On the Buffalo Sabres …
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: The Sabres will be sellers once again at the trade deadline and their approach will be the same.
“The approach is the same. We’re in 29th place. I do stress that we think we’ve improved greatly everywhere but in the standings,” Sabres general manager Tim Murray said over the phone this week.
“This is the process. If I can acquire younger assets or future assets for some of our veterans, especially veterans on expiring contracts, I’m going to pursue that for sure.”
Pending free agents include center Jamie McGinn, defenseman Mike Weber and goalie Chad Johnson.
Teams are saying that the Sabres would listen to offers on Tyler Ennis.
The Sabres scouted Jonathan Drouin last weekend.
On Jonathan Drouin, Radim Vrbata and Dustin Byfuglien …
- Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: The Senators are still looking for a top-six foward, but not if it costs them Cody Ceci, who the Lightning would likely want for Jonathan Drouin.LeBrun isn’t sure if the Wild have the right pieces to make a Drouin deal.The Ducks have some prospects the Lightning may be interested in.
The Blues have depth on the blueline to make a play for Drouin.
The Canucks appear to be undecided with regards to pending UFA Radim Vrbata. Vrbata holds a partial no-trade clause, and as of yesterday afternoon hasn’t been asked for a list of teams he’d accept a trade to.
As of yesterday afternoon, Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien hadn’t been asked for a list of teams. LeBrun doesn’t think Byfuglien will sign for anything less than five years. He’ll be 31-years old at the end of March.
On the Winnipeg Jets …
- Darren Dreger: Asked if there was any contract news on Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien, Dreger responds with “Quiet.”
On the price of rentals …
- Brian Wilde: The price for rentals will likely be high this year as there likely won’t be many teams out of the playoff race.
On the Philadelphia Flyers …
- Sam Carchidi: GM Ron Hextall today on SiriusXM radio: “If there’s an offensive option out there, we’d certainly look at it.”