Minor Transactions: Adam, Bastian, Cernak, Kravchenko
After struggling to carve out a role for himself in the NHL, veteran winger Luke Adam is headed overseas. A second-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 2008, Adam had undeniable toughness and was a strong presence along the boards and in front of the net. Unfortunately, he was unable to ever put it all together for a complete season of production at the top level. Adam debuted with Sabres at the age of 20, deemed big and strong enough to match up at a young age. In his first four seasons, split each year between Buffalo and their AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates and then Rochester Americans, Adam had just 26 points and was -11 in 84 games at the NHL level. He only managed to score a point apiece in limited time in his last two seasons with the Sabres. Meanwhile, his numbers in Portland and Rochester failed to impress as well. He recorded 161 points in 210 games (62 in 57 in his first season), never once leading the team in scoring and seeing decreasing returns each year. Disappointed in the production and lack of development out of their former high pick, Buffalo traded Adam to Columbus in a mid-season deal in 2014-15. He played in just three games with the Blue Jackets, but failed to score and played just over six minutes per game. He spent most of the season with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons, putting up just marginal numbers. Columbus flipped Adam to the New York Rangers prior to last season, but he spent all season in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack. Adam tried one last shot at the NHL dream last month, attending Calgary Flames camp on a PTO, but failed to make the team. Having given North American pro hockey his best effort, Adam is now headed to Germany, where he has signed with Adler Mannheim of the DEL. However, like many who make the trip across the Atlantic, don’t be surprised if the 26-year-old Adam attempts an NHL comeback in the future.
In other minor moves:
- The New Jersey Devils signed 2016 second-round pick Nathan Bastian to an entry-level contract today. Although the big forward has already been sent back to the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads for the season, New Jersey now has him locked up should a recall be necessary. Bastian had a breakout season in 2015-16, putting his big frame to work and establishing himself as one of the top power forwards in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. A potential steal at #41 overall, the Devils signed Bastian to the maximum value, three-year ELC and look forward to his NHL debut in the near future.
- Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Kings have sent one of their up-and-coming young players back to junior, as defenseman Erik Cernak was assigned to the OHL’s Erie Otters after spending the first week of the season with the Kings. Although Cernak did not take the ice for L.A., the team though enough of him to keep him around in case the possibility arose. With goalie Jonathan Quick going down with injury, the team likely felt that this was not the right time to throw a a 19-year-old rookie into the fire. Cernak was a second-round pick of the Kings in 2015, and at 6’3″ and over 200 lbs. he has the size and strength to play at the highest level. However, Cernak’s skating and puck-moving don’t quite match his defensive ability and another season with the high-scoring Otters should help him work on his offensive game.
- The Philadelphia Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, signed former UMass hockey star Dennis Kravchenko to a minor league deal. In a move that may seem like just another minor league signing, the Phantoms actually added a player who outscored Bruins breakout star Frank Vatrano at UMass in 2014-15. The last Minuteman to leave early for a pro deal, Vatrano was a revelation last season, leading the AHL in goals with the Providence Bruins and providing an unexpected boost in Boston. Meanwhile, Kravchenko was having another strong season in Amherst, and will now look to replicate the success of his former teammate with Lehigh Valley in 2016-17. Don’t be surprised if Kravchenko ends up an official Flyer sooner rather than later.
Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Thirteenth Overall Pick
Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
We’re looking back at the 2005 NHL Draft, which kicked off the salary cap era and ushered in many of the current NHL superstars. The question we’re looking to answer is knowing now what we didn’t know then, how different would this draft look now with the benefit of hindsight?
Here are the results of our redraft so far:
1st Overall: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
2nd Overall: Carey Price (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
3rd Overall: Anze Kopitar (Carolina Hurricanes)
4th Overall: Jonathan Quick (Minnesota Wild)
5th Overall: Kris Letang (Montreal Canadiens)
6th Overall: Tuukka Rask (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Bobby Ryan (Chicago Blackhawks)
8th Overall: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (San Jose Sharks)
9th Overall: Ben Bishop (Ottawa Senators)
10th Overall: James Neal (Vancouver Canucks)
11th Overall: T.J. Oshie (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Keith Yandle (New York Rangers)
Now we move forward to the 13th pick, which was held by the Buffalo Sabres.
To recap how this works:
- We will go through the 2005 NHL Draft and have our readers select, through a voting process, who they think should have been taken with the selection.
- The entire first round will be redrafted, spanning picks one through thirty. The new selection is chosen by the majority of votes.
Back in 2005, the Sabres selected forward Marek Zagrapan, a high scoring forward out of Chicoutimi of the QMJHL. Suffice it to say, this is a selection that didn’t pan out. After turning pro, he spent three seasons in Buffalo’s farm system, never getting past the AHL level. After that time, he departed back overseas and has not yet returned. He spent the last two seasons in Austria but has moved on to Slovakia for the 2016-17 season.
With the 13th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Buffalo Sabres select? Cast your vote below!
With the 13th overall pick, the Buffalo Sabres select...
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Paul Stastny 37% (257)
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Marc Staal 11% (79)
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Patric Hornqvist 11% (75)
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Niklas Hjalmarsson 11% (74)
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Anton Stralman 7% (50)
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Jack Johnson 6% (44)
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Matt Niskanen 4% (28)
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Justin Abdelkader 3% (21)
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Martin Hanzal 1% (10)
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Devin Setoguchi 1% (8)
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Benoit Pouliot 1% (7)
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Andrew Cogliano 1% (7)
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Vladimir Sobotka 1% (6)
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Sergei Kostitsyn 1% (6)
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Kris Russell 1% (5)
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Cody Franson 1% (4)
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Steve Downie 0% (3)
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Nathan Gerbe 0% (3)
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Gilbert Brule 0% (1)
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Jack Skille 0% (1)
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Jakub Kindl 0% (1)
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Ondrej Pavelec 0% (1)
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Mason Raymond 0% (1)
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Jared Boll 0% (1)
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Darren Helm 0% (0)
Total votes: 693
Mobile users, click here to vote.
Evander Kane To Miss “Weeks”
Buffalo Sabres winger Evander Kane will miss “weeks” with three cracked ribs, according to coach Dan Bylsma (via Pierre LeBrun).
Kane slammed into the boards after losing his footing in a foot race with Alexei Emelin. There was no penalty on the play. Kane was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
Kane is the second Sabres forward to sustain a serious injury in the last three days, after Jack Eichel suffered a high ankle sprain in practice on Wednesday morning. On the bright side, new winger Kyle Okposo will return to the lineup on Sunday night in Edmonton, according to Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News.
Snapshots: Injury Updates, Andrighetto, Tkachuk, Gerbe
The Buffalo Sabres have had a tough couple days, with Jack Eichel, Kyle Okposo, and Dmitry Kulikov missing the team’s home opener versus the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens beat them soundly 4-1 and Evander Kane left the game with what’s believed to be a rib injury. While Eichel is out long-term with a high ankle sprain, there is some good news for Sabres fans as Okposo and Kulikov both skated this morning with the team. The Sabres have not called up anyone from the AHL yet, as they don’t play until Sunday. They’ll let their farm team open the season with a full roster before plucking some players.
Down in Tampa Bay, rugged right winger Ryan Callahan is taking part in Lightning practice. Callahan has yet to play this season after hip surgery in June. We reported on Thursday that Callahan is expected to return by early November. Callahan was wearing a full-contact jersey, so he appears to be on track to do so.
- In anticipation of Jeff Petry returning the lineup, the Montreal Canadiens have placed Swiss forward Sven Andrighetto on waivers for the purpose of assigning him to the AHL, according to Elliotte Friedman. The former third round pick had 17 points in 44 NHL games last season, and has posted 110 points in 150 AHL games.
- Calgary Flames first round pick Matthew Tkachuk had an interesting first game in the NHL. He was held pointless, took a penalty, and earned a -1 rating, but appeared to get under the skin of the Edmonton Oilers. He slew-footed Oilers defenseman Brandon Davidson, injuring him “for a while”. Sportsnet’s Mark Spector tweeted that he would be surprised if one of the Flames veteran leaders like captain Mark Giordano or Matt Stajan didn’t talk to Tkachuk about the slew-foot.
- After terminating his contract with the New York Rangers, dimunitive forward Nathan Gerbe has signed a three-year contract with Genève-Servette HC in the Swiss League. Gerbe had previously signed a contract with Genève-Servette in June before dissolving the contract to sign with the Rangers on July 1st.
Evander Kane Injured, Taken To Hospital
A bad night gets even worse for the Buffalo Sabres, who as of this writing are losing 4 – 1 to Montreal in both teams’ season-openers. LW Evander Kane was injured tonight while chasing a loose puck into the corner, tweets John Vogl of the Buffalo News. Kane was chasing a puck into the corner along with Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin when the Sabres winger lost his footing and crashed heavily into the end boards.
The Sabres announced via Twitter that Kane had been taken to the hospital “for further evaluation and precautionary measures.”
Vogel reminds us that Kane recently underwent surgery on his left shoulder, implying tonight’s injury might be related to that earlier procedure.
More to come.
Snapshots: Sabres, Oilers, Kings
News and notes from around the NHL this evening:
- The Buffalo Sabres inked GM Tim Murray to a multi-year contract extension today. The Sabres hired Murray in January 2014 to replace Darcy Regier. In his first full season, Murray orchestrated a 27-point jump in the standings. The team is building through drafting and with smart acquisitions, a hallmark of the burgeoning Murray era. So far in his short tenure Murray has acquired Dmitry Kulikov, Ryan O’Reilly, Robin Lehner, Evander Kane, and Zach Bogosian.
- The Edmonton Oilers have placed defenseman Brandon Davidson on Injured Reserve today after suffering an apparent upper body injury last night against the Calgary Flames. Davidson was tangled up with Flames’ forward Matthew Tkachuk and fell backwards onto the ice. In response to the injury, the Oilers have called up defenseman Eric Gryba. Davidson played 51 games for the Oilers last season, scoring 4G and 7A. The defenseman is no stranger to injury— he overcame testicular cancer during his first year of professional hockey.
- The Los Angeles Kings have called up goaltender Peter Budaj in the wake of Jonathan Quick‘s injury, reports LA Kings insider Jon Rosen. Budaj led the AHL in wins as well as GAA and SV% among goalies who played more than 25 games. The Kings are fortunate that Budaj was not claimed off of waivers last week when they sent the Slovak goalie back to the AHL. While calling up an AHL goalie is automatic when a starter is out with an injury, Budaj’s veteran presence could mean that current starter Jeff Zatkoff is on a short leash.
Atlantic Notes: Ristolainen, Callahan, Zetterberg, Huberdeau
Despite defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen being signed for the next six years, the team doesn’t anticipate increasing his workload this season, writes John Vogl of the Buffalo News. If anything, the team may be trying to scale back his ice time slightly.
In 2015-16, Ristolainen saw a significant jump in his playing time, going from an average of 20:37 in his sophomore campaign to 25:17 per night last season. That ranked him tenth in the league in average ice time and after factoring in that he played in every game, his total ice time on the season slotted fifth overall.
Head coach Dan Bylsma is looking for more balance in his blueline pairings, something that should be aided with the addition of Dmitry Kulikov back at the draft in June. The 25 year old has logged over 20 minutes per night in each of the last five seasons which will be useful if Bylsma wants to keep the ice time of pairings relatively close.
Buffalo’s back end is relatively healthy heading into tonight’s season opener against Montreal although Kulikov isn’t expected to play. The same can’t be said for their forwards as they will be without Jack Eichel who injured his ankle on Wednesday and will miss at least a month. Newcomer Kyle Okposo (bruised knee) also won’t play while Ryan O’Reilly (back) is questionable to suit up although he did participate in the morning skate.
Other Atlantic news and notes:
- Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper is hopeful that Ryan Callahan should be able to return to the lineup by the beginning of November, notes Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times. Callahan underwent hip surgery back in June and was expected to be out until mid-late November. The 31 year old had 28 points in 73 games last season, the lowest full season output of his career but was slowed in the back half last year because of the hip problems.
- Despite knee problems creeping up and tiring as the season went on last year, Detroit left winger Henrik Zetterberg still expects to play out the remaining five years of his contract, reports Gregg Krupa of the Detroit News. Zetterberg played in all 82 games last year for the first time in four seasons but is only two years removed from missing nearly half the season with injury concerns. The 36 year old will carry a cap hit of just under $6.1MM through the 2020-21 season and if he were to retire early, the team would be subject to salary cap recapture due to the significant decrease in his salary in the final three years of the deal.
- Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau has undergone surgery to repair an Achilles tendon, George Richards of the Miami Herald notes (Twitter link). There is no change to the expected timetable for his return which should be in the next three to four months.
- The Red Wings returned goaltender Eddie Pasquale to Grand Rapids of the AHL, the team announced on their team Twitter page. Pasquale had cleared waivers and was originally sent down last Wednesday but had been recalled on Tuesday afternoon.
Jack Eichel Out 1-2 Months
While the Buffalo Sabres are still awaiting a more in-depth diagnosis for Jack Eichel, the early prognosis is that they young star will miss a minimum of four to six weeks with a high ankle sprain, according to TSN insider Bob McKenzie. As reported earlier, Eichel left practice this morning after suffering an injury, and the first impression was that it was a high ankle sprain. After a closer look, the injury was confirmed as such.
The diagnosis could be good or bad for the Sabres. A minor sprain is nothing compared to a break or Achilles injury, and Eichel could be back on the ice within a month. However, the same injury has been known to linger if it severe. Sidney Crosby missed over seven weeks with a high ankle sprain in 2008, and Eichel’s own teammate, goalie Robin Lehner, was out a full three months with a high ankle sprain last year.
Eichel’s injury is obviously a devastating blow for Buffalo, as big things were expected from the sophomore center, and multi-month injury and potentially lingering effects could derail his entire season. Youngsters Sam Reinhart, Zemgus Girgensons, and Johan Larsson will have to step up in his stead, and offensive leaders Ryan O’Reilly and the newly-acquired Kyle Okposo will have to carry the weight of the scoring until Eichel is back. The Sabres were never likely playoff-contenders this season, but any long-term absence for Eichel will surely shut the door on that possibility in 2016-17.
Eichel Leaves Practice With Leg Injury
Buffalo Sabres super-sophomore Jack Eichel left practice on Wednesday morning after appearing to injure his left leg.
Tom Martin of News 4 Buffalo tweeted a video of Eichel falling in front of the net after after minor contact with teammate Zemgus Girgensons. Eichel’s left leg got caught under his body as he fell backwards on it. Acccording to Joe Yerdon, Eichel’s ankle bent and rolled under him. He was heard screaming in pain before being helped off, unable to put any weight on his ankle.
Sabres coach Dan Bylsma confirmed after practice that it was an ankle injury, according to Ryan Dixon. Bylsma said there’s “not a lot to tell after that.”
Buffalo News John Vogl reported that the Sabres will wait for things to calm down before getting Eichel’s ankle evaluated.
Eichel’s teammates say they’re concerned, but hope the injury isn’t serious. It’s not clear if he’ll be available for the Sabres home opener on Thursday night when the Carey Price-less Montreal Canadiens. The Sabres are already without free agent signing Kyle Okposo, who has a knee injury.
More to come.
Sabres Agree To Terms With Ristolainen
Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray has confirmed earlier reports that the team has signed Rasmus Ristolainen to a new contract, as John Vogl of The Buffalo News tweets. Terms of the new arrangement are unknown at this point.
Ristolainen developed into the team’s top blue liner in 2015-16, scoring nine goals with 32 helpers. The three-year veteran has tallied 19 goals and 65 points in 194 games during his career.
Bob McKenzie adds that the deal is for six years and worth an average of $5.4MM annually. He notes the contract is identical to the one recently agreed to between fellow right-handed defenseman Seth Jones and Columbus.
The signing leaves the Sabres with just a shade less than $2MM of cap space with 23 players under contract – 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies – as Cap Friendly notes.
With Ristolainen under contract, only three prominent RFAs remain unsigned: Hampus Lindholm, Rickard Rakell and Jacob Trouba. Mckenzie speculates that the Ristolainen contract represents the absolute floor for Lindholm. It will be interesting to see whether this agreement helps push the negotiations between Lindholm and the Ducks any closer to a resolution.