With the Buffalo Sabres sitting last in the East Division, TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports pending unrestricted Eric Staal is open to chasing a Stanley Cup with another team this spring.

"Obviously the pending UFAs in Buffalo are the most likely to move. They're the easiest to move at this time of year," LeBrun said Tuesday on Insider Trading. "Eric Staal would be among those players. In the past several years, Staal, through his camp, has told the Minnesota Wild he'd rather not move. Well, of course he's not in Minnesota anymore. He was dealt sort of against his will to the Sabres in the off-season. I'm told that he would be open to a deal to a contender. He has a partial no-trade with 10 teams on it. But for the right team, he would certainly go. He's living alone in Buffalo, his family is not with him, so what's the difference [from] one hotel to another? He might as well go try and win somewhere else.

"Keep an eye on Edmonton. A trade with the Oilers would have to be dollar-in dollar-out. They're right at the cap, they are in LTIR, but they are looking to upgrade their third line and I'm told that Staal is a name that has been mentioned internally by the Oilers brass."

Staal, 36, carries a cap hit of $3.25 million in the final season of the two-year deal he signed with the Wild in 2019. He has three goals and nine points in 24 games with the Sabres this season.

Selected second overall by the Hurricanes in 2003, Staal won the Stanley Cup with Carolina in 2006 and has 21 goals and 51 points in 61 career postseason games.

The Sabres saw current their winless skid extended to eight games with Tuesday's shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Buffalo owns an NHL-worst 6-14-4 record this season.