On the Tyler Myers rumors

Sabres GM Tim Murray famously said at his presser that anyone can be traded on a last place team.

While Ryan Miller, Steve Ott, Matt Moulson and Hank Tallinder may be looking at their last home game in a Sabres uniform, 24 yr. old defenseman Tyler Myers' name got thrown into the mix.

From TSN's Darren Dreger via the Howard Simon Show this morning, "It's not that Tim Murray has put out the league-wide disclaimer that Tyler Myers is absolutely, 100% on the trade block. That isn't the case. Tyler Myers is a hot commodity, not just to other teams, but to the Buffalo Sabres. But, because [the Sabres] are rebuilding every option needs to be considered. Murray would consider trading Tyler Myers. In saying this, it would take a massive offer for Murray to move Myers."

As is Dreger's M.O., in a lot of words he basically said, "Myers is not being shopped. He's a real good player and will continue to get better. If a team wants him, back up the truck."

So typical.

With the 2014 trade deadline approaching, Sabres GM Tim Murray may want to focus upon the 2015 draft...

if he's not doing that already.

Kyle Woodlief of the Redline Report was on WGR this morning talking draft and he doesn't think that the 2014 draft has players slated for superstardom.

He said that none of his top-grouping of four players--Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Leon Draisaitl, and Sam Reinhart--would have been in the top-grouping last draft.

All of them, according to Woodlief, are less than perfect and when it comes to forwards, Draisaitl--the big German center--piques his interest the most.

He thinks it's a good draft, but believes that the 2015 draft will be loaded with NHL'ers through the second round.

We all know about Connor McDavid--consensus #1-overall/Sidney Crosby-like center--and have heard a bit about American Jack Eichel. But, Woodlief thinks that there's a better American-born player than Eichel--defenseman Noah Hanifin.

From Sochi to the Sabres: some of this and some of that

The Sabres kick off the post-Olympic NHL schedule with a make-up game at home vs. the Carolina Hurricanes tonight, the only game on the NHL schedule.

With the trade deadline a mere eight days away and a number of teams positioning themselves for the stretch run, Buffalo joins the NY Islanders, Edmonton and Florida as definitive sellers at the deadline.

Rumors are beginning to fly, including juxtaposed positions on the fate of Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, and trade scenarios are coming out left and right. That's what makes the NHL trade deadline the most interesting and the most fun of all the four major North American sports.

But before we get into that, we'll touch upon one more thing from Sochi.

The 2014 Sochi Olympic Games are finished, back to the business of the NHL

The NHL gets back into the swing of things on tomorrow as the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes play a make-up game. The rest of the league, including the Sabres who will end up playing three games in four nights, will get rolling on Wednesday.

Before we get back to the NHL some thoughts on hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympics:

Ted Nolan did a remarkable job with Team Latvia...

despite what WGR's Mike Schopp thinks.

Throughout much of yesterday's GR show, Schopp continually downplayed the accomplishment of the Latvian hockey team and their coach, Ted Nolan.

Not all that surprising for a guy who relies upon stats for most his sports knowledge.

Viva Latvia!!!

As a Sabres fan, it's not all that unfathomable that a Ted Nolan coached team will outwork their opponent and pull off an upset as Latvia did against Switzerland today.

Do you believe in miracles?

 

And as an American who watched the Miracle On Ice in 1980, it's not all that difficult to look at an underdog Latvian team and draw comparisons between the two.

And, when Nolan and 20 yr. old Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons are slated to face off against the mighty Canadian team, it will be awesome routing for Latvia and against Canada.

It's doubtful that a Miracle On Ice-type upset is in the works, and I wouldn't bet the farm on Latvia even adding a spread of two goals or so. But, ya gotta love the way this team is playing.

This might be the hardest working team at the Olympics.

Tim Murray catches a 5-4 Rochester comeback win yesterday

Sabres GM Tim Murray caught yesterday's 5-4 OT win by the Rochester Americans in Rochester and spent about 10 minutes with members of the media discussing Buffalo's pro hockey teams.

Matthew Coller, who does an outstanding job covering the Amerks for WGR 550 penned a quick summation and provided some audio as well.

Basically Murray said that not much talk is going on between NHL GM's and he assumed that the veteran ones are using this time to recharge or focus upon other aspects of the organization. For his part, Murray is following a pretty full scouting schedule focusing upon the top-30 picks in the upcoming 2014 draft.