Botterill is probably looking a player that has a long term contract such as Zucker, Tuch, etc (3 or 4+ years) in order to give up draft picks or prospects. There is no point of trading for a guy that has 1 or 2 more years on their contract that will only help them make it to the first round of the playoffs and then walk free at the end of their contract. There is no point of trading prospects and picks for a short term player when the sabres arent in the position of making a long playoff run.

Fair assessment, there's no guarantee we can't resign Rakell though. In my dream, we do lol

It'll take more than a 7th to rid ourselves of Okposo's contract

Looking at Ottawa they are gonna struggle to be at the cap floor with all of their nhl ready prospects next season. Okposo is known for his leadership so I thought it would work. This being said, we do still have an extra defenseman as our 7th would be a 3rd or 4th on some teams. Packaging them together could work and get us a more usable piece than a 7th round pick.

It took a conditional 1st and a 7th for Toronto to shed Marleau and get a 6th in return. The first was top 10 protected and would revert to 2021 and Marleau had only one year left where Okposo would have three. The only way we rid that 6 mil anchor is a buyout which wouldn't be worth it, trade for a like contract like Neal for Lucic or make a deal with Seattle the following year. As for the cap floor wasn't it Murray that said it's easy to spend money which as we see he did with signing Okposo...lol

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, Ottawa could throw money around like no tomorrow. But it's gonna take the right kind of player to sign that contract and play with a bunch of unproven prospects. Ottawa can be a pretty bleak place all winter when you're out of the playoff race in November. Even with a 6 million dollar salary lol but we have space to keep him in this scenario too