rktkt66
Joined: Jun. 2018
Posts: 939
Likes: 601
I know anything's possible when it comes to Benning's decisions but the Canucks have already committed to Myers and Edler as their top pairing and are going to be hard-pressed to squeeze in Boeser's new contract (probably in the $6.5M-7M range) so Ristolainen, from depth and cap situation, doesn't seem plausible. And, even if it were to happen as proposed, would Botterill really target Virtanen as a RW (which the Sabres need) only to see him on the 4th line. He'd seem as good a candidate for the top 9 as Vesey, Sheary or Olofsson.
I know fans want to see the dead wood players jettisoned but I can't believe Botterill - or even Fenton - would agree to a draft pick for Wilson AND Scandella. Maybe Scandella gets dumped somewhere for a low draft pick but at Wilson's salary and the limited depth at Rochester, I suspect the Sabres will keep Wilson and take their chances he clears waivers to start with the Amerks.
As to lineup, there is no way that Botterill would bury Okposo in the AHL - for starters, the cap savings of doing so is minimal and secondly, I think the message it would send to both the player and his teammates is one that neither Krueger or Botterill would want to mess with.
The defense corps, with additions of Staal and Juolevi don't make sense - Pilut and Bogosian are both reported, for now, to probably only miss the first 2-3 weeks of the season. Maybe Bogosian becomes the 7th D but there's no way Pilut doesn't get a top 6 spot......which then creates a numbers game when you have 7 D without either player from IR.