NHL Rumors: Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, and the Seattle Kraken

Ideally, the Ottawa Senators could use a middle-six winger

Adam Proteau of The Hockey News: As Elliotte Friedman noted, the Ottawa Senators are looking “to hit a home run” on the trade market. They currently have around $1.475 million in cap space, with $5.12 million in projected trade deadline space. That’s not a ton of room, though.

The sellers market may be limited at the moment, and those teams aren’t in a rush – Calgary Flames, Nashville Predators, and the St. Louis Blues. The Senators could ideally use a middle-six left winger. The Sens currently don’t have a 2026 first-round pick.

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The Buffalo Sabres may not be at $10 million for Alex Tuch yet

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: As of last week, there was still a sizable gap in contract talks between the Buffalo Sabres and pending UFA Alex Tuch. Don’t believe the Sabres have moved up to the $10 million number or more. It’s not to say they won’t go that high at some point. Things are status quo, but neither side is shutting down any talks.

The Seattle Kraken are looking for a top-six forward

The Fourth Period: Last week, David Pagnotta said on a DFO Rundown episode that the Seattle Kraken are looking to make a splash before the trade deadline or next offseason.

“They’re at a point where they want to they want to add, they definitely do, but they feel they need to proceed with a little bit of caution because they’ve got a lot of players that are pending unrestricted free agents,” Pagnotta said.

“If this team is going to continue to stay in the playoff race and be part of the wild card discussion… You want to just make sure you’re maintaining that same trajectory for this season. And then you look to add.”

The Kraken have pending UFAs in forwards Jaden Schwartz, Jordan Eberle, Mason Marchment, and Eeli Tolvanen and defenceman Jamie Oleksiak.

The Kraken showed some interest in St. Louis Blues forward Jordan Kyrou at the draft last year, and the Blues are still listening to calls on him. Kyrou does have a full no-trade clause. It’s not known who they are looking at.

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Pagnotta adds that the Kraken would like to add an impact, scoring forward. Ideally, a wing who could play on their first line, at least a top-six.

They have around $2.13 million in cap space now, over $34.75 million projected for next season.

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