The Buffalo Sabres and the rest of the National Hockey League, with the exception of the Vegas Golden Knights, are preparing for the upcoming Seattle Expansion Draft set to take place on Wednesday, July 21.
Leading up to the Expansion Draft, the Sabres will have to submit a list of players to the league that the team is set to protect from exposure to be selected by the Seattle Kraken. The list of either seven forwards, three defensemen and a goalie or four players and a goalie have to be in to the NHL by Saturday, July 17.
During an interview with Brayton Wilson on WGR, filling in for "The Instigators" on Friday, David Pagnotta from The Fourth Period brought up a player that hasn't been in the spotlight in terms of potentially being moved this offseason: Kyle Okposo.
Pagnotta said the Sabres would like to free up some cap space with any move involving Okposo.
"They're not in cap trouble, but I think they would like to be in a position somehow to alleviate a little bit of that cap pressure to allow them to make some other moves," Pagnotta said. "So I think there has been a discussion with Seattle with respect to Kyle Okposo. I don't know if it's gotten anywhere, but I know that there's been some type of discussion from the perspective."
Okposo registered 13 points (2+11) in 35 games this past season with the Sabres. Over the course of his career in Buffalo, the 33-year-old has not been able to live up to the seven-year contract he signed in the summer of 2016. The veteran winger has only scored 59 goals and registered 91 assists for 150 points in 306 games.
It is a far cry from the production he put up at the start of his career with the New York Islanders, where he amassed 369 points (139+230) in 529 games.
If the Sabres are able to entice the Kraken to take Okposo off their hands in some way during the Expansion Draft, it is likely that Buffalo will need to add another asset, or more, to make the deal complete.
Okposo is still scheduled to make $6 million in each of the final two seasons of his current contract.
Pagnotta also offered an update on trade speculations regarding players who have been in the spotlight this offseason, namely forwards Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. Pagnotta said it's almost certain that Eichel gets moved, but that's not necessarily the case for Reinhart.
"I think Eichel [getting traded] is definative, I don't know if Reinhart is," Pagnotta said. "I know Reinhart has voiced his opinion saying with Ristolainen saying we don't want to go through another rebuild. Well, you can't trade everybody. You have to keep some assets."
You can listen to Pagnotta's entire interview below:
