Sabres granted permission to speak with Futa

Via multiple contacts within the Kings organization, The Fourth Period, The Buffalo News and WKBW-Buffalo, the Buffalo Sabres asked for and have been granted permission to speak with Michael Futa, who was recently promoted to the Kings’ Assistant General Manager position. Buffalo had previously considered Futa for the open GM position that went to Tim Murray midway through the 2013-14 season. Murray and Head Coach Dan Bylsma were fired by the Sabres last week.

On the surface, it doesn’t seem there would be any particularly profound impetus to move for Futa, who appears happy in his new role with the Kings and over the past year had ventured ahead with a move to Los Angeles from Toronto, where he operated out of as a Director of Amateur Scouting and earlier in his tenure as Vice President of Hockey Operations and Director of Player Personnel. But a GM position is obviously a highly prestigious promotion, and given his success in the NHL and the OHL, and the interest shown in him over the last several years, it’s not out of line to think that he should have a very good chance at landing a GM position relatively soon. Because there are also multiple holes to fill in Buffalo less than two months before player protected lists are due and the NHL Draft is held, it does raise the question of whether Dean Lombardi (potentially as a GM or Team President) and Darryl Sutter would also be considered, but as of yesterday, the Kings hadn’t been contacted regarding Lombardi. Such a “package” approach is mostly speculative, but also worth considering given the need to act quickly with major league events on the horizon.

It’s all interestingly written out by TSN Senior Correspondent Gary Lawless of TSN 1290-Winnipeg, who shares a lot of potential names for the positions that need to be filled.