Sabres could (should) help facilitate an Erik Karlsson trade to Tampa

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 7-6-2018


Former Buffalo Sabres forward Tyler Ennis has reportedly inked a one-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs. According to CapFreindly the deal is worth $650K.

Ennis was selected by the Sabres in 2008 with the 26th overall pick. That pick was acquired by Buffalo in the Brian Campbell to San Jose Sharks deal consummated on February 26, 2008. In eight seasons with the Sabres the 5'9" 175 lb. forward known for his east/west, jitterbug style of play scored 97 goals and 236 points in 419 games.

Ennis was traded by Buffalo last summer, along with Marcus Foligno, to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for defenseman Marco Scandella and winger Jason Pominville. After being waived by the Wild, Minnesota then bought out the final year of a 5yr/$23 million deal he signed in Buffalo.

CapFreindly says that his contract is unconfirmed at this time.


*****

Also not confirmed is any trade between the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning involving Sens defenseman Erik Karlsson, but If (when) the deal is consumed, it would be a coup for the team and Bolts GM Steve Yzerman as the rich will just keep getting richer. In three of the past four seasons the Lightning have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals with one of those being a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. The other year was a weird aberration where they missed the playoffs by a smidge.

Tampa is a team that's loaded up-front with strength down the middle and a slew of wingers that are fast and can finish. Their defense is solid, anchored by 2018 Norris Trophy-winner Victor Hedman, and they've gotten excellent goaltending from starter Andrei Vasilevsky. By the looks of it, they should have gotten past the Washington Capitals in the 2018 playoffs instead of losing in seven games. However, they were beaten by a Capitals team in a game-seven that featured an Alex Ovechkin signature one-timer to open the scoring, two goals by Andre Burakovsky and the wall that was Brayden Holtby and his 29 saves.

Perhaps what stuck in the craw of Yzerman after that loss was that his offense went cold and was held scoreless by Holtby and Co. for the final 159:07 of the series, almost eight periods of hockey.

With Yzerman's forward ranks well stocked, he now has an opportunity to land a premier scoring defenseman in Karlsson who has averaged almost 16 goals and a touch over 70 points the last four seasons. The possibilities for head coach Jon Cooper on the back-end, should the Bolts add the right-handed Karlsson, are tantalizing as he could either ice a super duo with the left-handed Hedman and 2015 Norris-winner Karlsson on the top pair or split them in the top-four and give the opposition fits for 50 minutes a game.

Tampa is the class of the Atlantic Division as it stands right now so adding a player like Karlsson wouldn't change the dynamic within the division save for the fact that teams will now be even farther away from their talent-level. For a team like the Buffalo, who should be on the upswing after seven long years of struggles, it doesn't really matter if the Bolts land Karlsson or not, as they're still years away from catching up.

Which means they should be in on the Tampa/Ottawa Senators deal if a rumored third team is involved.

The NY Rangers, of course, are said to be the third team as they're retooling and have a ton of cap-space to work with this season. They, like Buffalo, finished last in their division and ended up with the third-worst record in the East. They have $23 million in cap-space, according to capfreindly, with seven players needed to fill out the roster and no big names to eat up chunks of cap-space.

Plus, it's the Big Apple, which could be attractive to players with modified (or even no-) trade clauses. Tampa has 10 such players, five on the back-end, and is just about $3.5 million under the cap right now. They would need to move out at least $4 million to take on Karlsson's $6.5 million hit and still leave some wiggle room with many of the movable pieces (like Brayden Coburn and Dan Girardi) protected by those clauses.

As for the Sabres, CapFreindly has them at about $13 million under the cap this year with a full roster minus unsigned restricted free agent Sam Reinhart, who at most would carry $5 million AAV. They shouldn't start seeing any serious cap-related problems until '21-22 when Rasmus Dahliln will be coming off of his entry-level deal and joins Jack Eichel as the highest cap-hits on the club.

The biggest favor the Sabres could do for the Lightning might be to take on the fairly lavish contract that Yzerman bestowed upon LW, J.T. Miller in June. Miller signed a 5yr./$26.5 million contract just after the draft last month and has a modified NTC that doesn't kick in until next year.

Miller checks off some boxes for the Sabres in that he's a versatile left-handed forward that can play the wing and of his 82 career goals only 18 have come on the powerplay, although the ratio has increased over the past three seasons to 11 of 46 goals scored on the powerplay. He's got speed and size (6'1" 214 lbs,) can work the corners and can play in all situations. In addition, the East Palestine, Ohio native played for the U.S. National Development Program and is in the middle of his prime at 25 yrs. old meaning at the end of his contract he'll be 30.

But if the Bolts really want the Sabres to take on a long-term contract like that, they'd need to add some incentive. Mikhail Sergachev or Callan Foote would be nice, but they'd probably be more inclined to move a prospect like F Brett Howden,, D Erik Cernack or LW Dennis Yan.

The Sabres in-turn would also throw some incentive Ottawa's way to help facilitate the trade. Buffalo has three first-rounders in the upcoming NHL Draft while the Senators do not have one as it was traded away in the Matt Duchene deal. One of those could easily be in play as could a prospect like Alexander Nylander. Depending upon the value of the pieces in the deal, the Sabres might want to ask for a prospect or player in return from Ottawa, like pending 2019 free agent forward, Ryan Dzingel who also checks off a lot of boxes for the Sabres.

In the process the Sabres would be sending a conditional 2019 first rounder and a player like 20 yr. old Nylander to the Senators, who would also be getting a package from Tampa Bay. The Lightning would be getting Karlsson and the cap-space to fit him in while the Sabres would land at least one top-nine forward in Miller, plus his $5.25 million cap hit for the next five years, and a mid-upper level prospect thus further remaking the Sabres the way GM Jason Botterill would like.

Ennis was a part of Botterill's first big trade and so far that one has gone well with both Scandella and Pominville still a part of the Sabres. Botterill also made other big trades involving Evander Kane to the Sharks and the just completed blockbuster sending Ryan O'Reilly to the St. Louis Blues.

No reason for the Sabres to buy out any player this season.

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-14-2017


Buyout season has begun and the big name so far is Dan Girardi. The 33 yr. old veteran was bought out by the NY Rangers and because of it they opened up a spot on their protected list for the expansion draft.  The undrafted Welland, Ontario native played in 788 games for the Rangers and compiled 230 points. He had a cap-hit of $5.5 million and according to a TSN report, "Girardi will count for $2.6 million against the cap next season, $3.6 million in the next two years and $1.1 million for the following three seasons starting with 2020-21."

Unlike the NY Rangers, the Buffalo Sabres really don't need a protected spot to free up. In fact they actually have an opening in the 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, 1 goalie protected format and would gladly trade for a top-four d-man to add to their roster.

New GM Jason Botterill was known for his cap wizardry in Pittsburgh where the Penguins had $32.2 million tied up for just four players--Evgeni Malikin ($9.5M,) Sidney Crosby (8.7,) Kris Letang (7.2,) Phil Kessel (6.8)--and had another $5.5 million cap-hit for goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Those five players took up over half the $73 million cap-ceiling and Botterill was in charge of filling the other 18 roster spots with only $35 million to spend.

Buffalo finished last season close to the cap and right now, according to CapFriendly, they have less than $52 million against the cap, which includes the $750K cap-hit goalie Linus Ullmark signed for. As of right now they have over $20 million to use on six roster openings--3 forwards, 2 defense and one goalie.

Let's project that goalie Robin Lehner will sign for $4.5 million and that forwards Nick Baptiste (718K) and Justin Bailey (670K) along with defenseman Victor Antipin (925K) are all on the roster at the beginning of the season. That adds about $6.2M to the cap giving the Sabres just under $15M to use on one forward and one defenseman.

Botterill has said that bolstering the defense will be a top priority and I'm sure he'll jump at the opportunity to upgrade any position on the roster. And as much as he'd probably like to rid himself of an undesirable contract, conceivably he could go into this season and this season alone without having to resort to a buyout.

The Sabres have four undesired contracts that are of concern on various levels. Based upon term remaining, they belong to Zach Bogosian (three years,) Tyler Ennis (two years,) Matt Moulson (two years) and Josh Gorges one year.) When buyouts were first mentioned during their very disappointing season, Moulson was the name that popped up most frequently. Gorges was a close second.

Moulson has two years remaining on his contract that pays him $5 million/yr. The former 30-goal scorer has seen his numbers decline drastically the last two seasons as he posted only eight goals in 2015-16 and 14 goals last season. In 2016-17 he was basically reduced to the role of a powerplay specialist in that 11 of those goals were scored on the powerplay.  CapFriendly has a buyout cap-hit of $2.83M this year, $3.83M next year and $833K for the remaining two years.

It's something that doesn't make a lot of sense.

Nor does buying out Gorges.

Gorges has only one year remaining on his contract and his cap-hit is $3.9M. Although the numbers are favorable $1.3M buyout cap-hit for the next two seasons, they can keep him in a bottom-pairing/penalty kill role and if things don't work out for the Sabres when the calendar turns, they can explore trading him at the trade deadline.

As for Bogosian and Ennis, the former has three years left on his deal and buying him out would mean his six more years of a cap-hit with the final three being close to $2M. Ennis would have the Sabres eating $2.6M over the first two seasons and $1.6M after that.

Both Bogosain and Ennis have value to the club right now and it would seem as if Botterill would have one more option to rid himself of one of those contracts--the expansion draft.

The Las Vegas Golden Knights will fill their roster with one player from every NHL team and GM George McPhee knows that there are teams desperate to rid themselves of contracts. Through various interactions with many GM's throughout the league, he's letting it be know that he's the man for a job like that. But it won't come cheap.

Apparently trades have been agreed to already and we're not sure if Botterill is in on any of them at this point. My guess is that he will be able to send a particular player to Las Vegas--it's my belief it will be Ennis--thereby giving himself even more wiggle room both this year and next, when Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and possibly Evander Kane will start new contracts.

The Sabres have done plenty of buyouts the last few seasons, but this year they can back off if need be.

Exansion draft protected list--final version.

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-13-2017


GM Jason Botterill and the Buffalo Sabres will be submitting their expansion draft protected list by 5 p.m. Saturday and things are working in their favor. Unlike the Minnesota Wild who are destined to lose a significant piece to their roster puzzle, the Sabres have enough room for their key pieces. Part of it is that Buffalo still doesn't have a the talent that some other teams have and part of it also revolves around the fact that some of their key players are automatically exempt.

In saying that, Botterill will need to make a couple of decisions while having to choose between protecting a young player and an older one. Case in point, the goalie situation.

Each NHL team must expose one goaltender. Buffalo will need to choose whether or not they will protect 25 yr. old Robin Lehner, their starter last season, or 23 yr. old Linus Ullmark, who's been paying his dues and moving up the ladder.

I posted version 1.0 of my protected list on May 15 but I'm going to make one change to it. In the earlier version the goal was to expose as much salary as possible and in the process it was believed that forward Tyler Ennis would be the player Vegas Golden Knights GM George McPhee may end up taking. Ennis is a good player who put up good numbers before battling injuries the last two seasons.

In the last version I also chose to protect defenseman Taylor Fedun, who may not need protection, unless you believe the Knights would sign the UFA. In that case, that takes care of Buffalo's one player contribution to Las Vegas' roster. However, it might be best for Buffalo to protect Justin Falk instead.

Using CapFriendly's Expansion draft tool, here are the players I'd like to see Buffalo expose:

Forwards:   Matt Moulson, Tyler Ennis, and Nicolas Deslauriers
Defensemen:  Zach Bogosian, Josh Gorges.
Goalie:  Robin Lehner

There are other UFA's like Fedun available and some RFA's like defenseman Brady Austin and Justin Kea, but nobody that would make management lose any sleep over.

Here's a reprint of Version 1.0 with Falk added and Fedun removed.

ForwardsKyle Okposo--this was an easy one as he was already checked because of his no-movement clause. Even if Okposo didn't have that clause, it's still an easy one as he's their top right-winger.

Ryan O'Reilly--another easy one. O'Reilly is the Sabres best two-way center and their premier all-situations forward. Despite lacking numbers that some would suggest don't justify his cap-hit, Botterill has already singled him out as one of two centers teams "crave."

Evander Kane--over the course of the last 11 months many thought he would be a perfect candidate for exposure as his $5.25 million cap-hit, average production and off-ice issues seemingly had him out the door in one way or another. However, a 28-goal season changes the conversation completely.

Marcus Foligno--he's a big body that can hit, fight, play defense and score. He was placed well above his talent-level last season while getting an inordinate amount of time in the top-six, but he did manage a career-high 13 goals and there's no reason to think that he can't continually produce double-digit goals in a bottom-six role.

Zemgus Girgensons--the former first-round pick was the first player in former coach Dan Bylsma's doghouse but with Bylsma gone things could be different. Girgensons doesn't seem to have the offensive acumen for a scoring role and at 23 yrs. old he could be settling into the player he is, but he works the forecheck hard, defends well and, unlike former Sabre Mike Grier who had very similar traits, can score on a breakaway. As of right now he's a very solid bottom-six player that every team could use.

Johan Larsson--he and Girgensons have basically come up through the ranks in Buffalo together. Larsson is known for his pesky play and defensive acumen, but he can score as well. Before his injury he was Buffalo's third-line center and didn't look out of place. It was a pretty gruesome injury, however, and we've not heard anything as to his recovery time or prognosis, but based upon his play, he's another strong bottom-six player.

William Carrier--although he had a rather pedestrian rookie campaign in Buffalo that was also cut short by injury, Carrier's got the wheel's Botterill seems to like. At 6'2" 212 lbs. he's got heft as well but it doesn't detract from his skating one bit. Carrier climbed through the ranks in Rochester and upped his production in year-two for the Amerks. There's no reason to think that he can't continue to develop in Buffalo and may end up being at least a top-nine player for the Sabres.


Defensemen
Rasmus Ristolainen--another no-brainer. Enough said.

Jake McCabe--a new GM usually talks in generalities at his introductory presser, especially when it comes to the roster. Players like Jack Eichel, O'Reilly and Ristolainen are well-known commodities and referencing them by name is not unusual. But Botterill also mentioned McCabe by name as well while also mentioning that he thought McCabe had some untapped offensive, puck-moving potential. McCabe is already known for is solid defensive work and also laying out big hits so adding in more offense would really round out his two-way game.

Justin Falk--Perhaps when Murray extended Falk in February, he was doing so in order to leave him exposed. Or perhaps he thought, like many watching seemed to think, that Falk had carved himself out a niche as a depth defenseman at the NHL level. He was very steady for the Sabres last season and there's no reason to believe he'll be anything else moving forward. Even if Buffalo brings in enough defensemen to push him down to Rochester, the Amerks are always in need of quality vets to help the youngins along.


Goalie
Linus Ullmark--there are a lot of angles for this choice beginning with Botterill having no ties to Lehner who surely would have been protected over Ullmark under Murray. Lehner played well for Buffalo last season, as his numbers would indicate, but there's a sense that many are not convinced he's the answer going forward and a lot of it has to do with him looking very shaky in odd-man rush situations and breakaway situations, the shootout in particular. And with the market being somewhat set by Ben Bishop's $4.9 million cap-hit in Dallas, the Sabres may be looking at a $4-4.5 million Lehner contract extension that Botterill might not be thrilled with. The Sabres could be placing themselves in treacherous waters if Lehner were to be snatched up by Las Vegas, but I don't think the Knights would do it and even if they did, Ullmark, with a strong veteran presence as a back-up, looks like he'd be able to handle the heat. By protecting Ullmark, odds are that they could go into the season with a Lehner/Ullmark tandem if Lehner went unprotected.

Game 44--Buffalo at Toronto. Can't ask for much more right now

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-17-2017


You couldn't ask for much more at this point in the season as two would-be rivals with young cores and differing levels of confidence face off tonight in a divisional battle. On the one side, the Buffalo Sabres have struggled mightily with consistency and in turn have struggled to rise from the bottom of the division with an 17-17-9 record. On the other, the 20-13-8 Toronto Maple Leafs are brimming with confidence having reached a playoff position at the half-way point of their season, which was much quicker than almost anyone anticipated.

This will be the third time in three weeks that the Sabres will be facing a team they're chasing in the division. The first was a home-and-home with the Boston Bruins to close the 2016 portion of the schedule. After two regulation losses versus the B's Buffalo found themselves 10 points behind them. Last week they had the opportunity to jump the Tampa Bay Lightning in the standings, but proceeded to lay an egg and in the process fell three points behind them. The Sabres laid another egg in a loss against the Hurricanes in Carolina the following night, but started off this week with an impressive win against the Dallas Stars in yesterday's matinee.

The 4-1 win at home vs. the Stars marked the return of Tyler Ennis who wasted no time in his first game back as he scored a mere :19 seconds in. Ennis had been out of the lineup for 30 games after undergoing groin/hernia surgery but yesterday he corralled a loose puck and ripped it home.

Much to the dismay of head coach Dan Bylsma, the Sabres got into a game of shinny in the first period but they skated themselves to a 2-0 lead, courtesy of Jake McCabe's first goal of the season before the Stars scored with five minute left in the period. A disallowed goal for a Dallas offside early in the second period kept the score at 2-1 until Jack Eichel restored Buffalo's two-goal lead at the 7:07 mark of the period. The Sabres would hang on and Eichel would add the empty netter with nine seconds left.

Bylsma has been preaching defense first all season especially against fast teams like Dallas and his club will face another fast and highly skilled team in the Toronto Maple Leafs who are brimming with confidence. The very young Leafs are hot having catapulted into a playoff spot by going 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. It's a run that has head coach Mike Babcock raising expectations and fans in Toronto once again falling for their beloved Leafs.

Mark Zeisberger of the National Post notes with wonderment that although this very young Leafs team doesn't have enough physical maturity to even grow discernable stubble, much less a playoff beard, their rapid development and "phoenix-like ascension" from the beginning of the season through Game-41 is a complete "transformation" leading to different expectations than in the past. He quotes Babcock as saying of his team right now, “I think a big thing is you’re expecting to win and that’s a big difference.”

A quote like that leads Zeisberger to surmise, "There’s a big distinction between 'wanting' and 'expecting' to win," he wrote. "For too long — dating back to the end of the late Pat Quinn’s reign a decade ago — this franchise settled for the former. Now, they are focused on the latter, with Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment chairman Larry Tanenbaum in a recent interview with Postmedia suggesting a Stanley Cup in the not-so-distant future isn’t such a farfetched concept anymore."

And there you have it. The inconsistent Buffalo Sabres head into Toronto tonight to take on a very confident Maple Leafs team. It's a four-point divisional game and the Sabres are 0-3 in situations like that as of late. It's Buffalo/Toronto. Bylsma/Babcock. Jack Eichel/Auston Matthews and it's a four point game that will have possible playoff implications down the road.

Really, for Game-44 on Buffalo's 82-game schedule, this is about as good as it gets.

Today's matinee: Sybil, or which Sabres team will show up today?

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-16-2017


For those unfamiliar with the movie Sybil, it's the story of a woman with 16 different personalities, which is pretty much the way the Sabres have played all season and we're not sure which one will show up today vs. the Dallas Stars. Game to game, period to period, shift to shift, Buffalo's inconsistencies on the ice are frustrating and it's left a fairly talented group of players looking at the playoffs from a great distance. About the only things we can count on is Rasmus Ristolainen carrying the load on defense and head coach Dan Bylsma juggling his lines.

But Bylsma will have an reason to do some line juggling today as Tyler Ennis will return to the lineup after early November from groin/hernia surgery. Ennis played in 12 games but was insignificant to the point where I had to back-track and edit a previous blog because I had him as being out all season. I was wrong. He had a goal and an assist and was a minus-6 in 12 games this season.

The 5'9, 180 lb. Ennis has had injury problems dating back to last season when he only appeared in 23 games registering 11 points (3g+8a) and was a minus-9. As one of three holdovers from the tank years who lead the team in scoring, Ennis was expected to at least continue contributing to the Sabres offense but he's been struggling with injuries and the propensity to play an east/west game instead of going north/south. Granted, he's one greazy son-of-a-gun, but too much dipsy-doodling leads too many turnovers and too many odd-man rushes the other way.

Regardless of his struggles the Sabres are welcoming the top-six help as a reinforcement for the left side. Ennis is slated to be on the top line with center Ryan O'Reilly and right wing Kyle Okposo while Marcus Foligno and Evander move to the next two lines. Rookie Will Carrier, who at one time was playing up top, is on the fourth line bumping Nicolas Deslauriers to center or to the press box.

Reports have Cal O'Reilly being recalled from Rochester but the projected lineup from Jourdan LaBarber doesn't have him in the lineup.

The Sabres defense should remain the same with Ristolainen/Jake McCabe, Zach Bogosian/Cody Franson and Taylor Fedun/Justin Falk.

Robin Lehner gets the start vs. the Stars.

Yesterday's blog had some eastern vs. western conference comparisons and despite being in the West, the Stars play an extremely fast Eastern-style game so it will be interesting to see how the Sabres fare. Buffalo is 7-3-2 vs. the West but only 9-14-7 vs. the East which creates a problem since they reside in the Eastern Conference.

That said, we'll see which personality presents itself today. “Consistency is the answer. Consistently doing the small things, consistently doing the simple plays because that opens things up," said Lehner to the gathered media yesterday after watching the team on TV while recovering from an illness. “It’s easier for the team to get better and see where pieces are missing and what we need to do to go forward if we do what we’re supposed to. Right now some games when it goes wrong, everyone is kind of all over the place and it’s kind of hard to pinpoint.”

Tell us about it. We've been watching a schizophrenic Sabres team all season.

Building the 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres roster--LW, Tyler Ennis

Buffalo Sabres forward Tyler Ennis is the longest-tenured Sabres player on the roster. The 2008 first round pick (26rd-overall) came to Buffalo via a draft pick acquired when Brian "Soupy" Campbell was traded to the San Jose' Sharks at the 2008 trade deadline and since that time Ennis has witnessed almost a complete turnover of the hockey operations at the foot of Washington St. He and Marcus Foligno have witnessed an ownership change, are on their third team president, second GM and fourth head coach.

Through it all the 5'9" 160 lb. Ennis has remained remarkably consistent. From his first full season in 2010-11 to the 2014-15 season, he was able to hit the 20-goal mark three times and was on pace for another one (15 goals in 48) games in 2011-12 before being sidelined by an ankle injury. In his three full seasons he's averaged about 20 goals and 22 assists with the key word being 'full.'

Ennis missed all but 23 games last season because of two concussions suffered in six-week span late in 2015. He first got dinged by 6'4" 215 lb. St. Louis defenseman Robert Bortuzzo then was steam-rolled by a 6'3" 239 lb. Alexander Ovechkin. Ennis totaled only 23 games played for the team last season.

Injuries or not, Ennis was having a pretty rough go of it last year, the first one under new head coach Dan Bylsma. He was on a 14-game goal-drought at the time of the Ovechkin hit and he didn't get much love from his GM, Tim Murray either. Murray said at the time, via a Bill Hoppe piece, "Maybe the time away makes him a better player. Maybe it makes him a harder worker."

Ouch.

On Robin Lehner, Tyler Ennis and Gustav Possler

Buffalo Sabres goalie Robin Lehner opted out of the inaugural World Cup of Hockey this season by telling Team Sweden that he won't be joining them for the tournament that begins less than three weeks from today.

With an extremely slow summer for news outside the world of Jimmy Vesey, various media outlets jumped on the story from various angles with some going as far as to imply that Lehner had an injury. CBSSports.com's Fantasy Hockey page, citing a Renaud Lavoie report, began it's piece by saying "Lehner is dealing with an undisclosed injury" while stating in the next paragraph that their not sure whether it's "a new injury or one related to the high-ankle sprain" Lehner dealt with all last season.

 

In it's lead paragraph for the piece, the Associated Press said that "Sweden replaced him on its World Cup of Hockey,"

 

And the Ottawa Sun's Ken Warren injected some NY Post-style sensationalism calling Lehner's career "never-ending soap opera" as he proceeded to state that "the slow recovery is troublesome for the Sabres," while having Murray "trying to put out any fires" concerning Lehner before prodding  his audience to "Stay tuned. Life with Lehner is never boring."

An official statement from Sabres GM Tim Murray reads like this:

"As Robin continues to progress during the offseason in his rehab from last season's ankle injury, he felt that it was best to withdraw from Team Sweden for the upcoming World Cup. Robin felt it was important to continue his rehab in Buffalo to prepare for training camp. He has been working out both on and off the ice and we look forward to seeing him on the ice with our team next month."
 

Lookin' for that top-six left-winger.

Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray has done a lot of work putting together a lineup to his liking. He's come a long way since this lineup to open the 2014-15 campaign:

Matt Moulson, Tyler Ennis, Drew Stafford
Cody Hodgson, Sam Reinhart, Brian Gionta
Marcus Foligno, Zemgus Girgensons, Chris Stewart
Nicolas Deslauriers, Cody McCormick, Torrey Mitchell

Josh Gorges, Tyler Myers
Andre Benoit, Andrej Meszaros
Mike Weber, Rasmus Ristolainen

Jhonas Enroth

In the Press Box--Brian Flynn, Tyson Strachan, Nikita Zadorov


That said, despite fortifying his roster with young-vets like Ryan O'Reilly, Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian and as of July, Kyle Okposo, he still has some holes to fill.

In June Murray took a calculated risk sending third-rounder to the Nashville Predators for the rights to Hobey Baker-winner, Jimmy Vesey. Although the Sabres gave it their best shot, Vesey (in a curious move considering what other teams had to offer) opted for the NY Rangers. The 6'3" 195 lb. Vesey would have had the opportunity to land in a top-six/top-nine role in Buffalo despite not having any pro experience.

With him out of the equation, there is a top-six slot on the left side that needs to be filled. How will Murray do it?

Let's take a look at the contenders.

Impressions of, and questions concerning--F, Tyler Ennis

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Forward--Tyler Ennis
DOB:  October 6, 1989 (age, 26)
Draft:  2008, 26th overall
How acquired:  Drafted by Buffalo
Last contract signed:  2014--5 yr./$23M
Final year of contract:  2018-19

2015-16 Stats:  23 games, 3 goals, 8 assists, 11 points, -9


What we wrote preseason:  "During Ennis' pro tenure, the Sabres franchise has gone through a multitude of changes from ownership to GM to coaches, but he's always managed to keep an even keel. He's had an array of linemates and was moved back and forth from center to wing, yet has maintained steady production:

 --three 20-goal seasons including the previous two seasons when the Sabres challenged the modern mark for scoring futility.
--his 89 goals in 345 games averages out to 21 goals/82 games
--he also tallied 123 assists in 345 games averaging 29 assists/82 games
--that 21 goals and 29 assist average is just about where he ended his rookie season
"Is he a true top-line forward? The books still out on that. But the "greazy" forward who's proven non-believers wrong throughout his career has, in the very least, solidified his status as a top-six forward."
What we wrote mid-season:  "was having some troubles before he went down with an injury. Kid can weave in and out of a defense, stickhandle in a phone booth and put the puck in the net. When he's on he can work some magic, when he's off, which has been most of the year, he's doin' a whole lotta choppin' with no chips flyin'."
Impressions on his play this year:  Ennis didn't have the opportunity to send any chips flyin' as he was felled by his second injury of the season, a concussion from an Alexander Ovechkin check on December 30 that put him out for the rest of the season. Ennis was on a 14-game goal-drought at the time. Interesting thoughts from Sabres GM Tim Murray last when he talked about Ennis to the gathered media at First Niagara Center (via Bill Hoppe,) “Maybe [the time away] makes him a better player,” said the GM. “Maybe this makes him a harder worker."

It was the second time Murray mentioned that a player needed to pay a little more attention to the new agenda. The other was Matt Moulson. Ennis, Moulson and Zemgus Girgensons were three of the Sabres top-4 points producers last season, all had a difficult time adjusting to new head coach Dan Bylsma's system and all incurred a precipitous drop in production this past season with Ennis only playing in 23 games.

Questions moving forward:  Will he be returning to the lineup 100% healthy after suffering two concussions in one season? How will the injuries affect his confidence? Can his predominantly east/west game be woven into the Sabres north/south preferences? Can he help anchor the right-side in a top-six role? How much room is there for him on the top powerplay unit? Was it work-ethic, demeanor or both that caused him to languish in Bylsma's system early on? As a talented, valuable piece with a reasonable cap-hit could he be used to help land the left-handed defenseman Murray's looking for? Has he plateaued? Or can he bump it up a notch to land in the 25-goal/55-point club?

Who can hang with Jack Eichel?

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Sabres GM Tim Murray was on WGR550 Thursday before Buffalo hosted the Calgary Flames. Murray covered a number of subjects during the nearly 25 minute interview with Chris "Bulldog" Parker and among them was whether or not there were wingers on this team right now who could run with rookie Jack Eichel long-term.

Murray stated that he wasn't sure, which is the correct answer in this case. This is a team that came into the season off of two consecutive last place finishes with a brand new coaching staff and a boatload of new faces. They had injuries to key players in D, Zach Bogosian and G, Robin Lehner right off the bat and also had injuries to Tyler Ennis and Evander Kane, two top-six forwards who were expected to do most of the running with Eichel. And not only was there a question of just where top-nine/six winger Jamie McGinn fit in, but there was also the question of how to use F, Sam Reinhart as his marked, steady improvement forced the center into the top-six equation.

Reinhart was drafted as a center, but was down the depth-chart in that role behind Eichel and Ryan O'Reilly. Head coach Dan Bylsma moved him to the wing and the heady rookie worked extra hard entrench himself in a top-six role on the wing. Although Bylsma had Reinhart playing some center lately, he told the pre-Calgary game media that he likes Reinhart on the wing. "I think he's played his best on the wing for us," the coach said before facing the Flames, "and it's where he's gonna be the ne...well, tonight, anyway."

That little slip may have indicated that Reinhart should probably get comfortable with the idea that he'll probably be playing wing most of the way down the stretch. At least. Not that it's much of a problem. Reinhart, to the surprise of everyone, has scored 18 goals this season to go along with 12 assists while finding himself a home on the first powerplay unit. The draft book on Reinhart was that his off-the-charts hockey sense from the center position had all the earmarks of a premier set-up man, but he's shown the propensity to put the puck in the net and has really created a buzz because of it.

Weber to Washington a good fit, plus more on the Sabres roster and pending free agents

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It's not an earth-shattering move for the league-leading Washington Capitals, but then again, with the team loaded for bear, a big move wasn't necessary.

The Capitals have amassed 92 points already this season and are 17 points ahead of the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference. They lead the league in goals/game (3.29) are second in goals-against/game (2.28) and their +61 goal-differential is 33 better than the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.

They have Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Kuznetsov, Niklas Backstrom, Justin Williams and TJ Oshie up front, one of the top goalies in the league in Braden Holtby and a solid mix of scoring and grit on the blueline lead by Karl Alzner and Matt Niskanen. But, as all good teams do, they needed to add depth and about the only thing they didn't have was a lot cap-space to do so. That's where the Buffalo Sabres and Mike Weber came into play.

Sabres GM Tim Murray's mantra from the time he came on board is that he doesn't want to see an unrestricted free agent leave without getting a return, and true to his word, he did that with Weber. Murray found a nice fit for the 6'2" 212 lb. stay-at-home defenseman who's cap-hit for the season was $1.67M, a figure right in line with Washington's needs.

Almost.

Letdown at the F'N Center. Bruins beat Buffalo in shootout.

For Buffalo Sabres fans watching last night's game vs. the Boston Bruins, the 3-2 shootout loss at the hands of the Bruins was a letdown, especially after blowing a 2-1 third-period lead on a goal that caught the entire team napping.

Boston's best penalty killer, Zdeno Chara went to the box for tripping and an inept Sabres powerplay couldn't convert. To make matters worse, just after the penalty expired, the Bruins' Brad Marchand, the second-most hated Boston player behind Chara, caught the entire Sabres team napping as he went one-on-six and lifted a backhander past a surprised Buffalo goaltender, Chad Johnson. The game-tying goal.

Even though Johnson was stout in net the rest of the way, including a sterling save in overtime, it was "that one goal" that he and all of Sabreland wanted back.

C'est la vie.

Although management, coaches and players are saying all the right things about this season, the playoffs are a far too distant dream at this point. The Sabres have 47 points, good for last in the Atlantic Division and they're 11 points back of the last wild card spot with six teams ahead of them. If they're not sellers at the February 29 trade-deadline it would be really surprising.

Third Period collapse

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Just what exactly happened to the Buffalo Sabres at the Verizon Center last night is unclear. They played two solid periods of tight hockey and entered the third period with a 2-1 lead over the Washington Capitals. It was nearly perfect road hockey. They absorbed what the Caps threw at them, including some strong hits directed at individuals, most notably Alexander Ovechkin going after Buffalo's Rasmus Ristolainen, and did not allow Washinton an overabundance of scoring opportunities. Granted, they did have a couple of prime opportunities, but goalie Chad Johnson was up to the task.

The only blemish through 40 minutes was a huge gaffe by Johnson as he was victimized by an intense forecheck and was offered no support by his teammates. Stuck behind the net with the puck on his stick and an attack coming from his left, he sent the puck to the other side, right on to the stick of Washington's Justin Williams who proceeded to take a stride and deposit it into the empty net. A gaffe like that could have been devastating as it tied the score at 1-1 with less than six minutes left in the second period.

Buffalo would bail Johnson out, however as Zemgus Girgensons put the Sabres back on top with 1:13 left in the period.

Twenty minutes to go and unfortunately for Buffalo they were playing the hottest team in the league with a bevy of snipers and skilled players, lead by Ovechkin.

Hawks present opportunity while Eichel can learn a lot from Toews

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When the Buffalo Sabres hit the ice today for their matinee vs. the visiting Chicago Blackhawks they'll have played 34 games before the Christmas break. To say the NHL schedule maker has made it easy on the second youngest team would elicit a hearty chuckle. Then again, coming off of back-to-back last place finishes would indicate that "easy" is a word that should never enter into the equation in the first place.

Buffalo stands 14-16-3 so far this season which is one win better than they were in 2014-15, seven more than in 2013-14. That said, the Sabres have already finished their season series with the defending Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Bay Lightning (1-3-0,) the Western Conference-leading Dallas Stars (0-2,) the WC third-seed St. Louis Blues (0-1-1) and the WC sixth-seed Nashville Predators (1-1). Throw in a game vs. the WC seventh-seed San Jose Sharks (0-0-1) and their first West Coast road trip (0-3-0) and you have a pretty formidable schedule.

Of the team's 14 wins some stand out for various reasons like their first road win, a 4-3 OT thriller in Philadelphia, and their come-from-behind 2-1 win in Detroit on Monday night, but they've yet to get that signature win.

Today's game vs. the Chicago Blackhawks will provide that opportunity.

The Hawks seem to be getting their grove on as they've won five of their last seven after starting the month 0-1-0. They have the league's leading scorer in Buffalo-native, Patrick Kane (19g, 28a) who's scored in 27 of his last 28 games, and a powerplay unit that ranks 3rd in the league. They're young, fast and highly skilled and are lead by one of the best captains in the game, Jonathan Toews.

Oh, and did I mention that they have won three of the last five Stanley Cups?

Not there yet.

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


For the second time in three weeks both the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres played on the same night and after a Buffalo sweep on November 12th both teams lost last night. The Bills had a primetime spot on Monday Night Football and lost a heavyweight bout against a perennial Super Bowl contender in the New England Patriots while the Sabres began a three-game homestand with a loss to the St. Louis Blues, a team they haven't beaten since December, 2009.

The Bills were on the road in Foxborough, and were much more composed against the Patriots this time around, but the end result was the same--a 20-13 loss. The Patriots have now beaten the Bills 28 of the last 31 meetings. Despite definite signs of progress on defense and with a running game that has improved as RB Lesean McCoy has gotten healthier, when matched up against a championship caliber team like the Patriots, they're not there yet.

Over at First Niagara Center the Sabres were hosting the Blues for the second time in four nights to finish their series. Buffalo is in the midst of a rough stretch where they're playing some of the big dogs of the Western Conference in an two week span. They lost to the San Jose Sharks in overtime November 14th then finished 0-2 vs. the West leading Dallas Stars and 0-1-1 against the Blues in their next four-game stretch. They'll bid adieu to November with two games against the Nashville Predators, who are fourth in the West right now, sandwiching a home game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Some changes are needed on the Sabres powerplay

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After seeing the Buffalo Sabres get shutout at Dallas vs. the league's No. 1 team, the overall feeling I got was that the Stars schooled 'em. Not so much in an overpowering, in your face trampling, but more like schooled them on how the little things matter in a big way.

The Sabres played the Stars fairly tough. Dallas has an extremely fast team that plays in overdrive the entire game. On a few occasions the Sabres were able to nullify the Stars' speed by putting a body on the man while at other times they were able to disrupt the play with good defense and proper angles. There were also times where Buffalo was able to show off some of their own speed and skate right with them. But, most of the time the Sabres were just trying to keep up and often times the Stars went into overdrive on the transition after gaining possession of the puck by great stickwork and/or beating Buffalo to loose pucks-- the little things that vets will do to a young team like Buffalo has.

Yet, the Sabres were in it most of the game until the Stars' Jamie Benn scored on the powerplay at the 7:11-mark of the third period. Benn's quick marker off the rush less than two minutes later sealed the 3-0 victory for Dallas.

As mentioned in the last blog, entering last night's game the Stars were 9-1-0 when leading after one period, 6-0-0 when leading after two. Buffalo would fall behind in the first period once again for the fourth game in a row (0-2-2 during that stretch,) but had a glorious opportunity to tie the score in the second as they had yet another 5-on-3 for :54 to begin the period. All for naught as they couldn't get anything going.

Perhaps they had too much time to strategize between periods or perhaps they just didn't have it together. For the first 1:06 of the Stars first penalty, Buffalo registered zero shots on goal as the Stars 20th-ranked penalty kill unit bottled them up pretty well. The Sabres started the second period with :54 left on their two-man advantage and registered...you guessed it, zero shots on goal.

Stay onsides, and while you're at it, Buffalo, how about a better start?

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


For the third time this young season the Buffalo Sabres scored a goal but had it overturned because they were deemed offside because of a coaches challenge. It happened in the very first game of the season vs. Ottawa nullifying a game-tying goal that would have clearly pushed the momentum in the Sabres favor. Instead, the score remained 2-1 and the Senators would leave the First Niagara Center with the 3-1 victory.

Last Thursday with the Sabres in Sunrise, Florida facing the Panthers, a goal by Tyler Ennis was overturned because he couldn't keep his skate on the line while he and Jack Eichel were entering the Florida zone. The goal would have put the Sabres up 2-0, but it remained a one-goal game until Jonathan Huberdeau tied the score about four minutes later. After enduring constant pressure from the Panthers and a barrage of shots, Buffalo would hold on for the win.
 
Last night against the western conference-leading Dallas Stars, it was deja vu all over again as the Sabres tied the score at 2-2 only to have the goal overturned when it was deemed Ennis had put himself offside. Like the Ottawa game to open the season, that momentum-changer was taken away and Buffalo would eventually fall to Dallas by a 3-1 score.

"I knew it was offside even before the puck went in," head coach Dan Bylsma told the gathered media of Ennis' non-goal. "It's certainly disappointing."

Buffalo rolls through Ontario with weekend wins

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Although it's only preseason, Buffalo Sabres fans are sure to like what's transpired thus far. After back-to-back, split-squad wins at Toronto and Ottawa, the Sabres stand at 3-1 with three more games slated before the season begins on October 8th.

In looking at the roster prior to Tuesday's preseason opener at the Minnesota Wild, the results thus far were somewhat anticipated. Sabres GM Tim Murray shored up the top-six with the acquisitions of Evander Kane and Ryan O'Reilly while also adding second-overall pick Jack Eichel at the 2015 NHL Draft. With those additions, as well as an up-tempo style favored by new head coach "Dancin'" Dan Bylsma, the Sabres had the look of a team that was ready to eradicate the offensive ineptitude from the collective consciousness of Sabreland. And they've done that thus far.

Perceived weaknesses on the back-end and in goal were areas of concern as they construct of the defense is still a work in progress. With top-four d-men Rasmus Ristolainen and Zach Bogosian out with injuries, most of the defense was playing a notch or two higher than their capabilities and it showed in the goals against.

Not to be discounted in the 15 goals against in four games thus far is goaltending, which was cause for concern heading into camp. Robin Lehner came in as the starter with Chad Johnson as the back-up. Lehner has done nothing to solidify his spot and looks like a goalie who hadn't seen live action since suffering a concussion back in February. Johnson was also felled by injury in late February and hasn't seen action since. Both, obviously, are a bit rusty to say the least.

Building the 2015-16 Buffalo Sabres roster--RW, Tyler Ennis

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Ya gotta give Buffalo Sabres forward Tyler Ennis a ton of credit. Despite the malaise surrounding him the past two seasons, he's managed to eek out consistent, solid production during a despondent time in Sabres history. And with that in the rear-view mirror, he heads into the new season with plenty of optimism. "It seemed like a really long two years, but in the grand scheme of things [the rebuild] could be pretty quick ," Ennis told Derek Van Diest of nhl.com this summer. "[Those two years] might not be as long as you think, but those 160 games felt like 10 years."

It's an era us Sabres fans are ready to put behind as well, but it's something we won't forget either.

The Sabres used the 26th pick (acquired from San Jose in the Brian Campbell trade) in the 2008 NHL Draft to land Ennis who was coming off a 43-goal, 91-point season for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the rugged Western Hockey league. The 5'9" 164 lb. Ennis finished second in goals and fourth overall in scoring that season. He would return to Medicine Hat in 2008-09 and finish with 43 goals in 65 games good for sixth in the league. Of note, the Sabres Evander Kane scored 48 goals in 61 games that season for the Vancouver Giants. Ennis also added 19 points (8+11) in 11 playoff games.

Sabres-centric stuff to steer you away from bickering over the Bills

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As sad as it is to see summer begin to fade, but with each passing day hockey season draws nearer. The Buffalo Bills and their preseason exploits have garnered nearly all of the media attention to this point, rightfully so. There are high expectations and an excited fan base. But, it's time to ice the bickering over decisions at One-Bills Drive and begin to turn out attention towards the boys in the Blue and Gold.

It's been a particularly slow off season for GM Tim Murray and the Buffalo Sabres, so slow that there's been thoughts tossed around that the team should sign free agent defenseman Cody Franson just so hockey fans have something to talk about.

Franson made it back into the consciousness of Sabres fans due to Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News saying that he had two sources claiming that Buffalo had offered him a two-year deal. It immediately allowed for a myriad of suggestions as to his impact if it were true. Among the possibilities is that adding Franson would accelerate the Sabres rebuild with some even believing that adding the 28 yr. old right-handed d-man could put the team near playoff contention.

When reading all of this one should be reminded that Murray has been pretty specific as to the types of players, as well as their ages, that he wants to build with. At 28 Franson's just outside Murray's preferred 24-26 yr. old range and one would have to question why the GM would want a player with a questionable compete-level who was benched for the sixth game of their opening round series against the Chicago Blackhawks. No doubt the right-handed Fanson would help the powerplay, but one would really have to question whether or not the team should waste money and a roster spot on a specialist.

But, it's news...I guess.