Jack Eichel

When Will The Buffalo Sabres Have Their Renaissance?

February 27, 2017 at 10:00 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

For Buffalo Sabres fans this season must be hell. They have seen their team rocked by injuries all season long, taking what is a talented squad and sapping them of their playoff potential. The consecutive losses over the weekend to bottom-dwelling Arizona and Colorado has all but assured that they are sellers at this week’s trade deadline instead of buyers.

The Sabres weren’t sellers last summer, when they went out and gave a big contract to Kyle Okposo and traded for Dmitry Kulikov to help their back end. They were a young team with a ton of potential, and decided to augment it with talented veterans. While Okposo was the team’s all-star representative, his scoring touch hasn’t been enough to help them out of the bottom of the Eastern conference.

Meanwhile, they have to watch the Edmonton Oilers and (even more painfully) Toronto Maple Leafs experience huge gains from teenagers, turning into legitimate playoff contenders overnight. The teams that they’ve battled with for first overall picks are now surging to the top of the standings. Edmonton won a lottery that Buffalo had worked so hard for to get Connor McDavid, and Toronto tanked for Auston Matthews while the Sabres tried to compete a year ago.

But it’s not just the past two years that should have been building blocks for the Sabres. Like the Oilers, they’ve long had picks to help build a system—that just haven’t seemed to come together as a team. Since 2011 the Sabres have had eight picks in the top-16 of the draft, including four top-eights (Alex Nylander, Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and Rasmus Ristolainen).

If you look at their track record, it’s actually quite good in these spots with all of them looking like solid if not excellent NHL players. So why hasn’t it come together for them yet? Is it just the injuries? Perhaps, but even the players who have been relatively healthy haven’t performed up to standards.

Ryan O’Reilly, he of the highest cap-hit on the team, has just 38 points in 52 games and hasn’t yet turned into the dominating elite centerman the Sabres had hoped for. Okposo has 39 and looks like he’ll end with his lowest total since the last lockout. Matt Moulson and Brian Gionta have shown their age and turned in a bottom-six production, and Marcus Foligno might not hit double-digits in goals this season.

So when will they experience their renaissance, like the Oilers and Leafs? Will it happen next season, when Eichel is healthy enough to lead their team all season, or are they doomed to sit in mediocrity while they pay off the long-term deals they’ve given to some of these veteran players. Fans should be wary of asking for any other high-priced additions this summer, and instead just rely on the internal development of all these highly drafted players. It looks like the Sabres will add another top pick to the stable this offseason, as long as they don’t do anything too crazy at the deadline.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Sabres Notes: Playoffs, Reinhart, Kane

February 18, 2017 at 4:00 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

After defeating the St. Louis Blues today 3-2, the Buffalo Sabres have now won three in a row and four out of five games. After struggling with injuries all season long, the team is getting healthy and starting to show that they shouldn’t be considered straight sellers at the deadline. Now just one point out of a playoff spot—though further by point percentage—the Sabres are legitimately in the race down the stretch. A month ago, you might not have been able to say that about a team that has floundered at the bottom of the league standings for years now.

While the playoffs will still be a tough goal, the Jack Eichel-led Sabres don’t look like they’ll be hard sellers at the deadline. While they might not buy, the team showed it was ready to call the rebuild finished when they signed Kyle Okposo this summer. Now they try to improve incrementally each season and get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2011.

John Vogl of the Buffalo News reports that Sam Reinhart will still be a game time decision tomorrow against the Chicago Blackhawks. The team is hoping his flu will subside in time to try and make if four in a row.
Vogl also has a quote from Evander Kane, speaking about getting his 20th goal this season. “I’m not interested in the 20-goal mark, to be honest. I’d like to go past that,” Kane said, after his two point game. He now has his third 20-goal season and is on a better points pace than we’ve seen in years from the big forward. At just 25-years old and after a summer filled with off-ice incidents, Kane was considered on his way out from Buffalo, with many believing his hometown Vancouver Canucks would be interested. The rumors are quieting though, as he continues to play well for the surging Sabres. If they did put him into play, he would likely cost considerably more than six months ago.
Joe Yerdon of NHL.com adds that the team will not skate tomorrow before they take on the Blackhawks. After the game the Sabres will go into their mandated bye-week, and will get a chance to recharge for the final stretch run. They’ll come out of the break against some weak competition, facing the Arizona Coyotes (twice) and Colorado Avalanche in their first four games after the break.

Deadline Primer: Detroit Red Wings

February 13, 2017 at 9:12 pm CDT | by natebrown 2 Comments

With the trade deadline now just weeks away, we’re taking a closer look at each team. Where do they stand, what do they need to do, and what assets do they have to fill those needs?

It’s been quite the purgatory for the Detroit Red Wings. Mike Ilitch, who transformed the Dead Wings into a four time Stanley Cup Champion, passed away on Friday. As if losing the owner who many current and former players considered to be a father figure wasn’t enough, the Wings 25-year playoff streak may end at a quarter century. Struggling to piece wins together, Detroit has a historically bad power play, a team besieged by injury, and a horrible return on investment from several players inked to expensive, long term deals.

For the first time since the early 90’s, the Red Wings are sellers. And yet, while it looks that the playoffs are slipping away, general manager Ken Holland may “stand pat” instead of selling off assets.

Record

22-24-10; 54 points. Last in the Atlantic; Last in the Eastern Conference.

Deadline Status

Seller

Deadline Cap Space

Current Cap Space: $0 ($8.3MM with LTIR relief)

Deadline Cap Space: $0 ($8.3MM with LTIR relief)

46/50 contracts, via CapFriendly

Draft Picks

2017: ( 9 Total) DET 1st, DET 2nd, DET 3rd, TOR 3rd, DET 4th, DET 5th, DET 6th, FLA 6th, DET 7th
2018: 7 Total) DET 1st, DET 2nd, DET 3rd, DET 4th, DET 5th, DET 6th, DET 7th.

Trade Chips

There are a number of players to choose from but topping the list is Thomas Vanek, who has been linked to the Chicago Blackhawks among other teams. Should he stay healthy (he’s currently battling an ankle injury), he could fetch some prospects or a draft pick. Mike Green has been another name, though he seems less likely to be moved as the Wings are trying to upgrade on the blue line–and he has been good for them this season. Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar were also mentioned, targets by the Chicago Blackhawks. Petr Mrazek, though it seems odd since he has struggled and was just signed to a deal in the offseason, could also be shopped. Finally, Brendan Smith, in the final year of a contract, could be moved as well.

Team Needs

1) #1 defenseman. Good luck. Almost every team in the NHL seeks that top pair defenseman, the Red Wings truly haven’t had one since Nick Lidstrom retired. Worse, their young defensemen have regressed while the veterans are broken down versions of their once steady selves (Niklas Kronwall comes to mind). The problem in getting the top pairing defenseman they seek is two fold. First, only a young player with team control could garner the top d-man, be it Anthony Mantha, Dylan Larkin, or Andreas Athanasiou. But those are players the Red Wings aren’t willing to give up. Second, the salary cap situation is a mess being that Holland has handed out expensive, long-term contracts to players like Justin Abdelkader, who hasn’t scored a goal since November. To add and retain a top pair defenseman, a team needs salary cap space. The Wings are in trouble for years to come unless they can shed those contracts. Until the Red Wings fix the blue line, their slide will continue and only get worse.

2) An elite, generational player. In all of the seasons for the Red Wings to fall off, it would be the season where there isn’t a clear cut one and two option. Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine were all clear cut options in the last two drafts. Now? While Nolan Patrick, Nico Hischier, and Tim Liljegren are all great options, scouts are having a hard time agreeing on a clear cut favorite. Holland could trade draft picks and players to go after former top picks, like Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon or Gabriel Landeskog, but that seems pretty far fetched. Plus, Holland has been gun shy during the Cap era when it comes to trades. But this year’s draft is not as certain as in previous seasons, and that doesn’t bode well for a team who desperately needs a top tier talent to get back on the right track. Larkin, Mantha, and Athanasiou are great starts as building blocks, but they are at least one, if not two, generational players away from getting back to the top of the hockey world again.

Sabres Notes: Gorges, McCabe, Playoff Push

February 5, 2017 at 9:54 am CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

After weeks of nursing his injured hip for the past dozen games, Josh Gorges returned to the Buffalo Sabres last night in triumphant fashion reports Bill Hoppe of Buffalo Hockey Beat. The team beat the Ottawa Senators in all facets and took them down 4-0 in an impressive win. The 32-year old defenseman played just over 16 minutes, but chipped in an assist and was a +2 rating. While his possession numbers are still terrible this season, Gorges adds some grit to a blueline that has sorely missed it this year. With injuries to almost every member at times, the team has had inconsistency and unfamiliarity problems all season.

That perhaps is going to go away, now that Gorges and Jake McCabe have returned from their respective injuries. McCabe was sidelined for five games following a shoulder injury and Zach Bogosian, who was injured on Thursday evening against the New York Rangers, is only considered day-to-day. For a team that was expected to take a step forward this season, injuries have come hard and often this year.
But it’s the fact that those injuries are starting to heal that has Buffalo fans inspired for the next 30 games. The club has struggled this season to be sure, but with a strong start to 2017 (the team is 8-5-2 in the new year) and a very weak Atlantic Division, there is a chance they could go on a late drive for the playoffs. The team sits at 52 points after their win last night, and though that is tied for last place in the Eastern Conference, they’re only 6 points behind Boston for third place in the division and have played four fewer games. The incredible parity in the Eastern Conference has everyone still believing they’re “in it” at this point in the season, and with Buffalo’s injury excuse, perhaps they really are. When healthy (looking at you Jack Eichel), the team can boast enough goal scoring to keep up with any team, and the duo of Robin Lehner and Anders Nilsson has actually provided excellent goaltending (a team .923 save percentage has them third in the league). A healthy top four that includes Rasmus Ristolainen, Bogosian, McCabe and Dmitry Kulikov isn’t perfect, but may be enough to keep them relevant down the stretch.

Buffalo Sabres’ Jake McCabe Will Not Return To Game

January 20, 2017 at 7:15 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

When Jake McCabe headed to the room earlier in tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings there was hope he would return. He’s now been ruled out with a shoulder injury, though it’s unclear how serious it is.

It’s just the latest in a season marred by injury for the Sabres, who have seen Jack Eichel, Zach Bogosian, Ryan O’Reilly, Evander Kane and others all miss time. The team look like it will now be without their top healthy left-handed defenseman, while they still wait for Dmitry Kulikov to make his return. Already a squad heavy on right-handers, Justin Falk now becomes the only healthy lefty.

The Sabres are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference for another year, and though it’s understandable through all the injuries it’s frustrating for fans of the team. It also must be causing a few gray hairs in the front office, as wasted seasons just bring the team closer to having to pay their young talent much bigger salaries. The team was supposed to take a step forward this year, but with the continuing injuries they just haven’t been able to find much consistency.

O’Reilly Returns To Lineup For Sabres

January 5, 2017 at 2:30 pm CDT | by Glen Miller Leave a Comment

The Buffalo Sabres will welcome center Ryan O’Reilly back to the lineup tonight with the team in Chicago to face the Blackhawks, according to Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. O’Reilly last played on December 23rd and has missed the last four games after undergoing an emergency appendectomy on December 27th. He was expected at the time to need 10 – 14 days to recover and it appears as if O’Reilly’s return comes slightly ahead of schedule.

O’Reilly currently ranks fourth on the Sabres in scoring with 17 points and his return couldn’t have come at a better time given the recent loss of Johan Larsson for the season. Head coach Dan Bylsma can use O’Reilly against the opposition’s top lines, thus freeing Jack Eichel to match-up against lesser competition.

Buffalo acquired O’Reilly from Colorado prior to the start of the 2015-16 season in a blockbuster deal that also brought forward Jamie McGinn to the Sabres. The Avalanche received Mikhail Grigorenko and defenseman Nikita Zadorov along with prospect J.T. Compher and a 2015 second-round pick in return. O’Reilly led the team in scoring last season with 60 points and posted the second 20-goal season of his seven-year career.

The Sabres went 2 – 2 – 0 in O’Reilly’s absence, sandwiching back-to-back, home-and-home losses to Boston with road wins over Detroit and the New York Rangers. They are tied for last in the Eastern Conference with the New York Islanders and trail the Bruins by eight points for the last guaranteed playoff spot in the Atlantic.

Snapshots: Russell, Eichel, Gilmour

January 2, 2017 at 8:29 pm CDT | by Brett Barrett 1 Comment

Oilers defenseman Kris Russell is a divisive figure in the hockey world. Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

Russell has five points (all assists) in 31 games with the Oilers, mostly playing on the team’s second pairing with Andrej Sekera. He’s been part of the best Oilers blue-line since 2008, and is considered one of the reasons that the Oilers are sitting in third in the Pacific Division and on pace for a 65-goal improvement in goal differential. The Oilers are 17-7-7 with Russell in the lineup and 2-5-0 without him.

However, hockey fans, executives, and experts are torn on Russell’s impact. Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli plans on discussing an extension with Russell’s camp and is on record as being “pretty happy” with Russell. That opinion is not shared by the majority of the analytics community, including Oilers blogger Darcy McLeod. McLeod’s analytical work is respected among the blogging community and appears regularly on TSN 1260 to discuss the Oilers. He took a closer look at the impact that Russell has on teammates, specifically the claims that Russell has a positive effect on “shooting percentage of team mates and zone exits that lead to offensive zone entries.”

Chiarelli has previously mentioned those two micro-stats as evidence for why he likes Russell. McLeod explored Russell’s effect on teammates in his two seasons with Calgary and all his games with the Oilers this season. The full article is well-worth the read. Ultimately, he concludes that the positive effect that Russell had on Flames teammates did not carry over to Edmonton, and that out of the Oilers’ four centers, only Mark Letestu scores better with Russell on the ice, writing that “if Russell excels at zone exits, these exits are not resulting in more goals for the Oilers.” Even Connor McDavid scores nearly a full point less per-60 minutes while sharing the ice with Russell.

McLeod writes that he still believes Russell is a valuable number-four or five defenseman, but doesn’t believe the Oilers should sign him long-term, with Oscar Klefbom, Andrej Sekera, Darnell Nurse, and Brandon Davidson all being left-handed defenders under contract and posting better results than Russell. A one-year, $3MM contract would be acceptable to McLeod, but signing Russell and trading any of the above-mentioned defensemen would be “a downgrade in the quality of the Left Handed Dcorps of the Edmonton Oilers.”

The second overall pick behind McDavid, Jack Eichel, expressed his disappointment with the way the Sabres’ season has gone so far. Despite the Sabres’ struggles (they’re currently last in the East), Eichel says the team hasn’t given up yet. He told John Vogl that “everyone needs to look in the mirror and we all need to get a lot better. I think I speak for the team in saying that we’re all frustrated with where we’re at, and I don’t think I’m the only person in the locker room that’s not satisfied.” It’s clear that Eichel is also stepping up as a leader in the locker room, and seems like the most-likely candidate to replace Brian Gionta as the next captain of the Sabres.
Monday marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most infamous trades in NHL history. On January 2, 1992, the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Doug Gilmour in a 10-player trade with the Calgary Flames. The Leafs sent Gary Leeman, Craig Berube, Alexander Godynyuk, Michel Petit, and Jeff Reese to Calgary for Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Kent Manderville, Ric Nattress, and Rick Wamsley. As with most controversial trades, it was immediately labelled as robbery by the Maple Leafs. In this case, that turned out to be quantifiably true. Sean McIndoe broke down the trade over at Sportsnet, and pointed out that if you remove Gilmour, the trade is just barely a wash for the Flames. But the trade did include Gilmour, who was recently named the 13th-best Maple Leaf of all time. He scored 452 points in 392 games during his first stint with the team, returning for just five shifts before suffering a career-ending injury in 2003.

Ryan O’Reilly Has Emergency Appendectomy, Out Indefinitely (Updated)

December 27, 2016 at 2:40 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

(Update) 2:30pm: The Sabres announced via Twitter that O’Reilly will need “roughly 10 – 14 days of rest and recovery.”

10:34am: According to Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News, Sabres alternate captain Ryan O’Reilly had an appendectomy on Christmas Day and is out indefinitely. While this isn’t a long-term issue, Buffalo has been struck with injuries all season and won’t get a break any time soon.

The team is at 12-13-8 and has missed O’Reilly, Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian, Jack Eichel and others for lengthy periods already. While the team hoped to have competed for a playoff spot this season after signing Kyle Okposo to a big offseason contract and pursuing several other big-name free agents, they’ve been snake-bitten all year and have fallen further and further behind. Their 32 points puts them dead last in the Atlantic Division, tied with the New York Islanders for last in the conference.

O’Reilly, who missed time with back spasms earlier this year, has been one of their most effective forwards when healthy with 18 points in 27 games. The 25-year old is in the first year of his long-term extension signed in 2015. While his cap hit will be $7.5MM for the next seven seasons, he’ll actually earn $11MM in salary (including signing bonuses) this year.

All Buffalo fans can do is shake their head at this point and hope that a quick return is in the cards for O’Reilly. As Harrington reports, other players like Max Pacioretty, Jamie Benn and Corey Crawford have returned within a few weeks of their surgery.

*Glen Miller contributed to this post.

Atlantic Notes: Sabres Struggles, Red Wings, Senators

December 26, 2016 at 12:00 pm CDT | by natebrown Leave a Comment

The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington opines that the Sabres need to turn things around fast during a season that was supposed to be more successful. Harrington wonders if head coach Dan Bylsma is heading down “Ryan Road,” a nod to the embattled Buffalo Bills head coach, Rex Ryan. From Harrington:

Lately, it seems as if Bylsma has lost his mind. It’s to the point where it’s now an open discussion among Sabres fans if Bylsma, in just the second year of a five-year contract, should be heading down Ryan Road to the unemployment line too if his team continues to implode.

From there, Harrington lists a number of Byslma missteps which include everything from benching Jack Eichel on the power play to a philosophy that doesn’t seem to benefit the team, and instead, makes them less sure of what they’re doing. He also lays blame at the feet of general manager Tim Murray, imploring him to make a trade for a defenseman desperately needed by the team.

Not letting anyone off the hook, Harrington takes aim at ownership, wondering what their plan is after six years of no playoff appearances. He adds that it feels like nothing more than regrets for what they don’t have, and that the Sabres have played second fiddle to other teams when it comes to acquiring someone who can help Buffalo escape its recent culture of losing.

The Sabres head into Detroit to take on the other team jostling for the basement of the Atlantic. MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that Detroit needs to “chip away” at the deficit they face in the division and conference. Khan offers salvation in the way of listing three teams (Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, and eventual champ Pittsburgh) who were outside of the playoff hunt looking in last year at this time. But the Red Wings, fairly or unfairly, do not have the star power of a Pittsburgh or Tampa Bay. Khan believes that in order to ascend, the Wings must take advantage of beating the “bad” teams and Buffalo offers a chance to take advantage of this. The power play must also improve, as Detroit has the worst man advantage success rate in the league, and historically, it’s one of the worst during the entire salary cap era. Khan also thinks that help is on the way with Mike Green, Alexey Marchenko, Tyler Bertuzzi and Justin Abdelkader on the mend.

The Ottawa Citizen takes a look at the Senators by the numbers and finds that the team has a lot to be proud of as the new year approaches. The most compelling number? -1: the goal differential of a team in playoff position. It’s noted, however, that four others teams sitting in playoff spots are also sporting negative goal differentials, but those teams (Boston, Anaheim, St. Louis, and Calgary) are worse in that category than the Sens.

Atlantic Notes: Sabres, Matthews, Coreau

December 23, 2016 at 12:43 pm CDT | by natebrown Leave a Comment

The Sabres gave a performance worthy of Grinch-like proportions writes the Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington. Approaching the holiday season, the Sabres gave their fans a performance akin to receiving coal at Christmas. Losing 3-1 to the Hurricanes Thursday evening, the Sabres were serenaded with boos from the home crowd at multiple points of the game Harrington reports. More importantly, Harrington continues, are Jack Eichel’s struggles and how it has affected the team. Harrington talked to the young star after the game, who was “seething” with head coach Dan Bylsma’s decision to take away ice time. From Harrington:

Asked if he was surprised to not be on the ice, the 20-year-old said the time to discuss the topic was over.

“I think I just answered that. I’m not the coach,” he said. “Like I said, we had a lot of opportunities on the first power play. … I was on the second power play. I’m out there working hard. I think that’s all I really have to say about that.”

Bylsma was “unusually intense” during the morning skate, but his teaching apparently fell on deaf ears. Worse, Buffalo slipped into a tie with Detroit for last place in the Atlantic with the loss. Harrington writes that redemption could come in the way of beating the New York Islanders tonight.

Auston Matthews is set to play his first game in his home state tonight, and the excitement for his return is through the roof writes NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. From Arizona youth hockey teams to Matthews’ own parents, the entire state of Arizona has been waiting to see their homegrown son return to where many thought hockey would never last. Instead, the #1 overall pick in the 2016 draft not only hails from the non-traditional hockey market of Arizona, he’s the face of the organization that many consider the epicenter of the hockey world. Matthews’ importance to the state of Arizona goes beyond just local pride. It’s the idea, Rosen continues, that Arizona finally has relevancy in hockey’s eyes.
Jared Coreau is set to start in net tonight for the Detroit Red Wings tweets MLive’s Brendan Savage. Head coach Jeff Blashill broke the news to Petr Mrazek, who has struggled to keep hold of the starting job in light of Jimmy Howard’s strong play. Savage adds that Blashill said he wants players to “want to be in” and though they may not agree, Savage tweets that Blashill declares that he has the final say. This season, Mrazek is 9-7-3 with an .899 save percentage. His struggles are one of many on the team this year that has landed the Red Wings in a tie for last place in the division.

« Previous Page

Load More Posts

Headlines