Published by hockeybuzz.com, 2-27-2018
Much like the NHL's "free agent frenzy" in July and the NFL's annual October trade deadline, the NHL's own traded deadline came and went with very little going on. With the league getting younger NHL GM's whose team is either in a playoff chase or a Stanley Cup chase generally held on to their picks rather than blow them on rentals. Even a usual late-day throng of traded involving depth players, of which the Sabres had plenty, for low round picks never materialized.
Those who'd spent a majority of their morning and afternoon locked into the NHL's trade deadline day wasted hours for little, and for those in Sabreland hoping for moves to help them in the future were left wanting.
Buffalo only made one trade yesterday as GM Jason Botterill sent Evander Kane to the San Jose' Sharks for a conditional second round pick, a conditional fourth-rounder and prospect Daniel O'Regan. The second round pick is in 2019 and will turn into a first if either a.) Kane re-signs with the Sharks in the off season or b.) the Sharks win the Stanley Cup. As for the fourth-rounder, it's a 2019 pick that San Jose' can push to 2020 in which case it turns into a third round pick.
The trading of Kane was inevitable, as Buffalo wasn't going to re-sign him. Why they wouldn't re-up a 26 yr. old powerforward who had three consecutive 20-goals seasons with the club is varied and we'll throw a few reasons out there.
First off, this is Kane's big chance to land, quite possibly, the final lucrative contract of his career. No one knows what he and his agent are looking for, but it might be safe to assume that he'd like the security of another long-term deal that could land in the $40-50 million range. The Sabres right now are bogged down by some hefty contracts with term in those of Ryan O'Reilly, Kyle Okposo and Zach Bogosian and in addition, Jack Eichel's 8yr./$80 million contract kicks in beginning next season. Hard to see them adding another on in Kane without moving out at least one they're on the hook for.
There's always the question of what Kane might do off the ice that is troublesome. Kane has had a checkered past dating back to his days in Winnipeg and it didn't help that he had three incidents in a seven-month span with the Sabres which included an incident at the 2016 NHL Draft held in Buffalo that embarrassed the organization. He's kept his nose clean off the ice but there still was the recent spat where, according to reports from the rink, of defenseman Justin Falk going after Kane at practice and yelling "shut the (expletive) up you selfish (expletive)."
And then there's also a sense that ownership didn't want him on the team anymore. The Draft incident was said to have really rubbed owners Terry and Kim Pegula the wrong way with rumors stating that under no circumstances would Kane be re-signed. There were also suggestions that former GM Tim Murray had a difficult time keeping one of his prized acquisitions in the fold during the time after the 2016 Draft.
The official response as to why Kane was traded came from Botterill as he addressed the gathered media yesterday evening.
“As a result of where we are in the standings, we have to make changes to our organization,” Botterill told reporters at KeyBank Center. "The group that we have right now is not working.
“I’m not putting all the blame on Evander Kane,” he said. “There’s a lot of blame to go around – coaching staff, management, players. We have to be better in certain situations. The bottom line is the mix we had right now isn’t working, so we had to make adjustments.”
Botterill was asked if the Pegula's had any input in the Kane decision and the GM offered up a flat-out, "no."
Perhaps teams looking at Kane as a rental knew the full situation, or perhaps they knew that his past along with Buffalo's cap-situation would mean landing a premium rental like Kane at a bargain price. Whatever the reason(s), the serious offers weren't with Botterill saying, "The bottom line is we had one legitimate offer for Evander.”
A situation like that doesn't bode well for a max return in the trade and leaves the door wide open for second-guessing Botterill as to why he waited so long to make the trade. Kane was a supposed hot commodity through December, but the first-time GM held out. No one really knows whether or not Botterill had legit offers on the table, but in many cases the best trades are done before the trade deadline.
For those ready to jump off the Peace Bridge because Kane didn't get a first rounder in return, all is not lost. The San Jose' Sharks did well in protecting their interests which included GM Doug Wilson entering the deadline stating that he wasn't planning on giving up top picks or prospects for rentals. If Kane turns out to be a rental it's only a second rounder but if they sign him after the season, giving up a first rounder along with two mid-level pieces makes him more than a rental and doesn't disrupt that school of thought. And it sounds as if Wilson would give serious consideration to re-singing in the off season.
For this season, San Jose' is in the midst of a playoff race with a team that's in the middle of the NHL in scoring right now. Last season they finished 10th in scoring but lost 27 goals and 46 points when Patrick Marleau signed a free agent contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs last July. Although Marleau (now 38 yrs. old) is nearing the tail end of his career, that's still a big chunk of scoring they're missing. In addition, Joe Thornton has been sidelined by a knee injury since Jan. 23 and is still recovering. He's expected to be back by the end of the regular season. The 38 yr. old had 13 goals and 36 points in 47 games before the injury.
With Marleau gone and Thornton not getting any younger, the opportunity to land a scoring winger like Kane, who's in the middle of his prime, was very attractive to Wilson as was the "nickles on the dollar," as one San Jose' writer put it, he paid for him. "I go back to the skillset that he brings and the age that he brings," said Wilson to the local media yesterday, "sop he does bring the ingredients that fit for now and the future."
Wilson was also smart in that he and his staff will have the opportunity to see Kane up close and judge for themselves as to whether they want to move forward with him. "The way the (trade) is structured," he said, "allows us to have flexibility for him to get to know us and for us to get to know him.
"Get him in hers, let's get to know each other and we'll go from there."
Of note, the Sharks will have $20 million in cap-space next season, according to CapFriendly, with a young core and d-corps locked in save for a couple RFA's. They'll have even more if the salary cap increases from the present $75 million ceiling.
As for Kane, he'll be entering an environment that's been a model of consistency for the past 20 seasons as they've missed the playoffs only twice in that span. Which is good for him considering he's never been on a playoff team in his nine-year career. Northern California has a lot to offer and that includes being a stones throw from his Vancouver, BC hometown. The hockey atmosphere in San Jose' is great with "The Shark Tank" being one of the loudest arenas in the league.
If it's a match, then it will work out for all involved, including the Sabres, maybe not as much as some in Sabreland had hoped for, but it will have worked out.
*****
Wilson was able to hang on to his top prospects like Timo Meier, Josh Norris and Joakim Ryan in the deal and instead sent forward Daniel O'Regan to the Sabres in the Kane trade.
O'Regan was selected 138th-overall in the 2012 NHL Draft by San Jose' and was the AHL's Rookie of the Year last season after scoring 56 points (22+34) in 64 games for the San Jose' Barracuda. In 22 NHL games he scored one goal and added four assists.
The 5'10" 185 lb. O'Regan spent his senior season at Boston University playin on a line with Jack Eichel and Evan Rodrigues, both of whom play for the Sabres. Eichel was the second-overall pick int the 2015 NHL Draft while Rodrigues was a free agent signing out of college that year.
Will they be reunited? Maybe for a game this season, but O'Regan will be headed to Rochester, at least initially, to help a struggling Amerks team maintain or better their position in the standings. Although Rochester is still in a playoff spot, they've been slipping as of late.
Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com and sabres.com made an interesting point about O'Regan filling a void left when forward Stevie Moses bolted for the KHL. Moses just up and left on December 22 and was suspended by team for "breach of contract" after he signed a two-year contract with Helsingin Jokerit.
The Amerks were riding high in December with a 17-6-3-3 record and challenging the Toronto Marlies for division supremacy. Since then they're only 10-9-5-3, have dropped to third in the division and sixth-overall in the Eastern Conference.
O'Regan is of no help to the Sabres this year but his 25 points (7+18) will certainly help bolster the Amerks forward group.
*****
The 2018 NHL Trade Deadline was pretty lame for all intents and purposes (save for a few teams) and no doubt the lack of active teams looking for rentals, hurt the return for Kane. In all, according to Sportsnet.ca, "16 trades, 31 players dealt, 18 draft picks moved, and $30.8 million in salaries exchanged." They also noted that five first round picks were exchanged.
As usual there was seems to have been some foolishness as Vegas Golden Knights GM George McPhee traded a first, second and third in consecutive years beginning this June to the Detroit Red Wings for forward Tomas Tatar. The Nashville Predators sent a first round pick plus two other pieces to the Chicago Blackhawks for forward Ryan Hartman and a fifth-round pick. The 23 yr. old Hartman played a modest role for the Hawks and has 27 goals in 147 games. And although there were some minor deals, none involved any Sabres' depth players.
Nor did any team make a trade for either of their goalies.
So tonight when they take on the juggernaut that is the Tampa Bay Lightning, who strengthened an already strong team with the acquisition of NY Rangers defenseman (and team captain) Ryan McDonough, the Sabres will have the same lineup they've been using the past two games.
Twenty games to go, Sabres fans.
Showing posts with label 2018 NHL Trade Deadline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2018 NHL Trade Deadline. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Sabres head into Trade Deadline Day with a 4-1 win over Boston.
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 2-26-2018
The Boston Bruins are going to the playoffs.
The Buffalo Sabres are not.
Boston has made three trades to bolster their roster for a playoff run.
Buffalo has not made any trades.
The two Atlantic Division foes played yesterday evening in the final game of their four-game season series.
These are the games at this point that amount to the little stanley cups the Sabres find themselves playing for in the final 20 or so games left in a wretched season. It wasn't supposed to be this way for Buffalo, and least not to this extreme, but this is what it's come down to.
The Sabres have done surprisingly well this season against the Bruins and after their win yesterday finished the series by going 3-1-0 against he Bruins which included two wins in Boston. Former Bruin Chad Johnson is the architect of Buffalo's last two wins as he's allowed Boston only three goals while the Sabres scored four in each of those contests.
Buffalo came to play brought their collective lunch pail to the rink yesterday and weathered a tough second period where the Bruins had them pinned in their own zone for well over two minutes which included two forced icings late in the stanza, came out. Yet they were able to head into the second intermission with holding a 3-1 lead. At 3:22 of the third period, Marco Scandella scored to make it 4-1 and the game, for all intents and purposes, was over.
The Sabres powerplay was working last night and even though the stat sheet says they went 1-5, their first and last goals were scored just seconds after the Bruins killed off a penalty. Buffalo's Benoit Pouliot opened the scoring just :11 seconds after Brad Marchand finished serving his two minute minor and Scandella's tally was only :06 seconds after Kevin Millar returned from his tripping penalty.
At the end of the game there were a lot of smiles emanating from the Blue and Gold and the win over the Bruins will be a nice send off for a number of players who will probably be playing for another team after 3 pm EST today.
The big name on Buffalo's trade list is Evander Kane who's been held out the last two games in anticipation of him being moved today. Defenseman Josh Gorges was also a healthy scratch but one can never tell if it was to keep him safe or because he's been splitting time all season with Justin Falk. The 33 yr. old Gorges, like Kane, is pending unrestricted free agent who had played in 28 of Buffalo's 62 games this season.
Johnson is also a pending UFA who's been finding his groove lately going 4-2-0 in his last six starts while allowing 13 goals on 185 shots (.930 Sv%.) We're pretty sure one of him or starter Robin Lehner will be on the move today so his one-goal on 35 shots-against yesterday would be a nice way to end his season in Buffalo. The same would go for Pouliot as he tallied yesterday. Interest in the former fourth-overall pick (2005) and pending UFA has perked up a bit in depth-role. A playoff bound team looking to bolster their fourth line could use a player like Pouliot who has twelve goals on the season and can play the penalty kill. Both Johnson and Pouliot wouldn't be bad re-signs for the Sabres in the off season either should they end up being traded today.
Other Sabres' players of interest could include two-time Stanley Cup-winning depth forward Jordan Nolan, depth forward Jacob Josefson (another former first rounder) and possibly Falk, all of whom are pending UFA's.
But of those seven UFA's, Kane, Johnson and Pouliot are the most likely to be gone after today with an outside chance that Gorges could be moved to a playoff-bound team looking for defensive depth.
The mantra when it comes to returns has been pretty consistent for a while. In the case of Kane a high pick (preferably a first rounder) and a mid-upper level prospect would seem to be a fair price with the Sabres retaining salary if necessary while also taking on a large NHL salary in return. Should all those factors come into player, the amount of money Buffalo is willing to eat in the process could mean a low-round draft pick added into the equation.
For the likes of Pouliot, a low-round pick (5th-7th rounder) may be apropos while a backup goalie like Johnson may fetch a fourth-rounder. If the Sabres could get a sixth or seventh round pick for Gorges, I think they'd be very happy.
Such is the trade deadline where speculation becomes realization and those on the selling side of the equation are left looking at futures while the buyers are looking towards the playoffs.
We in Sabreland know the routine.
The Boston Bruins are going to the playoffs.
The Buffalo Sabres are not.
Boston has made three trades to bolster their roster for a playoff run.
Buffalo has not made any trades.
The two Atlantic Division foes played yesterday evening in the final game of their four-game season series.
These are the games at this point that amount to the little stanley cups the Sabres find themselves playing for in the final 20 or so games left in a wretched season. It wasn't supposed to be this way for Buffalo, and least not to this extreme, but this is what it's come down to.
The Sabres have done surprisingly well this season against the Bruins and after their win yesterday finished the series by going 3-1-0 against he Bruins which included two wins in Boston. Former Bruin Chad Johnson is the architect of Buffalo's last two wins as he's allowed Boston only three goals while the Sabres scored four in each of those contests.
Buffalo came to play brought their collective lunch pail to the rink yesterday and weathered a tough second period where the Bruins had them pinned in their own zone for well over two minutes which included two forced icings late in the stanza, came out. Yet they were able to head into the second intermission with holding a 3-1 lead. At 3:22 of the third period, Marco Scandella scored to make it 4-1 and the game, for all intents and purposes, was over.
The Sabres powerplay was working last night and even though the stat sheet says they went 1-5, their first and last goals were scored just seconds after the Bruins killed off a penalty. Buffalo's Benoit Pouliot opened the scoring just :11 seconds after Brad Marchand finished serving his two minute minor and Scandella's tally was only :06 seconds after Kevin Millar returned from his tripping penalty.
At the end of the game there were a lot of smiles emanating from the Blue and Gold and the win over the Bruins will be a nice send off for a number of players who will probably be playing for another team after 3 pm EST today.
The big name on Buffalo's trade list is Evander Kane who's been held out the last two games in anticipation of him being moved today. Defenseman Josh Gorges was also a healthy scratch but one can never tell if it was to keep him safe or because he's been splitting time all season with Justin Falk. The 33 yr. old Gorges, like Kane, is pending unrestricted free agent who had played in 28 of Buffalo's 62 games this season.
Johnson is also a pending UFA who's been finding his groove lately going 4-2-0 in his last six starts while allowing 13 goals on 185 shots (.930 Sv%.) We're pretty sure one of him or starter Robin Lehner will be on the move today so his one-goal on 35 shots-against yesterday would be a nice way to end his season in Buffalo. The same would go for Pouliot as he tallied yesterday. Interest in the former fourth-overall pick (2005) and pending UFA has perked up a bit in depth-role. A playoff bound team looking to bolster their fourth line could use a player like Pouliot who has twelve goals on the season and can play the penalty kill. Both Johnson and Pouliot wouldn't be bad re-signs for the Sabres in the off season either should they end up being traded today.
Other Sabres' players of interest could include two-time Stanley Cup-winning depth forward Jordan Nolan, depth forward Jacob Josefson (another former first rounder) and possibly Falk, all of whom are pending UFA's.
But of those seven UFA's, Kane, Johnson and Pouliot are the most likely to be gone after today with an outside chance that Gorges could be moved to a playoff-bound team looking for defensive depth.
The mantra when it comes to returns has been pretty consistent for a while. In the case of Kane a high pick (preferably a first rounder) and a mid-upper level prospect would seem to be a fair price with the Sabres retaining salary if necessary while also taking on a large NHL salary in return. Should all those factors come into player, the amount of money Buffalo is willing to eat in the process could mean a low-round draft pick added into the equation.
For the likes of Pouliot, a low-round pick (5th-7th rounder) may be apropos while a backup goalie like Johnson may fetch a fourth-rounder. If the Sabres could get a sixth or seventh round pick for Gorges, I think they'd be very happy.
Such is the trade deadline where speculation becomes realization and those on the selling side of the equation are left looking at futures while the buyers are looking towards the playoffs.
We in Sabreland know the routine.
Monday, February 26, 2018
Random thoughs on Olympics, Sabres, Evander Kane, Kings and Habs
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 2-25-2018
The 2018 Winter Olympics are over and here's a few things I'll walk away with:
--I'm not sure who built the Team USA men's hockey team, but whoever did could have done better. Way too many elder statesmen on the team and not enough young turks. From a Buffalo Sabre perspective one of their prospects was there, 21 yr. old defenseman Will Borgen, but didn't play and another prospect, 19 yr. old center Casey Mittelstadt should have been, but never got the call.
--Former Sabre Brian Gionta, who is 39 yrs. old, did play for the U.S. but had a very hard time keeping up. Gionta was with the Sabres last season in a third line role and was very effective. Perhaps it was his age. Or maybe it was the extra 15' width found on the Olympic ice at Pyeongchang. I know it will never happen in the NHL, but they should widen their rinks. Would give players so much room to roam
--The NHL did not allow it's players to participate in this year's Olympics which, no doubt, brought down the talent-level greatly. In particular both the U.S. and Canada were hindered by not having NHL talent at the games with Team USA getting bounced in the quarterfinals and Team Canada losing the bronze medal game. Without those players the U.S. was at a distinct disadvantage while Canada was not considered a favorite. Russia went into the Olympics as a prohibitive favorite and did in fact win the tourney.
--Steven Whyno of the Associated Press wrote today that the Russia (or Olympic Athletes of Russia, as they were known throughout the Games) matchup with Germany in the "exhilarating" gold medal game may have saved a "mostly listless tournament. Whyno writes about half-filled arenas in Korea with "tepid interest in North America." I'm sure there was still plenty of interest in North America, but the time difference may have had a lot to do with that. Hockey games were shown live either early in the morning around 7 am EST or late at night like the gold medal game which started at 11 pm EST. I don't know about anyone else, but those times are about the worst ones you can have for sparking interest.
--Those who stayed up for the men's and women's gold medal games were certainly treated to some intense hockey. The Germans took the heavily favored OAR to overtime while on the women's side, Team USA and Team Canada put on quite a show with the U.S. coming out on top in the shootout of an epic contest. The US/Canada rivalry is one of the best in sports and it showed for those willing to stay up until 2:30 am EST to watch it's thrilling conclusion.
--To the party spokesperson who inserted politics into NBC's ratings shortfall on twitter, the 15 hour time difference was huge, as indicated by the times of the men's and women's gold medal hockey games. And to the woman who defended her saying "everything is in prime time here, and live." Wrong. Even the fantastic ladies figure skating finale finished after midnight. If you wanted to watch the men's curling team win their first-ever gold medal, it finished at 1:30 am EST. I'd say those were "must see events" for a number of Olympic fans.
--Hockey fans in Buffalo now have the rest of the season to look forward to, which is akin to sticking needles in their eyes for the remainder of the season. The 18-33-11 Sabres lost 5-1 last night to the Washington Capitals as they were without their two of their top three scorers. Jack Eichel, who still leads the team despite missing the last seven games, is out since suffering a high ankle sprain and Evander Kane (third in scoring) was sat last night for precautionary measures.
--Kane was sat last night (finally, for some) because he is a pending unrestricted free agent whom the Sabres will be trading before the 3 pm trade deadline tomorrow. Buffalo has a home game this evening against the Boston Bruins who just made a trade for one of Kane's comparables. The NY Rangers, who had already traded winger Michael Grabner to the New Jersey Devils, traded winger Rick Nash today to the Bruins for a first and a seventh round pick and two players. The Rangers also ate some of Nash's salary and acquired two players that make the cap-hits a wash (about $45K difference.) Nash and Kane were the top two wingers available and one of them is gone.
--Sabres fans shouldn't fret about the market for Kane drying up just yet as all the big forward transactions have been in the Eastern Conference. Along with the Grabner/Devils and Nash/Bruins deal, Ottawa Senators center Derick Brassard was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. That leaves the Western Conference wide open for a trade there. Kane plays a rugged north/south, Western Conference style of game to begin with so seeing him head west, if that's where he does land, wouldn't be that surprising to begin with.
--I'm still of the opinion that the Los Angeles Kings would be a great fit for Kane. They could find a spot for him in on the left side, possibly in a Phil Kessel-type role on the third line, and make a run for conference supremacy. The window is closing on the two-time Cup-winning Kings (2012, 2014) as the team is getting older and cap-space is getting tighter. Right now they're just outside a playoff spot in a with a rather large group of teams, but as we've seen in the past get them into the playoffs, especially with a goalie like Jonathan Quick, and they can go all the way.
--Kings GM Rob Blake has stated that he won't mortgage the future for a present run and so far he's done well at doing so while fortifying his team. This is a veteran team with high salaries that are winners. Their big three consist of Quick, captain Anze Kopitar and defenseman Drew Doughty. Of the three, only Doughty isn't signed beyond next season and if they're going to win, it needs to be now. This is their window and will Blake want to go for it right now would be the first question.
--The second question is, what constitutes mortgaging the future? If the Sabres receive a high pick and a mid-upper level prospect in the Kane deal, it would constitute a win for them. Any ancilliary pieces, like salary coming back (which may be necessary) and retention of salary by Buffalo (which may also be necessary, would make the price rise a little bit. If the Sabres had to eat some of Kane's salary while also taking on another $4 million for either Alec Martinez or Jake Muzzin, then so be it. But in that instance, it would be great if they could walk away with a first rounder and a defenseman like Paul LaDue, something that just might satisfy Blake.
--Buffalo shouldn't feel too bad about their dire straights this season. Sure they're on their way to a seventh consecutive season outside the playoffs. Part of it was a foregone conclusion and part of it was planned while these past two seasons were busts. But they have company in the Atlantic Division as Ottawa and the Montreal Canadiens are barreling to the bottom of the division. The Senators are look to be in full rebuild-mode while the Canadiens may end up heading in that direction.
--Montreal has a goalie in Carey Price who's signed long-term at a $10.5 million cap-hit who's been very average this season while rumors of off-ice personal troubles are said to be hanging over him. Their top defenseman, Shea Weber is out with an injury and is also signed long-term to a large $7.85 million cap hit. Big trade splash and re-sign Jonathan Drouin hasn't lived up to his $5.5 million cap hit, assistant captain Thomas Plekanec has been the subject of trade rumors and now we hear that captain Max Pacioretty wants out.
--The Canadiens were once the gold standard for NHL hockey but they're being reduced to a very expensive pile of rubble who's prized trade/re-sign might be former Sabre Nic Deslauriers.
--Having said that, word on the street is that the LA Kings have a heavy interest in Pacioretty, who like Kane, is a left winger. If that deal goes down, Buffalo GM Jason Botterill may be kicking himself for not pulling the trigger on a potential Kane deal earlier.
The 2018 Winter Olympics are over and here's a few things I'll walk away with:
--I'm not sure who built the Team USA men's hockey team, but whoever did could have done better. Way too many elder statesmen on the team and not enough young turks. From a Buffalo Sabre perspective one of their prospects was there, 21 yr. old defenseman Will Borgen, but didn't play and another prospect, 19 yr. old center Casey Mittelstadt should have been, but never got the call.
--Former Sabre Brian Gionta, who is 39 yrs. old, did play for the U.S. but had a very hard time keeping up. Gionta was with the Sabres last season in a third line role and was very effective. Perhaps it was his age. Or maybe it was the extra 15' width found on the Olympic ice at Pyeongchang. I know it will never happen in the NHL, but they should widen their rinks. Would give players so much room to roam
--The NHL did not allow it's players to participate in this year's Olympics which, no doubt, brought down the talent-level greatly. In particular both the U.S. and Canada were hindered by not having NHL talent at the games with Team USA getting bounced in the quarterfinals and Team Canada losing the bronze medal game. Without those players the U.S. was at a distinct disadvantage while Canada was not considered a favorite. Russia went into the Olympics as a prohibitive favorite and did in fact win the tourney.
--Steven Whyno of the Associated Press wrote today that the Russia (or Olympic Athletes of Russia, as they were known throughout the Games) matchup with Germany in the "exhilarating" gold medal game may have saved a "mostly listless tournament. Whyno writes about half-filled arenas in Korea with "tepid interest in North America." I'm sure there was still plenty of interest in North America, but the time difference may have had a lot to do with that. Hockey games were shown live either early in the morning around 7 am EST or late at night like the gold medal game which started at 11 pm EST. I don't know about anyone else, but those times are about the worst ones you can have for sparking interest.
--Those who stayed up for the men's and women's gold medal games were certainly treated to some intense hockey. The Germans took the heavily favored OAR to overtime while on the women's side, Team USA and Team Canada put on quite a show with the U.S. coming out on top in the shootout of an epic contest. The US/Canada rivalry is one of the best in sports and it showed for those willing to stay up until 2:30 am EST to watch it's thrilling conclusion.
--To the party spokesperson who inserted politics into NBC's ratings shortfall on twitter, the 15 hour time difference was huge, as indicated by the times of the men's and women's gold medal hockey games. And to the woman who defended her saying "everything is in prime time here, and live." Wrong. Even the fantastic ladies figure skating finale finished after midnight. If you wanted to watch the men's curling team win their first-ever gold medal, it finished at 1:30 am EST. I'd say those were "must see events" for a number of Olympic fans.
--Hockey fans in Buffalo now have the rest of the season to look forward to, which is akin to sticking needles in their eyes for the remainder of the season. The 18-33-11 Sabres lost 5-1 last night to the Washington Capitals as they were without their two of their top three scorers. Jack Eichel, who still leads the team despite missing the last seven games, is out since suffering a high ankle sprain and Evander Kane (third in scoring) was sat last night for precautionary measures.
--Kane was sat last night (finally, for some) because he is a pending unrestricted free agent whom the Sabres will be trading before the 3 pm trade deadline tomorrow. Buffalo has a home game this evening against the Boston Bruins who just made a trade for one of Kane's comparables. The NY Rangers, who had already traded winger Michael Grabner to the New Jersey Devils, traded winger Rick Nash today to the Bruins for a first and a seventh round pick and two players. The Rangers also ate some of Nash's salary and acquired two players that make the cap-hits a wash (about $45K difference.) Nash and Kane were the top two wingers available and one of them is gone.
--Sabres fans shouldn't fret about the market for Kane drying up just yet as all the big forward transactions have been in the Eastern Conference. Along with the Grabner/Devils and Nash/Bruins deal, Ottawa Senators center Derick Brassard was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. That leaves the Western Conference wide open for a trade there. Kane plays a rugged north/south, Western Conference style of game to begin with so seeing him head west, if that's where he does land, wouldn't be that surprising to begin with.
--I'm still of the opinion that the Los Angeles Kings would be a great fit for Kane. They could find a spot for him in on the left side, possibly in a Phil Kessel-type role on the third line, and make a run for conference supremacy. The window is closing on the two-time Cup-winning Kings (2012, 2014) as the team is getting older and cap-space is getting tighter. Right now they're just outside a playoff spot in a with a rather large group of teams, but as we've seen in the past get them into the playoffs, especially with a goalie like Jonathan Quick, and they can go all the way.
--Kings GM Rob Blake has stated that he won't mortgage the future for a present run and so far he's done well at doing so while fortifying his team. This is a veteran team with high salaries that are winners. Their big three consist of Quick, captain Anze Kopitar and defenseman Drew Doughty. Of the three, only Doughty isn't signed beyond next season and if they're going to win, it needs to be now. This is their window and will Blake want to go for it right now would be the first question.
--The second question is, what constitutes mortgaging the future? If the Sabres receive a high pick and a mid-upper level prospect in the Kane deal, it would constitute a win for them. Any ancilliary pieces, like salary coming back (which may be necessary) and retention of salary by Buffalo (which may also be necessary, would make the price rise a little bit. If the Sabres had to eat some of Kane's salary while also taking on another $4 million for either Alec Martinez or Jake Muzzin, then so be it. But in that instance, it would be great if they could walk away with a first rounder and a defenseman like Paul LaDue, something that just might satisfy Blake.
--Buffalo shouldn't feel too bad about their dire straights this season. Sure they're on their way to a seventh consecutive season outside the playoffs. Part of it was a foregone conclusion and part of it was planned while these past two seasons were busts. But they have company in the Atlantic Division as Ottawa and the Montreal Canadiens are barreling to the bottom of the division. The Senators are look to be in full rebuild-mode while the Canadiens may end up heading in that direction.
--Montreal has a goalie in Carey Price who's signed long-term at a $10.5 million cap-hit who's been very average this season while rumors of off-ice personal troubles are said to be hanging over him. Their top defenseman, Shea Weber is out with an injury and is also signed long-term to a large $7.85 million cap hit. Big trade splash and re-sign Jonathan Drouin hasn't lived up to his $5.5 million cap hit, assistant captain Thomas Plekanec has been the subject of trade rumors and now we hear that captain Max Pacioretty wants out.
--The Canadiens were once the gold standard for NHL hockey but they're being reduced to a very expensive pile of rubble who's prized trade/re-sign might be former Sabre Nic Deslauriers.
--Having said that, word on the street is that the LA Kings have a heavy interest in Pacioretty, who like Kane, is a left winger. If that deal goes down, Buffalo GM Jason Botterill may be kicking himself for not pulling the trigger on a potential Kane deal earlier.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
0.2 seconds. Plus, a brief history of Evander Kane
The Buffalo Sabres managed to barely beat the clock last night in overtime as they took down the Detroit Red Wings 3-2. Defenseman Marco Scandella buried a feed from Johan Larsson with 0.2 seconds left in overtime for the win.
(via nhl.com)
It was a great sight to see, one that brought a lot of happiness to a bedraggled team that's been struggling all season.
Although overtime was great with a lot of rushes and scoring chances going both ways, the main event in regulation was a battle between two teams in the lower portion of the Atlantic Division with the Sabres dead last. The Red Wings have been in transition since losing Pavel Datsyuk and head coach Mike Babcock while the Sabres have been transitioning for about seven years now. Both teams have some talent up front, a suspect defense and goaltending that has a tendency to disappear when needed.
The win for Buffalo puts them at 18-32-11 on the season (47 points) while dropping the Red Wings to 24-26-10 (58 pts.) With both teams out of the playoffs and with the NHL trade deadline this coming Monday at 3 pm, the Sabres and the Red Wings both have something to offer teams looking at the playoffs and beyond.
*****
*****
In Buffalo the big name on the trade front is winger Evander Kane and if you don't know his story by now, here's a brief history.
Kane was a multi-faceted powerforward drafted fourth-overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009 and was with the team when the franchise moved to Winnipeg in May, 2011. He was a beast in 2011-12, his first season in Winnipeg, scoring a career-high 30 goals for the Jets and as luck would have it was also coming off of his entry-level deal. On September 15, 2012 he signed a six-year, $31.5 million deal with the Jets.
His time in Winnipeg after that first season was marred by injuries and rumors of tumult in the dressing room. In the two seasons following his breakout year Kane's numbers took a hit as he scored only 36 goals in 111 games. In 2014-15 his numbers tumbled as he was limited to 37 games scoring 10 goals. Those are the tangibles.
Off the ice there was a number of issues which included the famous "track suit" incident where he was said to have violated the team dress code with teammate Dustin Byfuglien throwing the suit in the shower. Fans in Winnipeg (as well as many throughout the NHL) didn't take kindly his infamous money phone photo during the NHL lockout of it's players in 2012 nor did Jets fans seem to like his choice of hair engravings. Then again, Jets fans didn't take kindly to him possibly because, according to Kane, he was a black man in a mostly white city. Said Kane of the latter, "I think a good portion of (criticism) is because I'm black and I'm not afraid to say that," Kane told The Hockey News' editor in chief Jason Kay for a THN Magazine story on March 4, 2012.
Whatever the reasons, any or all, the Jets wanted to trade Kane and Sabres GM Tim Murray wanted him. On February 11, 2015 Kane was part of an eight-piece blockbuster trade that brought him to Buffalo. A bonus for the tanking Sabres at the time, Kane underwent surgery on his shoulder less than a week prior to the trade and would be out 4-6 months so he would not be a detriment to their overall plan of landing a top-two pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.
Kane's recovery went as planned, Buffalo drafted Jack Eichel that June and both hit the ice for the 2015-16 season. After a slow start the Sabres improved mightily over their previous tank season and headed into the summer with plenty of positives. They even had the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo that year, which as great. Until Kane was involved in an off-ice incident during draft weekend that put a bad light on him and the organization. This was in addition to a sexual misconduct charge in late December, 2015 and missing a team practice after attending the NBA All-Star game in Toronto only two months later (for which he was suspended.)
It was reported after the draft incident that owners Terry and Kim Pegula wanted him out as he'd done a lot of damage to their brand image. Kane didn't have a spectacular first season in Buffalo as he missed 17 games because of injury, but he still managed 20 goals. His stock was at an all-time low in the summer of 2016 but regardless of that he hit 20 goals in a shortened 65-game season, most would have taken a bag of pucks just to move on from him.
Yet Murray held firm and kept him in the fold.
The 2016-17 season started out like a trainwreck for Kane. In the opener on October 13 he crashed into the boards at full speed and broke his ribs then later in the month a Buffalo City Court judge ruled that his incident at the draft was in "adjournment in contemplation of dismissal." He was basically put on probation with the order saying that if Kane kept his nose clean for six months "the charges, four harassment and one trespassing charge, will be dismissed and sealed," according to WKBW TV in Buffalo.
He would keep his nose clean the rest of the season.
After an 11-game adjustment coming back from the opening game rib injury, Kane went on a tear and scored 28 goals in the remaining 58 games he played in. However, the Sabres regressed and the Pegulas fired Murray and his head coach Dan Bylsma following the 2016-17 season.
Buffalo struggled out of the gate this year with an 0-4-1 mark to start and went 6-15-4 through the first two months of the season. The only bright spot was Kane as he scored 12 goals and 23 points through those first 25 games. He would add three more goals and eight more assists in December bringing his totals to 15 goals and 31 points through 38 games for the 2017 portion of the program. Since then he's scored only five goals in his last 23 games which includes a 14-game goal-drought from January 5-February 8.
Whatever the reasons, any or all, the Jets wanted to trade Kane and Sabres GM Tim Murray wanted him. On February 11, 2015 Kane was part of an eight-piece blockbuster trade that brought him to Buffalo. A bonus for the tanking Sabres at the time, Kane underwent surgery on his shoulder less than a week prior to the trade and would be out 4-6 months so he would not be a detriment to their overall plan of landing a top-two pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.
Kane's recovery went as planned, Buffalo drafted Jack Eichel that June and both hit the ice for the 2015-16 season. After a slow start the Sabres improved mightily over their previous tank season and headed into the summer with plenty of positives. They even had the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo that year, which as great. Until Kane was involved in an off-ice incident during draft weekend that put a bad light on him and the organization. This was in addition to a sexual misconduct charge in late December, 2015 and missing a team practice after attending the NBA All-Star game in Toronto only two months later (for which he was suspended.)
It was reported after the draft incident that owners Terry and Kim Pegula wanted him out as he'd done a lot of damage to their brand image. Kane didn't have a spectacular first season in Buffalo as he missed 17 games because of injury, but he still managed 20 goals. His stock was at an all-time low in the summer of 2016 but regardless of that he hit 20 goals in a shortened 65-game season, most would have taken a bag of pucks just to move on from him.
Yet Murray held firm and kept him in the fold.
The 2016-17 season started out like a trainwreck for Kane. In the opener on October 13 he crashed into the boards at full speed and broke his ribs then later in the month a Buffalo City Court judge ruled that his incident at the draft was in "adjournment in contemplation of dismissal." He was basically put on probation with the order saying that if Kane kept his nose clean for six months "the charges, four harassment and one trespassing charge, will be dismissed and sealed," according to WKBW TV in Buffalo.
He would keep his nose clean the rest of the season.
After an 11-game adjustment coming back from the opening game rib injury, Kane went on a tear and scored 28 goals in the remaining 58 games he played in. However, the Sabres regressed and the Pegulas fired Murray and his head coach Dan Bylsma following the 2016-17 season.
Buffalo struggled out of the gate this year with an 0-4-1 mark to start and went 6-15-4 through the first two months of the season. The only bright spot was Kane as he scored 12 goals and 23 points through those first 25 games. He would add three more goals and eight more assists in December bringing his totals to 15 goals and 31 points through 38 games for the 2017 portion of the program. Since then he's scored only five goals in his last 23 games which includes a 14-game goal-drought from January 5-February 8.
With the Sabres in terrible shape and Kane a pending unrestricted free agent, the 6'2" 212 lb. powerfoward began reeling in is game as the calendar turned to 2018 in what looked like a player trying to save himself for a new team. Trade rumors had been swirling for a while, but they were becoming more and more real with each passing week. The was team not even having talks about a contract extension and reportedly there were (are) a number of suitors wanting him as a rental, and when you add it all up, the writing was on the wall in bold letters.
His goal last night was his fourth in his last seven games and got him to 20 goals, the third time he's hit the 20-goal mark in Buffalo. His totals as of right now are 68 goals and 118 points in 196 games for Buffalo.
New GM Jason Botterill had a high asking price for Kane some weeks ago but it's safe to say that that price has come down as supply and demand came into play. Kane was the marquis forward in the trade market prior to the NY Rangers struggles and their willingness to part ways with two other wingers. One of them, Michael Grabner, was traded yesterday to the New Jersey Devils for a 2018 second round pick and d-prospect, Yegor Rykov. Veteran Rick Nash is also on the market and, like Grabner, was pulled from the Rangers' lineup prior to their game last night.
Kane played last night and scored a goal on a powerful wrap-around. He displayed his speed and his on-ice intensity moreso last night than at most any time this calendar year. Some are of the opinion that Kane's goal-slump would hurt the return Buffalo gets and they may be right to a point. Yet scouts have been tracking him for months and know exactly what he brings to the table so it's hard to fully validate that point of view. If they want him, they want him for a reason and supposedly have done the legwork on him.
The best part for teams looking at Kane as a rental this season is that on the ice, he is what he's always has been which is what attracts team to him in the first place. To use the words of Murray after he made the trade for Kane, "He plays hard. He plays in traffic. He doesn't play a perimeter game. He plays a heavy game. He scores goals around the net. He plays the game right." And a bonus for teams weary of his incidents, they're only exposed to that potential for a handful of months.
In looking back at how Kane kept his nose clean when he had to, and in the process he came close to reaching a career high in goals-scored, it wouldn't be that far of a reach to think that he'll do so for his new team. It's also important to remember that he hasn't been on a playoff team his entire career, another incentive to just play the game and keep all outside foolishness at bay.
Then again, you just never know with him.
His goal last night was his fourth in his last seven games and got him to 20 goals, the third time he's hit the 20-goal mark in Buffalo. His totals as of right now are 68 goals and 118 points in 196 games for Buffalo.
New GM Jason Botterill had a high asking price for Kane some weeks ago but it's safe to say that that price has come down as supply and demand came into play. Kane was the marquis forward in the trade market prior to the NY Rangers struggles and their willingness to part ways with two other wingers. One of them, Michael Grabner, was traded yesterday to the New Jersey Devils for a 2018 second round pick and d-prospect, Yegor Rykov. Veteran Rick Nash is also on the market and, like Grabner, was pulled from the Rangers' lineup prior to their game last night.
Kane played last night and scored a goal on a powerful wrap-around. He displayed his speed and his on-ice intensity moreso last night than at most any time this calendar year. Some are of the opinion that Kane's goal-slump would hurt the return Buffalo gets and they may be right to a point. Yet scouts have been tracking him for months and know exactly what he brings to the table so it's hard to fully validate that point of view. If they want him, they want him for a reason and supposedly have done the legwork on him.
The best part for teams looking at Kane as a rental this season is that on the ice, he is what he's always has been which is what attracts team to him in the first place. To use the words of Murray after he made the trade for Kane, "He plays hard. He plays in traffic. He doesn't play a perimeter game. He plays a heavy game. He scores goals around the net. He plays the game right." And a bonus for teams weary of his incidents, they're only exposed to that potential for a handful of months.
In looking back at how Kane kept his nose clean when he had to, and in the process he came close to reaching a career high in goals-scored, it wouldn't be that far of a reach to think that he'll do so for his new team. It's also important to remember that he hasn't been on a playoff team his entire career, another incentive to just play the game and keep all outside foolishness at bay.
Then again, you just never know with him.
Friday, February 23, 2018
Trades beginning to rain all around as Sabres visit Detroit
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 2-22-2018
Who'd have thought Boston Bruins Frank Vatrano was on the block? Vatrano was a bit of a wunderkind as he pumped in 36 goals 36 games for the Providence Bruins, Boston's AHL affiliate, in 2015-16 after signing a free agent contract out of UMass. In two separate stints with the Bruins he did raise some eyebrows with 18 goals in 83 games while in a support role from 2015-17.
This season, however, Vatrano has struggled scoring only two goals in 25 games and suffering from a lower-body injury. According to Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, as Vatrano took a step back, two young forwards, Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk, took advantage of their opportunity placing Vatrano down the depth chart. Rather than risk losing him to waivers, Boston GM Don Sweeney traded him to the Florida Panthers today for a third round pick.
Of note, the Panthers and Bruins meet four more times.
Things are starting to pick up on the trade front as seven trades have been made in the past four days. This was the second trade in three days for Boston. On Tuesday they strengthened their defense-corps by adding Nick Holden from the NY Rangers for a third round pick. The third they got for Vatrano recoups the pick they sent the Rangers and also, according to Conroy, "gives the B's a little more trade capital with which to work before Monday's trade deadline."
At one point in time the Sabres were said to have the most coveted free agent forward in Evander Kane and while that may still be true, as of this writing he's still donning the Blue and Gold. After Kane there's really not much the Sabres have to offer playoff-bound teams outside of depth. Forwards Benoit Pouliot, Jordan Nolan and Jacob Josefson, along with defensemen Josh Gorges and Justin Falk all, like Kane are pending unrestricted free agents, but all are considered depth players. Backup goalie Chad Johnson is also a pending UFA.
The most intriguing Buffalo player other than Kane is goalie Robin Lehner who is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, according to CapFriendly.com. Lehner's name has been mentioned in a couple of scenarios which at one point included the Chicago Blackhawks and NY Islanders. With Chicago's playoff hopes fading and the Islanders probably focusing on shoring up their defense, the market for a starting goalie is drying up.
Two backup goalies have already been traded as the Philadelphia Flyers picked up Petr Mrazek from the Detroit Red Wings and the Arizona Coyotes traded forward Tobias Reider to the Los Angeles Kings for backup Darcy Kuemper and promptly signed him to a 2yr./$3.7 million contract extension. Two other backup goalies were traded in January as the Columbus Blue Jackets picked up Jeff Zatkoff from the Kings and the Edmonton Oilers traded for Al Montoya from the Montreal Canadiens.
So the Sabres will hit the ice in Detroit tonight with the same lineup they've had for most of the season. The report from this mornings skate has Lehner starting in net with the following lineup (barring anyone being pulled because of a pending trade):
Kane-O'Reilly-Reinhart
Girgensons-Rodrigues-Okposo
Wilson-Larsson-Pominville
Pouliot-Josefson-Baptiste
Scandella-Nelson
Beaulieu-Ristolainen
Gorges-Antipin
Nolan and Falk are the scratches for tonight.
*****
Some quick notes:
--This is the third of four meetings between the Wings and the Sabres. Buffalo won the first one in October as Lehner pitched the shutout in a 1-0 victory (with Pouliot scoring the lone goal and Antipin earning his first ever NHL points,) and the Red Wings took the last one 3-1 in November.
--According to Sabres PR, the Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Red Wings; 3-6-1 on the road
--Forward Scott Wilson, who is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, is headed back to Detroit for his first game as a Sabre against his former team. Wilson was acquired by Buffalo on December 4th for a 2019 fifth-round pick and he's been heating up as of late with five points (3+2) in his last six games.
Also from Sabres PR, here's a few players who have picked up the pace lately:
--Ryan O’Reilly has recorded 19 points (9+10) in his last 19 games.
--Sam Reinhart has totaled 17 points (6+11) in his last 16 games.
--Rasmus Ristolainen has 18 points (5+13) in his last 23 games dating back to Dec. 29. Ristolainen’s 18 points during that span tied for eighth among NHL defensemen entering play Wednesday.
--Kyle Okposo has recorded 17 points (4+13) in his last 18 games.
--Evan Rodrigues has totaled six points (2+4) in his last seven games
*****
Of note on the Kane front, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, [NY Rangers winger Michael] "Grabner expected to be pulled from Rangers lineup tonight given trade talks happening... Rangers might potentially do same with [winger] Rick Nash." That's a lot of competition for Kane's services and if GM Jason Botterill doesn't hammer out something soon, the return will lessen by the day.
*****
And finally, congratulations to the U.S. Women's Olympic Hockey Team for bringing home the gold. The Americans outdueled archrival Team Canada in a game that went to the shootout. For as much as everybody hates the shootout in games like this, me included, it was still a very entertaining, yet nerve-wracking skills competition.
It was the ladies first Olympic gold in the sport since 1998.
Who'd have thought Boston Bruins Frank Vatrano was on the block? Vatrano was a bit of a wunderkind as he pumped in 36 goals 36 games for the Providence Bruins, Boston's AHL affiliate, in 2015-16 after signing a free agent contract out of UMass. In two separate stints with the Bruins he did raise some eyebrows with 18 goals in 83 games while in a support role from 2015-17.
This season, however, Vatrano has struggled scoring only two goals in 25 games and suffering from a lower-body injury. According to Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, as Vatrano took a step back, two young forwards, Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk, took advantage of their opportunity placing Vatrano down the depth chart. Rather than risk losing him to waivers, Boston GM Don Sweeney traded him to the Florida Panthers today for a third round pick.
Of note, the Panthers and Bruins meet four more times.
Things are starting to pick up on the trade front as seven trades have been made in the past four days. This was the second trade in three days for Boston. On Tuesday they strengthened their defense-corps by adding Nick Holden from the NY Rangers for a third round pick. The third they got for Vatrano recoups the pick they sent the Rangers and also, according to Conroy, "gives the B's a little more trade capital with which to work before Monday's trade deadline."
At one point in time the Sabres were said to have the most coveted free agent forward in Evander Kane and while that may still be true, as of this writing he's still donning the Blue and Gold. After Kane there's really not much the Sabres have to offer playoff-bound teams outside of depth. Forwards Benoit Pouliot, Jordan Nolan and Jacob Josefson, along with defensemen Josh Gorges and Justin Falk all, like Kane are pending unrestricted free agents, but all are considered depth players. Backup goalie Chad Johnson is also a pending UFA.
The most intriguing Buffalo player other than Kane is goalie Robin Lehner who is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, according to CapFriendly.com. Lehner's name has been mentioned in a couple of scenarios which at one point included the Chicago Blackhawks and NY Islanders. With Chicago's playoff hopes fading and the Islanders probably focusing on shoring up their defense, the market for a starting goalie is drying up.
Two backup goalies have already been traded as the Philadelphia Flyers picked up Petr Mrazek from the Detroit Red Wings and the Arizona Coyotes traded forward Tobias Reider to the Los Angeles Kings for backup Darcy Kuemper and promptly signed him to a 2yr./$3.7 million contract extension. Two other backup goalies were traded in January as the Columbus Blue Jackets picked up Jeff Zatkoff from the Kings and the Edmonton Oilers traded for Al Montoya from the Montreal Canadiens.
So the Sabres will hit the ice in Detroit tonight with the same lineup they've had for most of the season. The report from this mornings skate has Lehner starting in net with the following lineup (barring anyone being pulled because of a pending trade):
Kane-O'Reilly-Reinhart
Girgensons-Rodrigues-Okposo
Wilson-Larsson-Pominville
Pouliot-Josefson-Baptiste
Scandella-Nelson
Beaulieu-Ristolainen
Gorges-Antipin
Nolan and Falk are the scratches for tonight.
*****
Some quick notes:
--This is the third of four meetings between the Wings and the Sabres. Buffalo won the first one in October as Lehner pitched the shutout in a 1-0 victory (with Pouliot scoring the lone goal and Antipin earning his first ever NHL points,) and the Red Wings took the last one 3-1 in November.
--According to Sabres PR, the Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Red Wings; 3-6-1 on the road
--Forward Scott Wilson, who is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, is headed back to Detroit for his first game as a Sabre against his former team. Wilson was acquired by Buffalo on December 4th for a 2019 fifth-round pick and he's been heating up as of late with five points (3+2) in his last six games.
Also from Sabres PR, here's a few players who have picked up the pace lately:
--Ryan O’Reilly has recorded 19 points (9+10) in his last 19 games.
--Sam Reinhart has totaled 17 points (6+11) in his last 16 games.
--Rasmus Ristolainen has 18 points (5+13) in his last 23 games dating back to Dec. 29. Ristolainen’s 18 points during that span tied for eighth among NHL defensemen entering play Wednesday.
--Kyle Okposo has recorded 17 points (4+13) in his last 18 games.
--Evan Rodrigues has totaled six points (2+4) in his last seven games
*****
Of note on the Kane front, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, [NY Rangers winger Michael] "Grabner expected to be pulled from Rangers lineup tonight given trade talks happening... Rangers might potentially do same with [winger] Rick Nash." That's a lot of competition for Kane's services and if GM Jason Botterill doesn't hammer out something soon, the return will lessen by the day.
*****
And finally, congratulations to the U.S. Women's Olympic Hockey Team for bringing home the gold. The Americans outdueled archrival Team Canada in a game that went to the shootout. For as much as everybody hates the shootout in games like this, me included, it was still a very entertaining, yet nerve-wracking skills competition.
It was the ladies first Olympic gold in the sport since 1998.
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Strike while the iron's hot with Robin Lehner
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 2-5-2018
Buffalo Sabres starting goaltender Robin Lehner has emerged from a deep slump that hit him hard last month. Lehner was yanked after allowing four goals on 19 shots in the 7-1 Dallas Stars rout over the Sabres back on January 20, his fourth poor outing in five appearances, but since then he's been a wall. In his last four games Lehner has allowed three goals on 123 shots (.976 save percentage) which includes back-to-back shutouts in the midst of going a career-best 145:15 without allowing a goal.
Yet, thanks to the team in front of him, he's only 2-2-0 during that stretch.
Word from our insiders is that Lehner's name has not come up at the foot of Washington St. when it comes to the team moving him. The 26 yr. old veteran of 205 NHL games is a pending restricted free agent who carries a $4 million cap-hit, which is very manageable when prorated for the remainder of the season. Lehner's starting ability and his manageable pro-rated cap-hit might be very appealing to a team looking for a rental goalie.
For a while now, there have been two teams said to be looking at goaltenders for the stretch run and beyond--the Chicago Blackhawks and NY Islanders. The Hawks lost Corey Crawford indefinitely back in December and their backup goalies have struggled with inconsistency as of late. Chicago is 3-5-2 in their last 10 and they're five points out of the last wild card spot in the Western Conference with four teams to jump.
The New York Islanders are right on the precipice of the second wild card spot in the East and are said to be desperate to not only make the playoffs, but also make a deep run to help entice franchise center John Tavares to re-sign this off season. Starter Jaroslav Halak has had a tough go of it this season, and although he seems to have turned it around, they may still have some question marks with him in net while backup Thomas Greiss has seen his numbers take a precipitous drop this season (3.94 goals-against average, .883 Sv%.) Add it all up and the Islanders are on the playoff buble scoring an NHL third-best 3.28 goals/game but giving up an NHL-worst 3.60 goals/game.
NHL.com added another interesting twist to the goalie market when they wrote that the surging Pittsburgh Penguins might want to upgrade their backup goalie situation. Starter Matt Murray is a two-time Cup-winning goalie who has struggled somewhat this season but has established himself as a money goalie come playoff time. The Pens are presently in third place in the Metropolitan Division and are chasing a bit of history as they're trying to become the first team since the 1980-83 NY Islanders to win three straight Stanley Cups.
Twenty-two year old Tristian Jarry has been solid, if somewhat inconsistent, in a backup role for the Pens after getting the call from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton back in November and yo-yoing a bit since while Casey DeSmith shows promise (5-3-0 record, 2.23 GAA, .926 Sv%) albeit in a very small sample size. So it does make sense that Pittsburgh might be in the market for a veteran backup.
Two names have consistently been mentioned as goalies who could be on the move between now and the February 26 trade deadline are Lehner and Detroit starter Petr Mrazek. Carolina veteran Cam Ward (a Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe winner) has also been mentioned but has taken back the starting role for a Hurricanes' team with designs on a playoff push.
The case for Lehner to any of these teams is rather simple. In Buffalo he's needed to play a near perfect game to get a win as the Sabres are the lowest scoring team in the league (2.25 g/gm.) Lehner has an 11-20-6 record with those 20 losses being the most in the league and has a 2.80 goals-against average that's 20th in the league amongst goalies playing in 30 or more games. He's faced 1140 shots (14th-most) and his .914 Sv% is 13th in the league amongst goalies playing in 30 or more games.
All three of the Islanders (3rd,) Penguins (11th) and Blackhawks (13th) are in the upper portion of the league in scoring while the Blackhawks have the league's 18th best GAA (2.77.) As mentioned the Islanders are last in team goals-against while the Penguins rank 21st (2.98.)
What does this all mean?
Not much if the Sabres aren't going to move Lehner, but if they are (and I really think they will pull the trigger) then those are three teams who may be interested in his services at this time.
Buffalo won't be asking (or receiving) the moon for Lehner in a trade, but a second rounder or mid-level prospect might not be out of the question either. The Islanders have two firsts and two seconds (courtesy the Calgary Flames) in the upcoming draft so a second-rounder wouldn't kill them. The Pittsburgh Penguins have a second-round pick but are missing a third and their own fourth in the draft. They're also said to be looking for bottom-six center depth, of which the Sabres have some.
The Chicago Blackhawks don't have a second round pick but they might have a couple of mid-level d-prospects in Lucas Carlsson or Carl Dahlstrom that might be of interest to the Sabres.
The trade deadline is inching nearer and as has been the case for a while, Sabres GM Jason Botterill is said to be listening to offers for every one of his NHL player's not named Jack Eichel. So it's safe to assume that includes Lehner.
Buffalo Sabres starting goaltender Robin Lehner has emerged from a deep slump that hit him hard last month. Lehner was yanked after allowing four goals on 19 shots in the 7-1 Dallas Stars rout over the Sabres back on January 20, his fourth poor outing in five appearances, but since then he's been a wall. In his last four games Lehner has allowed three goals on 123 shots (.976 save percentage) which includes back-to-back shutouts in the midst of going a career-best 145:15 without allowing a goal.
Yet, thanks to the team in front of him, he's only 2-2-0 during that stretch.
Word from our insiders is that Lehner's name has not come up at the foot of Washington St. when it comes to the team moving him. The 26 yr. old veteran of 205 NHL games is a pending restricted free agent who carries a $4 million cap-hit, which is very manageable when prorated for the remainder of the season. Lehner's starting ability and his manageable pro-rated cap-hit might be very appealing to a team looking for a rental goalie.
For a while now, there have been two teams said to be looking at goaltenders for the stretch run and beyond--the Chicago Blackhawks and NY Islanders. The Hawks lost Corey Crawford indefinitely back in December and their backup goalies have struggled with inconsistency as of late. Chicago is 3-5-2 in their last 10 and they're five points out of the last wild card spot in the Western Conference with four teams to jump.
The New York Islanders are right on the precipice of the second wild card spot in the East and are said to be desperate to not only make the playoffs, but also make a deep run to help entice franchise center John Tavares to re-sign this off season. Starter Jaroslav Halak has had a tough go of it this season, and although he seems to have turned it around, they may still have some question marks with him in net while backup Thomas Greiss has seen his numbers take a precipitous drop this season (3.94 goals-against average, .883 Sv%.) Add it all up and the Islanders are on the playoff buble scoring an NHL third-best 3.28 goals/game but giving up an NHL-worst 3.60 goals/game.
NHL.com added another interesting twist to the goalie market when they wrote that the surging Pittsburgh Penguins might want to upgrade their backup goalie situation. Starter Matt Murray is a two-time Cup-winning goalie who has struggled somewhat this season but has established himself as a money goalie come playoff time. The Pens are presently in third place in the Metropolitan Division and are chasing a bit of history as they're trying to become the first team since the 1980-83 NY Islanders to win three straight Stanley Cups.
Twenty-two year old Tristian Jarry has been solid, if somewhat inconsistent, in a backup role for the Pens after getting the call from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton back in November and yo-yoing a bit since while Casey DeSmith shows promise (5-3-0 record, 2.23 GAA, .926 Sv%) albeit in a very small sample size. So it does make sense that Pittsburgh might be in the market for a veteran backup.
Two names have consistently been mentioned as goalies who could be on the move between now and the February 26 trade deadline are Lehner and Detroit starter Petr Mrazek. Carolina veteran Cam Ward (a Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe winner) has also been mentioned but has taken back the starting role for a Hurricanes' team with designs on a playoff push.
The case for Lehner to any of these teams is rather simple. In Buffalo he's needed to play a near perfect game to get a win as the Sabres are the lowest scoring team in the league (2.25 g/gm.) Lehner has an 11-20-6 record with those 20 losses being the most in the league and has a 2.80 goals-against average that's 20th in the league amongst goalies playing in 30 or more games. He's faced 1140 shots (14th-most) and his .914 Sv% is 13th in the league amongst goalies playing in 30 or more games.
All three of the Islanders (3rd,) Penguins (11th) and Blackhawks (13th) are in the upper portion of the league in scoring while the Blackhawks have the league's 18th best GAA (2.77.) As mentioned the Islanders are last in team goals-against while the Penguins rank 21st (2.98.)
What does this all mean?
Not much if the Sabres aren't going to move Lehner, but if they are (and I really think they will pull the trigger) then those are three teams who may be interested in his services at this time.
Buffalo won't be asking (or receiving) the moon for Lehner in a trade, but a second rounder or mid-level prospect might not be out of the question either. The Islanders have two firsts and two seconds (courtesy the Calgary Flames) in the upcoming draft so a second-rounder wouldn't kill them. The Pittsburgh Penguins have a second-round pick but are missing a third and their own fourth in the draft. They're also said to be looking for bottom-six center depth, of which the Sabres have some.
The Chicago Blackhawks don't have a second round pick but they might have a couple of mid-level d-prospects in Lucas Carlsson or Carl Dahlstrom that might be of interest to the Sabres.
The trade deadline is inching nearer and as has been the case for a while, Sabres GM Jason Botterill is said to be listening to offers for every one of his NHL player's not named Jack Eichel. So it's safe to assume that includes Lehner.
Monday, February 5, 2018
Zero is no hero. Plus, Botterill's trade deadline plight.
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 2-4-2018
For those of us old enough to remember Schoolhouse Rock, zero "is a wonderful thing" says the voice-over, "in fact, zero is my hero."
A zero in sports is good if it represents points against, obviously not so good if it's the number of points you score. Last night the Buffalo Sabres put up the big goose egg in a 1-0 lost to the St. Louis Blues. It was they fifth time this season the Sabres have been shutout, which includes scoring zero goals for a franchise record three games in a row from November 25-December 1.
Zero also represents the number of wins they've had in their last four home games, as in the Sabres are on a four-game losing streak at KeyBank Center.
Goalie Robin Lehner, who had back-to-back shutouts in western Canada last month, and has three on the season, was close to sending the game to overtime but Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson broke a 0-0 tie with just over five minutes in the third period. The Sabres came close to tying it late, but in a game of inches, "unfortunately they get a bar and in," said Lehner to the media postgame, "and we get a bar and out."
For those counting, it will be zero playoff appearnces for the club since 2011, a span of six (soon to be seven) seasons and without a playoff appearance, it will soon be zero playoff series wins since 2007, a span of 11 years.
It's no wonder that attendance at KeyBank Center is dwindling dramatically reaching points not seen since the early 2000's when team ownership was in turmoil.
And probably the saddest part of it for this once proud franchise is that the youth, the future fans in Sabreland, are begging to get turned off. I was talking to a coach last night of seven and eight year olds who said that many of those kids have zero interest in the Buffalo Sabres.
Which, speaks for itself.
*****
Perhaps owners Terry and Kim Pegula, along with team president will finally get the message that their plan is in shambles right now with no near-term end in sight.
It's not their fault that they had two general managers fritter away loads of cash on albatross contracts with too much term for overrated players, but they should take the blame for not having a hockey man run the hockey operations. If they want to be in complete control, fine, it's their franchise, but this is the results they've gotten to this point.
The hiring of Jason Botterill to be the general manager looks to be a good hire at this juncture, which is less than a year in to his tenure. Botterill played in the league for years and spent a number of years as an assistant/associate general manager in one of the best organizations in hockey, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
However, he still is a first time GM and the lifting he'll have to do to get this thing back on track may be more than anyone thought. He did some work in the off season that hasn't gone as planned, and honestly, not much has, but he did do well at the draft last year in jumping on a prime prospect that dropped to him at eighth-overall. We won't see the rest of his 2018 selections for at least a couple of years or so, but Casey Mittelstadt looks like he might make the jump after only one year at the University of Minnesota.
The next big step for Botterill is the upcoming February 26 trade deadline.
Word on the street is that the Sabres have had the 'For Sale' sign up for months with everyone save for Jack Eichel (and possibly Rasmus Ristolainen) available. The big thing for him will be getting a return for his pending unrestricted free agents, the most sought after being winger Evander Kane.
Kane is in the final year of a six year contract with a $5.25 million cap-hit. The 26 yr. old veteran of nearly 550 NHL games has 64 goals in 187 games for the Sabres (.342 goals/game,) with only seven of those goals coming on the powerplay. However, a hot start has turned extremely cold for Kane right now as he has zero goals in his last 12 games, only two in his last 21.
NHL general managers interested in Kane as a rental already know what he brings to the table and streakiness in scorers isn't all that new. But what remains problematic is his off-ice/locker room reputation.
Kane's reputation precedes him. Despite being clean off the ice, the recent spat between Buffalo defenseman Justin Falk and Kane where Falk called him "selfish" may have continued to put him in a bad light in the locker room. While talking with an amateur scout from an Atlantic Division team last night, the first thing that came out of his mouth concerning Kane was off-ice/locker room concerns. Although he conceded that Kane's on-ice play is excellent, that reputation will hurt the Sabres return for him in a trade.
Botterill also has UFA's with very little perceived value as role players on playoff-bound team. Forward Benoit Pouliot and defenseman Josh Gorges may or may not be of interest to other teams while two-time Cup-winner Jordan Nolan (LA Kings) may have lost some of his grinding effectiveness as the speed of the NHL increased.
Oddly enough, Lehner, a restricted free agent this summer, might garner some serious interest from team in or around the playoff mix, but so far rumors have the Sabres not shopping him.
Regardless of whether Botterill can move any or all of his pending free agents, the return, outside of possibly Kane, won't be much. But at least it will be something which is better than nothing.
For those of us old enough to remember Schoolhouse Rock, zero "is a wonderful thing" says the voice-over, "in fact, zero is my hero."
A zero in sports is good if it represents points against, obviously not so good if it's the number of points you score. Last night the Buffalo Sabres put up the big goose egg in a 1-0 lost to the St. Louis Blues. It was they fifth time this season the Sabres have been shutout, which includes scoring zero goals for a franchise record three games in a row from November 25-December 1.
Zero also represents the number of wins they've had in their last four home games, as in the Sabres are on a four-game losing streak at KeyBank Center.
Goalie Robin Lehner, who had back-to-back shutouts in western Canada last month, and has three on the season, was close to sending the game to overtime but Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson broke a 0-0 tie with just over five minutes in the third period. The Sabres came close to tying it late, but in a game of inches, "unfortunately they get a bar and in," said Lehner to the media postgame, "and we get a bar and out."
For those counting, it will be zero playoff appearnces for the club since 2011, a span of six (soon to be seven) seasons and without a playoff appearance, it will soon be zero playoff series wins since 2007, a span of 11 years.
It's no wonder that attendance at KeyBank Center is dwindling dramatically reaching points not seen since the early 2000's when team ownership was in turmoil.
And probably the saddest part of it for this once proud franchise is that the youth, the future fans in Sabreland, are begging to get turned off. I was talking to a coach last night of seven and eight year olds who said that many of those kids have zero interest in the Buffalo Sabres.
Which, speaks for itself.
*****
Perhaps owners Terry and Kim Pegula, along with team president will finally get the message that their plan is in shambles right now with no near-term end in sight.
It's not their fault that they had two general managers fritter away loads of cash on albatross contracts with too much term for overrated players, but they should take the blame for not having a hockey man run the hockey operations. If they want to be in complete control, fine, it's their franchise, but this is the results they've gotten to this point.
The hiring of Jason Botterill to be the general manager looks to be a good hire at this juncture, which is less than a year in to his tenure. Botterill played in the league for years and spent a number of years as an assistant/associate general manager in one of the best organizations in hockey, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
However, he still is a first time GM and the lifting he'll have to do to get this thing back on track may be more than anyone thought. He did some work in the off season that hasn't gone as planned, and honestly, not much has, but he did do well at the draft last year in jumping on a prime prospect that dropped to him at eighth-overall. We won't see the rest of his 2018 selections for at least a couple of years or so, but Casey Mittelstadt looks like he might make the jump after only one year at the University of Minnesota.
The next big step for Botterill is the upcoming February 26 trade deadline.
Word on the street is that the Sabres have had the 'For Sale' sign up for months with everyone save for Jack Eichel (and possibly Rasmus Ristolainen) available. The big thing for him will be getting a return for his pending unrestricted free agents, the most sought after being winger Evander Kane.
Kane is in the final year of a six year contract with a $5.25 million cap-hit. The 26 yr. old veteran of nearly 550 NHL games has 64 goals in 187 games for the Sabres (.342 goals/game,) with only seven of those goals coming on the powerplay. However, a hot start has turned extremely cold for Kane right now as he has zero goals in his last 12 games, only two in his last 21.
NHL general managers interested in Kane as a rental already know what he brings to the table and streakiness in scorers isn't all that new. But what remains problematic is his off-ice/locker room reputation.
Kane's reputation precedes him. Despite being clean off the ice, the recent spat between Buffalo defenseman Justin Falk and Kane where Falk called him "selfish" may have continued to put him in a bad light in the locker room. While talking with an amateur scout from an Atlantic Division team last night, the first thing that came out of his mouth concerning Kane was off-ice/locker room concerns. Although he conceded that Kane's on-ice play is excellent, that reputation will hurt the Sabres return for him in a trade.
Botterill also has UFA's with very little perceived value as role players on playoff-bound team. Forward Benoit Pouliot and defenseman Josh Gorges may or may not be of interest to other teams while two-time Cup-winner Jordan Nolan (LA Kings) may have lost some of his grinding effectiveness as the speed of the NHL increased.
Oddly enough, Lehner, a restricted free agent this summer, might garner some serious interest from team in or around the playoff mix, but so far rumors have the Sabres not shopping him.
Regardless of whether Botterill can move any or all of his pending free agents, the return, outside of possibly Kane, won't be much. But at least it will be something which is better than nothing.
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
All-Star weekend closes as the trade deadline inches closer
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-29-2018
If Jack Eichel continues to up his game like he has over his short career thus far, he should be a perennial NHL All-Star for years to come. As of now, Eichel's point/game pace (49 points in 49 games) has him ahead of where he was last year (.93 ppg) and is far above his rookie season of .69 ppg. With 20 goals in 49 games the 21 yr. old is on pace for 33 goals this season or .40 goals/game, a hair above his .393 g/gm last season.
And there's still upside
Eichel was in Tampa Bay, Florida over the weekend participating in the festivities along with the best the game has to offer. He and his fellow All-Stars from the Atlantic Division, which included Lightning players from the host city, dropped a 5-2 decision to the Pacific Division All-Stars in the final game of the day. Although there was $1 million on the line for the winning team, the 3-on-3 format allowed for a highly skilled game of shinny high on entertainment value for the fans.
All-Star weekend is a break for those not participating and a celebration of hockey for those attending. The regular season begins again on Tuesday and Eichel was in the moment about what had just transpired. "Obviously we get caught up in our game (during the regular season,)" said Eichel to the gathered media after the final All-Star game of the evening. "But this is a weekend to kind of relax and take a step back and realize where you are and kind of admire all these great players in our game."
However, where he and his fellow Buffalo Sabres are upon returning to regular season action on Tuesday leaves much to be desired. The Sabres have been near the bottom of the league all season and will head into their final 33 games in 30th place with a 14-26-9 record, despite a three-game western Canada sweep just prior to the break.
With the playoffs a very faint statistical hope and the trade deadline nearing, changes are on the horizon. Buffalo has a number of pending unrestricted free agents including a prime one in left wing Evander Kane, who's trade seems to be not a matter of "if," but more like, "what will the return be?" Other UFA's of interest may include forwards Benoit Pouliot and Jordan Nolan along with defenseman Josh Gorges, while fellow blueliner Justin Falk will also be a free agent at season's end. We Sabres fans might also be on the lookout for moves featuring two restricted free agents--starting goalie Robin Lehner and forward Sam Reinhart.
The Sabres begin a five-game homestand tomorrow night against the New Jersey Devils. Also in that run is a visit from the Florida Panthers on February 1, visits from the St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks as well the NY Islanders. In all there are 14 Sabres games before the February 26 trade deadline.
If Jack Eichel continues to up his game like he has over his short career thus far, he should be a perennial NHL All-Star for years to come. As of now, Eichel's point/game pace (49 points in 49 games) has him ahead of where he was last year (.93 ppg) and is far above his rookie season of .69 ppg. With 20 goals in 49 games the 21 yr. old is on pace for 33 goals this season or .40 goals/game, a hair above his .393 g/gm last season.
And there's still upside
Eichel was in Tampa Bay, Florida over the weekend participating in the festivities along with the best the game has to offer. He and his fellow All-Stars from the Atlantic Division, which included Lightning players from the host city, dropped a 5-2 decision to the Pacific Division All-Stars in the final game of the day. Although there was $1 million on the line for the winning team, the 3-on-3 format allowed for a highly skilled game of shinny high on entertainment value for the fans.
All-Star weekend is a break for those not participating and a celebration of hockey for those attending. The regular season begins again on Tuesday and Eichel was in the moment about what had just transpired. "Obviously we get caught up in our game (during the regular season,)" said Eichel to the gathered media after the final All-Star game of the evening. "But this is a weekend to kind of relax and take a step back and realize where you are and kind of admire all these great players in our game."
However, where he and his fellow Buffalo Sabres are upon returning to regular season action on Tuesday leaves much to be desired. The Sabres have been near the bottom of the league all season and will head into their final 33 games in 30th place with a 14-26-9 record, despite a three-game western Canada sweep just prior to the break.
With the playoffs a very faint statistical hope and the trade deadline nearing, changes are on the horizon. Buffalo has a number of pending unrestricted free agents including a prime one in left wing Evander Kane, who's trade seems to be not a matter of "if," but more like, "what will the return be?" Other UFA's of interest may include forwards Benoit Pouliot and Jordan Nolan along with defenseman Josh Gorges, while fellow blueliner Justin Falk will also be a free agent at season's end. We Sabres fans might also be on the lookout for moves featuring two restricted free agents--starting goalie Robin Lehner and forward Sam Reinhart.
The Sabres begin a five-game homestand tomorrow night against the New Jersey Devils. Also in that run is a visit from the Florida Panthers on February 1, visits from the St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks as well the NY Islanders. In all there are 14 Sabres games before the February 26 trade deadline.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Possible destinations for Evander Kane and what those teams might have to offer
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-15-2018
The NHL traded deadline is February 26, but with their fate pretty much sealed for this season, a bottom-dweller like the Buffalo Sabres, trade talks have been on-going for a while GM Jason Botterill reportedly fielding calls from contenders for weeks (or months.)
Buffalo's big trade chip is winger Evander Kane, a soon to be unrestricted free agent who happens to be having a career year. What's the market for a big, speedy 25-30 goal left winger who plays with an edge? Botterill is said to be looking for a first-rounder, a prospect and a conditional pick should Kane sign with the team he's traded to. Supply and demand will go a long way in dictating the return for Kane, but league-wide parity may help inch up the price.
Kane has been in the Eastern Conference these past three years, but the prototypical powerforward seems built for a more rugged Western Conference. And if you don't think they still cherish old-school hockey out west, look no further than the recent LA Kings/Anaheim Ducks games where the hatred is real as the two teams battle for Southern California dominance.
Although Kane may end up out west, word is that a team like the Pittsburgh Penguins might be interested in him as he does have the speed to play in a much faster Eastern Conference. After being on the outside looking in of a playoff position, the Pens are climbing back up and will be looking to make it three Stanley Cups in a row. Add in the fact that Botterill came from that organization (with three Cup rings) and it makes for a very interesting possibility.
Here are a handful of potential destinations for Kane (in no particular order,) where they are in the standings, their cap-space (from CapFriendly) and what they may have to offer the Sabres via the draft plus their top-three prospects (from NHL.com) who might be available.
Los Angeles Kings (3rd, Pacific Division)
--Projected cap-space: $3.3 million
--2018 draft: hold their own 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks.
Top prospects
--C, Gabe Vilardi (2017, 11th-overall)
Has great size (6'3", 201 lbs.) and great hands (29 goals in 49 games for Windsor (OHL) last season
--D, Paul LaDue (2012, 181st)
All-around, puck-moving d-man who saw some time on the Kings 2nd powerplay unit last season
--C, Jonny Brodzinski (2013, 148th)
Like LaDue, an NCAA product.
San Jose' Sharks (4th, Pacific Division)
--Projected cap-space: $5.4M
--2018 draft: 1st, no second or third
--F, Daniel O'Regan (2012, 138th)
O'Regan was Jack Eichel's wingman at Boston University in 2014-15. "Fearless player" lead all AHL rookies with 58 (25+38) points last season.
--F, Joshua Norris (2017, 19th)
Another NCAA product. Athletic, smart and a great skater
--D, Joakim Ryan (2012, 198th)
Has been making his way up the ranks since his Cornell U days. "Quiet but effective"
Anaheim Ducks (5th Pacific)
--Projected cap-space: $2.8M
--2018 draft: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, NJD 3rd
Top prospects
--D, Jacob Larsson (2015, 27tth)
Smooth-skating d-man who draws comparisons to fellow countryman and Ducks d-man, Hampus Lindholm
--C, Sam Steel (2016, 30th)
Highly skilled center who posted 131 pts (50-81) last year for Regina Pats (WHL)
--LW, Nic Kerdiles (2012, 36th)
Rugged, two-way player who's had some concussion issues since being drafted
Pittsburgh Penguins (4th, Metropolitan)
--Projected cap-space: $186K
--2018 draft: 1st, 2nd, no third
Top prospects
--RW, Daniel Sprong (2015, 46th)
Offensive winger with great shot could be next in the long line of young, inexpensive forwards who make big contributions to the club.
--F, Zachary Aston-Reese (2017 free agent)
Northeastern (NCAA) product scored 1.66/game his senior season, added eight points (3+5) in is first 10 pro games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
--G, Tristan Jarry (2013, 44th)
Putting up impressive numbers after getting the call to Pittsburgh with a 9-3-2 record, 2.33 goals-against average and .923 save percentage
Columbus Blue Jackets (2nd, Metropolitan)
--Projected cap-space: $5.5M
--2018 draft: 1st, 2nd, 3rd
Top Prospects
--D, Gabriel Carlsson (2019, 29th)
Big (6'4" 192 lbs.) stay-at-home defender with a good first pass and a big shot from the point
--F, Vitaly Abramov (2016, 65th)
Big offense (18 goals and 33 assists in 32 QMJHL games this year) from a smallish player (5'9" 172 lbs.) Almost made Jackets out of camp this year.
--C, Sam Vigneault (2017 FA)
Hulking center (6'5" 203 lbs.) scored 10 game-winning goals in his 106-game career at Clarkson University
The NHL traded deadline is February 26, but with their fate pretty much sealed for this season, a bottom-dweller like the Buffalo Sabres, trade talks have been on-going for a while GM Jason Botterill reportedly fielding calls from contenders for weeks (or months.)
Buffalo's big trade chip is winger Evander Kane, a soon to be unrestricted free agent who happens to be having a career year. What's the market for a big, speedy 25-30 goal left winger who plays with an edge? Botterill is said to be looking for a first-rounder, a prospect and a conditional pick should Kane sign with the team he's traded to. Supply and demand will go a long way in dictating the return for Kane, but league-wide parity may help inch up the price.
Kane has been in the Eastern Conference these past three years, but the prototypical powerforward seems built for a more rugged Western Conference. And if you don't think they still cherish old-school hockey out west, look no further than the recent LA Kings/Anaheim Ducks games where the hatred is real as the two teams battle for Southern California dominance.
Although Kane may end up out west, word is that a team like the Pittsburgh Penguins might be interested in him as he does have the speed to play in a much faster Eastern Conference. After being on the outside looking in of a playoff position, the Pens are climbing back up and will be looking to make it three Stanley Cups in a row. Add in the fact that Botterill came from that organization (with three Cup rings) and it makes for a very interesting possibility.
Here are a handful of potential destinations for Kane (in no particular order,) where they are in the standings, their cap-space (from CapFriendly) and what they may have to offer the Sabres via the draft plus their top-three prospects (from NHL.com) who might be available.
Los Angeles Kings (3rd, Pacific Division)
--Projected cap-space: $3.3 million
--2018 draft: hold their own 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks.
Top prospects
--C, Gabe Vilardi (2017, 11th-overall)
Has great size (6'3", 201 lbs.) and great hands (29 goals in 49 games for Windsor (OHL) last season
--D, Paul LaDue (2012, 181st)
All-around, puck-moving d-man who saw some time on the Kings 2nd powerplay unit last season
--C, Jonny Brodzinski (2013, 148th)
Like LaDue, an NCAA product.
San Jose' Sharks (4th, Pacific Division)
--Projected cap-space: $5.4M
--2018 draft: 1st, no second or third
--F, Daniel O'Regan (2012, 138th)
O'Regan was Jack Eichel's wingman at Boston University in 2014-15. "Fearless player" lead all AHL rookies with 58 (25+38) points last season.
--F, Joshua Norris (2017, 19th)
Another NCAA product. Athletic, smart and a great skater
--D, Joakim Ryan (2012, 198th)
Has been making his way up the ranks since his Cornell U days. "Quiet but effective"
Anaheim Ducks (5th Pacific)
--Projected cap-space: $2.8M
--2018 draft: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, NJD 3rd
Top prospects
--D, Jacob Larsson (2015, 27tth)
Smooth-skating d-man who draws comparisons to fellow countryman and Ducks d-man, Hampus Lindholm
--C, Sam Steel (2016, 30th)
Highly skilled center who posted 131 pts (50-81) last year for Regina Pats (WHL)
--LW, Nic Kerdiles (2012, 36th)
Rugged, two-way player who's had some concussion issues since being drafted
Pittsburgh Penguins (4th, Metropolitan)
--Projected cap-space: $186K
--2018 draft: 1st, 2nd, no third
Top prospects
--RW, Daniel Sprong (2015, 46th)
Offensive winger with great shot could be next in the long line of young, inexpensive forwards who make big contributions to the club.
--F, Zachary Aston-Reese (2017 free agent)
Northeastern (NCAA) product scored 1.66/game his senior season, added eight points (3+5) in is first 10 pro games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
--G, Tristan Jarry (2013, 44th)
Putting up impressive numbers after getting the call to Pittsburgh with a 9-3-2 record, 2.33 goals-against average and .923 save percentage
Columbus Blue Jackets (2nd, Metropolitan)
--Projected cap-space: $5.5M
--2018 draft: 1st, 2nd, 3rd
Top Prospects
--D, Gabriel Carlsson (2019, 29th)
Big (6'4" 192 lbs.) stay-at-home defender with a good first pass and a big shot from the point
--F, Vitaly Abramov (2016, 65th)
Big offense (18 goals and 33 assists in 32 QMJHL games this year) from a smallish player (5'9" 172 lbs.) Almost made Jackets out of camp this year.
--C, Sam Vigneault (2017 FA)
Hulking center (6'5" 203 lbs.) scored 10 game-winning goals in his 106-game career at Clarkson University
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Linus Ullmark leads Sabres into the 'bye week' with a win...plus
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-12-2018
There were a lot of good things to take away from last night's 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. First and foremost, it stopped a five game winless streak for the Buffalo Sabres (0-4-1,) which was their third such streak of five or more games (one was six) on the season and it sent them into their 'bye week' on a positive note. Which is important.
The altercation at Wednesday's practice between defenseman Justin Falk and winger Evander Kane actually may have helped the team as the frustrations of a long, trying first half of the season boiled over. Maybe it was their Festivus, with the thoughts and emotions of an entire team in the throes of a losing season came through in these words from Falk, “Shut the (expletive) up, you selfish (expletive),” as reported by those on the scene. Although Falk wasn't speaking for the entire team in directing his ire towards Kane, God knows there had to be plenty of things bothering them and that eruption may have relieved a lot of pressure.
It was said to be an "angry practice" by long-time Sabres beat reporter Paul Hamilton of WGR550 Radio who also said that most of it dealt with head coach Phil Housley finding many teaching moments while expressing his desire for more passion. And that's what he got.
Housley's Sabres, who've had notoriously slow starts in most of their games this season, came out and stuck it to Columbus in the first period last night. Buffalo outshot the Blue Jackets 15-11 through the first 20 minutes while controlling most of the play and left the ice with a 1-0 lead as forward Benoit Pouliot, who'd not scored a goal in nearly a month, pounced on a rebound off of a Kyle Okposo shot. Pouliot became the most recent beneficiary of being placed on Jack Eichel's line while Okposo has been enjoying those benefits with two-points (1+1) last night and five (1+4) since moving up with Eichel two games ago.
Rookie defenseman Brendan Guhle also got in on the scoring last night as he notched an assist for his first NHL point. The bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 20 yr. old has been a breath of fresh air for a Sabres team that's been slogging through much of the season. Guhle was terrific while bringing much needed speed and energy to the team from the back end and was rewarded with a secondary assist when Kane's dump-in took a weird bounce and an unchecked Okposo buried and easy goal into a wide open net.
But the star of the show, and the game's first star was goaltender Linus Ullmark who was making is first NHL start of the season. Ullmark turned away 44 of 45 shots faced and was only beaten by a ridiculous backhand by the Jackets' Artemi Panarin with the Sabres shorthanded. Other than that he was solid.
Ullmark credited his team with keeping many shots to the outside, but he was challenging shooters all night and when he needed to come up with a big save, he did. "He's very calm. He doesn't overplay things," said Housley at his post-game presser. "He's pretty tight. He's pretty square to the puck and he makes that first save. He fought through some traffic then he made the second save. He stepped up, he was really on his angle and challenging and you could see the confidence in his game."
Confidence is the key word here. Housley also used it while describing Guhle's game and the reason both of those two have played in Rochester the entire season before this week is so that they can develop further and build more confidence in their game. Ullmark is amongst the leaders in every AHL goaltending category this season and was named to the AHL All-Star team while Guhle is tied for second amongst rookie defensemen in scoring while playing in all situations for the Amerks.
It was a good win last night for Buffalo and both Guhle and Ullmark give Sabres fans plenty to look forward to next season. Lest we start planning the parade, it was just one win and just one game and often times players have been known to fade, such as we've seen in Buffalo a number of times already this season.
But it was a win which they can take into their five-day 'bye-week', which is much better than the alternative.
*****
Eichel's empty net goal last night was impressive and there's not many times when you can say that about an empty-netter.
With the Sabres under pressure and less than 10 seconds to play Ryan O'Reilly intercepted a pass in the slot and fed Eichel to his right. After taking a few strides in his own zone Eichel wristed a rocket that went 125' in a second and hit a bullseye dead-center into the open net about three feet up for his 18th goal of the season.
It's not very often you see a goal from that far away sent with that much authority and that much accuracy. Good for him too.
Eichel has been on a tear lately. It was his second multi-point game in a row and now has 10 goals and seven assists in his last 12 games. His 41 points (18+23) lead the Sabres and places him tied for 23rd in the league while his 17 even-strength goals are tied for sixth. Eichel has only one powerplay goal, but his four empty-netters are second in the league only to Michael Grabner's (NYR) six.
*****
Defenseman Zach Bogosian was a casualty of Wednesday's "angry practice" and will be sidelined long-term (I know, and the sun came up today.) With him out of the lineup, the question of whether the team will recall Guhle (who was sent down to Rochester along with Ullmark today) after Buffalo's bye came up.
Buffalo GM Jason Botterill was on WGR's Schopp and the Bulldog and talked about his plans for the young players in the system. "You have to have about 25 different plans," said Botterill in reference to the multitude of possibilities that can happen between now and the February 26 NHL trade deadline. And that includes how the young players are developing. "It's something that we'll obviously follow closely with our players in Rochester and our players in college and junior in the second half (of the season.)
"Are they going to be ready? Because it's that balancing act come next Fall when you ideally want them in the National Hockey League, but you have to be careful of putting them on the roster in a situation where they're failing."
As for the rest of the season, the hosts asked Botterill if Guhle and Ullmark will come back to Buffalo after their bye. "Both will be sent down (and they were this morning) and they'll be in Rochester for the week and we'll re-evaluate the situation once we start up again next week.
"It's a scenario where we brought up [Ullmark] for precautionary reasons," said the GM, "but we tried to find a game for him (which they did last night.) With Guhle, he's done an outstanding job throughout the year and we felt like it was a situation where we could get him in for a couple of games, see what materializes and make a decision further from that."
Botterill was effusive in his praise for both those players, and from what we've seen of their play not only these last one or two games, but the progress they've made from their previous appearances in Buffalo, it wouldn't be too surprising to see both of them in the Sabres lineup again this season. Ullmark has made great progress since playing in 20 games for the Sabres as a rookie in the 2015-16 season and Guhle looked like he belonged as a junior call-up last season and in these last two games he's done nothing to make us believe that he doesn't still belong.
*****
Finally, back to Wednesday's altercation at practice.
Schopp and the Bulldog asked Botterill if he was ever a part of practice altercations during his playing career. "I was in a few fights at practice," he said. "It happens a lot. Actually we're excited (about what happened on Wednesday.)
"What I mean by 'excited about it' was that [Housley] has been demanding more compete, more battle in practice. We think, for us to take another step as an organization, we have to score more in practice. We have to compete more in practice. We have to win more one-on-one battles against each other in practice. From our standpoint, [what happened Wed.] was good to see."
There were a lot of good things to take away from last night's 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. First and foremost, it stopped a five game winless streak for the Buffalo Sabres (0-4-1,) which was their third such streak of five or more games (one was six) on the season and it sent them into their 'bye week' on a positive note. Which is important.
The altercation at Wednesday's practice between defenseman Justin Falk and winger Evander Kane actually may have helped the team as the frustrations of a long, trying first half of the season boiled over. Maybe it was their Festivus, with the thoughts and emotions of an entire team in the throes of a losing season came through in these words from Falk, “Shut the (expletive) up, you selfish (expletive),” as reported by those on the scene. Although Falk wasn't speaking for the entire team in directing his ire towards Kane, God knows there had to be plenty of things bothering them and that eruption may have relieved a lot of pressure.
It was said to be an "angry practice" by long-time Sabres beat reporter Paul Hamilton of WGR550 Radio who also said that most of it dealt with head coach Phil Housley finding many teaching moments while expressing his desire for more passion. And that's what he got.
Housley's Sabres, who've had notoriously slow starts in most of their games this season, came out and stuck it to Columbus in the first period last night. Buffalo outshot the Blue Jackets 15-11 through the first 20 minutes while controlling most of the play and left the ice with a 1-0 lead as forward Benoit Pouliot, who'd not scored a goal in nearly a month, pounced on a rebound off of a Kyle Okposo shot. Pouliot became the most recent beneficiary of being placed on Jack Eichel's line while Okposo has been enjoying those benefits with two-points (1+1) last night and five (1+4) since moving up with Eichel two games ago.
Rookie defenseman Brendan Guhle also got in on the scoring last night as he notched an assist for his first NHL point. The bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 20 yr. old has been a breath of fresh air for a Sabres team that's been slogging through much of the season. Guhle was terrific while bringing much needed speed and energy to the team from the back end and was rewarded with a secondary assist when Kane's dump-in took a weird bounce and an unchecked Okposo buried and easy goal into a wide open net.
But the star of the show, and the game's first star was goaltender Linus Ullmark who was making is first NHL start of the season. Ullmark turned away 44 of 45 shots faced and was only beaten by a ridiculous backhand by the Jackets' Artemi Panarin with the Sabres shorthanded. Other than that he was solid.
Ullmark credited his team with keeping many shots to the outside, but he was challenging shooters all night and when he needed to come up with a big save, he did. "He's very calm. He doesn't overplay things," said Housley at his post-game presser. "He's pretty tight. He's pretty square to the puck and he makes that first save. He fought through some traffic then he made the second save. He stepped up, he was really on his angle and challenging and you could see the confidence in his game."
Confidence is the key word here. Housley also used it while describing Guhle's game and the reason both of those two have played in Rochester the entire season before this week is so that they can develop further and build more confidence in their game. Ullmark is amongst the leaders in every AHL goaltending category this season and was named to the AHL All-Star team while Guhle is tied for second amongst rookie defensemen in scoring while playing in all situations for the Amerks.
It was a good win last night for Buffalo and both Guhle and Ullmark give Sabres fans plenty to look forward to next season. Lest we start planning the parade, it was just one win and just one game and often times players have been known to fade, such as we've seen in Buffalo a number of times already this season.
But it was a win which they can take into their five-day 'bye-week', which is much better than the alternative.
*****
Eichel's empty net goal last night was impressive and there's not many times when you can say that about an empty-netter.
With the Sabres under pressure and less than 10 seconds to play Ryan O'Reilly intercepted a pass in the slot and fed Eichel to his right. After taking a few strides in his own zone Eichel wristed a rocket that went 125' in a second and hit a bullseye dead-center into the open net about three feet up for his 18th goal of the season.
It's not very often you see a goal from that far away sent with that much authority and that much accuracy. Good for him too.
Eichel has been on a tear lately. It was his second multi-point game in a row and now has 10 goals and seven assists in his last 12 games. His 41 points (18+23) lead the Sabres and places him tied for 23rd in the league while his 17 even-strength goals are tied for sixth. Eichel has only one powerplay goal, but his four empty-netters are second in the league only to Michael Grabner's (NYR) six.
*****
Defenseman Zach Bogosian was a casualty of Wednesday's "angry practice" and will be sidelined long-term (I know, and the sun came up today.) With him out of the lineup, the question of whether the team will recall Guhle (who was sent down to Rochester along with Ullmark today) after Buffalo's bye came up.
Buffalo GM Jason Botterill was on WGR's Schopp and the Bulldog and talked about his plans for the young players in the system. "You have to have about 25 different plans," said Botterill in reference to the multitude of possibilities that can happen between now and the February 26 NHL trade deadline. And that includes how the young players are developing. "It's something that we'll obviously follow closely with our players in Rochester and our players in college and junior in the second half (of the season.)
"Are they going to be ready? Because it's that balancing act come next Fall when you ideally want them in the National Hockey League, but you have to be careful of putting them on the roster in a situation where they're failing."
As for the rest of the season, the hosts asked Botterill if Guhle and Ullmark will come back to Buffalo after their bye. "Both will be sent down (and they were this morning) and they'll be in Rochester for the week and we'll re-evaluate the situation once we start up again next week.
"It's a scenario where we brought up [Ullmark] for precautionary reasons," said the GM, "but we tried to find a game for him (which they did last night.) With Guhle, he's done an outstanding job throughout the year and we felt like it was a situation where we could get him in for a couple of games, see what materializes and make a decision further from that."
Botterill was effusive in his praise for both those players, and from what we've seen of their play not only these last one or two games, but the progress they've made from their previous appearances in Buffalo, it wouldn't be too surprising to see both of them in the Sabres lineup again this season. Ullmark has made great progress since playing in 20 games for the Sabres as a rookie in the 2015-16 season and Guhle looked like he belonged as a junior call-up last season and in these last two games he's done nothing to make us believe that he doesn't still belong.
*****
Finally, back to Wednesday's altercation at practice.
Schopp and the Bulldog asked Botterill if he was ever a part of practice altercations during his playing career. "I was in a few fights at practice," he said. "It happens a lot. Actually we're excited (about what happened on Wednesday.)
"What I mean by 'excited about it' was that [Housley] has been demanding more compete, more battle in practice. We think, for us to take another step as an organization, we have to score more in practice. We have to compete more in practice. We have to win more one-on-one battles against each other in practice. From our standpoint, [what happened Wed.] was good to see."
Thursday, December 28, 2017
NHL gets rolling again. Mittelstadt impressive. Trade freeze ends at midnight
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-27-2017
Both the NHL and AHL return to action tonight after their Christmas break. For Western New York hockey fans that means the Buffalo Sabres and Rochester Americans will be back on the ice. The Sabres, because the 2018 World Junior Championships are being held in Buffalo right now, are in Brooklyn, NY gearing up for tonight's contest against the NY Islanders while the Amerks are at home and will take on the Laval Rocket (MTL) for the third time in a row.
Buffalo heads into their game against the Islanders tonight with dismal team stats and individual players that are, or have been, struggling most, if not all of, the season. Winger Evander Kane is the exception. He has been the most consistent Sabres player all season and has lead the team in scoring since the last time these two teams met in Buffalo's second game of the season. That particular game was a disaster that saw the Sabres on the losing end of a 6-3 score, but Kane showed some serious mettle by answering three second period Islander goals in 1:47, two of them shorthanded, with two shorthanded goals of his own.
Hot on Kane's trail for the team lead in scoring is Jack Eichel. The 21 yr. old has kicked in his game as of late. In three of the Sabres' last four games with five goals, including his first career NHL hat trick, and three assists while also playing an impressive 200' game. It would be great to say, "As Eichel goes, so do the Sabres," but in that one game where he notched the hat trick and was simply dominant, goaltending and team defense let the Sabres down as they lost in overtime 5-4.
Early struggles and injuries had really put a hurtin' on the Sabres defense corpse, but they're healthy and playing much better as of late while Robin Lehner has been very solid in goal. Where this all leads the rest of the way is still to be determined as this team continues to have trouble scoring. Lehner has been a victim much of the time in that situation and overall the Sabres are dead last in the league scoring a measly 2.17 goals/game.
*****
Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula acknowledged that his NHL hockey team needs some scoring. He was on WGR550 prior to the opening of the 2018 WJC, which the Pegula's and the city of Buffalo are hosting.
Three Buffalo forward prospects are in the tournament and Pegula said that he "wants to see how they perform," meaning Alexander Nylander (2016, 8th-overall,) Casey Mittelstadt (2017, 8th) and Marcus Davidson (2017, 37th.) Nylander went from the NHL Draft right to the American Hockey League with the Rochester Americans. He struggled as an 18 yr. old, was felled by an injury this past off-season and has struggled a bit since he returned from his injury. Mittelstadt is having a very solid season in D-I at the University of Minnesota while Davidsson has put up some very respectable numbers as a teenager in Sweden's top pro league.
"It's pretty obvious our team in the NHL needs some goal-scoring," Pegula said. "So it'd be nice to see these guys fill the net a little bit."
Nylander and Davidsson both play for Team Sweden who romped through their opening matchup with Belarus defeating them 6-1. Neither Buffalo prospect scored but Nylander collected primary assists on Sweden's second and fifth goals of the game.
Mittlestadt had whale of a game in the day's final matchup which pitted Team USA vs. Team Denmark. The 6'0" 203 lb. Minnesota native scored two goals in USA's 9-0 shoutout win, but more than that he dazzled with his skating and stickwork. It was a continuation of what he did in two exhibition games leading up to the tournament as he scored goals in both of those games as well.
Last night there was a lot of open ice for Mittelstadt and he took advantage of it. But he also showed great tenacity as he followed his own rebound for his first goal of the game (which can be seen in the video below at the :44 second-mark.) Mittelstadt showed off some wicked stick skills from in-tight as he lofted a shot top-shelf from the edge of the crease (1:18) for his second goal.
(video courtesy USA Hockey)
Mittelstadt has been battling at the D-I level were teams trap all over the ice and leave you very little room to breath. However, for a freshman playing against mostly older competition, he's managed to work for some ice and is doing very well with 17 points (5+12) in 19 games. With that said, there are times where he does have a little space to show off his skills, like this goal courtesy sabresprospects.com:
As the tournament goes on and the competition gets tougher, especially when they hit the medal rounds, the cream will rise to the top and perhaps one or more of those players will be in that group.
*****
The NHL trade freeze will be lifted at midnight and the name that keeps popping up from Buffalo is, of course, Evander Kane. Reports have a number of teams interested in Kane with the most recent one being the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Lyle Richardson of Spector's Hockey delved into that this morning using the Buffalo/Pittsburgh ties between Sabres present GM Jason Botterill and the Pens whom he spent the prior 10 seasons with. If anyone knows what Pittsburgh has in the cupboards, it's Botterill as he was driving force in building a Penguins farm system that was instrumental in them winning back-to-back Stanley Cups.
If you're the Sabres and you potentially have the best rental forward available in this year's trade market, supply and demand means that a return for a powerforward like Kane and his 33 points 15+18) could be substantial. And if you want to remake the team for the way the NHL is played, it makes sense that you'd be looking for a younger, more dynamic player to go along with a probable first round pick.
So when the rumor-mill somehow starts linking Kane and 30 yr. old Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang in the same paragraph, you might wonder what people are thinking.
That's not to take anything away from Letang and what he did in his 11+ year career with the Penguins. He's a winner and has three Stanley Cup rings to prove it. But he also carries a $7.5 million cap-hit for four more seasons after this and injuries are starting to creep into the equation. Last year he played 41 games and in two of his last four seasons he played in 51 or less games.
Is that really something Botterill wants? I get the leadership and all but they already have a defenseman in Zach Bogosian who has had injury problems and is making over $5 million a season. The Sabres also have forward Ryan O'Reilly and his $7.5 million cap-hit and Kyle Okposo who's making $6 million/season. Next year Jack Eichel and his $10 million cap-hit kicks in.
I mean, really? How does that make any sense for the Sabres at this time?
It doesn't.
Both the NHL and AHL return to action tonight after their Christmas break. For Western New York hockey fans that means the Buffalo Sabres and Rochester Americans will be back on the ice. The Sabres, because the 2018 World Junior Championships are being held in Buffalo right now, are in Brooklyn, NY gearing up for tonight's contest against the NY Islanders while the Amerks are at home and will take on the Laval Rocket (MTL) for the third time in a row.
Buffalo heads into their game against the Islanders tonight with dismal team stats and individual players that are, or have been, struggling most, if not all of, the season. Winger Evander Kane is the exception. He has been the most consistent Sabres player all season and has lead the team in scoring since the last time these two teams met in Buffalo's second game of the season. That particular game was a disaster that saw the Sabres on the losing end of a 6-3 score, but Kane showed some serious mettle by answering three second period Islander goals in 1:47, two of them shorthanded, with two shorthanded goals of his own.
Hot on Kane's trail for the team lead in scoring is Jack Eichel. The 21 yr. old has kicked in his game as of late. In three of the Sabres' last four games with five goals, including his first career NHL hat trick, and three assists while also playing an impressive 200' game. It would be great to say, "As Eichel goes, so do the Sabres," but in that one game where he notched the hat trick and was simply dominant, goaltending and team defense let the Sabres down as they lost in overtime 5-4.
Early struggles and injuries had really put a hurtin' on the Sabres defense corpse, but they're healthy and playing much better as of late while Robin Lehner has been very solid in goal. Where this all leads the rest of the way is still to be determined as this team continues to have trouble scoring. Lehner has been a victim much of the time in that situation and overall the Sabres are dead last in the league scoring a measly 2.17 goals/game.
*****
Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula acknowledged that his NHL hockey team needs some scoring. He was on WGR550 prior to the opening of the 2018 WJC, which the Pegula's and the city of Buffalo are hosting.
Three Buffalo forward prospects are in the tournament and Pegula said that he "wants to see how they perform," meaning Alexander Nylander (2016, 8th-overall,) Casey Mittelstadt (2017, 8th) and Marcus Davidson (2017, 37th.) Nylander went from the NHL Draft right to the American Hockey League with the Rochester Americans. He struggled as an 18 yr. old, was felled by an injury this past off-season and has struggled a bit since he returned from his injury. Mittelstadt is having a very solid season in D-I at the University of Minnesota while Davidsson has put up some very respectable numbers as a teenager in Sweden's top pro league.
"It's pretty obvious our team in the NHL needs some goal-scoring," Pegula said. "So it'd be nice to see these guys fill the net a little bit."
Nylander and Davidsson both play for Team Sweden who romped through their opening matchup with Belarus defeating them 6-1. Neither Buffalo prospect scored but Nylander collected primary assists on Sweden's second and fifth goals of the game.
Mittlestadt had whale of a game in the day's final matchup which pitted Team USA vs. Team Denmark. The 6'0" 203 lb. Minnesota native scored two goals in USA's 9-0 shoutout win, but more than that he dazzled with his skating and stickwork. It was a continuation of what he did in two exhibition games leading up to the tournament as he scored goals in both of those games as well.
Last night there was a lot of open ice for Mittelstadt and he took advantage of it. But he also showed great tenacity as he followed his own rebound for his first goal of the game (which can be seen in the video below at the :44 second-mark.) Mittelstadt showed off some wicked stick skills from in-tight as he lofted a shot top-shelf from the edge of the crease (1:18) for his second goal.
(video courtesy USA Hockey)
Mittelstadt has been battling at the D-I level were teams trap all over the ice and leave you very little room to breath. However, for a freshman playing against mostly older competition, he's managed to work for some ice and is doing very well with 17 points (5+12) in 19 games. With that said, there are times where he does have a little space to show off his skills, like this goal courtesy sabresprospects.com:
As the tournament goes on and the competition gets tougher, especially when they hit the medal rounds, the cream will rise to the top and perhaps one or more of those players will be in that group.
*****
The NHL trade freeze will be lifted at midnight and the name that keeps popping up from Buffalo is, of course, Evander Kane. Reports have a number of teams interested in Kane with the most recent one being the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Lyle Richardson of Spector's Hockey delved into that this morning using the Buffalo/Pittsburgh ties between Sabres present GM Jason Botterill and the Pens whom he spent the prior 10 seasons with. If anyone knows what Pittsburgh has in the cupboards, it's Botterill as he was driving force in building a Penguins farm system that was instrumental in them winning back-to-back Stanley Cups.
If you're the Sabres and you potentially have the best rental forward available in this year's trade market, supply and demand means that a return for a powerforward like Kane and his 33 points 15+18) could be substantial. And if you want to remake the team for the way the NHL is played, it makes sense that you'd be looking for a younger, more dynamic player to go along with a probable first round pick.
So when the rumor-mill somehow starts linking Kane and 30 yr. old Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang in the same paragraph, you might wonder what people are thinking.
That's not to take anything away from Letang and what he did in his 11+ year career with the Penguins. He's a winner and has three Stanley Cup rings to prove it. But he also carries a $7.5 million cap-hit for four more seasons after this and injuries are starting to creep into the equation. Last year he played 41 games and in two of his last four seasons he played in 51 or less games.
Is that really something Botterill wants? I get the leadership and all but they already have a defenseman in Zach Bogosian who has had injury problems and is making over $5 million a season. The Sabres also have forward Ryan O'Reilly and his $7.5 million cap-hit and Kyle Okposo who's making $6 million/season. Next year Jack Eichel and his $10 million cap-hit kicks in.
I mean, really? How does that make any sense for the Sabres at this time?
It doesn't.
Monday, December 4, 2017
Elliotte Friedman says teams feel the Sabres are "open for business"
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-3-2017
Let's get this out of the way early. The Buffalo Sabres dropped back-to-back games to the Pittsburgh Penguins by a combined 9-1 score. The first game was an utter embarrassment as the Pens treated them as a play toy while on their way toy 4-0 win. Last night was a much better effort by the Sabres but breakdowns coupled with a lack of scoring and the lack of key saves at key moments resulted in a 5-1 defeat.
In looking at last night's game, Buffalo skated hard and fast while barreling to the net, which is exactly the way coach Phil Housley wants his team to play but they couldn't score. Goal opportunities presented themselves on a few occasions, but with a 6-17-4 hockey club the puck usually takes the worst possible bounce, or in the case of Jack Eichel last night, the smallest area of the goalie's equipment, the shaft of the stick, makes the save.
At least they were able to score a goal to end a franchise mark for goal futility. Prior to Jason Pominville's tally with 9:42 left in the third period, the Sabres were shut out three games in a row and went 232:09, which is almost four full games, without scoring a goal.
Some will say it's the hockey gods bestowing their wrath upon the Sabres for the tank of 2014-15, which is a mythological way of stating it. Although karma can be a bitch, there are other, more tangible things that have lead this team to the point where they look like a 70's era expansion team. Lack of team speed in a fast league is one thing. Lack of finish is another. Defensive breakdowns and average goaltending, at best, combine for the blueline portion of the program.
Constant change isn't helping either as this edition of the Buffalo Sabres has been compiled by three different general managers, yet, as we'll see later, more change is on the way.
During the second intermission of Hockey Night In Canada's Toronto/Vancouver telecast, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman said that "there's a sense from other teams that the Sabres are sending signals that they are open for business."
Friedman also said that teams can "ask about anybody whose name isn't Jack Eichel," but he also qualified that statement by saying that some are off limits unless the price is right. "I do think that if you're going to ask about a Rasmus Ristolainen or Marco Scandella or a Sam Reinhart," he continued, "you'd better be coming with a serious offer because I don't think Buffalo is going to trade those guys unless the offer is great.
"But I think they are prepared to listen to [offers for] everyone except their franchise player (Eichel.)"
It's something you'd expect from a last place team who has some talented players that are struggling both individually and as a team.
Sabres GM Jason Botterill inherited a dysfunctional NHL club and a poor AHL club and he's been able to turn around at one team, their Rochester Americans affiliate. As of today the Amerks are sporting a 12-5-3-2 record, good for second in the North Division and some of his prospects and younger pros are leaving their mark.
Free agent winger CJ Smith cracked the AHL's top-10 in scoring last night with a three point effort (1+2) in an Amerks 5-2 win over Wilkes Barre-Scranton (PIT) last night. Another free agent signee, Evan Rodrigues, has been hot ever since he came off of injured reserve with 10 points (5+5) in eight games. Two of Buffalo's younger prospects are also doing extremely well. Defenseman Brendan Guhle is playing all-situations minutes on the top pair and has 14 points (5+9) placing him third in the league amongst rookie defensemen while Linus Ullmark is tied for third in the league with 11 wins.
The cupboards aren't bare in Rochester, however, neither one, nor even all four, could have that much of a positive impact in Buffalo right now meaning it looks as if the rebuild continues.
With his Sabres team a wreck and the season lost for all intents and purposes, Botterill will have an opportunity to continue filling the cupboard with picks and prospects by trading away desirable players. The most valuable of them right now is Evander Kane who, ironically, is the exact type of player they need moving forward.
Kane has been at the forefront of trade rumors since June 2016 when he was involved in an incident in Buffalo at the NHL Draft. They couldn't get a bag of pucks for him last season but things have changed dramatically and right now "alot of people are talking about Evander Kane," said Friedman last night.
Since coming back from injury, and staying out of the spotlight off the ice, Kane has 40 goals and 67 points in 96 games. He has the speed to keep up with anyone in the NHL and he's also has the physicality to play a more rugged, Western Conference-style game.
Friedman asked what the price would be for a player like Kane and he said that a couple of the people he'd talked to referred to a couple of deadline deals from the two previous years. He pointed to deals for Andrew Ladd (2016) and Martin Hanzal (2017,) both of whom got a first round pick in return with Ladd being sent to the Chicago Blackhawks for an additional pick (conditional) and former first round pick Marko Dano (2013, 27th-overall, CBJ.)
"The sense is that Buffalo feels that Kane is a better player then both of those players," said Friedman, "so they're going to be aiming higher. I don't think they'll get a franchise defenseman for him but I think that's the idea of what they want to be."
Kane would be an obvious play for Botterill as he'll be an unrestricted free agent at season's end. So would defenseman Josh Gorges, forwards Benoit Pouliot, Jacob Josefson and Jordan Nolan, all of whom will also be unrestricted free agents this summer.
The tougher play for Botterill would be trying to move higher-salaried players. Kyle Okposo has a $6 million cap hit for five more seasons. He's had rough go of it in 2017-18 which may be tied to the trauma he went through late last season and into the summer. Word from some of our own here in the Sabres thread is that Botterill would need to entice a team to take on the five-plus years remaining on his contract.
Should Botterill want to move Ryan O'Reilly, any team agreeing to that is taking on $7.5 million per season until 2023. Zach Bogosian, although shorter in term, has a $5.14 million cap-hit but will only have two more seasons under contract at the end of this one. However, he's averaged just over 60 games/season the last three years.
And then there's the (seemingly) immovable object that is Matt Moulson. Odds are that he remains in the Buffalo organization for the remainder of the season only to have the final year of his $5 million AAV contract bought out. On the positive side for Botterill, Moulson's actually salary for this season is only $2 million while next season drops to $1 million. Perhaps a cost conscious team looking to stay above the cap floor could be enticed into takin him on. Then again, he has modified no-trade clause, according to cap-friendly, and can submit a 12 team no-trade list.
Open for business.
Let's get this out of the way early. The Buffalo Sabres dropped back-to-back games to the Pittsburgh Penguins by a combined 9-1 score. The first game was an utter embarrassment as the Pens treated them as a play toy while on their way toy 4-0 win. Last night was a much better effort by the Sabres but breakdowns coupled with a lack of scoring and the lack of key saves at key moments resulted in a 5-1 defeat.
In looking at last night's game, Buffalo skated hard and fast while barreling to the net, which is exactly the way coach Phil Housley wants his team to play but they couldn't score. Goal opportunities presented themselves on a few occasions, but with a 6-17-4 hockey club the puck usually takes the worst possible bounce, or in the case of Jack Eichel last night, the smallest area of the goalie's equipment, the shaft of the stick, makes the save.
At least they were able to score a goal to end a franchise mark for goal futility. Prior to Jason Pominville's tally with 9:42 left in the third period, the Sabres were shut out three games in a row and went 232:09, which is almost four full games, without scoring a goal.
Some will say it's the hockey gods bestowing their wrath upon the Sabres for the tank of 2014-15, which is a mythological way of stating it. Although karma can be a bitch, there are other, more tangible things that have lead this team to the point where they look like a 70's era expansion team. Lack of team speed in a fast league is one thing. Lack of finish is another. Defensive breakdowns and average goaltending, at best, combine for the blueline portion of the program.
Constant change isn't helping either as this edition of the Buffalo Sabres has been compiled by three different general managers, yet, as we'll see later, more change is on the way.
During the second intermission of Hockey Night In Canada's Toronto/Vancouver telecast, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman said that "there's a sense from other teams that the Sabres are sending signals that they are open for business."
Friedman also said that teams can "ask about anybody whose name isn't Jack Eichel," but he also qualified that statement by saying that some are off limits unless the price is right. "I do think that if you're going to ask about a Rasmus Ristolainen or Marco Scandella or a Sam Reinhart," he continued, "you'd better be coming with a serious offer because I don't think Buffalo is going to trade those guys unless the offer is great.
"But I think they are prepared to listen to [offers for] everyone except their franchise player (Eichel.)"
It's something you'd expect from a last place team who has some talented players that are struggling both individually and as a team.
Sabres GM Jason Botterill inherited a dysfunctional NHL club and a poor AHL club and he's been able to turn around at one team, their Rochester Americans affiliate. As of today the Amerks are sporting a 12-5-3-2 record, good for second in the North Division and some of his prospects and younger pros are leaving their mark.
Free agent winger CJ Smith cracked the AHL's top-10 in scoring last night with a three point effort (1+2) in an Amerks 5-2 win over Wilkes Barre-Scranton (PIT) last night. Another free agent signee, Evan Rodrigues, has been hot ever since he came off of injured reserve with 10 points (5+5) in eight games. Two of Buffalo's younger prospects are also doing extremely well. Defenseman Brendan Guhle is playing all-situations minutes on the top pair and has 14 points (5+9) placing him third in the league amongst rookie defensemen while Linus Ullmark is tied for third in the league with 11 wins.
The cupboards aren't bare in Rochester, however, neither one, nor even all four, could have that much of a positive impact in Buffalo right now meaning it looks as if the rebuild continues.
With his Sabres team a wreck and the season lost for all intents and purposes, Botterill will have an opportunity to continue filling the cupboard with picks and prospects by trading away desirable players. The most valuable of them right now is Evander Kane who, ironically, is the exact type of player they need moving forward.
Kane has been at the forefront of trade rumors since June 2016 when he was involved in an incident in Buffalo at the NHL Draft. They couldn't get a bag of pucks for him last season but things have changed dramatically and right now "alot of people are talking about Evander Kane," said Friedman last night.
Since coming back from injury, and staying out of the spotlight off the ice, Kane has 40 goals and 67 points in 96 games. He has the speed to keep up with anyone in the NHL and he's also has the physicality to play a more rugged, Western Conference-style game.
Friedman asked what the price would be for a player like Kane and he said that a couple of the people he'd talked to referred to a couple of deadline deals from the two previous years. He pointed to deals for Andrew Ladd (2016) and Martin Hanzal (2017,) both of whom got a first round pick in return with Ladd being sent to the Chicago Blackhawks for an additional pick (conditional) and former first round pick Marko Dano (2013, 27th-overall, CBJ.)
"The sense is that Buffalo feels that Kane is a better player then both of those players," said Friedman, "so they're going to be aiming higher. I don't think they'll get a franchise defenseman for him but I think that's the idea of what they want to be."
Kane would be an obvious play for Botterill as he'll be an unrestricted free agent at season's end. So would defenseman Josh Gorges, forwards Benoit Pouliot, Jacob Josefson and Jordan Nolan, all of whom will also be unrestricted free agents this summer.
The tougher play for Botterill would be trying to move higher-salaried players. Kyle Okposo has a $6 million cap hit for five more seasons. He's had rough go of it in 2017-18 which may be tied to the trauma he went through late last season and into the summer. Word from some of our own here in the Sabres thread is that Botterill would need to entice a team to take on the five-plus years remaining on his contract.
Should Botterill want to move Ryan O'Reilly, any team agreeing to that is taking on $7.5 million per season until 2023. Zach Bogosian, although shorter in term, has a $5.14 million cap-hit but will only have two more seasons under contract at the end of this one. However, he's averaged just over 60 games/season the last three years.
And then there's the (seemingly) immovable object that is Matt Moulson. Odds are that he remains in the Buffalo organization for the remainder of the season only to have the final year of his $5 million AAV contract bought out. On the positive side for Botterill, Moulson's actually salary for this season is only $2 million while next season drops to $1 million. Perhaps a cost conscious team looking to stay above the cap floor could be enticed into takin him on. Then again, he has modified no-trade clause, according to cap-friendly, and can submit a 12 team no-trade list.
Open for business.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)