On signing forward Conor Sheary to a 1-year deal:
“Every organization needs depth. There’s always going to be injuries, so you’re going to have to rely on your depth with players that you know can play in the NHL, and Conor Sheary is one of them. He’s got a lot of experience in the league, so I think he’s going to be a good depth piece for us.”
On signing Trevor Kuntar to a 2-year, 2-way deal:
“He was a hard guy to play against in the American League. I wasn’t at the game when he got his only NHL game, but I watched it on TV live, and he’s got a lot of courage, he can get under the opponent’s skin, he’s hard to play against and he goes to the hard areas. He’s still a young guy, so I think there’s potential there to become an NHL player.”
On trading goalie Devon Levi to Edmonton for a 3rd-round pick:
“He requires waivers next year. We have three goalies. There’s a chance that he would be with the Buffalo Sabres, and we’d have to send him back to Rochester, in which case he would’ve needed waivers, and there’s a good chance we would’ve lost him for nothing.”
On restricted free agent forward Peyton Krebs:
“He’s got the arbitration rights, so the process goes that their side is evaluating what the arb award may come in, and we’re evaluating where the arb award may come in, and usually it’s between those two levels somewhere. And sometimes both sides just want to get a deal done. … He’s a really important piece for us. It’s just part of the business: Sometimes it takes a little longer.”
On whether the Sabres are still targeting any free agents:
“For sure, if there’s an opportunity to make our team better. But by no means we’re desperate to add anything right now. It needs to be a perfect fit both from role, playing, ability. We’ve talked ad nauseum about this with Lindy and what we may or may not need. If it’s a perfect fit and also, financially and cap-wise, it fits our system, then we’re open for business.”
On talks (and rumors) surrounding NHL-level trades these past couple weeks:
“Our players’ names get asked about. I can say that, whenever we felt there may have been an opportunity to make the team stronger, the ask is always our really good young players that we don’t have any reason to part with. So, that was usually a short conversation.”
