Rumblings of a big trade between the Sabres and Red Wings.

Big trade on the horizon?

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Rumblings of a big trade between the Sabres and Red Wings.
Keystone Press

It seems that there may be the early brewing of a trade between the Buffalo Sabres and the Detroit Red Wings, although admittedly it may go in a very different direction by the time it is all said and done.

For weeks now we have heard some rumblings regarding the future of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. There has been talk that the Sabres are looking to move on from Ristolainen and when you add the moves made this offseason by the Sabres those rumors certainly seem to gain more and more credibility. The Sabres of course made the move to acquire defenseman Colin Miller and this came after the rumors around Ristolainen had already began to pick up steam, further leading to speculation that time was running out for Ristolainen.

This week Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman was asked about whether or not there was another move in store from the Buffalo Sabres, and he appeared to indicate that he believed there would be.

"All the talk is about Rasmus Ristolainen. I just heard the price was very high around the draft, the [Ryan] O'Reilly trade did not work out so well for them so I think they are careful about trading somebody else who could become a big piece in another place... but I think [Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill] has got him out there and we will see where it goes."

That is certainly very interesting given the rumblings that have been floating around regarding Ristolainen, but the question then becomes where does he end up going? Well Friedman added some information on that topic as well, however it has to be stated that this information was speculative in nature in spite of coming from a source. 

"He could see them targeting somebody like Anthony Mantha from Detroit," said Friedman on the podcast. "No idea if Detroit is willing to do anything like that, but they could see that being the kind of player Buffalo is targeting."

Although the link to Detroit may be speculative in its nature, there is no doubt in Friedman's mind that Ristolainen is being dangled by the Sabres. The insider made sure to state that fact before closing out the segment on his podcast.

"He's definitely out there but the price is high."

Source: