On the Buffalo Sabres …
Mike Harrington: The Buffalo Sabres are not going to fire head coach Dan Bylsma. He’s in just his second year behind the Sabres bench, and the team just is not good enough yet.
Mike Harrington: “Behind EVERY NHL coach who has been fired this year is a GM who made major, major screwups. Now think about Bylsma again.”
On the New Jersey Devils …
Tom Gulitti: Wonder if the Devils would consider trading goaltender Keith Kinkaid in the right deal. Kinkaid is a pending unrestricted free agent after the season.
Tom Gulitti: The Devils do need to get a goalie under contract that they can leave exposed for the expansion draft.
On the Anaheim Ducks …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet 960 talking about the Anaheim Ducks, their depth on the blueline leading up to the trade deadline and with the June expansion draft.
Both GMs Joe Sakic and Steve Yzerman took in Friday’s Anaheim Ducks – Florida Panthers game. The Lightning did play the Ducks on Saturday.
“So we’ve got a situation here where something is up. My curiosity is which one of these Anaheim defensemen are we talking about. And knowing that Colorado has players with term that it’s looking to move, and Tampa has long-term cap issues they need to deal with – I’m thinking this might be a bigger deal. That if they do it with Anaheim, it’s something with a bit more meat to it.
“So I think that’s pretty interesting that both of those guys were there. I’m not convinced if it’s one of those two teams it’s just a Theodore or a Montour. Maybe the word ‘just’ isn’t accurate, but I meant it’s not necessarily one of the smaller pieces. Maybe it’s a bigger piece.
“I think one of the guys it wouldn’t surprise me if they were looking at was Josh Manson, who had a really good game on Friday. But I know the Ducks love him. So I don’t know if it’s something bigger than one of the AHL guys that they’re looking at, but I think it’s pretty interesting that Sakic and Yzerman both took that game in in person.”