Eichel, it would mean Gabriel Landeskog is gone.
“I do wonder if Landeskog does leave, does Colorado do something as a surprise like that?,” he said. “I think a lot of these moves are dependent on what teams are having happen to them.”