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Vigneault To Rangers; Torts To Couver? |
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The NY Rangers have found their new head coach. His name is Alain Vigneault.
Brad Richards and the Rangers' forwards must be dancing a jig right now. AV lets stars air it out and play wide open hockey.
Reports made the rounds on Twitter late Friday night that the Rangers were very impressed with AV. Its believed that AV interviewed with MSG owner James Dolan. On Tuesday, he met with Rangers GM Glen Sather. The Rangers want to end their search and offer. No official offer has been made to Vigneault yet.
On Saturday morning, The Dallas News reported that Vigneault had contacted the Dallas Stars to say "Thanks, But No Thanks" to their vacant head coaching position that he had previously interviewed for.
It appears as though the Rangers would prefer to go with the veteran Vigneault over NHL coaching newbie, Mark Messier who interviewed with Sather in La Quinta, CA on Friday.
Vigneault will be opening on Broadway in September.
Vigneault was fired after his Canucks made a first round exit from this year's playoffs. He led the Canucks to a heartbreaking Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals.
Vigneault, 52, has 11 years of NHL head coaching experience. he spent the last the last seven years with Vancouver. Prior to his Vancouver stint, he spent three seasons in Montreal.
So, what now becomes of former Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff?
With the Rangers job firmly placed in Vigneaults suit jacket breast pocket, Ruff is still a consideration to coach the Stars and Canucks.
Earlier this week, the Sabres granted approval for the Rangers to officially interview Ruff. The business week came and went. No interview for Ruff.
Ruff did interview with Vancouver earlier this week. He interviewed with Dallas in Toronto during the NHL Combine a couple of weeks ago. With Vigneault excusing himself from the Dallas opportunity, Ruff moves in to the first position to coach the Stars.
The question I'd like to ask Ruff right now is:
Would you rather coach a veteran team (complete with excellent forwards, D, and goalies) that is on the cusp of winning 2-4 round in the playoffs next season, or, a team of talented youngsters who's team hasn't made the playoffs for the past five seasons?
Vancouver. All day long.
Will Ruff earn the Vancouver job? Or, will LA Kings assistant and former Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Stevens get the bench in Van City? Or, what if Tortarellla and Vigneault swap teams? AV definitely heading to NYC, Torts heading to VanCity? Rumor has it that Torts had himself an impressive interview with Mike Gillis.
By process of elimination, Ruff could end up losing out on the two dream jobs in NY and Vancouver.
There's no guarantee that Ruff will get the Dallas job. That may be John Tortarella's now that Vigneault has removed himself from the race.
Ruff may have to sit out until next season when the next batch of NHL coaches get fired.
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We learned a lot about the Sabres this week. We've learned that Regier and Devine have been role-playing their options and their scenarios in an effort to climb up from the 8th seed to the Miler High Club of the NHL.
They need a dance partner to work with to propel them from the 8th seed to the crow's next where Nathan MacKinnon lives. They can't get there without help.
Why not dance with Craig MacTavish and the Edmonton Oilers? MacT and the Oil sit one seat ahead of the Sabres on the draft bus. MacT has said, on the record, that his first round picks (#7) is in play. Meaning, if he can acquire a veteran, difference-making player who can help his team win now ( ie: starting goalie or top 4 D), then he's ready, willing and able to make a deal. However, the deal has to be tailored made for the Oilers.
Makes a lot of sense to me. MacT has promised swift changes in the Edmonton organization. Earlier this week, he showed that he's a man of his word when he turfed his head coach Ralph Kruger, and replaced him with Dallas Eakins. Who saw that coming?
In a similar respect, who's expecting MacT to deviate from the Oilers' script of picking the best player available with their first round pock, like Steve Tambellini had done the previous five drafts when he snarfed up Hall, Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov.
The Sabres are trying to get their sweaty mitts on the 1st overall pick in the June 30 entry draft, right? Why not do a "bridge deal" with Edmonton? One deal begets another.
You can't eat a whale in one big gulp. You have to eat it in smaller bites.
Regier and Devine can stockpile more trade currency by doing a deal with Edmonton, that they will be able to parlay into the first overall pick, if they so choose to make the deal.
Here's what I'm thinking.
Work a deal with Edmonton whereby the Sabres acquire the Oilers' 7th overall pick. Trade Ryan Miller and Mark Pysyk to the Oilers for their 7th overall pick.
The Sabres would get what they want, while the Oilers would fill two gaping holes in their lineup in one fell swoop. Miller would give the Oilers the stability and strength in their net that they haven't had since Dwayne Roloson took them to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006. Khabibulin is 40 and is not the answer in net, while Dubnyk is young and largely inexperienced, albeit talented. Miller represents 40-45 wins for the Oilers. Their high octane offense can score their 4-5 goals per game while Miller only allows 2.5-3 goals against. Its a recipe for immediate winning and instant credibility. Pysyk, the former captain of the WHL Edmonton Oil Kings, will give the Oilers another slick skating puck mover to augment the talents of Justin Schultz.
The Sabres would then own picks #7, #8 and #16 in the first round.
They could then phone up Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic in Colorado and up the ante and offer a mitt full of three first round draft choices in exchange for the first overall pick in the draft. With picks 7,8, and 16 in hand, the Avs could then do a deal or deals with Tampa and/or Nashville to get the high impact forward or D that they covet. Drouin? Jones? Barkov? Nurse? Zadorov?
How can Roy refuse 3 prime picks in the first 16, in the deepest, richest draft since the 2003 gold rush?
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