Published by hockeybuzz.com, 5-9-2019
It's not fun for Buffalo to have the longest playoff drought in the NHL especially when the Carolina Hurricanes, the previous holder of that dubious distinction, is in the Eastern Conference Final. Nor is it a joy seeing a long-time rival like the Boston Bruins face off against the 'Canes in the East. If you think that's tough, add in two teams out west battling in the Conference Finals who each traded for a player that was once thought to be part of the future top-six in Buffalo and Western New York hockey fans might be a little salty. The San Jose Sharks traded for winger Evander Kane and the St. Louis Blues traded for center Ryan O'Reilly and both team will battle it out for a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Such is the world of the Buffalo Sabres and a playoff drought of eight seasons.
What may be lost in all the Buffaloathing over those four teams left standing is that this has been a helluva playoffs for the league. Both conference champions were ousted and all four division winners left in the first round, something that's never happened in the NHL before and the President's Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning were swept out of the playoffs, which is also a first. In addition the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins got the broom as the NY Islanders, led by former Sabre (and a supposed key for Buffalo going forward,) swept them in four games.
In a nod to parity, getting hot at the right time and coaching, half the of the second round was made up of all four wild card team with Carolina taking the next step. Into the third round we see the Blues (No. 1,) Hurricanes (No. 3,) and Bruins (No. 4) as three of the hottest teams in the league since January 1st while the Sharks came in at No. 8. And while the League is still predicated on speed these days, the Islanders made it to Round-2 with a staunch defensive system under head coach Barry Trotz and the Blues with coach Craig Berube played lockdown hockey to take the next step. Despite plenty of speed and one of the best top-lines in the league, Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy had his club playing a modern, tempered version of Bruins, bad-boy hockey and when they got the lead, which was often in the second round, they tightened up their defense and relied upon goalie Tukka Rask to come up big.
Showing posts with label evander kane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evander kane. Show all posts
Friday, May 10, 2019
Friday, April 19, 2019
Of the coaching search, Kane, O'Reilly and Lehner
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-18-2019
All's quiet on the Buffalo Sabres coaching front right now after Todd McLellan and Alain Vigneault were hired by the Los Angeles Kings and Philadelphia Flyers, respectively. Of the two, only McLellan was a consideration by the Sabres as he came in for an interview while his son was in the NCAA Frozen Four being held in Buffalo. Nothing came of it as reports suggest that the Sabres didn't even make him an offer.
If you're a fan like myself who is interested in seeing Buffalo hire a veteran hockey coach, pickins is mighty slim and none seem very appealing with a list that includes Mike Yeo, Todd Richards and Michel Therrien, among others. Former Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff's name has come up for whatever reason in Sabreland, mostly nostalgia, but it's a ship that's sailed even though I'd pick him over any of the "retreads" available on the coaching market right now.
It's not a good situation for the Sabres be in as they just finished a disastrous two-year stint with a rookie head coach and, barring any unforeseen firings of 2019 NHL playoff coaches, right now that's about the only thing left on the market. Toronto Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe seems to be the front-runner for a NHL job while back-to-back NCAA Champion head coach Scott Sandelin of Minnesota-Duluth might be the other hot rookie candidate. Rochester Americans head coach Chris Taylor's name is always mentioned but as of now there have been no reports of the team contacting him about the position, and there's a possibility he may not be interested in the job at this time. Also, Sweden national coach Rickard Gronborg's name is getting hot for a head coaching position in the NHL and the Sabres have been said to be interested in him dating back to last season.
It's quite the pickle general manager Jason Botterill has himself in right now and barring an unforeseen veteran coach hitting the market soon, we're in a situation where we could see another head coach go down the drain over the next few years and in the process the Sabres might be looking for another GM.
Considering the circumstances the Sabres find themselves in right now, the ideal situation in this bloggers eyes would be for any potential rookie head coach, if that's what it comes down to, to be surrounded by veteran assistants who command the respect of the players.
All's quiet on the Buffalo Sabres coaching front right now after Todd McLellan and Alain Vigneault were hired by the Los Angeles Kings and Philadelphia Flyers, respectively. Of the two, only McLellan was a consideration by the Sabres as he came in for an interview while his son was in the NCAA Frozen Four being held in Buffalo. Nothing came of it as reports suggest that the Sabres didn't even make him an offer.
If you're a fan like myself who is interested in seeing Buffalo hire a veteran hockey coach, pickins is mighty slim and none seem very appealing with a list that includes Mike Yeo, Todd Richards and Michel Therrien, among others. Former Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff's name has come up for whatever reason in Sabreland, mostly nostalgia, but it's a ship that's sailed even though I'd pick him over any of the "retreads" available on the coaching market right now.
It's not a good situation for the Sabres be in as they just finished a disastrous two-year stint with a rookie head coach and, barring any unforeseen firings of 2019 NHL playoff coaches, right now that's about the only thing left on the market. Toronto Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe seems to be the front-runner for a NHL job while back-to-back NCAA Champion head coach Scott Sandelin of Minnesota-Duluth might be the other hot rookie candidate. Rochester Americans head coach Chris Taylor's name is always mentioned but as of now there have been no reports of the team contacting him about the position, and there's a possibility he may not be interested in the job at this time. Also, Sweden national coach Rickard Gronborg's name is getting hot for a head coaching position in the NHL and the Sabres have been said to be interested in him dating back to last season.
It's quite the pickle general manager Jason Botterill has himself in right now and barring an unforeseen veteran coach hitting the market soon, we're in a situation where we could see another head coach go down the drain over the next few years and in the process the Sabres might be looking for another GM.
Considering the circumstances the Sabres find themselves in right now, the ideal situation in this bloggers eyes would be for any potential rookie head coach, if that's what it comes down to, to be surrounded by veteran assistants who command the respect of the players.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Buffalo Sabres 2018-19 Individual Stats Leaders--Final
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-8-2019
In the 2017 off season and into the 2017-18 season, debate raged in Sabreland over whether they should re-sign left wing Evander Kane, who was a pending free agent that year. Kane was a lightning rod for debate in Buffalo with an on-ice/off-ice dichotomy splitting the Sabres faithful in half. It really didn't matter because in the end the word on the street was that ownership didn't want to re-sign him. Buffalo traded Kane to the San Jose Sharks at the 2018 trade deadline and it was a good enough fit for both player and team for him to sign a 7yr/$49 million extension with the Sharks.
One of the big questions during the debate was how do you replace a player that averaged 24 goals in two full seasons and scored another 20 goals in 61 games before being traded? The view on one side was that scoring wingers were easy to come by while on the other view centered around good players in general being hard to come by. As it turned out, Sabres general manager Jason Botterill was able to make it work by trading for Carolina Hurricanes winger Jeff Skinner, who effectively replaced Kane in the goal-scoring department with the first 40-goal season for a Sabres player in 10 years. At least for one year.
Acquiring good players usually comes with a catch. It might be the price paid in free agency, or in terms of trade pieces, or the cap-hit involved in acquiring said player or it might be unknowns concerning his locker room presence and/or off-ice drama. In Skinner's case it was none of the above, but his catch was that he played last season on an expiring contract on a reasonable $5.7 million cap-hit.
In the 2017 off season and into the 2017-18 season, debate raged in Sabreland over whether they should re-sign left wing Evander Kane, who was a pending free agent that year. Kane was a lightning rod for debate in Buffalo with an on-ice/off-ice dichotomy splitting the Sabres faithful in half. It really didn't matter because in the end the word on the street was that ownership didn't want to re-sign him. Buffalo traded Kane to the San Jose Sharks at the 2018 trade deadline and it was a good enough fit for both player and team for him to sign a 7yr/$49 million extension with the Sharks.
One of the big questions during the debate was how do you replace a player that averaged 24 goals in two full seasons and scored another 20 goals in 61 games before being traded? The view on one side was that scoring wingers were easy to come by while on the other view centered around good players in general being hard to come by. As it turned out, Sabres general manager Jason Botterill was able to make it work by trading for Carolina Hurricanes winger Jeff Skinner, who effectively replaced Kane in the goal-scoring department with the first 40-goal season for a Sabres player in 10 years. At least for one year.
Acquiring good players usually comes with a catch. It might be the price paid in free agency, or in terms of trade pieces, or the cap-hit involved in acquiring said player or it might be unknowns concerning his locker room presence and/or off-ice drama. In Skinner's case it was none of the above, but his catch was that he played last season on an expiring contract on a reasonable $5.7 million cap-hit.
Friday, August 17, 2018
A look back at the 2017-18 Buffalo Sabres season--February
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-15-2018
For the short time he was in Buffalo, left winger Evander Kane created a lot of controversy, and he was the center of the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline for the Sabres. Kane came over to Buffalo in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets on February11, 2015 and even the circumstances surrounding the timing of his trade to the Sabres was circumspect.
Kane was embroiled in controversy in Winnipeg before the trade. Incidents showing a deep locker room division put him on the block and it was an opportunity for then GM Tim Murray to get a player that fit what he wanted to do in Buffalo's rebuild. Bonus points came when Kane elected to have surgery and would be out for the remainder of the 2014-15 season and it would further Buffalo's drive to the bottom of the league to land one of Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel at the 2015 NHL Draft.
The Sabres did finish in last place that season and because of the lottery ended up selecting Eichel with the second-overall pick.
As for Kane his subsequent return to the ice in 2015-16 was greeted with optimism, but his off-ice antics made life extremely different for Buffalo's front office. An accusation of sexual misconduct in December, 2015 and oversleeping after hanging with NBA All-Stars in Toronto got him in hot water but it was nothing compared to the black eye he gave the organization as the city of Buffalo was hosting the 2016 draft. He faced charges after a late-night incident in a bar and although the charges were dismissed, he had to keep his nose clean for six months.
With that adjudication, Kane was forced to behave himself outside the rink, or at least remain free and clear of potential situations, and he began putting up impressive numbers more indicative of the talent he had. However, the damage had been done to the organization and he would be on his way out at the 2018 trade deadline.
Kane was in the final year of his contract in 2018 and despite playing his best hockey in Buffalo for more than a calendar year it was the worst kept secret that he was on the block. Even he knew it was only a matter of time as shown in his stats. Kane had a first-half stat-line of 15 goals and 34 points through 38 games through the 2017 portion of the schedule but when the calendar year turned to 2018, his numbers plummeted to only five goals and one assist before being traded to the San Jose Sharks on February 26 trade deadline.
He would finish the season with nine goals and 14 points in 17 games for the Sharks.
The return GM Jason Botterill got for Kane in the trade was suspect amongst the Buffalo faithful but it was all the market would bear for talented player with a troubled past. In hindsight, Botterill did well as the conditions were met for the Sharks to give up their 2019 first-round pick (lottery protected) with Buffalo also receiving a conditional 2020 fourth rounder and forward prospect Danny O'Regan. The Sharks were the only team to come in with a serious offer for Kane at the deadline.
No other Buffalo Sabres player was moved that day, which isn't surprising considering none of their lower-half players on expiring contracts were that desirable. Which wasn't that surprising. Buffalo was in last place with 51 points on a 20-33-11 record. As of March 1 they were last in the league in goals-for (2.39,) 26th in goals-against (3.22,) and were dead lasts in five-on-five goals scored. The other teams were not interested in what Buffalo had to offer at the trade deadline.
Surprisingly, however, the Sabres had their best month of the season in February and played some of their best hockey against some of the best teams in their division. Buffalo went 6-6-2 for the month with two wins against the conference-leading Tampa Bay Lightning and two wins against the Boston Bruins who were second in the conference as of March 1. The Sabres not only outscored them by a 15-7 margin in taking all four meetings, but the looked great in the process.
Yet the Sabres still had their dog games, most notably at home against the LA Kings in a matinee. "What we saw on display Saturday afternoon is unacceptable," I wrote the following day. "It was a piss-poor performance on any normal game day much less during a promotion called Kid's Day, where the future fans of the Blue and Gold come together to watch their hometown heroes. What those in attendance on Saturday witnessed was the Sabres going through the motions for 40 minutes against the Los Angeles Kings, what they heard was a reported "loud thud" coming from where GM Jason Botterill sits during games and they responded with a chorus of boos as the Sabres left the ice down 4-0 after the second period."
It was something they'd been doing all season. "It was the fourth such Kid's Day promotion and the third clunker this group delivered. Buffalo is 0-4-0 during those games and have been outscored by a combined 20-7. In four losses during Kid's Day (out of 42 total losses when you add in OT/SO,) that minus-13 makes up nearly 25% of their league-worst minus-54 goal differential."
This is not how you cultivate future fans and rest assured it's something that stuck in Botterill's craw the remainder of the season.
It also should be noted that Eichel went down with a high-ankle sprain on February 10, the second time he's missed a chunk of a season with an ankle injury. He would return to the ice March 17. Buffalo's record with him in the lineup was 6-7-2.
For Buffalo's February team stats click here, and for their individual stats leaders for the month click here.
For my February archive click here.
For the short time he was in Buffalo, left winger Evander Kane created a lot of controversy, and he was the center of the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline for the Sabres. Kane came over to Buffalo in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets on February11, 2015 and even the circumstances surrounding the timing of his trade to the Sabres was circumspect.
Kane was embroiled in controversy in Winnipeg before the trade. Incidents showing a deep locker room division put him on the block and it was an opportunity for then GM Tim Murray to get a player that fit what he wanted to do in Buffalo's rebuild. Bonus points came when Kane elected to have surgery and would be out for the remainder of the 2014-15 season and it would further Buffalo's drive to the bottom of the league to land one of Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel at the 2015 NHL Draft.
The Sabres did finish in last place that season and because of the lottery ended up selecting Eichel with the second-overall pick.
As for Kane his subsequent return to the ice in 2015-16 was greeted with optimism, but his off-ice antics made life extremely different for Buffalo's front office. An accusation of sexual misconduct in December, 2015 and oversleeping after hanging with NBA All-Stars in Toronto got him in hot water but it was nothing compared to the black eye he gave the organization as the city of Buffalo was hosting the 2016 draft. He faced charges after a late-night incident in a bar and although the charges were dismissed, he had to keep his nose clean for six months.
With that adjudication, Kane was forced to behave himself outside the rink, or at least remain free and clear of potential situations, and he began putting up impressive numbers more indicative of the talent he had. However, the damage had been done to the organization and he would be on his way out at the 2018 trade deadline.
Kane was in the final year of his contract in 2018 and despite playing his best hockey in Buffalo for more than a calendar year it was the worst kept secret that he was on the block. Even he knew it was only a matter of time as shown in his stats. Kane had a first-half stat-line of 15 goals and 34 points through 38 games through the 2017 portion of the schedule but when the calendar year turned to 2018, his numbers plummeted to only five goals and one assist before being traded to the San Jose Sharks on February 26 trade deadline.
He would finish the season with nine goals and 14 points in 17 games for the Sharks.
The return GM Jason Botterill got for Kane in the trade was suspect amongst the Buffalo faithful but it was all the market would bear for talented player with a troubled past. In hindsight, Botterill did well as the conditions were met for the Sharks to give up their 2019 first-round pick (lottery protected) with Buffalo also receiving a conditional 2020 fourth rounder and forward prospect Danny O'Regan. The Sharks were the only team to come in with a serious offer for Kane at the deadline.
No other Buffalo Sabres player was moved that day, which isn't surprising considering none of their lower-half players on expiring contracts were that desirable. Which wasn't that surprising. Buffalo was in last place with 51 points on a 20-33-11 record. As of March 1 they were last in the league in goals-for (2.39,) 26th in goals-against (3.22,) and were dead lasts in five-on-five goals scored. The other teams were not interested in what Buffalo had to offer at the trade deadline.
Surprisingly, however, the Sabres had their best month of the season in February and played some of their best hockey against some of the best teams in their division. Buffalo went 6-6-2 for the month with two wins against the conference-leading Tampa Bay Lightning and two wins against the Boston Bruins who were second in the conference as of March 1. The Sabres not only outscored them by a 15-7 margin in taking all four meetings, but the looked great in the process.
Yet the Sabres still had their dog games, most notably at home against the LA Kings in a matinee. "What we saw on display Saturday afternoon is unacceptable," I wrote the following day. "It was a piss-poor performance on any normal game day much less during a promotion called Kid's Day, where the future fans of the Blue and Gold come together to watch their hometown heroes. What those in attendance on Saturday witnessed was the Sabres going through the motions for 40 minutes against the Los Angeles Kings, what they heard was a reported "loud thud" coming from where GM Jason Botterill sits during games and they responded with a chorus of boos as the Sabres left the ice down 4-0 after the second period."
It was something they'd been doing all season. "It was the fourth such Kid's Day promotion and the third clunker this group delivered. Buffalo is 0-4-0 during those games and have been outscored by a combined 20-7. In four losses during Kid's Day (out of 42 total losses when you add in OT/SO,) that minus-13 makes up nearly 25% of their league-worst minus-54 goal differential."
This is not how you cultivate future fans and rest assured it's something that stuck in Botterill's craw the remainder of the season.
It also should be noted that Eichel went down with a high-ankle sprain on February 10, the second time he's missed a chunk of a season with an ankle injury. He would return to the ice March 17. Buffalo's record with him in the lineup was 6-7-2.
For Buffalo's February team stats click here, and for their individual stats leaders for the month click here.
For my February archive click here.
Friday, May 25, 2018
On Evander Kane and 'Canes left-winger, Jeff Skinner
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 5-23-2018
Word coming out of San Jose is that former Sabres winger Evander Kane is about to sign a contract extension with the Sharks. The former 4th-overall pick in 2009 (Atlanta Thrashers) was traded by Buffalo to San Jose at the 2018 NHL traded deadline as the Sharks were bolstering their team for a playoff run.
The 26 yr. old Kane spent eight seasons in the NHL with Atlanta/Winnipeg Jets franchise and the Sabres but never appeared in a playoff game. However he hit the ice flying this post season scoring two goals in his first playoff appearance while helping the Sharks sweep the Anaheim Ducks in the first round. San Jose would run into the buzzsaw that is the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in round two as the Sharks lost the series in six games. He finished his first-ever playoffs with four goals and one assist in nine games.
At 6'2" 212 lbs. Kane has NHL size and he also has great north/south speed making for an intriguing powerforward package. He scored a career-high 30 goals for Atlanta in the 2011-12 season and hit the 20-goal mark all three seasons he played in Buffalo while leading the team with 28 goals in 2016-17.
Former Sabres GM Tim Murray traded for Kane back in February, 2015 in the first of two blockbuster deals that year. Murray sent defenseman Tyler Myers, forward Drew Stafford, prospects Joel Armia and Brendan Lemieux plus a 2015 first round pick which turned into Jack Roslovic (25th-oveall) to Winnipeg for Kane, defenseman Zach Bogosian and goalie prospect Jason Kasdorf.
Kane had been on Murray's radar ever since he was a scout and when the opportunity came to trade for him, Murray pulled the trigger. When the trade was consummated Murray told the gathered media, "He's gonna be a big part of any success we have here, I believe. You watch him play on the ice, he plays hard, he plays in traffic, he doesn't play a perimeter game, he plays a heavy game, he scores goals from around the net, he plays the game right.
"He finishes checks, he's a good fighter. That's his character on the ice."
Those last three words, "on the ice," would represent a huge qualifier.
Kane had problems in Winnipeg away from the ice something which Murray also addressed during the same presser. "[Sabres owner Terry Pegula] asked questions and I answered them truthfully and to the best of my ability. It wasn't all unicorns and rainbows and juju's," Murray said of Kane's issues. "it never is with any player. Players have warts. The best players have warts and I can tell you the best of the very best of players had warts. It's just what it is. [Pegula] listened, asked questions, he wants to be informed and then he told me to do what I felt was best.
"I made a trade for Kane so I'm not worried about his character."
That would come back to bite Murray as Kane had three off-ice incidents in a seven month span during his first full season in Buffalo. Those incidents included a sexual assault accusation (December 27, 2015) and an unexcused missed practice after hanging with the NBA All-Stars in Toronto on February 15, 2016 and the big one, on June, 2016 while Buffalo was hosting the NHL Draft. Kane got into an early-morning bar encounter and eventually turned himself into police. He faced criminal charges and was booked on one count of misdemeanor trespassing and other charges for which he was eventually sentence to six months probation.
That apparently was enough for the Pegulas as they were said to want no part of Kane when his contract was up this year.
Such was the situation new Sabres GM Jason Botterill walked into this season with Kane. Word came early that the powerfoward was on the block and Botterill eventually traded Kane to the Sharks. There were rumors that Botterill could have pulled the trigger in December for better return than he got but he ended up waiting it out and got bit. At the 2018 trade deadline Botterill traded Kane to the Sharks for conditional second and fourth round picks in 2019 as it was said that San Jose was the only suitor.
That second round pick would convert to a first-rounder if either the Sharks won the Stanley Cup this season or Kane signed a contract extension with the Sharks, which is where we stand right now. If the rumors of Kane re-signing in San Jose are true, that second-rounder converts to a first.
Even with the probable signing there are still conditions with both picks. That 2019 first rounder is lottery protected and would be pushed to 2020 should the Sharks miss the playoffs next season. San Jose also has the option to push the 2019 fourth-rounder back a year in which case Buffalo would receive a 2020 third round pick.
If all this rings true, it will essentially close the book on the Buffalo portion of Kane's career. It's too bad that things didn't work out for him in Buffalo as his departure left a gaping hole on the left side something that Botterill needs to address this off season.
*****
With Buffalo's lefts side bereft of top-six talent, many feel that the Sabres should make a trade from a position of strength down the middle for a top-six winger. Buffalo's depth down the middle begins with Jack Eichel and flows to Ryan O'Reilly, prospect Casey Mittelstadt, Evan Rodrigues and a number of players like prospects Sean Malone and Rasmus Asplund who are looked at as bottom-six centers.
The ascension of Mittelstadt to a probable top-six center only a year removed from the NCAA, puts Buffalo in a favorable position at center and dependent upon what they want to do with the forward group, one of them, including Mittelstadt and Rodrigues, could be moved to left wing in the top-six. Botterill and Sabres head coach Phil Housley could also move O'Reilly to the left side, a spot he played before in Colorado or they could use the top-two center as a major piece in landing a bona fide left-winger.
Top-two centers are hard to come by in the NHL and if any fanbase knows it, those of us in Sabreland certainly do. A few years back the Sabres were so desperate for a top-two center that they signed Ville Leino to a very lucrative long-term deal thinking he could fill that role. It was an unmitigated disaster that the team is still paying for Leino as his 2014 compliance buyout has him collecting $1.2 million until 2019-20 not to play for Buffalo.
The Sabres did some major focusing on centers during the last six drafts selecting two in the first round in 2012 (Mikhail Grigorenko, 12th-overall and Zemgus Girgensons, 14th,) while landing Sam Reinhart second overall in 2014 and Eichel second-overall in 2015. Murray also bolstered the position at the 2015 NHL Draft when he traded for O'Reilly (in another blockbuster deal) and Botterill pulled off a relative coup in snagging Mittelstadt with the eighth-overall pick last year.
We're not sure whether a player like O'Reilly is even available but for all intents and purposes we're going off the assumption that there are only a few untouchables right now--Eichel, the 2018 first-overall pick and probably Mittelstadt.
We're also not sure what's available from other teams but word on the street is that two teams are looking hard at centers and both may have left-wingers available in a trade. The Montreal Canadians are said to be in that group as are the Carolina Hurricanes.
Chip Alexander of the News and Observer in Carolina came out today and asked the question, "Has Jeff Skinner played his last game for the Carolina Hurricanes?"
Skinner was drafted seventh-overall in 2010 by the Hurricanes and won the Calder Trophy (over San Jose's Logan Couture) as rookie of the year that season. The 5'11" 200 lb. left-shooting winger has played in 579 games for Carolina scoring 204 goals and 379 points. He's in the final year of a 6yr./$34.350 million contract signed on August 8, 2012 which also, according to CapFriendly.com, contains a no-movement clause.
Alexander writes "speculation continues to grow that Skinner, the Canes’ most consistent goal-scorer the past eight seasons, could be traded by the team" and he also points out that the 26 yr. old native of Toronto, Ontario just switched agents from Rick Curran of the Orr Hockey Group and hired Don Meehan of Newport Sports Management. According to Alexander, Meehan has not had any discussions with new 'Canes GM Don Waddell concerning Skinner and says that two will meet in Buffalo during the NHL Combine which begins on Sunday.
Which is rather convenient for the Sabres. Not only will those two be hashing things out in Buffalo with Botterill and Buffalo hosting the event, but Meehan is also O'Reilly's agent as well. This is not to say that something will occur but it provides fertile ground for a potential trade to grow and the opportunity for every side to get a feel for what everyone else is thinking.
One of the things Botterill said at his end of season presser was that the team was looking for speed on the wing and Skinner has that, plus he has the smarts and sniping ability to hang with and flourish next to a player like Eichel.
If Skinner were available any speculation would be mute if he were to put Buffalo on his no-trade list and even if a trade were consummated a contract extension would need to be reached possibly beforehand to assure he remained in the fold.
Alexander quotes Skinner as saying after the season,“I like it here, I want to win here,” but "you have to be open-minded to everything. That’s why you have agents and advisers.”
We've heard quotes like that before with the player eventually getting moved. A trade between Carolina and Buffalo with Skinner and O'Reilly as the primary pieces makes a lot of sense for both clubs. But does it make sense to Waddell and Botterill?
.
Word coming out of San Jose is that former Sabres winger Evander Kane is about to sign a contract extension with the Sharks. The former 4th-overall pick in 2009 (Atlanta Thrashers) was traded by Buffalo to San Jose at the 2018 NHL traded deadline as the Sharks were bolstering their team for a playoff run.
The 26 yr. old Kane spent eight seasons in the NHL with Atlanta/Winnipeg Jets franchise and the Sabres but never appeared in a playoff game. However he hit the ice flying this post season scoring two goals in his first playoff appearance while helping the Sharks sweep the Anaheim Ducks in the first round. San Jose would run into the buzzsaw that is the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in round two as the Sharks lost the series in six games. He finished his first-ever playoffs with four goals and one assist in nine games.
At 6'2" 212 lbs. Kane has NHL size and he also has great north/south speed making for an intriguing powerforward package. He scored a career-high 30 goals for Atlanta in the 2011-12 season and hit the 20-goal mark all three seasons he played in Buffalo while leading the team with 28 goals in 2016-17.
Former Sabres GM Tim Murray traded for Kane back in February, 2015 in the first of two blockbuster deals that year. Murray sent defenseman Tyler Myers, forward Drew Stafford, prospects Joel Armia and Brendan Lemieux plus a 2015 first round pick which turned into Jack Roslovic (25th-oveall) to Winnipeg for Kane, defenseman Zach Bogosian and goalie prospect Jason Kasdorf.
Kane had been on Murray's radar ever since he was a scout and when the opportunity came to trade for him, Murray pulled the trigger. When the trade was consummated Murray told the gathered media, "He's gonna be a big part of any success we have here, I believe. You watch him play on the ice, he plays hard, he plays in traffic, he doesn't play a perimeter game, he plays a heavy game, he scores goals from around the net, he plays the game right.
"He finishes checks, he's a good fighter. That's his character on the ice."
Those last three words, "on the ice," would represent a huge qualifier.
Kane had problems in Winnipeg away from the ice something which Murray also addressed during the same presser. "[Sabres owner Terry Pegula] asked questions and I answered them truthfully and to the best of my ability. It wasn't all unicorns and rainbows and juju's," Murray said of Kane's issues. "it never is with any player. Players have warts. The best players have warts and I can tell you the best of the very best of players had warts. It's just what it is. [Pegula] listened, asked questions, he wants to be informed and then he told me to do what I felt was best.
"I made a trade for Kane so I'm not worried about his character."
That would come back to bite Murray as Kane had three off-ice incidents in a seven month span during his first full season in Buffalo. Those incidents included a sexual assault accusation (December 27, 2015) and an unexcused missed practice after hanging with the NBA All-Stars in Toronto on February 15, 2016 and the big one, on June, 2016 while Buffalo was hosting the NHL Draft. Kane got into an early-morning bar encounter and eventually turned himself into police. He faced criminal charges and was booked on one count of misdemeanor trespassing and other charges for which he was eventually sentence to six months probation.
That apparently was enough for the Pegulas as they were said to want no part of Kane when his contract was up this year.
Such was the situation new Sabres GM Jason Botterill walked into this season with Kane. Word came early that the powerfoward was on the block and Botterill eventually traded Kane to the Sharks. There were rumors that Botterill could have pulled the trigger in December for better return than he got but he ended up waiting it out and got bit. At the 2018 trade deadline Botterill traded Kane to the Sharks for conditional second and fourth round picks in 2019 as it was said that San Jose was the only suitor.
That second round pick would convert to a first-rounder if either the Sharks won the Stanley Cup this season or Kane signed a contract extension with the Sharks, which is where we stand right now. If the rumors of Kane re-signing in San Jose are true, that second-rounder converts to a first.
Even with the probable signing there are still conditions with both picks. That 2019 first rounder is lottery protected and would be pushed to 2020 should the Sharks miss the playoffs next season. San Jose also has the option to push the 2019 fourth-rounder back a year in which case Buffalo would receive a 2020 third round pick.
If all this rings true, it will essentially close the book on the Buffalo portion of Kane's career. It's too bad that things didn't work out for him in Buffalo as his departure left a gaping hole on the left side something that Botterill needs to address this off season.
*****
With Buffalo's lefts side bereft of top-six talent, many feel that the Sabres should make a trade from a position of strength down the middle for a top-six winger. Buffalo's depth down the middle begins with Jack Eichel and flows to Ryan O'Reilly, prospect Casey Mittelstadt, Evan Rodrigues and a number of players like prospects Sean Malone and Rasmus Asplund who are looked at as bottom-six centers.
The ascension of Mittelstadt to a probable top-six center only a year removed from the NCAA, puts Buffalo in a favorable position at center and dependent upon what they want to do with the forward group, one of them, including Mittelstadt and Rodrigues, could be moved to left wing in the top-six. Botterill and Sabres head coach Phil Housley could also move O'Reilly to the left side, a spot he played before in Colorado or they could use the top-two center as a major piece in landing a bona fide left-winger.
Top-two centers are hard to come by in the NHL and if any fanbase knows it, those of us in Sabreland certainly do. A few years back the Sabres were so desperate for a top-two center that they signed Ville Leino to a very lucrative long-term deal thinking he could fill that role. It was an unmitigated disaster that the team is still paying for Leino as his 2014 compliance buyout has him collecting $1.2 million until 2019-20 not to play for Buffalo.
The Sabres did some major focusing on centers during the last six drafts selecting two in the first round in 2012 (Mikhail Grigorenko, 12th-overall and Zemgus Girgensons, 14th,) while landing Sam Reinhart second overall in 2014 and Eichel second-overall in 2015. Murray also bolstered the position at the 2015 NHL Draft when he traded for O'Reilly (in another blockbuster deal) and Botterill pulled off a relative coup in snagging Mittelstadt with the eighth-overall pick last year.
We're not sure whether a player like O'Reilly is even available but for all intents and purposes we're going off the assumption that there are only a few untouchables right now--Eichel, the 2018 first-overall pick and probably Mittelstadt.
We're also not sure what's available from other teams but word on the street is that two teams are looking hard at centers and both may have left-wingers available in a trade. The Montreal Canadians are said to be in that group as are the Carolina Hurricanes.
Chip Alexander of the News and Observer in Carolina came out today and asked the question, "Has Jeff Skinner played his last game for the Carolina Hurricanes?"
Skinner was drafted seventh-overall in 2010 by the Hurricanes and won the Calder Trophy (over San Jose's Logan Couture) as rookie of the year that season. The 5'11" 200 lb. left-shooting winger has played in 579 games for Carolina scoring 204 goals and 379 points. He's in the final year of a 6yr./$34.350 million contract signed on August 8, 2012 which also, according to CapFriendly.com, contains a no-movement clause.
Alexander writes "speculation continues to grow that Skinner, the Canes’ most consistent goal-scorer the past eight seasons, could be traded by the team" and he also points out that the 26 yr. old native of Toronto, Ontario just switched agents from Rick Curran of the Orr Hockey Group and hired Don Meehan of Newport Sports Management. According to Alexander, Meehan has not had any discussions with new 'Canes GM Don Waddell concerning Skinner and says that two will meet in Buffalo during the NHL Combine which begins on Sunday.
Which is rather convenient for the Sabres. Not only will those two be hashing things out in Buffalo with Botterill and Buffalo hosting the event, but Meehan is also O'Reilly's agent as well. This is not to say that something will occur but it provides fertile ground for a potential trade to grow and the opportunity for every side to get a feel for what everyone else is thinking.
One of the things Botterill said at his end of season presser was that the team was looking for speed on the wing and Skinner has that, plus he has the smarts and sniping ability to hang with and flourish next to a player like Eichel.
If Skinner were available any speculation would be mute if he were to put Buffalo on his no-trade list and even if a trade were consummated a contract extension would need to be reached possibly beforehand to assure he remained in the fold.
Alexander quotes Skinner as saying after the season,“I like it here, I want to win here,” but "you have to be open-minded to everything. That’s why you have agents and advisers.”
We've heard quotes like that before with the player eventually getting moved. A trade between Carolina and Buffalo with Skinner and O'Reilly as the primary pieces makes a lot of sense for both clubs. But does it make sense to Waddell and Botterill?
.
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Less than 20 games to go, Sabres fans.
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 2-18-2018
The Buffalo Sabres begin their final 19-game post-trade deadline stretch of the 2017-18 season with a 19-33-11 record which is good for an Eastern Conference-worst 49 points. To say it's not been a very good year would be an understatement and to add a little perspective, here was the Sabres record at this point of the season stretching back to 2013-14, the first of their two tank years:
2013-14: 19-36-8 (46 points)
2014-15: 19-39-5 (43)
2015-16: 25-31-7 (57)
2016-17: 26-26-11 (63)
The past two seasons had GM Tim Murray overseeing the hockey operations department and head coach Dan Bylsma in charge of his team. In 2015-16 the Sabres went 10-5-4 over their last 19 games and finished with 81 points, which was 50% more than the season prior. Although the prior season was designed for a wretched showing and a last place finish, that significant point increase gave fans and management plenty to be optimistic about moving forward. However, as the Sabres struggled with injuries and inconsistencies in the early part of 2016-17 and a pall was cast over the team as they finished the season with a 7-11-1 record while playing as if they were simply riding out a lost season.
It lead to the firings of both Murray and Bylsma.
Enter new GM Jason Botterill and his new bench boss, Phil Housley, both of whom had never occupied those positions before. Off-season optimism once again reigned supreme as Botterill made some moves to revamp his defense (while also significantly turning over his roster) and Housley was expected to work some magic with that revamped d-corps. It fell apart early and got worse through the first two months of the season before things began to stabilize. With the season basically over in December, Sabreland was focused on the February 26, 2018 NHL trade deadline.
That has since come and gone with Buffalo making one trade as Evander Kane, Buffalo's second-leading goal scorer, was shipped off to the San Jose Sharks for a decent return that could turn out to be better if he re-signs with the Sharks. In that case the conditional 2019 second round pick Buffalo received would turn into a first-round pick. The Sabres also received a 2019 conditional fourth-rounder and if San Jose wishes, they can push that pick to 2020 in which case it turns into a third round pick. Buffalo also received forward prospect Daniel O'Regan in the deal.
Kane played his first game for the Sharks last night, skated over 16 minutes for his new club, registered two assists (one primary) and was a plus-2 in San Jose's 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers at the Shark Tank. He was also named the game's second star.
While Kane is on the West Coast trying to help the Sharks make the playoffs (the win last night pushed them into second in the division by two points,) those in Sabreland are left with an annual routine that dates back seven seasons--play out the strand while focusing on the NHL Draft.
However, in saying that, within the next 19 games are "little stanley cups" which could, and should, at least get the fan base excited. Most notably, the Sabres have four games against the QEW rival Toronto Maple Leafs in a weird schedule quirk that loaded all four season-series matchups into what will be the final 17 games of Buffalo's season. And if the fans can't get up for any of those games, the next first two in that series is at KeyBank Center and they can do what they usually do when it comes to a Toronto game in Buffalo, sell their tickets at a premium to ease some of the mental and financial burden they've been shouldering during the season.
Sprinkled amongst the final games are a first-time visit from the expansion Vegas Golden Knights (March 10) and...really not that much to get all that excited about.
It all begins tonight with Buffalo in Tampa to take on the league's top team. The Lightning, who were a Stanley Cup favorite to begin, fortified their d-corps at the trade deadline when they acquired NY Rangers defenseman (and captain) Ryan McDonagh making them even more of a favorite.
Tampa has been a top team in the division for three of the past four years which includes a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2014-15. Last year they were victims of circumstance and barely missed the playoffs but it would seem as if they're back with a vengeance.
Buffalo has split the season series with Tampa so far with both games taking place at KBC. They were shut out 2-0 in late November but pulled off an impressive 5-3 win just over two weeks ago. The Sabres were without Jack Eichel, who'd suffered an injury two games earlier in Boston. The Sabres used a full team effort complete with a dogged forcheck punctuated by secondary scoring to take down Tampa.
However, even with that win, the Sabres are still only 2-7-1 in their last 10 against Tampa according to Sabres PR.
Tonight the Sabres will be without their top two goal scorers prior to the deadline--Eichel and Kane--and they will also be missing their third leading scorer in Kyle Okposo who's on a leave to be with his wife for the birth of their third child.
Without those three, the weight of scoring falls on the shoulders of Ryan O'Reilly and Sam Reinhart, both of whom have been pretty hot of late. O'Reilly has eight points (2+6) in his last eight games while Reinhart has been on fire with a four-game scoring streak and 20 points (7+13) in his last 19 games. The Sabres have also been getting meaningful contributions from the blueline lately. Rasmus Ristolainen has 21 points and all of his six goals in his last 26 games while Marco Scandella has scored three goals in his last five games (all stats courtesy of Sabres PR.)
Of note: It took until Game-28 against the Colorado Avalanche on December 5 for a Sabres defenseman to score a goal (Jake McCabe.)
Needless to say the Sabres have their work cut out for them tonight against the Lightning. This is the time of year where teams are beginning to really kick it in gear while either in a playoff chase or getting finely tuned for the playoffs and Tampa is no exception. The Lightning are winners of their last four games and five of their last six.
As for the Sabres?
Let's hope they show up in a meaningful way.
The Buffalo Sabres begin their final 19-game post-trade deadline stretch of the 2017-18 season with a 19-33-11 record which is good for an Eastern Conference-worst 49 points. To say it's not been a very good year would be an understatement and to add a little perspective, here was the Sabres record at this point of the season stretching back to 2013-14, the first of their two tank years:
2013-14: 19-36-8 (46 points)
2014-15: 19-39-5 (43)
2015-16: 25-31-7 (57)
2016-17: 26-26-11 (63)
The past two seasons had GM Tim Murray overseeing the hockey operations department and head coach Dan Bylsma in charge of his team. In 2015-16 the Sabres went 10-5-4 over their last 19 games and finished with 81 points, which was 50% more than the season prior. Although the prior season was designed for a wretched showing and a last place finish, that significant point increase gave fans and management plenty to be optimistic about moving forward. However, as the Sabres struggled with injuries and inconsistencies in the early part of 2016-17 and a pall was cast over the team as they finished the season with a 7-11-1 record while playing as if they were simply riding out a lost season.
It lead to the firings of both Murray and Bylsma.
Enter new GM Jason Botterill and his new bench boss, Phil Housley, both of whom had never occupied those positions before. Off-season optimism once again reigned supreme as Botterill made some moves to revamp his defense (while also significantly turning over his roster) and Housley was expected to work some magic with that revamped d-corps. It fell apart early and got worse through the first two months of the season before things began to stabilize. With the season basically over in December, Sabreland was focused on the February 26, 2018 NHL trade deadline.
That has since come and gone with Buffalo making one trade as Evander Kane, Buffalo's second-leading goal scorer, was shipped off to the San Jose Sharks for a decent return that could turn out to be better if he re-signs with the Sharks. In that case the conditional 2019 second round pick Buffalo received would turn into a first-round pick. The Sabres also received a 2019 conditional fourth-rounder and if San Jose wishes, they can push that pick to 2020 in which case it turns into a third round pick. Buffalo also received forward prospect Daniel O'Regan in the deal.
Kane played his first game for the Sharks last night, skated over 16 minutes for his new club, registered two assists (one primary) and was a plus-2 in San Jose's 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers at the Shark Tank. He was also named the game's second star.
While Kane is on the West Coast trying to help the Sharks make the playoffs (the win last night pushed them into second in the division by two points,) those in Sabreland are left with an annual routine that dates back seven seasons--play out the strand while focusing on the NHL Draft.
However, in saying that, within the next 19 games are "little stanley cups" which could, and should, at least get the fan base excited. Most notably, the Sabres have four games against the QEW rival Toronto Maple Leafs in a weird schedule quirk that loaded all four season-series matchups into what will be the final 17 games of Buffalo's season. And if the fans can't get up for any of those games, the next first two in that series is at KeyBank Center and they can do what they usually do when it comes to a Toronto game in Buffalo, sell their tickets at a premium to ease some of the mental and financial burden they've been shouldering during the season.
Sprinkled amongst the final games are a first-time visit from the expansion Vegas Golden Knights (March 10) and...really not that much to get all that excited about.
It all begins tonight with Buffalo in Tampa to take on the league's top team. The Lightning, who were a Stanley Cup favorite to begin, fortified their d-corps at the trade deadline when they acquired NY Rangers defenseman (and captain) Ryan McDonagh making them even more of a favorite.
Tampa has been a top team in the division for three of the past four years which includes a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2014-15. Last year they were victims of circumstance and barely missed the playoffs but it would seem as if they're back with a vengeance.
Buffalo has split the season series with Tampa so far with both games taking place at KBC. They were shut out 2-0 in late November but pulled off an impressive 5-3 win just over two weeks ago. The Sabres were without Jack Eichel, who'd suffered an injury two games earlier in Boston. The Sabres used a full team effort complete with a dogged forcheck punctuated by secondary scoring to take down Tampa.
However, even with that win, the Sabres are still only 2-7-1 in their last 10 against Tampa according to Sabres PR.
Tonight the Sabres will be without their top two goal scorers prior to the deadline--Eichel and Kane--and they will also be missing their third leading scorer in Kyle Okposo who's on a leave to be with his wife for the birth of their third child.
Without those three, the weight of scoring falls on the shoulders of Ryan O'Reilly and Sam Reinhart, both of whom have been pretty hot of late. O'Reilly has eight points (2+6) in his last eight games while Reinhart has been on fire with a four-game scoring streak and 20 points (7+13) in his last 19 games. The Sabres have also been getting meaningful contributions from the blueline lately. Rasmus Ristolainen has 21 points and all of his six goals in his last 26 games while Marco Scandella has scored three goals in his last five games (all stats courtesy of Sabres PR.)
Of note: It took until Game-28 against the Colorado Avalanche on December 5 for a Sabres defenseman to score a goal (Jake McCabe.)
Needless to say the Sabres have their work cut out for them tonight against the Lightning. This is the time of year where teams are beginning to really kick it in gear while either in a playoff chase or getting finely tuned for the playoffs and Tampa is no exception. The Lightning are winners of their last four games and five of their last six.
As for the Sabres?
Let's hope they show up in a meaningful way.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
The trade that was and those that weren't on a lame deadline day for Buffalo
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Buffalo's bye week is a good time to talk about the future
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-17-2018
Sure, the Buffalo Sabres entered their bye week with a 3-1 win over a very good Columbus Blue Jackets team. As a refresher, the Sabres pumped 15 shots on net in the first period against the Jackets and headed into intermission with a 1-0 lead. Columbus gathered their druthers and began to right the ship peppering goalie Linus Ullmark with 34 shots on goal over the final two periods. Ullmark, an AHL All-Star who'd been called up the game before but didn't play, withstood the barrage allowing only one goal and left the ice with the win and the game's first star. Benoit Pouliot, Kyle Okposo and Jack Eichel (empty net) scored for the Sabres for their first win in 2018 (1-4-1.)
That performance coupled with the work he's been doing since coming to North America since 2015, has the 24 yr. old Ullmark looking like a big part of the future for the Sabres. As does rookie defenseman Brendan Guhle.
Guhle made his first Sabres appearance of the season and once again, did not look out of place. The Sabres have him on a development curve that should see him as a full-time fixture on the back-end beginning next season. As he's shown at every level, the 20 yr. old is an exceptional skater with great on-ice vision, a nose for open areas and the ability to finish. He's also pretty good in his own end while using his closing-speed, smarts and stickwork as well as his 6'3" 196 lb. frame (which still has plenty of room for growth.)
In 16:10 of ice-time against the Jackets, Guhle had an assist, his first-ever NHL point, and was a plus-2.
Buffalo is off until Thursday when they head to Madison Square Gardens to face off against the NY Rangers who are coming off of a pretty impressive 5-1 home win vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. During the last five days of their mandated bye week, the Sabres front office has had some time to look back on what's transpired this season as well as look forward to the February 26 trade deadline and beyond to the 2018 NHL Draft. They've had 44 games to evaluate the roster to see who will fit in moving forward and how GM Jason Botterill and company approach the future begins now.
Here are some of the things they've had plenty of time to discuss:
Where should Guhle play coming out of the bye?
Buffalo's defense-corps has been suspect at best but seemed to settle in a bit when Zach Bogosian came off of injury and was back in the lineup. However, Bogosian is once again injured and will be out another month or so.
Guhle has all the tools to successfully play in the NHL and might be the best defenseman on the team other than Rasmus Ristolainen. There's an easy case for Guhle to be sent back to Rochester, which includes (unfortunately) helping the Sabres secure a low finish and increasing their odds of landing a top-three pick in the draft.
Then again, as part of his development a lengthy exposure to the NHL game, especially with teams upping the intensity in a playoff run, could really set him up for success next season. I don't buy that being exposed to this team will kill his development. He's got too much going for him to be dragged down by any pettiness and anger that might infect the locker room through the remaining 37 games.
Speaking of Bogosian
When former GM Tim Murray traded for Bogosian as part of the Evander Kane deal, there was reason for optimism. The fleet-footed bruiser of a d-man with a cannon for a shot and a willingness to stand up for his teammates added an edge to a team in desperate need of one. Bogosian had a good start to his career in Buffalo, but a multitude of injuries and inconsistent play have left many to believe he should be moved. However, the problem with trading him is his contract which has two years remaining after this season at a $5.14 million cap-hit.
As has been proven in the past, anything can be done and there may be an out from Buckeye country.
Recent reports have Jackets' defenseman Jack Johnson wanting out. The 31 yr. old isn't getting enough playing time heading into free agency this off season. Johnson was reportedly looking to cash-in this summer after most of his earnings up to this point were frittered away by his parents who made a number of highly questionable moves with his finances.
Although Buffalo isn't the ideal place for him and his $4.34 million cap-hit, there's no reason the left-handed defenseman couldn't be placed on the top-pairing for the Sabres for the rest of the season to prove what he's got. With a Columbus having such a young team and the cap-ceiling not much of a worry this season, taking on an extra $1 million in salary and eventually placing Bogosian on the third-pairing could very well work.
Other things might need to be added on one side or the other, but it's a situation where both teams could benefit from those two as the primary pieces in what could basically be a hockey trade.
The NY Islanders and Robin Lehner
Sabres goalie Robin Lehner will be a restricted free agent at season's end and he probably won't be back in Buffalo. Botterill gave him a one-year deal in the summer and Lehner has given him an uneven season up until this point.
That said, when Lehner's on, he's outstanding.
The NY Islanders have a huge problem on their hands when it comes to franchise center John Tavares who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. They've been building around him for years and only recently have they become playoff contenders.
The Isles have been an offensive juggernaut this season (3.39 goals/game) second only to the Tampa Bay Lightning (3.61) who have lit the league on fire. Tavares leads the charge with Josh Bailey and rookie Matthew Barzal lighting things up as well. But the problem with the team has been defense and goaltending as they're dead-last in the league with a 3.36 team goals-against average with the worst goaltending tandem in the league.
Jaroslav Halak is their starter and is only 13-13-2 on the second-highest scoring team in the league with a 3.22 goals against average and .906 save percentage. Back-up Thomas Greiss is even worse with a 3.89 GAA and .886 Sv%.
Lehner, who backstops the lowest scoring team in the league (2.25) has a 2.94 GAA and .910 Sv% that was only brought down recently.
Most people think there's a fit there and with the Islanders holding two first round picks and two second round picks in the upcoming draft, perhaps a second-rounder to Buffalo for Lehner is a small price to pay in helping convince Tavares they want him on the team moving forward.
Are they really going to get that much for Evander Kane.
Evander Kane is a pending UFA and word on the street is that the Sabres are looking for four pieces in a potential deal.
I'd be thrilled with a first-rounder and a mid-upper level prospect. Anything beyond that is icing on the cake. Perhaps the added pieces are an added pick or prospect to take on a dead-weight contract.
A decision needs to be made on Victor Oloffson
Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com opened up his weekly sabres.com Prospects Report with Victor Oloffson, a seventh-round pick of Buffalo's (181st) in 2014. The 22 yr. old winger leads the Sweden's top professional hockey league with 21 goals and is 10th in the SHL with 32 points.
Baker called him a "mainstay on the Swedish scoresheets" while also pointing out that Oloffson's "lightning quick release" has him scoring his 21 goals on only 103 shots (20.3%.)
The Sabres need to make a decision on him this year or lose his rights. Methinks there should be a place for him in the organization next season.
Sure, the Buffalo Sabres entered their bye week with a 3-1 win over a very good Columbus Blue Jackets team. As a refresher, the Sabres pumped 15 shots on net in the first period against the Jackets and headed into intermission with a 1-0 lead. Columbus gathered their druthers and began to right the ship peppering goalie Linus Ullmark with 34 shots on goal over the final two periods. Ullmark, an AHL All-Star who'd been called up the game before but didn't play, withstood the barrage allowing only one goal and left the ice with the win and the game's first star. Benoit Pouliot, Kyle Okposo and Jack Eichel (empty net) scored for the Sabres for their first win in 2018 (1-4-1.)
That performance coupled with the work he's been doing since coming to North America since 2015, has the 24 yr. old Ullmark looking like a big part of the future for the Sabres. As does rookie defenseman Brendan Guhle.
Guhle made his first Sabres appearance of the season and once again, did not look out of place. The Sabres have him on a development curve that should see him as a full-time fixture on the back-end beginning next season. As he's shown at every level, the 20 yr. old is an exceptional skater with great on-ice vision, a nose for open areas and the ability to finish. He's also pretty good in his own end while using his closing-speed, smarts and stickwork as well as his 6'3" 196 lb. frame (which still has plenty of room for growth.)
In 16:10 of ice-time against the Jackets, Guhle had an assist, his first-ever NHL point, and was a plus-2.
Buffalo is off until Thursday when they head to Madison Square Gardens to face off against the NY Rangers who are coming off of a pretty impressive 5-1 home win vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. During the last five days of their mandated bye week, the Sabres front office has had some time to look back on what's transpired this season as well as look forward to the February 26 trade deadline and beyond to the 2018 NHL Draft. They've had 44 games to evaluate the roster to see who will fit in moving forward and how GM Jason Botterill and company approach the future begins now.
Here are some of the things they've had plenty of time to discuss:
Where should Guhle play coming out of the bye?
Buffalo's defense-corps has been suspect at best but seemed to settle in a bit when Zach Bogosian came off of injury and was back in the lineup. However, Bogosian is once again injured and will be out another month or so.
Guhle has all the tools to successfully play in the NHL and might be the best defenseman on the team other than Rasmus Ristolainen. There's an easy case for Guhle to be sent back to Rochester, which includes (unfortunately) helping the Sabres secure a low finish and increasing their odds of landing a top-three pick in the draft.
Then again, as part of his development a lengthy exposure to the NHL game, especially with teams upping the intensity in a playoff run, could really set him up for success next season. I don't buy that being exposed to this team will kill his development. He's got too much going for him to be dragged down by any pettiness and anger that might infect the locker room through the remaining 37 games.
Speaking of Bogosian
When former GM Tim Murray traded for Bogosian as part of the Evander Kane deal, there was reason for optimism. The fleet-footed bruiser of a d-man with a cannon for a shot and a willingness to stand up for his teammates added an edge to a team in desperate need of one. Bogosian had a good start to his career in Buffalo, but a multitude of injuries and inconsistent play have left many to believe he should be moved. However, the problem with trading him is his contract which has two years remaining after this season at a $5.14 million cap-hit.
As has been proven in the past, anything can be done and there may be an out from Buckeye country.
Recent reports have Jackets' defenseman Jack Johnson wanting out. The 31 yr. old isn't getting enough playing time heading into free agency this off season. Johnson was reportedly looking to cash-in this summer after most of his earnings up to this point were frittered away by his parents who made a number of highly questionable moves with his finances.
Although Buffalo isn't the ideal place for him and his $4.34 million cap-hit, there's no reason the left-handed defenseman couldn't be placed on the top-pairing for the Sabres for the rest of the season to prove what he's got. With a Columbus having such a young team and the cap-ceiling not much of a worry this season, taking on an extra $1 million in salary and eventually placing Bogosian on the third-pairing could very well work.
Other things might need to be added on one side or the other, but it's a situation where both teams could benefit from those two as the primary pieces in what could basically be a hockey trade.
The NY Islanders and Robin Lehner
Sabres goalie Robin Lehner will be a restricted free agent at season's end and he probably won't be back in Buffalo. Botterill gave him a one-year deal in the summer and Lehner has given him an uneven season up until this point.
That said, when Lehner's on, he's outstanding.
The NY Islanders have a huge problem on their hands when it comes to franchise center John Tavares who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. They've been building around him for years and only recently have they become playoff contenders.
The Isles have been an offensive juggernaut this season (3.39 goals/game) second only to the Tampa Bay Lightning (3.61) who have lit the league on fire. Tavares leads the charge with Josh Bailey and rookie Matthew Barzal lighting things up as well. But the problem with the team has been defense and goaltending as they're dead-last in the league with a 3.36 team goals-against average with the worst goaltending tandem in the league.
Jaroslav Halak is their starter and is only 13-13-2 on the second-highest scoring team in the league with a 3.22 goals against average and .906 save percentage. Back-up Thomas Greiss is even worse with a 3.89 GAA and .886 Sv%.
Lehner, who backstops the lowest scoring team in the league (2.25) has a 2.94 GAA and .910 Sv% that was only brought down recently.
Most people think there's a fit there and with the Islanders holding two first round picks and two second round picks in the upcoming draft, perhaps a second-rounder to Buffalo for Lehner is a small price to pay in helping convince Tavares they want him on the team moving forward.
Are they really going to get that much for Evander Kane.
Evander Kane is a pending UFA and word on the street is that the Sabres are looking for four pieces in a potential deal.
I'd be thrilled with a first-rounder and a mid-upper level prospect. Anything beyond that is icing on the cake. Perhaps the added pieces are an added pick or prospect to take on a dead-weight contract.
A decision needs to be made on Victor Oloffson
Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com opened up his weekly sabres.com Prospects Report with Victor Oloffson, a seventh-round pick of Buffalo's (181st) in 2014. The 22 yr. old winger leads the Sweden's top professional hockey league with 21 goals and is 10th in the SHL with 32 points.
Baker called him a "mainstay on the Swedish scoresheets" while also pointing out that Oloffson's "lightning quick release" has him scoring his 21 goals on only 103 shots (20.3%.)
The Sabres need to make a decision on him this year or lose his rights. Methinks there should be a place for him in the organization next season.
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
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
On Myers, Antipin, Guhle, Lehner and Kane. Winnipeg at Buffalo tonight.
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-9-2017
Defenseman Tyler Myers was selected by the Buffalo Sabres 12th-overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. And here's a little side story to how that selection came to be.
The Los Angeles Kings had the 12th pick in the draft that year, the Sabres had the 13th. Both were looking for defensemen and the two best-rated defensemen on the board sat there when it came to the Kings at No.12--Colten Teubert and Myers. Buffalo GM Darcy Regier proposed a trade to Kings GM Dean Lombardi as he and his scouting staff wanted Myers.
Lombardi had his choice as well but in order for him to sign off on the trade so the Sabres wouldn't take his guy, he proposed they write the name of the player they wanted on a napkin at the draft table. When they turned the napkins over, Regier wrote Myers, Lombardi wrote Teubert and the deal was done. Buffalo traded their pick, No.13 overall and a 2009 3rd-round pick to Los Angeles to move up a spot and picked Myers.
After the draft, Myers would spend one more season in junior where he helped lead the Kelowna Rockets to the WHL Championship while winning the WHL Finals Most Valuable Player award . On the way to that championship, the Rockets would defeat the Vancouver Giants in the conference finals who were lead by Evander Kane. The two would eventually be the two primary pieces of a blockbuster deal between Myers' Sabres and Kane's Winnipeg Jets on February 11, 2015.
The blockbuster trade between the Sabres and the Jets for Myers, who won the 2010 Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year, and Kane also involved Buffalo's Drew Stafford, forward prospect Joel Armia (2011, 16th) and Brendan Lemieux (2014, 31st) plus a conditional first round pick (via the St. Louis Blues in the Ryan Miller trade) that turned into Jack Roslovic (2015, 25th.) The Jets sent defenseman Zach Bogosian and goalie prospect Jason Kasdorf to the Sabres.
Kane and Bogosian, Stafford (who's now with the New Jersey Devils) and Armia have already played their former clubs while Myers and Lemieux have not. But that will change for Myers tonight. After missing the first two meetings at Buffalo because of injury, he'll be in the lineup tonight for the first time since that trade went down nearly three years ago.
Meyers won the 2010 Calder Trophy as the NHL's Rookie of the year. He played 365 games for the Sabres scoring 45 goals and adding 106 assist for 151 points.
Teubert was traded by the Kings to the Edmonton Oilers in 2011 and played 24 games for them registering one assist. He played one more season in North America with Edmonton's Oklahoma City Barons AHL affiliate before heading overseas.
A little side note on that 2008 draft. While the Sabres and Kings were making a deal and taking their d-men, two picks later, the Ottawa Senators selected two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson with the 15th-overall selection.
*****
Speaking of defensemen, Buffalo rookie rear-guard Victor Antipin was on the ice for the pregame skate after missing over a week because of a tough bout with the flu. Sabres head coach Phil Housley said yesterday that Antipin had lost a lot of wait and that it would take time for him to regain his strength.
"Sometimes it hits different people different ways, and it seemed to hit him pretty hard," Housley told the gathered media yesterday. "He's just got to work his way back in. He lost a lot of weight. He was ill, and those things don't happen overnight. He's going to take some time to gain some muscle and some strength back."
*****
Antipin's illness created an opening for rookie defenseman Brendan Guhle who, according to Housley, has been playing some "terrific hockey" for the Rochester Americans this season. The 19 yr. old Guhle, who was selected in the second round (51st) at the 2015 NHL Draft has 20 points (7+13) for the Amerks and leads the team in shot with 91.
When asked about Guhle and his shots, something the Sabres have been lacking from their blueliners this season, Housley lit up and smiled. "I think he's just earned his way up," before mentioning Guhle's mobility as well as "his stick detail" on defense.
There have been plenty of opportunities to call Guhle up, but the Sabres opted for other d-men instead allowing him to develop. Housley called this a good opportunity "to see what he brings to practice," but by the looks of it, Guhle will be making his first Sabres appearance of the season tonight.
*****
Robin Lehner took a shot to the neck in Philadelphia. He crumbled to the ice, lay their briefly then got up, shook it off and finished the game. The team listed him as day-to-day and summoned goalie Linus Ullmark to come up so that Lehner could have a maintenance day.
According to reports from the rink this morning, Lehner was on the ice and will probably be in net tonight.
As for Ullmark, he got a good taste of practice with the club and may get sent to Rochester for their game tomorrow night in Bellville against the Senators (OTT.)
*****
Trade rumors have been surrounding Kane for years now. At first it was to move him because of off-ice troubles but now it's due to his impending free agency and status as possibly the top rental player available this season.
Kane has said before that he understands this is a business and ironically is having a career year in Buffalo. After 42 games he's second on the team in scoring, one point behind Jack Eichel. His hot start had him atop the Sabres leaderboard for most of the season, but things have cooled for him lately. He broke a seven-game scoring slump two days ago with a late goal against Minnesota, but he also said that he's been getting the opportunities.
"I think in my last few games I've had some Grade A scoring opportunities," said Kane via John Vogl of The Buffalo News. "I just haven't finished. That unfortunately happens throughout the course of a season but you try and rectify that as soon as possible."
No better time than tonight against his former team. Winnipeg has been on a roll lately with only one regulation loss in their last 10 games (7-2-1) which includes a 4-3 victory over the Sabres four days ago in Winnipeg. Vogl also points out that when the Jets play the same team within a week, they're a perfect 6-0 so far with a 28-5 scoring edge.
Tonight's projected lineup for Buffalo:
Girgensons-Eichel-Okposo
Kane-O'Reilly-Pominville
Wilson-Rodrigues-Reinhart
Larson-Josefson-Nolan
Scandella-Ristolainen
Beaulieu-Bogosian
Guhle-McCabe
Benoit Pouliot is the healthy scratch up front or the second time in three games while Josh Gorges and Justin Falk watch Guhle's season debut from the pressbox.
Defenseman Tyler Myers was selected by the Buffalo Sabres 12th-overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. And here's a little side story to how that selection came to be.
The Los Angeles Kings had the 12th pick in the draft that year, the Sabres had the 13th. Both were looking for defensemen and the two best-rated defensemen on the board sat there when it came to the Kings at No.12--Colten Teubert and Myers. Buffalo GM Darcy Regier proposed a trade to Kings GM Dean Lombardi as he and his scouting staff wanted Myers.
Lombardi had his choice as well but in order for him to sign off on the trade so the Sabres wouldn't take his guy, he proposed they write the name of the player they wanted on a napkin at the draft table. When they turned the napkins over, Regier wrote Myers, Lombardi wrote Teubert and the deal was done. Buffalo traded their pick, No.13 overall and a 2009 3rd-round pick to Los Angeles to move up a spot and picked Myers.
After the draft, Myers would spend one more season in junior where he helped lead the Kelowna Rockets to the WHL Championship while winning the WHL Finals Most Valuable Player award . On the way to that championship, the Rockets would defeat the Vancouver Giants in the conference finals who were lead by Evander Kane. The two would eventually be the two primary pieces of a blockbuster deal between Myers' Sabres and Kane's Winnipeg Jets on February 11, 2015.
The blockbuster trade between the Sabres and the Jets for Myers, who won the 2010 Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year, and Kane also involved Buffalo's Drew Stafford, forward prospect Joel Armia (2011, 16th) and Brendan Lemieux (2014, 31st) plus a conditional first round pick (via the St. Louis Blues in the Ryan Miller trade) that turned into Jack Roslovic (2015, 25th.) The Jets sent defenseman Zach Bogosian and goalie prospect Jason Kasdorf to the Sabres.
Kane and Bogosian, Stafford (who's now with the New Jersey Devils) and Armia have already played their former clubs while Myers and Lemieux have not. But that will change for Myers tonight. After missing the first two meetings at Buffalo because of injury, he'll be in the lineup tonight for the first time since that trade went down nearly three years ago.
Meyers won the 2010 Calder Trophy as the NHL's Rookie of the year. He played 365 games for the Sabres scoring 45 goals and adding 106 assist for 151 points.
Teubert was traded by the Kings to the Edmonton Oilers in 2011 and played 24 games for them registering one assist. He played one more season in North America with Edmonton's Oklahoma City Barons AHL affiliate before heading overseas.
A little side note on that 2008 draft. While the Sabres and Kings were making a deal and taking their d-men, two picks later, the Ottawa Senators selected two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson with the 15th-overall selection.
*****
Speaking of defensemen, Buffalo rookie rear-guard Victor Antipin was on the ice for the pregame skate after missing over a week because of a tough bout with the flu. Sabres head coach Phil Housley said yesterday that Antipin had lost a lot of wait and that it would take time for him to regain his strength.
"Sometimes it hits different people different ways, and it seemed to hit him pretty hard," Housley told the gathered media yesterday. "He's just got to work his way back in. He lost a lot of weight. He was ill, and those things don't happen overnight. He's going to take some time to gain some muscle and some strength back."
*****
Antipin's illness created an opening for rookie defenseman Brendan Guhle who, according to Housley, has been playing some "terrific hockey" for the Rochester Americans this season. The 19 yr. old Guhle, who was selected in the second round (51st) at the 2015 NHL Draft has 20 points (7+13) for the Amerks and leads the team in shot with 91.
When asked about Guhle and his shots, something the Sabres have been lacking from their blueliners this season, Housley lit up and smiled. "I think he's just earned his way up," before mentioning Guhle's mobility as well as "his stick detail" on defense.
There have been plenty of opportunities to call Guhle up, but the Sabres opted for other d-men instead allowing him to develop. Housley called this a good opportunity "to see what he brings to practice," but by the looks of it, Guhle will be making his first Sabres appearance of the season tonight.
*****
Robin Lehner took a shot to the neck in Philadelphia. He crumbled to the ice, lay their briefly then got up, shook it off and finished the game. The team listed him as day-to-day and summoned goalie Linus Ullmark to come up so that Lehner could have a maintenance day.
According to reports from the rink this morning, Lehner was on the ice and will probably be in net tonight.
As for Ullmark, he got a good taste of practice with the club and may get sent to Rochester for their game tomorrow night in Bellville against the Senators (OTT.)
*****
Trade rumors have been surrounding Kane for years now. At first it was to move him because of off-ice troubles but now it's due to his impending free agency and status as possibly the top rental player available this season.
Kane has said before that he understands this is a business and ironically is having a career year in Buffalo. After 42 games he's second on the team in scoring, one point behind Jack Eichel. His hot start had him atop the Sabres leaderboard for most of the season, but things have cooled for him lately. He broke a seven-game scoring slump two days ago with a late goal against Minnesota, but he also said that he's been getting the opportunities.
"I think in my last few games I've had some Grade A scoring opportunities," said Kane via John Vogl of The Buffalo News. "I just haven't finished. That unfortunately happens throughout the course of a season but you try and rectify that as soon as possible."
No better time than tonight against his former team. Winnipeg has been on a roll lately with only one regulation loss in their last 10 games (7-2-1) which includes a 4-3 victory over the Sabres four days ago in Winnipeg. Vogl also points out that when the Jets play the same team within a week, they're a perfect 6-0 so far with a 28-5 scoring edge.
Tonight's projected lineup for Buffalo:
Girgensons-Eichel-Okposo
Kane-O'Reilly-Pominville
Wilson-Rodrigues-Reinhart
Larson-Josefson-Nolan
Scandella-Ristolainen
Beaulieu-Bogosian
Guhle-McCabe
Benoit Pouliot is the healthy scratch up front or the second time in three games while Josh Gorges and Justin Falk watch Guhle's season debut from the pressbox.
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.
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