NHL Rumors: The Minnesota Wild, and the Buffalo Sabres
Jason Zucker and Ryan Ellis
Jason Zucker is facing the uncertainty of another trade rumor filled summer. Will he finally get dealt? The same goes for Phil Kessel as well as a reckoning for the Buffalo Sabres.
A Jason Zucker trade would show Minnesota learned nothing

Dom Lusyzczyszyn of The Athletic:  Has Minnesota learned anything? If the Wild pull the trigger on a Jason Zucker trade, that would mean likely no, It is funny but a trade to Pittsburgh or Vegas might have yielded a better return. Calgary and Arizona cannot hit those levels in a big deal. The Wild selling low on a player poised for a bounce-back 2019-20 is less than optimal.

Do Phil Kessel rumors spell more doom for Minnesota? 

Adam Gretz of Pro Hockey Talk:  Three questions plagued Minnesota in their quest for Phil Kessel which did fail.

  1. Were they really a 32-year old Kessel away from contending in the Central Division?
  2. What changed from a few months ago to go seek out a veteran scoring mercenary basically?
  3. What honestly is going on with Jason Zucker in Minnesota? Why is he nearly being moved so much?

This on-the-fly rebuilds to try and salvage what is left of Parise and Suter’s careers is curious at best. Minnesota’s veteran core is all 35 or over which makes this situation an even more perilous one.

Buffalo Sabres:  A roster reckoning coming

John Vogl of The Athletic:  Alas, the Buffalo Sabres’ offseason could be very good or an unmitigated disaster.

Buffalo may offer sheet Kasperi Kapanen then sign Jake Gardiner from Toronto for starters. Then, the Sabres acquiring Jacob Trouba with the assurance they sign him would be quite the coup.

The Sabres are hoping players like Victor Olofsson and Alexander Nylander can step up is a bit of a stretch but possible.

Finally, this would rid themselves of Rasmus Ristolainen and several fringe players as well.

However, there is a bad scenario. Buffalo finds themselves unable to re-sign Jeff Skinner and he walks for zero. The roster looks the same minus Olofsson and Nylander getting second line minutes. Worse, the Sabres would be learning a new system without any real upgrade in talent. If anything, this represents a downturn.