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One Trade The Islanders Would Like To Have Back

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While we await the return of the NHL, it’s a great time to look back at some of the influential transactions in NHL history. Yesterday we looked at the Capitals ill-fated midseason acquisition of winger Martin Erat. The deal cost them Filip Forsberg, who has developed the way Nashville hoped he would, while Erat provided little value at all during his short stay in Washington. But if we’re going to look at trades that helped shape our current era of NHL hockey – for better or worse – we should start at the top (or the bottom).

For trades worth second-guessing, there are very few as satisfying as the deal made between the Islanders and Senators way back in 2001. The deal sent Zdeno Chara to Ottawa along with Bill Muckalt and a 1st-round pick in exchange for Alexei Yashin. It’s frankly amazing that a deal from 2001 would include players still contributing in the NHL today, some nineteen years later, but that speaks to the impact of this transaction.

To find where the Islanders went wrong, there’s no better place to start than with Chara. Lots must go right for a player to reach his full potential, but that’s exactly what happened after Chara went to Ottawa. The deal came after Chara spent parts of four seasons in Long Island, and the then-23-year-old hadn’t really taken off. He was coming off a season in which he played in 82 games, but managed only 9 points and a plus/minus of -27. The Islanders weren’t a playoff team, finishing the 2000-2001 season in fifth place with 52 points.

Of course, things went much better for Chara from that point forth, as the hulking blueliner earned six Norris nominations (one win), seven All-Star honors, and he won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011. He’s also the NHL’s active leader in Plus/Minus (288) and Defensive Win Shares (99). The Senators only got four seasons from Chara, but they were among the best regular-season teams in the NHL during those years, making the playoffs each of those four seasons, and even managed to beat the Islanders in the first round of the 2002-2003 playoffs.

To make matters worse, Chara wasn’t the only piece the Islanders sent out on that ill-fated day in 2001. Bill Muckalt also went north in that deal, though the right-winger is at least one piece Islanders’ fans don’t have to lose sleep over. He played just one season in Ottawa, and he would be out of the league not two years later.

There’s one final piece. The Islanders sent the 2nd overall selection in the draft to the Senators, a pick that turned into center Jason Spezza. Spezza starred in the middle for eleven years in Ottawa, making two All-Star teams as one of the game’s stellar goal creators. He’s 91st all-time in the NHL now in Adjusted Points (1015) and 92nd all-time in Assists (599). At age-37, he’s a veteran presence on a Toronto Maple Leafs team that will look to enter the playoff field with a win against Columbus whenever play resumes.

Considering the Senators nabbed two all-timers from New York, this has to qualify as a pretty good deal for them. But there’s a give-and-take to every good deal right? Perhaps not so much. The Senators sent Alexei Yashin to the Islanders. Yashin was a fine player, just a year removed from a second-place finish for the Hart Trophy, but they gave up a lot to get him. To make matters worse, the Islanders doubled down and gave him a 10-year, $84MM contract less than three months after the trade, a contract that would have paid Yashin through his age-37 season. For examples of players remaining viable that deep into their careers, we need not look any further than Chara and Spezza. Unfortunately, the Islanders bet on the wrong horse. Yashin wouldn’t come close to recouping the value the Islanders poured into him. They bought him out after the sixth year.

Reactions To Sabres’ Front Office Changes

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If there was any doubt as to why Jason Botterill lost his job as GM of the Buffalo Sabres, Terry and Kim Pegula have more-or-less cleared it up. The Sabres owners felt their voices weren’t being given proper weight by the former administration, thus prompting yesterday’s changes, per The Athletic’s John Vogl. Presumably, the reason the Pegulas decided to stay in-house with their next GM was because they believe that, in Kevyn Adams, they have found someone who will act on their input. What exactly that means, of course, is unclear. With half the scouting department and both assistant GMs jettisoned along with Botterill, it should be much easier for the Pegulas to have their voices heard. By the time they’re done making personnel decisions, they may be the only ones left in the room with Adams. Let’s check in on some other reactions to Botterill’s firing…

  • The front office moves made by the Sabres yesterday were clearly made with the goal of having a leaner management team to lead the organization through the pandemic crisis, per Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. Neither assistant GM is likely to be replaced, and the Pegulas aren’t interested in hiring a team president either. The Pegulas are moving forward with the gameplan of “Effective, Efficient and Economic.” While the alliteration certainly works for a slogan, there’s a one-track quality to the Pegulas new motto that seems fixated on finances (which, if nothing else, is properly alliterative). That’s reasonable for a business owner, to a point, though it’s also fair to wonder in this circumstance if the kind of penny-pinching that’s in store for the Sabres will be detrimental to their rebuilding efforts. Of course, according to Kim Pegula, the Sabres aren’t rebuilding. Among the other things the Sabres aren’t doing: winning plaudits from the hockey media and winning games on the ice. What exactly they are doing, only the Pegulas seem to know.
  • The thinking from many around the NHL is that it takes approximately five years to see whether a GM’s team-building strategy is working, per The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun. By that standard, the Pegulas keep turning off their movie little more than halfway through. Previous GMs Tim Murray and Jason Botterill each got three years at the helm, enough time to make progress, for sure, but perhaps not enough time to see a championship program actualized. New GM Kevyn Adams has been with the organization for nine years, so that should help him get a head start, but the program wasn’t his until yesterday – the clock starts now. How much time he’ll get to build a winner in Buffalo remains to be seen, but if history is to provide us with clues, he better act fast.

Snapshots: Face Shields, Seattle Expansion, Toronto’s Hub Pitch

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Some people around the NHL are exploring protections for players and other essential personnel for when play resumes. The focus of negotiations between the league and the NHLPA have largely focused on safety precautions and testing procedures for COVID-19, but those at Bauer, a hockey equipment manufacturer, is in talks with the league about an off-ice, lightweight visor that could help protect players and coaches, per Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. A full face-shield for spectators will be met with some skepticism – as these types of changes often are – but Bauer vice president of global marketing Mary-Kay Messier is convinced that their new “integrated cap shield” could be benefit those near the ice. Said Messier, “There’s quite a lot of yelling from coaches. So when you think about and you talk about that yelling or loud talking that you are at greater risk for the droplets, I would say it is a very viable option at a lot of different levels.” 

  • The NHL’s next expansion team is set for Seattle, but they’re not rushing to reveal details like the team name – at least not yet, writes Sean Leahy of NBC Sports. Leahy provides a quote from Seattle hockey CEO Tod Leiweke, who said, “It’s not the right time. Vegas did it a year out. We’ve got ample time, and the thing this organization will never be is tone deaf. So we’ve got to pick the right time, and we’ve got to make sure all of our ducks are in a row.” Other benchmarks remain more-or-less on track, including the construction on the KeyArena. There may be a small delay, but nothing that will impact the ultimate timeline of bringing the NHL to Seattle. 
  • There are many practical concerns for resuming play in any of the potential hub cities, though Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave some hope to those host cities by supporting the idea of the NHL returning to play and allowing for provinces to make some decisions about best practices. Logistics and health concerns aside, The Star’s Kevin McGran makes the case for Toronto, citing the many restaurant and hotel options, as well as rink availability. Obviously, any potential hub city will have to provide many options on all three counts. McGran also notes that more NHL players hail from the greater Toronto area than anywhere else, which could help ease player concerns about being away from their families. Another boon to Toronto’s chances is the presence of Sportsnet, a national TV rightsholder.

One Trade The Capitals Would Like To Have Back

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While we await the return of the NHL, let’s take this opportunity to look back at some of the influential transactions in NHL history. For no particular reason, let’s jump to the trade deadline of the lockout-shortened 2012-2013 season.

On the date in question (April 3, 2013), the Washington Capitals were two points out of a playoff spot, looking to boost their chances of returning to the postseason for the sixth consecutive season. The Caps had been banged up to start the year, but at the deadline, they were on the rise and rounding into form. To get that little bit of extra oomph, the Caps traded top prospect Filip Forsberg to Nashville for LW Martin Erat and prospect Michael Latta.

The deal made a certain amount of sense at the time, as the Caps were trying to get over the hump and capture their first Stanley Cup. Led by all-world 27-year-old winger Alex Ovechkin, the pieces to make a run were in place, even if they hadn’t lived up to those lofty expectations as of yet. Forsberg, the 11th overall selection of the draft in the year prior, had a bright future, but he wasn’t anticipated to add value to the Caps for some time. Erat led the Predators with 21 points and 17 assists at the time of the deal.

Caps General Manager at the time George McPhee said this of the deal (from Katie Carrera of the Washington Post): “You’re here to win. We’ve been in that mode for a while. This is six years of trying to win a Cup. We had our rebuild phase, we sort of rebuilt things on the fly here, but we’d like to continue to make the playoffs while we’re doing it.”

Sure enough, adding a top-six winger like Erat to a line with Matthieu Perreault and Joel Ward could very well have made the difference for Washington. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but Erat did not end up making the difference. He manages just two goals in 62 games with the Caps before requesting a trade the following season, which the Caps granted. They did manage to get back to the playoffs in 2012-2013, but they were bounced by the Rangers in the first round.

Latta lasted with the Caps for longer, though he never made much of an impact on the ice. He scored four total goals for Washington in parts of three seasons from 2013 to 2016.

As for the Predators, they are happy with their end of this deal. So much so that five years later, they took a victory lap with a gloat tweet.

Forsberg has made good on his prospect status in developing into a capable top-liner for Nashville. Still just 25-years-old, he’s averaged 0.36 goals per game and 0.41 assists per game over his NHL career. He’s a big piece of the Predators success over the years, and a player the Caps would certainly love to have back.

Sabres Move Quickly, Stay In-House For Next GM

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News broke this morning that Buffalo Sabres ownership had changed course and decided to fire GM Jason Botterill less than a month after confirming him in his role. The Sabres have been relatively trigger happy in the past with leadership roles, evidenced by the fact that Botterill’s predecessor Tim Murray is still on the books until the end of this month, per The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.

At least for the next couple of weeks, the Sabres will be bankrolling three different GMs – but the one that matters most now is the new guy: Kevyn Adams. Botterill’s replacement isn’t actually all that new, as he is the Sabres’ current Senior Vice President of Business Administration. Adams originally came to the organization in 2009 as a player development coach before joining the bench an assistant coach from 2011 to 2013, writes NHL.com’s Jourdon LaBarber. Adams is a former player who lasted 11 seasons in the NHL with Toronto, Chicago, Columbus, Florida, Carolina and Phoenix. He won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2005-2006.

On the promotion of Kevyn Adams to GM, ownership said this: “New General Manager Kevyn Adams and Head Coach Ralph Krueger already have a close working relationship and we are excited to see what they can do together as we reconfigure our hockey operations…We have had the pleasure of watching Kevyn build his post-playing career over the past nine years under multiple roles throughout our organizations. We are confident Kevyn and Ralph will work together to build a consistent contender. As always, we are here to provide the necessary resources…”

It’s a little surprising to see a replacement named so quickly, especially given that the Sabres don’t expect to take the ice again for quite some time. One would think that now would be the perfect time for an exhaustive search for the perfect candidate. If nothing else, the Sabres could have used this opportunity to gain insight into rival organizations through the interview process, as is common practice with this type of hire. Evidently, Sabres’ ownership felt they had the right candidate in-house already.

Adams will presumably be expected to hop-to and show ownership notable improvement. In his favor, the team is already on an upward trajectory, and Adams should have plenty of time to get his house in order prior to the draft and offseason. If the Sabres miss the playoffs next year, they’ll have tied the longest playoff drought in league history.

Snapshots: The Return Of Sports, AHL, Ducks

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Commissioner Gary Bettman will appear with 5 other sports commissioners on tonight’s ESPN special The Return Of Sports, the NHL announced. Also appearing on tonight’s program will be Roger Goodell of the NFL, Adam Silver of the NBA, Rob Manfred of MLB, Cathy Engelbert of the WNBA and Don Garber of MLS. The show should provide a hefty amount of equivocation, but there’s at least the possibility of some interesting insights mixed in, especially as the WNBA has released their return to play and MLB continues the public squabble that stands in the way of their 2020 season.

  • The American Hockey League released their own Return to Play task force today. Leading the charge will be outgoing AHL President and CEO David Andrews. He’ll serve as Chairman of the AHL 2020-221 Strategic Return to Play Task Force. A number of NHL general manages are also serving on the committee. The role of the committee, per the AHL, will be to provide strategic expertise and planning, rather than the execution of the AHL’s return to action.
  • The Anaheim Ducks will not furlough or release any employees at this time, which includes staff at the Honda Center, per Elliott Teaford of the OC Register/Southern California News Group. Those making $75K or more may face a pay cut, but it’s still encouraging to see a team do their best to keep staff employed. The Ducks had previously announced that part-time staff will be paid through the end of the month, but there’s nothing new on that front. The Ducks are done for the year after finishing in 13th in the Western Conference with 67 points. With the playoffs not yet underway, it’s impossible to know when the Ducks will hit the ice next. It’s hard to know right now exactly how next season’s schedule might be impacted by this year’s delay.

 

Jets Sign Kristian Reichel To Two-Year Deal

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The Winnipeg Jets have signed Kristian Reichel to a two-year, entry-level contract that will start next season, per CapFriendly (via Twitter). The deal will pay out a base contract of $700K in the first season and $775K in the second year. The Jets have announced the deal as well.

The 22-year-old Czech native comes to Winnipeg as an undrafted free agent after two seasons with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. Reichel registered 17 points this past season (including 12 goals) in just 39 games, a marked bump after notching 10 points in 55 games the year prior. The Moose list Reichel as a right-winger, though as a draft prospect he was listed at center, and indications are that Jets view him in that light as well.

Reichel’s best season as a professional came arguably the year before he joined the Moose. While with the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL, Reichel put up 57 points across 63 games. While that showing didn’t get him drafted to an NHL team, the son of former NHL player Robert Reichel will look to get his first taste of NHL action with the Jets next season.

Snapshots: Resuming Play, Viewing Experience, Blackhawks

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The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association has thus far avoided much of the public acrimony that’s developed between other leagues and their players (namely, the MLB, but to a lesser extent, the NBA as well). But the largest hurdle is yet to come, per ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski. There is, of course, the final decision on the two hub cities, which will be put to a vote once the league makes their decision. But the conditions within those hubs are likely to be the biggest barrier to resuming play. Namely, players aren’t wild about being sequestered away from their families, reports Kaplan and Wyshynski. A major factor going into the selection of the hub cities is the extent of accommodations and dining options available, but those issues have largely been framed as a means to maintain player morale – not necessarily to accommodate families. Needless to say, these are not minor issues, and the players will surely have much to say on the issue when it comes time for the Phase 3 and Phase 4 votes. More from around the league on returning to action…

  • In other parts of the hockey-verse, discussions are underway to alter the viewing experience of the NHL as we know it should play resume without fans, per The Athletic’s Sean Fitz-Gerald. Obviously, without fans present, the ambiance of playoff hockey is going to be much, much different. That said, interested parties are working on ways to make it work. Some ideas being kicked around are putting microphones on the players or lighting the ice to make it appear spotlit (blacking out the seats as much as possible). Of course, these are largely cosmetic issues for TV networks to work on while the logistics of returning to play are still being litigated. Regardless, expect at least a new wrinkle or two to your NHL broadcast if/when NHL players are back on the ice.
  • For their part, the Blackhawks are looking inward as they prepare for a potential play-in series against the Oilers, per Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Chicago Sports. With coaches not allowed on the ice with players until the training camp portion of the reboot begins, players are focusing on their own conditioning and timing. That’s likely the plan moving forward, at least for the Blackhawks and coach Jeremy Colliton, who said, “For now, the focus has been our own players and their development and how can we improve within ourselves watching video of our own game. That’s how training camp will be, too. But as we get closer to that series, we’ll dig deeper and make sure we’ve covered all the bases.”

Sabres Sign Oskari Laaksonen To Three-Year, Entry-Level Deal

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The Buffalo Sabres announced the signing of defenseman Oskari Laaksonen to a three-year contract, per the team. Laaksonen joins Buffalo on an entry-level contract after the team made him a third-round pick in the 2017 draft.

Since being drafted 89th overall by the Sabres, Laaksonen, 20, has spent the past three seasons with Ilves of the Finnish Elite League. Laaksonen recorded 12 points for the Ilves over 46 games this past season. He also won a gold medal with Team Finland at the 2019 World Junior Championship while skating alongside another Sabres’ youngster, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. 

Laaksonen’s stock jumped shortly after the draft, and the young puck-mover has continued to impress during his time in his native Finland. He had signed a two-year deal with the Ilves, putting doubt into whether he’d be ready to make the jump to the NHL. But evidently, he’s ready.

The deal comes on the heels of the Sabres learning that they’d lost defenseman Lawrence Pilut to the KHL. Pilut, 24, looked like a potential building block for the Sabres, who instead now transition the future of their defence to Laaksonen. Included in the press release announcing the signing was a comment from Sabres’ GM Jason Botterill, who said, “The work Oskari has put in to improve his game has paid off during his last two seasons. His success on the international stage and what he’s done as a 19- and 20-year-old playing in a professional league is impressive.”

The Sabres finished the year in sixth place of the Atlantic Division, on the outside looking in for the upcoming 24-team playoff. Buffalo hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2010-2011 season, the second of back-to-back losses in the quarterfinals to the Flyers and Bruins, respectively.

Roman Polak May Not Return To Stars, Signs With HC Vitkovice

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The rest of the 2019-2020 NHL season remains in limbo – at least for the time being – but that hasn’t stopped Roman Polak of the Dallas Stars from planning his future. Polak has agreed to a contract with HC Vitkovice of the Czech league, per the team’s website. The deal with his hometown team does not technically begin until next season. The agreement exists in principle only until his contract with the Dallas Stars runs out at the end of the season.

Theoretically, Polak would be available for a playoff run with the Stars, though the blueliner doesn’t appear all that motivated to finish out the season under the current circumstances. If Polak does return for the remainder of the NHL season, it would likely require significant pressure from the Stars. Given his druthers, Polak pretty plainly prefers to move along to the next phase of his hockey career.

The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro shares a quote from Polak, originally captured by sport.c.z, where Polak said, “I am already determined to stay at home … If I really had to finish the NHL, I would go. But I will do everything to make it unnecessary. I will definitely be here next season.”  

The soundbites from Polak paint a picture of someone steering clear of the remaining 2019-2020 season. Polak was set to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, so the 34-year-old is in a position to control his own destiny. How hard the Stars push Polak to return remains to be seen, but there’s a good chance Polak has played his last game in the NHL. The bruising defenseman appeared in 41 games this season for the Stars – his second in Dallas – recording four assists without scoring a goal in 16:40 ATOI. He missed roughly six weeks early in the season after fracturing his sternum while attempting a hit against the Bruins in early October.

From an aerial view, Polak’s decision to make a move for the future of his hockey life is certainly interesting in the context of the coronavirus shutdown. There’s a possibility that he’s not going to be the only player that prefers not to return for the 24-team playoff.

As for the Stars, they’re in a good position to withstand the potential loss of Polak. As one of the top four teams in the Western Conference, the Stars will ease back into play via a round-robin with the Blues, Avalance, and Golden Knights to determine the seeding for the top four spots heading into the postseason. Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas News provides comment from Stars GM Jim Nill, who said, “We can’t make someone come back under their wishes. If anyone wants to stay home, that is their decision.”

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