Patrick Roy will be carrying a dual portfolio for the Colorado Avalanche. He will serve as their head coach, and, will also perform the role of VP of Hockey Operations. Lindy Ruff should take notice of Roy's coaching and management portfolio. The coach should have say so in his player personnel.
The team made the Patrick Roy play hiring official late Thursday afternoon.
The Denver Post reports that because of the memorial day long holiday weekend in the States, the Avs have said that Roy's introductory news conference will be next week in Denver.
Roy now becomes the team's sixth head coach. He will have many pleasurable experiences coaching all-world players like Landeskog, Duchene, O'Reilly, Stastny, and Johnson in the Rockies. I'm curious to see how Roy handles his goaltending situation. Will he stand pat with Semyon Varlamov, or, will he ask Joe Sakic for an upgrade at the position that he mastered in his NHL career. Roy will not accept mediocrity or middle of the road play from his tenders. He's a Hall of Famer for a reason. he's a perfectionist and he sets very high expectations for all skaters and his goaltenders. Ryan Miller may be the type of upgrade that Roy and Sakic will be seekong in the next five weeks leading up to the NHL Entry Draft which will occur in Newark, NJ on June 30th.
The Avs have executed an extreme makeover in its front office and coaching staff in the past three weeks.
They won the NHL Draft Lottery's first pick, which they will presumably invest in Denver native Seth Jones. However, Roy has coached against sniper Nathan MacInnon in The Q.
Hall of Famer Joe Sakic was named the team's Exec VP of Hockey Operations on May 10. Roy and his great friend and former teammate Sakic will collaborate together, with Sakic having the final say and veto power on such things as the draft, trades, free agency, and other personnel decisions.
Roy told the Denver Post:
"I would like to thank Stan and Josh Kroenke for this opportunity as well as Joe Sakic for the trust they are putting in me," Roy said. "Almost 10 years to the day that I announced my retirement as a player I am back in Denver and hope the fans are as excited as I am."
Roy has been very involved in the day to day operations of the QMJHL Quebec Remparts, where he served as head coach and GM. Roy coached his sons Jonathon and Freddie while he was the head coach of the Remaprts. Roy compiled an impressive 348-196-0 record in his eight seasons in QCity.
The Roycky Mountain way is better than the way they had. Listen closely to Joe Walsh's orgasmic solo. You'll hear his Les Paul grind out the unmistakable rhythm of:
"Roy, Roy Roy Roy Roy Roy Roy Royyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy......."
On locker clean out day (April 27), Jhonas Enroth let it be known for all to hear that he wants to play more meaningful hockey games in Buffalo. More is better than less. Less sucks. More is better.
Enroth has paid his dues. Time after time. He's done his sentence, but committed no crime. And bad mistakes? He's made a few. He's had his share of ice chips being kicked in his face, but he's come through.
Enroth is a champion, my friends, and he'll keep on fighting til the end.
Thanks, sabres.com
Enroth played 12 impressive games this past season, going 4-4-1 record with a 2.60 GAA and .919 save %.
Then, he literally shocked the world by winning the gold medal at the IIHF World Hockey Championships in his hometown, Stockholm, Sweden.
Jhonas was brilliant in compiling his 5-2-1 record with a microscopic 1.15 GAA and .956 save %.
Most impressive about his heroics on the Worlds stage is that he slayed three fire-breathing dragons in the elimination stage of the tourney, en route to the gold medal:
Canada, Finland and Switzerland.
Enroth, will become a restricted free agent in July when his bridge contract expires. Suffice to say, he's going to get paid. He earned a tidy sum $675,000 in 2013. He and his agent will be seeking an annual contract north of $2 million per season, which is far less than Ryan Miller's $6.25 million.
Of you haven't done so already, think about the type of player the Sabres can afford this season when they use Miller's $6.25 million. Stastny, Backes, Oshie, Grabner, and Couture are the types of difference-makers that the Sabres will be looking to add to their veteran leadership group, who will help to teach and bring to the next level Hodgson, Grigorenko, Ennis, Foligno, Porter, Flynn, Armia, Larsson and the young guns.
As I told you on Wednesday, Russian rumbler Valery Nichuskin is now free to board a flight to North America to pursue his dreams of playing in the NHL. Moscow Dynamo will not stand in Nichushkin's way to pursuing his lieflong dream of playing in the NHL. Nichushkin will be one of the top players drafted in Newark in late June.
You'll recall that on May 1, the rugged 6'3 210 pound left winger agreed to play for Moscow Dynamo of the KHL after having played his youth hockey for Traktor. On Wednesday, he was given his release to enter the NHL draft with the understanding being that if the NHL doesn't live up to Nichushkin's expectation level, that he can return to Dynamo. When you throw enough money at a problem, that problem goes away. Nichushkin is now free to roam about North America.
Today, I focus my attention on the other European player who the Buffalo Sabres are zeroing in on. His name is Aleksander Barkov. The 6'3 210 lb. centreman is a jack-of-all trades. He's a playmaker, a scorer,a hitter, and a special teamer. Scouts that I talk to tell me that they love Barkov's vision. He sees the entire 200 by 100 ice surface in Finland. he'll do the same on 200 by 85 in the NHL. Barkov has filthy mitts, which allow him to pass and puck handle like an NHLer. He kills opponents with his shot, his creativity, and his manual dexterity. The kid always holds his head high and is never lacking for confidence on the ice. He's very comfortable in his own hockey skin. The only knock on him that I hear from scouts is that he is not the most gifted skater in the world. I say poppycock. The kid gets from point A to point B like a freight train. What he lacks in speed, he more than makes up for in quickness. The Sabres will need to be industrious and lucky in order to land Barkov.
Barkov finished the regular season with 21 goals, 48 points and a +18 rating in 53 games for Tappara in the Finnish Elote League. He had four assists and a plus +3 rating in five playoff games before his season was cut short by a shoulder injury.
Scouts familiar with Barkov's shoulder ailment say that the injury will not affect Barkov's top five NHL entry draft position.
The puck will drop on the NHL Entry Draft will on June 30 in Newark.
Nichushkin was rated the second best European draft eligible skater by NHL Scouting Bureau,F one spot behind Finland's Barkov, who is rated as the #1 European skater.
Were I Darcy Regier, I would beg, borrow and steal my way out of the eighth overall selection and find a way to get into to top five as an insurance policy to protect the right to select Nichuskin in the first rounder. In recent weeks, Regier has said that he is doing his diligence to try to trade out of teh eighth pick and into the high rent district of the draft. Here's how I see the top five selections going in the first round:
1. Colorado Avalanche: Seth Jones (D)
2. Florida Panthers: Nathan MacInnon (F)
3. Tampa Lightning: Jonathon Drouin (F)
4. Nashville Predators: Sean Monahan (F)
5. Carolina Hurricanes: Valery Nichushkin (F)
6. Calgary Flames: Aleksander Barkov (F)
7. Edmonton Oilers: Darnell Nurse (D) 8. Buffalo Sabres: Elias Lindholm (F)
Regier better have his deal making boots on because in order to snag one of his two coveted targets. I'm told Buffalo brass are "very high" on both Nichushkin and Barkov. Each player is the correct embodiment of size, snarl, and scoring that the Sabres are looking to add to their already impressive prospect pool which includes Grigorenko, Girgensons, Armia and Larsson.
Barkov and Nichushkin will fit right into the Buffalo re-build. Grigorenko and Nichushkin are familiar with one another and make perfect sence to play together as linemates, while Finns Joel Armia and Aleksander Barkov certainly will augment each other very nicely. Barkov played alongside Armia at the past two World Junior Championships. The two forwards create a lot of chaos on the ice together with their fascinatingly similar mix of skill and physicality.
Regier has the 8th and 16th overall picks in this draft. he also has a bevy of second rounders. Regier also has one Ryan Miller to use to sweeten a deal to move up into the top five neighborhood in this draft. I honestly don't see Buffalo trading Thomas Vanek away at this time. I truly believe that "Van" will be re-signed to a long term deal that will keep him, his wife and three young boys in Buffalo for years to come. I can see Vanek being named captain of the Sabres as well. The only thing tethering Miller to Buffalo right now is his 'for sale" condo in Allentown, and his charity foundation, which he can manage remotely. Regier needs to strike a meaningful deal with one of either Tampa, Nashville, Carolina, or Calgary so that he can land his man. I cannot see Colorado or Florida trading out of their respective 1st and 2nd place selection positions.
Regier has his work cut out for him. Moving up into the penthouse of this year's draft won't be easy, nor will it be cheap. If Regier is going to persuade respected NHL GMs like Yzerman, Poile, Rutherford, and Feaster, he's going to have to bring more value to the table than just the 16th overall pick in the June draft. He's going to have to blow away one or more of the GMs with an offer that is too good to be true. Regier operates in a vacuum, in virtual stealth-mode and its heard to get a pulse on what trades and transactions that he is contemplating/working on. Over the years, his modus operandi is to "steal" trades, as witnessed by the Hodgson/Sulzer caper in exchange for Kassian/Gragnani. This time around, Regier may have to soften his stance, and give up additional value in order to sweeten a deal, moreso than he normally would, in order to get himself a runway seat at the Top 5 club.
Surely then, Nichushkin and Barkov will be available. After the seventh pick? Not so much.
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