While many teams are hoping to strike an agreement with Vegas to get them to take a bad contract off their hands, John Vogl of the Buffalo News highlights a unique situation when it comes to the Sabres. Winger Matt Moulson, who has two years left on his contract with a $5MM cap hit, is someone the team would like to get off their payroll and Golden Knights GM George McPhee has a close relationship with Moulson’s family as he happens to be the godfather to his wife. Accordingly, Vogl speculates if there could be a fit between the two teams in a trade.
McPhee has already stated that he expects to take on some onerous contracts in exchange for other assets. Buffalo is already armed with a fair amount of cap space this summer as they have a little more than $50MM in committed payroll so it’s safe to wonder if other teams may be more desperate to unload an underachieving contract than they are.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- Pending unrestricted free agent center Dominic Moore is hopeful to re-sign in Boston this offseason, he told Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. He adds that he expects contract talks to begin in the next couple of weeks. The 36 year old had a good first season in a bottom six role with the Bruins, chipping in 25 points (11-14-25) in 81 games while once again being well above average at the faceoff dot, coming in with a success rate of 54.6%. He earned $1MM after bonuses this past season and should land a contract around that mark on the open market this summer.
- With the Panthers closing in on an agreement with Bob Boughner to be their new head coach, that leaves the Sabres as the lone team looking for a new bench boss. TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports (Twitter link) that they will wait until after the Stanley Cup Final to interview Nashville assistant coach Phil Housley. Penguins assistant Rick Tocchet has also been expected to interview for the position while McKenzie adds that Jacques Martin, also an assistant with Pittsburgh, may also sit down with GM Jason Botterill. The new general manager would certainly be familiar with the two Pittsburgh coaches having been hired away from the Penguins himself last month. Botterill is on record saying he’d like to have a new coach in place for the NHL Entry Draft which starts on June 23rd.