Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill and his head coach Ralph Kreuger are not phased one bit about being out of the Eastern Conference wild card right now. Both men agree that there is much work to be done between now and the end of the regular season in April.
There is still runway length left to successfully lift off and Botterill has a strategy.
Botterill's message is consitent to watch he has been telling media for months. The Sabres' GM is still in search of a trade partner to deliver a top six forward to the Sabres.
The NHL trade deadline is fast approaching.
On Tuesday, Botterill told my friends Andrew Peters and Craig Rivet that when the time is right for himself and a trading partner a deal will be done.
Until then we wait.
" I think there is always dialogue going on with different teams. It’s just, you’re talking with a team, you feel you’re close and they run into a couple strings of injuries during games. I think during the (All Star) break, GMs get away from their teams a little bit, have opportunities to go through scouting meetings with their group and really see what they’re looking for the stretch run. And look, you just look at some GMs in the past, they’re certainly aggressive trying to get their deals done in January or the start of February. Others want to wait straight to the deadline, or close to the deadline. You also have to understand the GM you’re working with and what his background is from that standpoint. But we’re continuing to have dialogue from that standpoint. We did make the trade to bring in Frolik. We have been very happy with what he’s added to our penalty kill situation and we’re excited to see now, with Jeff Skinner coming back to our lineup tonight, just that line of Skinner-Johansson-Frolik, to see what kind of chemistry they can develop as a group there and we’ll see what materializes".
Botterill doubled and tripled down on his desire to add a speedy, skilled forward to his top six forward group. Botterill has veteran defenseman, roster players, prospects and draft choices to invest as trade currency. He has been shadow dancing with several NHL GMs. Soon, he will finalize a trade.
" I think we’ve been very honest, continuing to try and look at our forward group to try and improve that group. We feel we have some young players, but when you lose Sobotka, when you lose Tage Thompson for the year, you’re looking to try to add to that mix, for sure. The development — we talked earlier a little bit just about the development of some of our younger defensemen. When we were sitting here in the summer making the trade for Henri Jokiharju, we didn’t have him, “Oh, this guy’s going to be on our team for sure.… And he stepped up from that standpoint and that’s allowed us to have more depth from a defensive standpoint. And the same thing with a player like Lawrence Pilut. You know, it’s a situation where he’s accomplished what we wanted him to accomplish in the American Hockey League. He’s come up and played well; he deserves the opportunity to stay here right now. When these players come into the mix, it gives us more optionshere on defense. But what we’re looking for, from a forward standpoint, I continue to think finding more offensive skill, but also, too, just speed. The way Ralph wants our players to play on the forecheck and tracking back, if we continue to improve our speed. But that’s something that’s going to be ongoing, whether it’s before the deadline, the summer, that’s something we’re going to continue to work at."
I can tell you there is no shortage of NHL dignitaries here to watch Sabres-v-Senators tonight.
The Senators have summer rentals in forwards J.G. Pageau and Anthony Duclair atttracting attention these days. The Sens also have pending UFA D-men Mark Borowiecki and Ron Hainsey to move along for assets.
However, the Sabres continue to be en vogue with several NHL clubs.
The sinking San Jose have dispatched a senior pro scout to Buffalo. I have been hearing for weeks that forward Tomas Hertl is on the trade block. Doug Wilson badly needs a first round draft choice in 2020. Jason Botterill has a first rounder in 2020. Hertl, 26, is the type of top six forward that the Sabres badly need. Hertl is an affordable $5.625M AAV for the next two seasons after this one.
The New Jersey Devils have been asked about forward Kyle Palmieri. I know the Sabres have interest in Palmieri. The Devils are here agin tonight. Palmieri, 28, has one year remaining on his contract at $4.65M AAV.
The NY Rangers have been sending front office brass to Buffalo for the past couple of months. Pending UFA Chris Kreider is a prized possession that the Rangers can trade away for a cluster of premium assets like the Arizona Coyotes trade to the New Jersey Devilss in exchange for pending UFA Taylor Hall. Is Botterill willing to go there?
Since November, I seen Steve Yzerman, Pat Verbeek, Kirk Maltby and a couple of pro scouts from the Detroit Red Wings, who have Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha to trade in exchange for a defensive difference maker like Colin Miller of the Sabres.
The Minnesota Wild have slick forward Jason Zucker to trade for defensive depth. The Wild have a pro scout here again tonight. Wild GM Bill Guerin is close personal friends with Jason Botterill. Guerin has glaring needs on his roster and Botterill has quality solutions to exchange for Zucker.
The Washington Capitals have sent their director of pro players personnel to Buffalo. The Caps have been sending scouts to Buffalo on the regular.
The Winnipeg Jets have their director of pro scouting and a senior scout here again tonight, The Jets are currently paying rent to the Sabres for a permanent spot on press row. The Tampa Lightning are looking for veteran depth at defense and forward and have their director of pro scouting and a pro scout here tonight to scout Colin Miller, Zach Bogosian and others.
The Vancouver Canucks are also looking to add a veteran defenseman. They too have a pro scout here tonight. Ditto the Pittsburgh Penguins and NY Islanders. Botterill's Sabres are 10 points behind a wild card berth and are home for nine of their next ten games.
Are the Sabres sellers or buyers.
I'm going with the latter not the former.
Let the trade deadline games begin.