On the Buffalo Sabres …
Mike Harrington: Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner when asked about the blogger “report” that he had asked for at trade: “That was fake news. It’s funny how it works. Some blogger puts something out. I don’t even know who that guy is and people jump on it. … It’s hilarious. This day and age, you don’t have to put a source on it. It’s not true.”
Paul Hamilton: Lehner said that he’s happy that he wasn’t traded and that he wants to be part of the solution in Buffalo.
On Ryan McDonagh …
Jimmy Murphy: Source saying that a Ryan McDonagh trade came down to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins.
On the Ottawa Senators and Vegas Golden Knights …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Darren Dreger was on TSN 1050 talking about the trade deadline. A potential Erik Karlsson trade went down to the wire on Monday.
“Earlier in the day when we started in the morning, we didn’t feel like it was going to happen. And then things developed over the course of mid-morning and early afternoon, and all of the sudden it’s 2:45 and there’s a possibility that Erik Karlsson is going to the Vegas Golden Knights. And we’re like, ‘Ohhhhh, okay. Hold on!’
Dreger doesn’t believe Karlsson wants to finish his career with the Senators – that he’s past the point of no return. Dreger adds that Karlsson has more leverage now as teams that would trade for him would likely want to extend him.
“I’ll tell you guys this much: I want to give credit to George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon in Vegas. Because the Vegas Golden Knights, at least my understanding is, they felt like they basically had the framework of a deal for Erik Karlsson just before the deadline. So we’re dealing in minutes – maybe 15, 20 minutes, maybe less than that – prior to the deadline. They thought they were getting Erik Karlsson. They thought they had something done, and then at the last second something shifted. And then in fairness, Ottawa sources suggest it wasn’t that close.”
