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East Notes: Gordon, Chabot, Sabres

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Flyers head coach Scott Gordon told reporters, including Sam Donnellon of the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer that he has yet to hear anything about whether or not the team is interested in removing the interim tag for next season and beyond.  While Philadelphia is likely to come up short of making the postseason, they have performed quite well since relieving Dave Hakstol of his duties, compiling a 25-17-4 record under Gordon’s tutelage.  While there are some notable veteran bench bosses that will likely be looking to get back behind a bench this summer, how the 56-year-old has fared with the Flyers could help generate some interest from other teams if GM Chuck Fletcher opts to go in a different direction.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot is still dealing with multiple injuries, notes Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. He still hasn’t fully recovered from the shoulder issue he had three months ago while his broken toe still isn’t back to 100% either.  With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising if Ottawa decided to give him a rest down the stretch or at least try to scale back his ice time.  It’s expected that he will get an invite for the upcoming World Championships but Chabot indicated that he’ll need to be fully recovered before agreeing to go.
  • The Sabres could have center Evan Rodrigues and defenseman Jake McCabe back in the lineup on Saturday, notes Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald (Twitter link). McCabe was effectively ruled out for the season earlier this month when it was announced that he’d miss five-to-six weeks with an upper-body injury but he’s clearly ahead of schedule as it has barely been three weeks since then.  As for Rodrigues, he missed Thursday’s game with an upper-body issue of his own.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Buffalo Sabres

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads past the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. Let’s take a look at what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Buffalo Sabres. 

What are the Sabres most thankful for?

Can Sabres’ fans be any more thankful for the fact that the team, the same team that finished last in the standings one season ago, is currently in first place in the entire NHL with 34 points. That may be short lived as several teams just beneath them play before the Sabres go for their 10th straight win on Tuesday, but few could have predicted the success for second-year general manager Jason Botterill and head coach Phil Housley this season.

The Sabres shook up their entire roster from a year ago and made critical additions at every level, which included adding Jeff Skinner to their top line on offense, adding a number of solid players to their depth chart including Vladimir Sobotka, Patrik Berglund, Casey Mittelstadt, Conor Sheary and Tage Thompson, while adding 2018 first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin (who has been as good as advertised) on defense. That doesn’t include the team’s success in goal. Those moves have stabilized the team’s defense as they ranked sixth in the league in goals against this year as well as having one of the best penalty killing units in the league as well.

Who are the Sabres most thankful for?

While it would make sense to put Skinner and his 18 goals in this spot, we can save him for later. The tandem that has really impressed this year has been the play of the Sabres goaltenders Carter Hutton and Linus Ullmark. The team, which struggled a year ago with Robin Lehner and Chad Johnson has thrived this year. Much of that could be the improvement of the team’s defense, but at the same time both goalies have been better than anyone had expected.

While Hutton was the top goaltender on the market this offseason, most people felt that Hutton was not capable of being a No. 1 goaltender, often comparing him to Carolina’s Scott Darling. However, Hutton has been better than advertised, already netting 11 wins and posting a solid 2.53 GAA and a .919 save percentage in 18 appearances. The untested Ullmark also has looked good, although the team has been careful to not overwhelm the 25-year-old. However in five appearances, he’s also posted a 2.52 GAA and an even more impressive .926 save percentage.

What would the Sabres be even more thankful for?

More production from their youth. The team is very young and is loaded with talent at the AHL level as well. And while players like Dahlin have been impressive, the team could take another step in the right direction if they can develop some of their young core even quicker. Dahlin has played well sharing No. 1 defenseman duties with Rasmus Ristolainen, but he’s capable of even more. The team has gotten just four goals from Mittelstadt and would like to see him develop into a consistent presence in the top six at some point.

Others like Thompson, who has suddenly starting showing off some offense with three goals in his last four games, as well as Evan Rodrigues need to continue to develop as well to allow the team to reach peak efficiency both now and in the future. The team is also loaded with a number of prospects including defensemen Lawrence Pilut and Brendan Guhle, while they have several potential options at forward as well in C.J. Smith, Daniel O’Regan and Alexander Nylander waiting for an opportunity.

What should be on the Sabres’ Holiday Wish List?

The team has made it clear they intend to work on an extension with Skinner next month, but the team really needs to make sure it can lock down the 26-year-old who leads the team in scoring this year and is only six goals away from beating his 24 goals from last season with Carolina. Skinner’s deal will be the main contract the team must deal with this offseason as the team has just three unrestricted free agents (Jason Pominville and Matt Moulson being the others). Skinner’s pairing with Jack Eichel has produced a powerful top line in the NHL and should only get better as the two continue to get comfortable with each other.

With the expiring contracts of Moulson and Pominville, although the team may want to attempt to retain the latter, there should be plenty of money to lock up Skinner now, so they won’t have to worry about him losing him this summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Sabres Re-Sign RFA Forward Danny O’Regan

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The Buffalo Sabres continue to work through a substantial list of restricted free agents. While it was reported yesterday that they had agreed to terms with forward Nicholas Baptiste, the team this morning both confirmed that deal and announced the signing of fellow RFA forward Danny O’Regan. With the deadline for accepting a qualifying offer arriving later today, O’Regan accepted his offer of $874,125 at the NHL level and $70K at the AHL level.

O’Regan was acquired by the Sabres at the NHL Trade Deadline in the deal that sent Evander Kane to the San Jose Sharks. The 2012 fifth-round pick had recorded four assists through 19 games with Sharks prior to the deal and saw action in two contests with Buffalo down the stretch, but was held scoreless. While his NHL offensive efforts to date – five points in 22 games – are underwhelming, O’Regan has not yet been put in a position to succeed, seeing limited ice time in an energy role. That could change in Buffalo, where he joins former Boston University teammates Jack Eichel and Evan Rodrigues up front for the Sabres. O’Regan displayed strong offensive instincts and scoring ability at BU and in his only full season at the AHL level, scoring at a point-per-game pace over the three campaigns. If given proper opportunity up in Buffalo, O’Regan could prove to be an exciting addition.

With O’Regan and Baptiste officially in the books, that still leaves Justin Bailey, C.J. Smith, and most importantly Sam Reinhart as remaining restricted free agents for GM Jason Botterill and the Sabres to sort out. Perhaps before the deadline today, new deals can be hammered out with Bailey and Smith – both of whom could be bound for the AHL for much of next season – but work on Reinhart’s extension is slow and steady.

Buffalo Signs Brandon Hickey To Entry-Level Contract

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After acquiring defenseman Brandon Hickey from the Arizona Coyotes last month, the Sabres had until August to sign the Boston University product before he became an unrestricted free agent. Per The Athletic’s John Vogl, Buffalo has gotten a deal done, signing Hickey to a two-year entry-level contract.

The 22-year-old blueliner could have been an unrestricted free agent if he waited until Aug. 1. With the belief that they couldn’t sign him, Arizona sent him along with Mike Sislo to Buffalo for winger Hudson Fasching. Buffalo felt they could ink the four-year college veteran and now they have.

Hickey put up solid numbers at BU as he tallied six goals and 14 points this past season. At 6-foot-2, he provides Buffalo with some size and while he’s a better defensive player, is considered to have the skills to develop into a solid two-way player. He has already played with several Sabres’ players while at Boston University, including Jack Eichel, Evan Rodrigues and Daniel O’Regan.

Hickey likely will start the season with the AHL Rochester Americans and along with some of their other defensive prospects like Lawrence Pilut, Taylor Fedun, Zach Redmond and Matt Tennyson, the team should have quite a few talented pieces in their system.

Minor Transactions: 3/4/18

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The NHL continues its busy schedule Sunday with seven games after an eight-game showcase on Saturday, including a rare outdoors game in which the Washington Capitals defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 in the Stadium Series at the U.S. Naval Academy. With so many games, teams will continue to make roster moves throughout the day, so check back to see what teams are doing.

  • The Arizona Coyotes announced they have recalled defenseman Andrew Campbell from the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL. The 30-year-old veteran has been recalled several times this year by the Coyotes as an emergency defenseman, but has not made it into a game this season. He has played 42 career NHL games and has two goals and four assists in 47 games for the Roadrunners. AZ Sports Craig Morgan writes that Campbell was recalled as defenseman Alex Goligoski is expected to miss Monday’s game as he and his wife are expecting the birth of their second child.
  • The Buffalo Sabres announced they have recalled forward Kyle Criscuolo and defenseman Brendan Guhle from the Rochester Americans of the AHL. Criscuolo, who signed a two-year, $1.3MM contract with the Sabres this offseason has put up solid numbers with Rochester as he’s put up 15 goals and 34 points in 50 AHL games. The 25-year-old out of Harvard University has appeared in eight games with Buffalo, but hasn’t gotten on the scoreboard yet. Guhle, the team’s second-round pick in 2015, is having a solid season in Rochester as well as he’s scored eight goals and 16 assists in 48 games. He has one assist in two NHL games he played in January. The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington showed surprise at the transaction as the team indicated that they were not going to make any recalls. As reported earlier, defenseman Marco Scandella looked ready to go in practice Sunday despite suffering an upper-body injury on Friday. Evan Rodrigues is still suffering from an upper-body injury he sustained Wednesday, but the team was using Benoit Pouliot at center out of position. No word if another injury has altered the team’s plans.

Minor Transactions: 12/04/17

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After an interesting weekend around the NHL, teams like the Winnipeg Jets are finding themselves in unfamiliar territory. The Canadian team is in first place in the Central Division, leapfrogging the St. Louis Blues and tying the Tampa Bay Lightning for the best record in the league. In the East, the Montreal Canadiens are flying up the Atlantic Division while the Pittsburgh Penguins are back to their winning ways.

As teams continue to push towards the Christmas break, we’ll keep an eye on all the minor transactions of the day.

  • The Buffalo Sabres have recalled Evan Rodrigues from Rochester, sending down Kyle Criscuolo in his place. Rodrigues was expected to make an impact at the NHL level this season, but missed the first part of the year with an injured hand. Suffering the injury in the preseason, he’s only been back in AHL game action for the last few weeks. With 10 points in eight games he’s ready to contribute to the Sabres once again.
  • Tampa Bay has sent defenseman Jamie McBain back to the AHL, after just a few days with the club. McBain was called up over the weekend to give the team some insurance after Braydon Coburn wasn’t able to dress, but never got into the lineup. The veteran has 11 points in 21 games for the Syracuse Crunch this season. (Update 7:45pm: McBain has been called back up by the team, as both Coburn and Jake Dotchin are still unable to return).
  • Dominic Toninato has been sent back to the San Antonio Rampage by the Colorado Avalanche, ending his short stint with the team. The 23-year old forward played eight games for the club and registered one point, but wasn’t effective enough to deserve regular minutes. The team has called up Rocco Grimaldi in his stead, though Colin Wilson is also set to return from injury.
  • Mark Stepneski of NHL.com reports that the Dallas Stars have assigned Jason Dickinson to the AHL, meaning the 22-year old will have to wait for another chance at his first goal this season. In four games Dickinson was held scoreless and will return to the minor leagues to continue his development. A first-round pick by the Stars a few years ago, he still has a bright future in the organization.

East Notes: Jarry, Rodrigues, Matthews, Milano

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The Penguins currently find themselves in a situation where top prospect Tristan Jarry is backing up in the NHL instead of playing a starting role in the minors.  Generally, teams would rather see a young and waiver-exempt netminder play as many games as possible in the AHL over making 15-20 appearances in the NHL.  Accordingly, it has been expected that GM Jim Rutherford would be on the lookout for more of a veteran backup that could push Jarry back to the minors.

However, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests that while Rutherford is keeping tabs on what’s out there, he’s not actively pursuing another goalie at the moment.  Jarry is off to a decent start with the Penguins this season so it’s not as if his performance is dictating that they need to make a move just yet.  As the weeks progress though, that could change if he’s only starting once every four or five games.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • The Sabres have assigned center Evan Rodrigues to Rochester of the AHL, per the AHL’s Transactions page. This means that he has been activated off season-opening injury reserve.  He suffered a hand injury early in the preseason against Toronto.  Although he has been sent down, there’s a decent change Rodrigues will factor into Buffalo’s plans before too long as he played in 30 games with them last season, averaging just shy of 13 minutes per game.
  • Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews will be a game-time decision for Saturday’s game in Montreal, notes Mark Zwolinski of the Toronto Star. Matthews has missed the last four games with a lower-body injury although he did participate in his second practice of the week earlier today.  Even if he is cleared to return, the 20-year-old acknowledged that his conditioning may not be back where it was right away before he suffered the injury.
  • Although the Blue Jackets are struggling offensively at the moment, it doesn’t appear like winger Sonny Milano is in line for more playing time just yet. Head coach John Tortorella told Steve Gorten of the Columbus Dispatch that Milano needs to play better in his own end before he can be trusted with more playing time even though he sits tied for second on the team in goals with five.

Snapshots: Lecavalier, Miller, Rodrigues

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The Tampa Bay Lightning will retire the second number in their franchise history this season, when they raise Vincent Lecavalier’s #4 to the rafters on February 10th. Lecavalier, who last played in 2015-16, is the franchise leader in goals and was once the NHL’s youngest ever captain (since broken by multiple players) when he was given the “C” at just 19.

In 1,037 games with the Lightning, the 1998 first-overall pick scored 874 points and led them to a Stanley Cup in 2004. Twice he was nominated for the Hart Trophy as league MVP, including 2006-07 when he led the league in goals with 52. A prototypical number-one center, Lecavalier played an exceptional all around game that combined speed, power and skill. He finished his career with 949 points in 1,212 games.

  • Despite spending time in the middle during the preseason, J.T. Miller will be back in his familiar wing position when the season starts, Alain Vigneault confirmed today to a group of reporters including Dan Rosen of NHL.com. Vigneault has been impressed with the play of 2017 first-round draft picks Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil, as well as former University of Michigan standout Boo Nieves. While it has been expected for a while that just one of the young players would make the roster with David Desharnais taking the other center role, there is a growing suspicion that both Andersson and Chytil could start the year with the Rangers. That would be quite the turnaround for a team that hadn’t even drafted in the first round for several years.
  • Buffalo Sabres forward Evan Rodrigues was injured this weekend in a preseason game against the Toronto Maple Leafs when Andreas Borgman crumpled him into the boards, and will be held out for the time being with a hand injury. Head coach Phil Housley was non-committal when asked if it would linger into the regular season, similar to the way he spoke about Jake McCabe’s upper-body injury. Both players were expected to be in the lineup for opening night, which now could open spots for some others to start the year in Buffalo instead of Rochester.

Buffalo Sabres Sign Evan Rodrigues

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The Buffalo Sabres have signed one of their three remaining restricted free agents, inking Evan Rodrigues to a two-year deal. He’ll earn $650K in each season, with the first year being a two-way contract. This leaves the Sabres with just Zemgus Girgensons and Nathan Beaulieu left to sign.

Rodrigues, 23, was signed out of Boston University after putting up a monster season alongside Jack Eichel scoring 61 points in 41 games. Amazingly, the Sabres would draft Eichel just a a few months later, though the pair haven’t taken the same path since then. Rodrigues has been mostly kept in the minor leagues, where he’s continued to produce with 60 points in 120 games, but could play a bigger role on the Sabres this season.

It’s not a guarantee that the scoring prowess continues at the next level though. In a 30-game taste with the NHL club last year, Rodrigues scored just six points even with relatively constant ice time though he spent most of that with Marcus Foligno and Brian Gionta, two players who aren’t really known for their offensive production at this point. It will be interesting to see if he ever gets a chance up the lineup, or if he’ll need to tweak his game and embrace a role as a bottom-six center.

Free Agent Focus: Buffalo Sabres

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The free agent period is now less than one month away from opening up and there are several prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  Here is a breakdown of Buffalo’s free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents:

F Marcus Foligno – At just 25 years old, Foligno will enter his seventh season with the Sabres organization in 2017-18. While his development has been slow, it’s also been steady, finishing each passing season with more points than the year before. Foligno isn’t the player who showed flashes of as a rookie in 2011-12, scoring 13 points in 14 games, but he’s carved out an important role in Buffalo as a reliable top-nine winger. 2016-17 marked a career-high 13 goals for Foligno, helped along by a team-best 13.4% shooting percentage, as well as his first 80+ game season. As always though, Foligno’s true value comes in his physical two-way game, where he had a career-best and team-leading 279 hits, career-high 57 blocked shots, which led all Buffalo forwards, and was a vital member of the penalty kill. Las year, the Sabres signed Foligno to just a one-year, $2.25MM contract, but after again proving his worth as a defensive forward and top-nine contributor, new Buffalo GM Jason Botterill should have no problem giving the homegrown product a multi-year deal worth $2.5-$3MM annually. Even with fellow priority RFA’s Zemgus Girgensons and Johan Larsson in need of raises, the Sabres have plenty of cap space and will give Foligno what he’s worth.

G Robin Lehner –  The Sabres have no interest in letting Lehner go, but this off-season they need to either commit to the 25-year-old as their surefire starter or establish that they feel he is just a timeshare goalie at this point. Just two years ago, Buffalo traded a first-round pick to acquire Lehner from the Ottawa Senators. In his first year with the Sabres, he was excellent, posting a .924 save percentage and 2.47 GAA… but in only 21 games. Injuries limited Lehner to only a brief showing in 2015-16, but this past season he was able to see action in 59 games and again played well with a .920 save percentage and 2.68 GAA. With Chad Johnson gone, many expected that Lehner would play more this past season though. However, trade acquisition Anders Nilsson routinely outplayed Lehner all season long. The margin between the two wasn’t wide, but enough so that Nilsson managed to make 26 appearances, including 23 starts. The team has nonetheless stated that Lehner is their guy, but actions speak louder than words. The value and more so the term of Lehner’s contract this summer, as well as their negotiations with Nilsson, will speak volumes about their commitment to their supposed #1.

Other RFAs: F Zemgus Girgensons, F Johan Larsson, F Justin Kea, F Jean Dupuy, F Evan Rodrigues, D Brady Austin, G Linus Ullmark

Key Unrestricted Free Agents:

F Brian Gionta – The Buffalo captain may be 38 years old and have over 1000 NHL games under his belt, but he also just completed a full 82-game season and seventh on the team in scoring. At this point in his career, Gionta is not looking to re-locate and perhaps no team could use his veteran leadership and hockey intelligence more than the Sabres, who have few forwards over 30 and certain players in need of mentoring (i.e. Evander Kane). The Sabres have plenty of cap space to play with and are expected to fill holes throughout the roster via free agency, but they’ll have room to bring back their captain who is still capable of scoring 30-40 points and can play in all situations. He probably won’t get another three-year, $12.75MM contract, but if Gionta wants to be back, he will be.

G Anders Nilsson – The flip side of the situation with Lehner is that of Nilsson. Just a little over a year older than Lehner, Nilsson was finally given legitimate responsibility for the first time in his NHL career in 2016-17 and he flourished. His .923 save percentage and .267 GAA were just marginally better than Lehner, but a major step up from his previous performances. Perhaps the Sabres, who truly do need to commit to Lehner or not, are afraid that re-signing Nilsson would send the wrong message, but he has definitely earned that consideration. If the Sabres don’t bring back Nilsson, they’ll have to search for a veteran backup to the oft-injured Lehner anyway. It’s not a simple problem and how Boterill solves it will impact his start with the organization.

Other UFAs: D Cody Franson, D Dmitry Kulikov, D Taylor Fedun, D Erik Burgdoerfer, D Mat Bodie, F Derek Grant, F Cole Schneider, F Cal O’Reilly

Projected Cap Space: The Sabres currently have only $50.2MM committed to 2017-18 contracts by way of 11 forwards and five defensemen. (CapFriendly) The extensions for RFA’s Lehner, Foligno, Girgensons, and Larsson, all of whom will be safe from expansion, as well as roster hopefuls Alexander Nylander and Brady Austin will eat up some of that space. However, even if the cap ceiling remains at $73MM, Buffalo has nearly $23MM of space to work with and if Matt Moulson is an expansion casualty, as has been rumored, there’s another $5MM in relief. That should give them more than enough space to accommodate those young players, re-sign Gionta, extend or replace Nilsson, and still have the flexibility to explore the free agent market for better fits on the blue line than Franson or Kulikov and a game-changer up front.

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