NHL Rumors: Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, New York Rangers

Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The focus has shifted toward the new season. Teams are always looking to improve, and the excitement of a new NHL season is upon us.

In this Sunday edition of NHL Rumors, we’ll examine the Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, and the New York Rangers.

NHL rumors in this edition include: 

Will the Buffalo Sabres win the Patrick Kane sweepstakes? The Isles need help. Trading Oliver Wahlstrom may be the answer. Is Filip Chytil’s injury issues severe enough to force him to end his NHL career?

Buffalo Sabres – Patrick Kane

Rumor: Per – Rob Ellis – nhltraderumor.com. A list of teams may be interested in acquiring Patrick Kane, but only one has a good shot.

Besides the Sabres, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Dallas Stars, and Florida Panthers have been interested in adding Patrick Kane to their roster. The thing is, the Sabres are the only club on that list with adequate cap space to pay Kane. The Buffalo team has $9.9 million, and only the Red Wings are another team with close enough cap space ($5.54M) to be in the running. The other teams may want to sign Kane but would need to make some serious roster adjustments to make it happen.

With the Rangers removing themselves from consideration, the Sabres now appear to be the frontrunner to acquire Kane’s services. No doubt teams are leery about his hip procedure, but he has recovered swiftly from it and seems ready to go. The other main reason that Kane may end up in Buffalo is obvious. He was born there, and having family nearby is always a perk professional athletes aspire to enjoy.

No doubt, if healthy, Kane can certainly help the young Sabres to move out of their playoff drought. His record speaks for itself. He has accumulated 451 goals and 786 assists in 1,180 NHL games. That equates to 1.05 points per game. The key here will be his health. Will the Sabres take a shot at him being healthy enough to contribute? With scoring phenom Tage Thompson on injured reserve, the Sabres could use Kane’s offensive prowess.

Patrick Kane is getting closer to making a decision.@TheFourthPeriod provides an update on 8⃣8⃣.@keithirizarry | #NHLTonight pic.twitter.com/L32mhwiazm

— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) November 11, 2023

It’s a sure thing that NHL fans are on the edge of their seats, wondering where Kane will end up. We should know shortly.

New York Islanders – scoring forward/defense needed

Rumor: Per – Elliotte Friedman – sportsnet.ca. Are Lou Lamoriello and the Islanders ready to make some moves?

It’s not a secret that the Isles are in trouble. In a competitive Metropolitan Division, they sit right near the bottom with a 5-6-5 record in the midst of a seven-game losing streak. One thing we know for certain is Lamoriello won’t settle for mediocrity. “Every day, the tension just piles up on Long Island,” Friedman said. “First of all, I don’t think Lou Lamoriello is just sitting on his hands.”

“One of the guys I wonder about, in they’re going to be a factor in all this, is going to be Oliver Wahlstrom, simply because I can see the player saying, ‘If I’m not going to get the opportunity here, I have to get it somewhere else,’ and I can see a team like Calgary, who picked up a player like (Yegor) Sharangovich, possibly being interested in someone like that,” Friedman said.

Wahlstrom hasn’t really burned up the league in his 171 games. He has just 33 goals and 30 assists. He has not met expectations yet after being the 11th overall selection in the 2018 NHL draft. If Lamoriello can sweeten a prospective deal with another team to get them out of their doldrums, he will do it. He’s always been quite secretive about his moves so as to keep everyone guessing. No, guessing here; he needs help and fast! And that may need to include a coaching change.

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New York Rangers – Filip Chytil

Rumor: Per – James Wilson – nhltraderumors.me. Rangers have justified concerns over Chytil’s health going forward.

Chytil has been out of the lineup since November 2 due to what is believed to be his fourth concussion during his NHL career.

This is not good news for #NYR or Filip Chytil. It’s getting to a point where you have to start to be concerned not just for his career, but quality of life. He’s got 4 concussions already and he’s not even 25. He’s entered Eric Lindros territory. https://t.co/O92M53yt6M

— John (@92In82) November 16, 2023

He has missed four games thus far, but everyone knows that concussion issues are tricky and difficult to predict. Chytil has yet to score this season, with six assists in 10 games. Last season, he tallied 22 goals and 23 assists in 74 games. At this point, the team is more concerned about his future health. With head injuries, there’s always a possibility that the player cannot return to play and only aggravate the injury. He is just 24 years old and in his seventh NHL season.

The 6′-2″, 204-pound native of Kromeriz, Czech Republic, was the Rangers 21st overall selection in the 2017 NHL draft. It would be a big loss for the team if he can’t play any longer.

That concludes this edition of NHL rumors. Be sure to catch our next article, and thanks for reading!