Ennis could end up in Vancouver
Donnie and Dhali: Rick Dhaliwal on Friday: “Not saying they are going to sign him, could be a PTO situation but the #Canucks have been poking around with the Tyler Ennis camp.”
Sabres will likely need to take salary back in any Eichel trade
John Vogl of The Athletic: (mailbag) The Buffalo Sabres are not close to the salary cap ceiling. So if Jack Eichel remains with the team at the start of the season and is not able to play due to his neck injury, he won’t be put on the LTIR. They are so close to the salary floor that if they trade Eichel, they will likely have to make sure they are taking money back, or make another move to add salary.
If Eichel is not traded by training camp, he’ll fail his physical, they could put him on the IR and he could stay at home until he’s traded. If Eichel doesn’t report to the Sabres training camp at all, they could suspend him without pay. He’d be forfeiting just over $36,000 per day.
Maple Leafs considered breaking up the core?
Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star: Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said he briefly considered trading one of their core players this past offseason.
“None of those opportunities that came along in the summer were going to tangibly improve our team,” Dubas said on the latest episode of “The Bob McCown Podcast.”
“They could have would have made us different, but they wouldn’t have necessarily made us better.”
Dubas added:
“We looked at everything. I know that there is a feeling that the core group is protected, and we have a strong belief in them. But I think we would look at anything that would that would improve our team overall, regardless.”