Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
At 10am today, probable 2nd-overall draft pick, and probable future Buffalo Sabre Jack Eichel will be joining the USA squad as they hit ice in Prague, Czech Republic in the IIHF World Hockey Championships. Although it's down a ways on the list of important tournaments for those of us in North America, having Eichel in it should pique many a Sabres' fans interest.
Eichel and two other collegians--Dylan Larkin and Jimmy Vesey--who are expected to help provide some offense for Team USA. Eichel and Vesey finished No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in NCAA scoring while Larkin was 11th. The trio will be joined by KHL scoring forward Steve Moses who set a KHL scoring record playing for Jokerit and was recently signed as a free agent by the Nashville Predators. The rest of the US forwards at this point feature a bevy of two-way players and checkers meaning that goals may be pretty hard to come by.
One should not that the IIHF rosters will undergo some changes as NHL teams fall out of the playoffs and their players opt to play in the tournament. Added to the US lineup up front yesterday are NY Islanders forwards Brock Nelson (82 games, 20 goals, 22 assists) and Anders Lee (76gm, 25g, 16a) which represents a significant upgrade in offense over the previous lineup.
Of note on the US squad, 17 yr. old phenom Auston Matthews played in an Team USA's only exhibition game of the tourney and scored a goal in the 4-1 US triumph. According to SI's Alan Muir, it's the first time a player hit the ice for the Worlds before being draft-eligible. Even though the US could use his skills, the game was just a pit stop for "the next one" on his way back from Switzerland. Matthews just finished leading the US squad to gold in the 2015 World U18 Hockey Championships. He had eight goals and seven assists in seven games and was named tourney MVP.
On tap for the Americans this morning is a bout with Finland who finished with the silver medal last season.
Showing posts with label Mike Harrington. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Harrington. Show all posts
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Of coaching, Larsson and a difficult stretch beginning tonight
Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
From Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News:
"Here’s a believe-it-or-not stat from a season full of them: The Buffalo Sabres have scored the first goal in nine of their last 10 games. "
During that 10-game span, the only time the Sabres didn't score first was in Tampa Bay the day after the trade deadline when they didn't score at all in a 3-0 shutout loss. Buffalo's record in the other nine games is 3-4-2.
Buffalo fans will probably remember a time period under former coach Lindy Ruff where the team would get off to a sluggish start only to begin playing when the game was close to being out of reach. It didn't matter if it was home or away, the first or the second game of a back-to-back, hitting the road, coming home after a road trip, autumnal equinox, vernal equinox or winter solstice. It didn't matter. We can't count how many times those squads came out flat.
There's a different dynamic this season right now as opposed to back then. Under Ruff, lethargy enveloped his core group as their star skaters were locked-up long-term. For the rest of this season we'll witness a Sabres squad full of younger players and borderline NHL'ers looking to make their mark with Buffalo or get noticed by some other NHL club.
Opportunity's knocking and they're answering.
From Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News:
"Here’s a believe-it-or-not stat from a season full of them: The Buffalo Sabres have scored the first goal in nine of their last 10 games. "
During that 10-game span, the only time the Sabres didn't score first was in Tampa Bay the day after the trade deadline when they didn't score at all in a 3-0 shutout loss. Buffalo's record in the other nine games is 3-4-2.
Buffalo fans will probably remember a time period under former coach Lindy Ruff where the team would get off to a sluggish start only to begin playing when the game was close to being out of reach. It didn't matter if it was home or away, the first or the second game of a back-to-back, hitting the road, coming home after a road trip, autumnal equinox, vernal equinox or winter solstice. It didn't matter. We can't count how many times those squads came out flat.
There's a different dynamic this season right now as opposed to back then. Under Ruff, lethargy enveloped his core group as their star skaters were locked-up long-term. For the rest of this season we'll witness a Sabres squad full of younger players and borderline NHL'ers looking to make their mark with Buffalo or get noticed by some other NHL club.
Opportunity's knocking and they're answering.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Murray outfoxes Maloney at the deadline, fends off local press
Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
Sabres beat writer Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News has been railing against a perceived be tank-job by the Buffalo organization for quite some time. Back on January 31st he penned an article, Sabres are disgusting, all right, that aptly and bluntly captured his dismay .At the time Harrington was not amused by the Sabres road to the top of the 2015 NHL Draft. He wrote of the Edmonton Oilers having "a lot of road trips" the rest of the season while the Arizona Coyotes, he wrote, "have a lot of trades to make" if they were thinking of overtaking the Sabres for last place.
Buffalo had just finished an 0-fer January and was on a franchise record 14-game losing streak. "Hockey folks are laughing at the product the Sabres have put on the ice," he wrote, "but much worse they're laughing at the organization itself and that's not how it's supposed to be going."
Sabres GM Tim Murray was sitting on his hands during this debacle leaving head coach Ted Nolan with very little on the ice and even less to say post-game save for "these are the 20 guys we have," and "we've got what we got." Harrington was so disgusted that it only took him a one paragraph lead-in before he wrote, "I think it's safe to call right now. The Buffalo Sabres are the worst team in the NHL by a lot at this point. They're going to finish 30th and get Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel.
"You may call it mission accomplished. But the mission doesn't need to be an open disgrace."
Sabres beat writer Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News has been railing against a perceived be tank-job by the Buffalo organization for quite some time. Back on January 31st he penned an article, Sabres are disgusting, all right, that aptly and bluntly captured his dismay .At the time Harrington was not amused by the Sabres road to the top of the 2015 NHL Draft. He wrote of the Edmonton Oilers having "a lot of road trips" the rest of the season while the Arizona Coyotes, he wrote, "have a lot of trades to make" if they were thinking of overtaking the Sabres for last place.
Buffalo had just finished an 0-fer January and was on a franchise record 14-game losing streak. "Hockey folks are laughing at the product the Sabres have put on the ice," he wrote, "but much worse they're laughing at the organization itself and that's not how it's supposed to be going."
Sabres GM Tim Murray was sitting on his hands during this debacle leaving head coach Ted Nolan with very little on the ice and even less to say post-game save for "these are the 20 guys we have," and "we've got what we got." Harrington was so disgusted that it only took him a one paragraph lead-in before he wrote, "I think it's safe to call right now. The Buffalo Sabres are the worst team in the NHL by a lot at this point. They're going to finish 30th and get Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel.
"You may call it mission accomplished. But the mission doesn't need to be an open disgrace."
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