A source informed me early this morning that he believes all is set for Mats to become a NYR and that a deal has been worked out regarding players to be moved to open up cap space. Now there looks to be two stumbling blocks.
Mats deciding to play is one of the blocks of course...the other is the NHLPA saying they will extend the contract with the NHL (what appears to be a certainty and looks to be happening around September 15th).
When the NHLPA decides to do this the NHL will lift the current restraints that don't allow teams to put in an age incentive bonus that would take them over the cap legally. This is also believed to be the hold up with the signings of Selanne and Shanahan.
Sept 15th....huh...so I guess the groundhog has indeed seen his shadow and we could be looking at three more weeks of Mats rumours...
The good news...Montreal and Vancouver don't need the extra cap space.
The bad news...Mats still apparently has NO IDEA what he is doing.
More rumours to come...but now for a new interactive fun feature called...
"Who's Line Is It Anway?"
With all the new faces in new places what could be more fun than figuring out new line combinations....So, here’s a new game for you where I will present you with two teams depth charts and it will be your job to coach them. Our goal is that by day’s end we will have it all figured out. We will also be discussing these line combinations in the Chat room and during the Buzzcast as well.
Today we start with two favorites of mine who did make a trade with each other this summer: The Buffalo Sabres and The San Jose Sharks. I am picking these teams because they are somewhat sister teams to me. Both are in unique markets, both have been highly competitive over the last 5 years, but neither has made it to the Finals. They also play in perhaps the two loudest arenas I have been in and have tons of great Hockeybuzz readers so I expect big things!
Let’s look at the Sabres first.
Last year was a major transition year in Buffalo highlighted more by who left or was leaving than who was quietly developing into a solid NHLer. When you lose Drury and Briere and play the entire season with Brian Campbell hanging in the balance it is tough. Add to that the giant pressure on Vanek as he adjusted to wearing that mega contract that was forced on Buffalo and well…one could argue that the Sabres really did OK considering.
It was also a year spent learning how to shift styles from perhaps the fastest attack team to more of a counter attack team. Early in the season the Sabres suffered greatly as Ruff tried to get them to buy in.
The Sabres are a team without a captain ONLY when you look at who wears the “C” on the ice. RYAN MILLER is the Sabres’ captain. That is clear as the day is long and it was Ryan Miller who took the bull by the horns when last year was really going south and rallied the team to the point where they were competitive for a playoff spot.
Through it all there were some bright spots, the brightest of whom had to be Derek Roy who at times was dominant. You could really start to see this coming out a year prior in the horrible loss to Ottawa, but Derek was beginning to take his game to a new level and last year he solidified himself as a true #1 and unlike #1 centers of the past Roy was signed, sealed and delivered as was Hecht.
In the past month Ryan Miller signed long term essentially insuring that the Sabres are a forced to be reckoned with for some time and rumours of Pominville signing an extension continue to grow by the hour…
The Sabres are a much better team than people realize. They simply are built for the new NHL and the addition of Rivet gives them a bit of defensive balance that they have been lacking since the loss of Jay McKee (the last true captain this team had on the ice).
This team is too quick to ever take lightly. Vanek started to come through his funk towards the end of last season and if he can continue…look out. Also, their most gifted player, Tim Connolly, is healthy and was a non factor last season.
The San Jose Sharks were the best team in hockey from the trade deadline on last year. They were simply as dominant as any team I have ever seen during that stretch…and then came the playoffs. Unfortunately this is an all-too-familiar "beginning to a season preview" for Sharks fans…the difference this season is that management saw the holes and they really “did something about it.”
Losing Campbell to UFA, they went out and grabbed his southern counterpart in Dan Boyle and in many ways Boyle’s game is more suited for this team. Boyle is 100% about the transition game. I remember riding the elevator at the Wachovia Center last season with a respected Tampa Bay Lightning scout who told me that the ONLY reason the Lightning weren’t running away with the Southeast was because Dan Boyle’s injury devastated the transition game. Sure enough when Boyle returned so did the Lightning's transition game.
But more than what Boyle will bring during the regular season is what Rob Blake will bring AFTER the regular season. I love this move since as you all know I have been calling for Blake in San Jose for nearly three years! This is the bold move that we had been waiting for and Blake has shown before that on a good team (as was the case in Denver) he is capable of dominance and greatness under pressure. The Sharks have NEVER had a player who brings so much respect and swagger with him and I believe the trickle down through a locker room that can be a bit less than “edgy” will be apparent right from the start of camp.
Joe Thornton has to really benefit from Blake. As great as Joe is, there are some things that players who have played with him have told me he lacks. Rob Blake has them and is all about what Thornton lacks. (sorry that is rather vague, but I am not here to trash Joe today)
Ron Wilson is a good coach, but with this group his time had indeed come and gone. A new attitude where players aren’t caught up in their own heads will surely help this lot. It is not that Wilson was too tough on players, there was just too much baggage built up. Not really his fault, but the players were starting to lose a sense of themselves and their roles. It was confusing and when coupled with a history of playoff failures truly became distracting. Instinct > think.
It is time for players like Pavelski, Ehrhoff, Clowe and Michalek to take hold here and become known names to all NHL fans…and they surely will.
In goal, I expect that we will see a little more of Brian Boucher who has found the perfect home in SJ as a backup for Nabokov (whose save on Richards in OT is still so etched in my mind.)
The Sharks will be right there at the top of the West again for sure, but even if they aren’t all they need to do is make the playoffs this year and take it from there.
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