The Sabres are on a three game winning streak right now as they take a two-fer in Florida.
Ron Rolston has a decision to make for Tuesday night's game as to which D will sit and which will continue to play. Why invite chaos the opportunity to corrupt a winning lineup?
Rookie Mark Pysyk was called up on March 16, and made his NHL debut in Washington on St. Patrick's Day. Sekera suffered a mysterious injury in the home loss to Ottawa the day before. Since his call-up, Pysyk has been an extremely impressive performer for the Sabres, who are 3-1 with the rookie in the lineup.
Pysyk has not looked one bit overwhelmed or out of place since he joined the Buffalo D corps. Though he only has four shots and no points, Pysyk has been incredibly poised and polished in his own end. He's been Buffalo most consistent D in the past four games:
3/23: BUF @ MTL 19 shifts 16:55 TOI
3/21: TOR @ BUF 24 shifts 16:49 TOI
3/19: BUF @ MTL 21 shifts 15:17 TOI
3/17: BUF @ WSH 19 shifts 14:55 TOI
Sekera skated at Sabres practice in Tampa today. On Saturday in Montreal, Rolston said that Sekera's return date would most likely be Tuesday night. Begs the question, which defender should Rolston sit down in Tampa to make room for Sekera's return? Ehrhoff can't sit out now that the Sabres PP have scored in four straight games.
I guess Rolston could decide to stand pat and to make Sekera a healthy scratch for the Tampa game. Or, he can shake things up by sitting a vet in order to play the deserving Pysyk. One game at a time. I know the cliche well. A little voice inside my head is telling me that Roslton won't be sitting his rookie defender any time soon, especially since the Sabres will be playing TJ Brennan and the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. Presumably, the offensive Brennan was traded to make room for the more defensive reliable Pysyk.
The Sabres have been trailed and scouted by a half dozen Western conference teams in recent weeks, including: Detroit, St. Louis, Dallas, Minnesota, San Jose, and LA. Its likely that the scouts have been watching Buffalo's two UFA to be D-men Regehr and Leopold. Why sit them now? Especially when the San Jose traded D Douglas Murray on Monday afternoon. Contenders are looking to beef up their D depth. The Sabres certainly have some assets that other GMs are craving right now.
The Syracuse Crunch were on the ice for a practice this morning, led by their head coach, Jon Cooper.
One wonders:
If Cooper were leading candidate to become the replacement to the recently fired Guy Boucher in Tampa, what was Cooper doing on the ice with his team in Sytracuse? Shouldn't he be on a plane to Tampa? While Cooper and his team practiced, Steve Yzerman and the Tampa Lightning were flying south from Winnipeg to the gulf coast of Florida.
Is Cooper the next head coach or the Bolts? Or, is Lindy Ruff the odds on winner of the bench boss job?
Cooper joined the Syracuse Crunch after spending the past two seasons as head coach of Tampa Bay’s previous affiliate the Norfolk Admirals.
Cooper recorded a 94-44-10-8 regular season and a 17-7 playoff record with the Admirals during those years.
In 2011-12, Norfolk set franchise records with 55 wins and 113 standings points on their way to capturing their first ever Calder Cup. They also set the North American Professional Hockey record by winning an incredible 28 games in a row smashing the previous mark of 18 set by, ironically, the Syracuse Crunch. During that 28 game run, the Admirals won 20 straight in regulation. After outscoring the opposition 273-180 in the regular season, the Admirals also captured the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL’s regular season points champion while also earning the Frank S. Mathers Trophy as East Division regular season champions. On April 9, 2012, Cooper was named the winner of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding coach, as voted by coaches and members of the media in each of the league’s 30 cities.
Prior to joining the Admirals, Cooper posted an 84-27-9 record over the previous two seasons with the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League. In his two years at the helm, he led the Gamblers to two Anderson Cups as regular season championships (2008-09 and 2009-10) and a Clark Cup as playoff champions (2010). Cooper’s impact was immediate as he guided the Gamblers to the biggest one-year improvement in USHL history. Green Bay went from 32 points in 2007-08 to 82 points and the USHL’s best record, earning him the 2009 USHL GM of the Year Award. The following year, Cooper not only was again named USHL GM of the Year, but also took home the USHL Coach of the Year, as well.
Thanks, syracusecrunch.com
Cooper has one Hell of a hockey resume. He'll make a great NHL head coach some day.
Personally, I don't see the Bolts hiring him to turn around the mess that has become their under-achieving team right now. I can see Yzerman grabbing his team by the scruff of the neck by announcing the hiring of a tried and true NHL head coach in Lindy Ruff.
Cooper's strong suit is his ability to develop and teach young kids like former Canisius College star, Corey Conacher. There's no denying Cooper's attention to detail and hockey acumen. Works with the pups for sure. How would his style play out with grizzled vets like St. Louis, Malone, Salo, Lecavalier, Brewer, et al?
More and more, I see Yzerman hiring the known commodity in Ruff, rather than gambling on the AHL star, Cooper.
The onus of the blame for whats gone wrong is now squarely on Yzerman's shoulders. Boucher took the fall for it. Now, the bright spotlight is on Yzerman. Its his job to turn things around in a hurry and to get his team into the playoffs from the 14th seed this season.
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Jarome Iginla scored the game-winning goal in the third period of Calgary's 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday night.
Has he played his last game in a Calgary Flames sweater?
Its beginning to look that way. Over the weekend, it was reported that Iginla had submitted a list of teams to his agent that he would be willing to waive his no movement clause in order to be traded to. The teams on the list: LA, Boston, Chicago, and Pittsburgh.
Iginla wants to win a Stanley Cup, and if he can't win one in Calgary, he'd like to do it elsewhere. Therefore, Buffalo Sabres fans can cross Iggy off their bucket list.
Thanks, Flames TV
Iginla is the prized rental player of the 2013 trade deadline. There will be a bidding war of epic proportions amongst the four teams that are on his wish list. The team that "wins" the bidding war, will end up having to over spend to secure the power forward.
In the end, it will be a true win-win, in that the Flames will be able to sell its highest valued asset in exchange for active roster players and/or prospects that can help the Flames to rebuild and re-shape their team on the fly. Iginla will be in position to step right into a Cup contenders' top line and to pursue his life long dream of winning a Stanley Cup. This Iginla drama has all of the ear markings of the Raymond Bourque trade from Boston to Colorado that yielded a Cup win for the Avalanche.
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