from John Vogl of the Buffalo News,

“I’ve got a lot of potential deals out there that have a first coming back, whether it’s in the 20s or in the teens,” Murray said. “I have been trying hard to do that. The people I’ve talked to haven’t said no, but nobody’s called back and said, ‘Yeah, let’s do this deal.’ ”

One avenue Murray is exploring is accepting an inflated contract along with a first-round pick. Some teams are eager to rid themselves of cap-crunching deals, and the Sabres have salary cap room (plus owner Terry Pegula’s buyout power) to help out.

“I would make a trade for a large contract to get a first-round pick involved,” the GM said.

“Every trade that every team makes, money is a consideration. I’m not going to say that I would just make that trade to buy a guy out. If that happens, it happens. I may take a contract on to play here. It would depend on the player.”

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