Updated 12:20pm:
With the trade deadline a mitt full of days away, its safe to say that the Sabres are preparing themselves for life without Drew Stafford.
The struggling winger will be a scratch tonight in Tampa. This will be his second scratch in a row. The Sabres have won three games in a row and are not looking to upset the winning chemistry right now.
My good man Kevin Snow of sabres.com is in Tampa and has tweeted that Stafford, Scott and Sekera are all getting post-practice skating work in right now. hence, its safe to surmise that each will be seated on press row tonight when the Bolts host the Sabres.
There's no secret to the disappointment that the Sabres have been feeling as a result of Stafford's offensive struggles this season.
Stafford's the owner of a lonely -12. In 31 games, he's scored only four goals and has added only 7 assists. Thats just not acceptable production for an assistant captain who is earning $4 million per , for this season and next.
Stafford is hardly a salary cap burden when you consider that some teams are content to play their 20-30 goal scorers in the $4.5-$5.5 million range.
Several Western conference teams have been scouting the Sabres in recent weeks, presumably to get an up close and personal look at Stafford. I'm told that St. Louis, Detroit, Anaheim, Minnesota, and San Jose have interest in the former North Dakota Fighting Sioux scoring star. Stafford is recent 20-30 goal scorer who contending teams would like to add as depth at the trade deadline.
What is Stafford's value on the trade market, you ask?
Stafford and a D (Leopold) can fetch a top six forward and a draft choice.
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Tampa Lightning GM, Steve Yzerman, spoke this morning after his team's game day skate about his decision making process in selecting Jon Cooper as his team's new head coach.
Yzerman says that he spoke by phone with former Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff on Monday, to inform him of his decision to hire Cooper. Out of respect, Stevie Y phoned Ruff to share with him the news that Cooper would be the ninth head coach in the Bolts' 21 year history.
I'm told that the timing for Ruff to assume the head coaching position in Tampa may not have been ideal for Ruff, who is scheduled to be leave for a family Easter vacation later this week.
I still think that Ruff was Yzerman's first choice to head coach the Bolts. In the end, he didn't want to lose Cooper from the organization (like Buffalo lost Kevin Dineen to Florida Panthers last year) so he gave him the NHL job.
Yzerman's mandate was that he wanted to fill his head coaching vacancy ASAP. Perhaps, Yzerman was not willing to wait for Ruff.
Not to worry. Lindy will have a choice between 5-6 head coaching jobs when this season ends.
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