Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
Cody Hodgson was a healthy scratch again last night for the second game in a row. The 6'0" 192 lb. forward has two goals, six points and is a minus-20 on a last place Buffalo Sabres team this season and we're not sure he'll be able to pull out of his funk.
Stats like that wouldn't be all that alarming save for the fact that the former first-round pick (2008, 10th-overall) is coming off of a 20-goal season on a bad Sabres team last year and was set to play a top-six role this season. Hodgson started out playing on the second line with the likes of captain Brian Gionta, Chris Stewart, rookie Sam Reinhart and Zemgus Girgensons while also getting powerplay time, but since then he's been relegated to the bottom-six and now he's been a healthy scratch.
Fans and media are up in arms over what's transpired and want him on the next train to wherever. But with a very player-friendly six-year, $25.5m contract in his pocket and four years remaining at the end of this season, a two-goal fourth-liner with a $4.25m cap-hit is difficult, if not impossible, to move. The buy-out option remains a possibility with terms being more team-friendly this season as opposed to next. Or they could waive him and send him to Rochester if he goes unclaimed. And there's always the possibility that the team could continue working with him in the hopes that he'll come out of his funk (which is something I'm fine with, for now.)
Or if the Sabres continue their patience with Hodgson, he could end up being plucked in an expansion draft that looks to be on the horizon. Both Las Vegas, NV and Seattle, WA look to be in the running for a franchise should the NHL expand by two teams and there's chance it could happen within the next 18 months.
Las Vegas is hell-bent on getting it's first professional franchise and money, obviously, no object. The MGM Grand is building a privately funded 17,500 seat arena that's set to be finished about a year from now and yesterday NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman joined prospective billionaire owner Bill Foley in "Sin City" for a season ticket drive. Foley hopes to reach a goal of 10,000 season tickets sold to prove that the city can support the team.
With expansion, of course, comes an expansion draft. The last one was in 2000 when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild were invited into the league. Both franchises were allowed to pluck unprotected players from each NHL team to fill their rosters. They had each had 24 selections to be used on three goaltenders, eight defensemen and 13 forwards.
Each NHL team in 2000 was allowed to protect a grouping of either one goalie, five defensemen and nine forwards or two goalies, three defensemen, seven forwards. With two work stoppages and two new collective bargaining agreements in the 15 years since, some details, like the salary cap, etc. will need to be addressed but the general framework will probably remain largely intact. It should be noted that back in 1967 when the league went from "The Original Six" to twelve teams, existing teams were allowed to protect one goalie and 11 players.
With the Sabres being in the depths of this rebuild, there are not very many players that they'd fear losing, and with the way things have gone with Hodgson, he'd be on that unprotected list although there's a possibility that things could change next season with him.
Here's a list of players the Sabres might protect, based upon the roster right now, were there an expansion draft at the end of this season:
G-Jhonas Enroth
D-Tyler Myers
D-Rasmus Ristolainen
D-Nikita Zadorov
D-Josh Gorges
D-Mike Weber
F-Zemgus Girgensons
F-Tyler Ennis
F-Matt Moulson
F-Brian Gionta
F-Marcus Foligno
F-Nic Deslauriers
F-Chris Stewart
F-Drew Stafford
F-Torrey Mitchell
This list doesn't include any variables like AHL eligibility or the tradability and possible movement of pending UFA's presently on the roster.
The more I look at the timing of this rebuild, from the trading of the core, to the 2013 draft to McEichel and a possible expansion draft soon, this franchise couldn't have asked for a better time to go though a full rebuild.
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