On the Buffalo Sabres …
Amir Basu: Bob McKenzie on Ryan O’Reilly: “Jason Botterill and the Sabres simply didn’t get what they thought was fair value, they will still continue to try but he is due a big signing bonus July 1 and if BUF pays it there is a better chance than not he is in their lineup to start next season”
John Vogl: Sabres GM Jason Botterill on pending restricted free agent forward Sam Reinhart: “Our discussions with Craig Oster have been positive. I don’t view it as a difficult situation at all. Hopefully, we’ll look at some different structures in the upcoming weeks and get something done.”
On the Minnesota Wild …
Michael Russo: Minnesota Wild Assistant GM Flahr on if they could have traded back and still drafted Filip Johansson: “We talked about different options of potentially moving back. We also had a couple teams behind us that we knew were on him as well. We just made the pick at the end of the day.”
On the New York Islanders …
Andy Graziano: From the talk coming from the draft, the Islanders could be looking at goaltenders Craig Anderson and Jimmy Howard. The belief is that the price for Cam Talbot is a little too high for someone that would be a stopgap goaltender.
On the New York Rangers …
Dan Rosen: Rangers GM Jeff Gorton said that they weren’t close to trade one of their first-round picks for a player that could help them immediately.
On the Philadelphia Flyers …
John Boruk: Flyers GM Ron Hextall confirms that he didn’t ask forward Wayne Simmonds for his 12-team trade list. Hextall added that are reports that he did are erroneous.
On the Tampa Bay Lightning …
Joe Smith: Lightning GM Steve Yzerman was asked if they plan on talking to anyone during the free agent window and if any trade talk. Yzerman said that it is a challenge given their salary cap situation: “What we’re trying to do is make the team better, and how you do that, for the most part, is keep it together and add to it, not necessarily go sideways.”
