Rick Nash Trade Rumors: Don't Put Faith In The Buffalo Talk

According to Elliotte Friedman, the Buffalo Sabres might be a team to watch in the Rick Nash trade rumors. The entire situation was handled by our own Die By The Blade, but here's a quick recap from them:

"The team I think to watch in something like this is a team like Buffalo," Friedman said, as transcribed by Chris Nichols. "They already went out and they got Evander Kane. I could see them being interested in a player like Nash too. Tim's a bit aggressive that way. But again, I'm not 100 percent convinced that one's going to happen."

There's a few pieces to this that I want to go over and I'm going to do it in bullet point form because it's easier to digest.

1) Friedman even admits this is speculation: So why are we talking about it? I'm a proponent of if there's smoke there's usually fire -- even if it's just a little fire. It wouldn't shock me to learn all of this talk is nothing but rumors that are being circulated because of the Larry Brooks speculation -- especially when sources close to the situation have basically admitted as much.

Friedman himself even dulls the edge here with the "I'm not 100 percent convinced that one's going to happen." Remember, general managers talk all the time with nothing coming of it. It wouldn't be shocking to know the Rangers internally talked about moving Nash to cover it and never seriously considered it. Friedman, it should be noted, is one of the best in the business, so it's not like he's looking for eyeballs on this one.

2) Even if the Rangers were going to move Nash, Buffalo isn't a fit: The biggest problem with this rumor is Buffalo. What, exactly, is Buffalo going to be willing to give away that's going to help the Rangers right now? I can only think of a couple of players (mainly Evander Kane) who would help the Rangers right now, and Buffalo isn't moving him. They have a wealth of prospects and draft picks, but the Rangers aren't going to win the Stanley Cup with those.

3) You don't save cap space with your best player: This one is pretty simple, but let's go over it again. The Rangers are currently strapped for cash. With contract negotiations looming this summer with Derek Stepan, J.T. Miller, Jesper Fast and Carl Hagelin, the Rangers need money. But you never save cap space by trading away your best player. If the Rangers are looking to save money, there are other ways.

There has been some legitimacy to these rumors based off the people who are talking about them. Again, a lot of times these guys are just passing on what they're hearing and it's possible for them to hear stuff without it being imminent. It's not interesting that Buffalo is interested in Nash (hell, all 29 other teams should be) but it's not really a logical landing spot.

Thoughts?