The are twenty something NHL top tier players who are due to become unrestricted free agents next July including: Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek, Steve Ott, Henrik Lundqvist, Phil Kessel, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, The Sedins, Dion Phaneuf .
Colorado Avalanche veteran Paul Stastny is in the 2014 UFA to be group. He's in the final year of his five year, $33 million contract. His $6.6 million cap hit makes him the object of trade speculation on a daily basis. The Avs locked up young studs Landeskog and Duchene with long term extensions this summer. Stastny has not spoken with the Avs about an extension.
Stastny is entering his eight season with the Avs. He'll be 28 on December 27. Injuries and inconsistent play have plagued Stastny is recent years. he burst on the scene in 2006-07 and recorded 78 points. He followed that up with seasons of 71 points, 36 points, 79 points, 57 points, 53 points, and 24 points.
The onus rests squarely on Stastny's broad shoulders to find his scoring ways, otherwise, he may be looking for a new NHL team to play for.
Stastny spoke with Adrian Dater of the Denver Post about a recent meeting that he had with his head coach / VP of Hockey Operations, Patrick Roy.
"It was good. It was a lot better than I thought it would be, to be honest," said Stastny, whose salary is $6.5 million. "I thought it might just be kind of formal, just basic, but we went into details about a lot of things, about things he wants from me and from our team. After I got to see what he wants, it's like a small picture inside a big picture. There's a lot of things we haven't done in the past that he sees, that some other guys would have seen as well, that he wants to do and kind of emphasize on certain things, which to me is pretty important. Things that play to our strength, what we do best."
Asked what those things are, Stastny said: "Our puck possession, our forwards. We've got three lines that can play with anybody and our fourth line's actually good too. Possession-wise, you've got dynamic guys on each line ... and with that you'll have two good power-play units as well. With that, you'll kind of want everyone to do well. Everyone's sick of losing."
Stastny has taken his share of criticism for the Avs' failure to make the playoffs three of the past four years. His point production has declined in each of those years, despite plenty of ice time as a top-six forward.
But Stastny believes the statistics haven't told the whole story.
"I think I'm way better than I was my first couple years," Stastny said. "Whether I've played with different guys or different systems, the numbers don't show it, but I feel better, that's the most important thing, and sometimes you've just got to get back to believing in yourself. I expect to be a point-a-game player when I'm playing with confidence.
"
Roy has outlined his expectations of Stastny. Now its time for the center to produce to the levels that his head coach is holding him accountable for.
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Whoever said there's no violence at NHL training camps anymore was dead wrong.
Check out veteran D Mike Komisarek hammering young buck Blanchard at Carolina Hurricanes training camp on Friday. Click the link (below) and fast forward to the 1:21 mark of the video. Komisarek takes exception to Blanchard's stick work , then tossed the mitts with the youngster. I think that Blanchard get the better of the elder Komisarek.
Fights are rare in today's training camps. Coaches tell their soldiers to save their anger and to take it out on enemies in other colored sweaters during exhibition games. Back in the day, training camp fights were the order of the day. guys would literally fight to retain their jobs and to prove their worth to their coaches and GM.
The cranky Canes visit Buffalo on September 19. Maybe the Sabres will want to get an explanation from Reggie Sekera for his "everything is better than Buffalo" smack that he laid down earlier this week.
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Former Sabres goalie Marty Biron has had better weeks in his esteemed NHL career.
First and foremost, Biron was forced to miss the first two days of training camp while he was home with his family in suburban Buffalo dealing with a undisclosed "personal matter".
Then, he was given the news that his new head coach Alain Vigneault and GM Glen Sather had signed veteran UFA backup tender "Moose" Hedberg to a training camp tryout contract.
Biron has been Hank Lundqvist's under study on Broadway for the past two seasons.
On Friday, Marty skated with his Rangers teammates for the first time. Biron spoke with the media after the practice.
“The organization has to do what it thinks is best,” said Biron.
“Moose (Hedberg) is a great guy, we talked this morning, but I’m here.
“Whatever I need to do, I’m going to do. I’m 100 percent ready to compete.”
Is there a backup goalie controversy in Gotham?
Alain Vigneault confirmed as much when he met with the NY media on Friday.
“I would say yes in the sense that we invited Hedberg at the last minute, and if we brought him in, obviously we’re going to give him a chance.....Marty is aware of it. We had a discussion.”
Vigneault added that due to the fact that Henrik Lundqvist is going to be starting for Team Sweden at the Sochi Olympics in February, his backup is going to have to be able to win games.
“In an Olympic year, with the number of four-games-in-six nights and three-games-in-four-nights on the schedule, you need a backup to play, whether it’s 15 or 20 games, and win us some games,” Vigneault said. “That’s part of the equation to get into the playoffs and to be able to have a (number one) goaltender come playoff time that has some energy and jump in his legs.”
The 36 year old Biron was 2-2-1 last season. He posted a 12-6-2 record in 2011-12, when he posted respectable numbers with a 2.45 GAA and .903 save%.
The 40 year old Hedberg served as Marty Brodeur's backup in New Jersey the past three seasons. He struggled to a 6-10-3 record with an .883 save % and a 2.76 GAA in 2013. He was 17-7-3 with a 2.22 GAA and .917 save % in 2011-12. "Moose" became expendable to the Devils when GM Lou Lamoriello traded from Corey Shcneider at the NHL Entry draft in Newark on June 30th.
I like Marty's chances to fight off the "Moose" and to retain his job.
Thanks, Rangers.com
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Props to former Niagara Ice Dogs star Alex Pietrangelo. Bridge deal? Yeah, right!
Petro signed his new contract with the St. Louis Blues today. 7 years, $6.5 AAV per season. Same deal as Ottawa's Erik Karlsson.
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Just think, all of this sick virtuosity was born in Buffalo, NY!
Patrick Freakin' Kane: Buffalo's King of Funk.
PK88 is cold blooded.
In 2004, the old King Of Funk and Buffalo native Rick James passed on. James is entertaining the masses in heaven today while Kane brings the funk like no other in the game today.
Cold blooded.
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Ryan Miller recently switched brand allegiances.
Goodbye Reebok. Hello, Vaughn.
Miller is the latest high-profile NHL goalie to jump on board with Vaughn. Stanley Cup winners Marty Brodeur, Jonathon Quick, Tuuka Rask, Cam Ward, and Antii Niemi are on Team Vaughn, as are Jimmy Howard, Ben Scrivens, Robin Lehner, and Josh Harding to name a few. Sabres star of the future Matt Hackett rocks Vaughn gear, too.
I clicked this shot of Miller beaking in his new Vaughn gear at day 1 of Sabres training camp.
Check out these beauts!
New bucket and catching mitt, too.
To call Miller a perfectionist and a creature of habit when it comes to his goalie gear would be the understatement f the century.
Miller joins Vaughn just in time for the NHL-wide mandatory 10% reduction in the thigh rise of of goalie's leg pads.
Sabres fans hope and pray that Miller will lead the team to the 2014 postseason with an assist from Vaughn.
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I have to say it's been really nice to see good guy Henrik Tallinder back on the ice in a Buffalo Sabres practice sweater. The former Sabres D has proven that you can go home again. Tallinder signed as a free agent with the New Jersey Devils. Toni Lydman then signed with Anaheim, leaving two gaping holes on the Buffalo blue line, and in their room. Tallinder's hair has thinned a bit and he's showing a few grey hairs in his predominantly dirty blonde mane. Seems like ages ago that he was a Rochester Amerk with Miller, Roy, Vanek, Pominville, Campbell, and Gaustad. Show of hands. Who remembers the "Buffalo Core"? When the winning ended, and "the core " stopped producing playoff berths, the organization opted to spend their money elsewhere. Thus they allowed players to leave by way of UFA signings and trades.
Tallinder is three years older now, and a whole lot wiser.
Tallinder said Friday that the first part of his stay in Jersey was a pleasure when he played for Hall Of Famer Jacques Lemaire.
“It didn’t go as well as I thought. We had some different…a couple of things that didn’t work out during those three years. It was a good experience. I loved the area so to go and see new things, it’s a good experience I think.”
He added, “I didn’t have my best seasons when I played over there (NJ) so I can play better than I did over there.”
However, Hank's view of the Devils soured when then-head coach Lemaire was replaced by former Kitchener Rangers and Florida Panthers head coach Peter DeBoer.
“It was more personal, for me how everything worked out, not especially with the organization, but with the coach. We didn’t create positive images for each other, so that was the biggest thing.”
Sounds like Tallinder cherishes the time spent with his teammates, Lemaire, Lou Lamoriello and the organization. Its hard to succeed in any employment capacity when you don't see yey to eye with the boss, in Tallinder's case, DeBoer.
Perhaps playing its from playing under duress and having to deal with the adversities associated with nagging injuries that has made Tallinder more direct and vocal than he was in Version 1.0 of his time in Buffalo. Tallinder is not afraid to speak his mind anymore. For example, when he was asked about his relationship and kinship that he has with Sabres D Tyler Myers, Tallinder wasted very little time turning the business end of the stick on the members of the Buffalo media who perpetually bagged on Myers for his at-times inconsistent play in 2013.
Tallinder stepped up and represented Myers on Friday in a way that I hadn't seen him attempt publicly in his first foray with the Sabres when he was more of a low-key, hush toned leader in the room. On Friday, he wasn't after to get his lumber up in the grill of those who have slagged Myers in the past. Tallinder noted that Myers was only 19 when he and the eventual NHL Rookie Of The Year played together in 2010 in Buffalo.
“I think Tyler is an exceptional young man and player. When he came in I’ve never seen a guy that talented and that good at that age. I think he’s still young. I think you guys have been pretty hard on him too and he’s going to be an exceptionally good player still, just give him some time, let him play, he’ll be good.”
Look at Hank, cracking back on those who dared to criticize Myers. I like Tallinder's passion and his willingness to take up for his friend, but he wasn't watching like you and I were the uncharacteristic struggles of Myers in the 2013 season and for long stretches of the 2011-12 Sabres season. Myers himself didn't sugar-coat his inexplicably shoddy play in his own end of the rink. It was a combo platter of being injured while playing for KAC Klagenfurt during the NHL lockout, and then being grossly out of shape when the season eventually started in mid-January. Hank was busy trying to get himself out of DeBoer's doghouse and back onto the ice in Newark to truly understand every nuance of Myers' struggles in 2013. Nonetheless, I respect Tallinder for telling people to get off Myers' back. Thats what team leaders and friends do for one another. They stick up for one another when one of their own is down. Every hockey player is a human being. They have hard days like we do. The only difference is that most sabres fans didn't earn $12 million in 2012 like Myers did. Money changes everything and in the case of Myers, it seemed to dump kerosene of the fire last season.
Said Tallinder:
“Everything plays a factor, pressure, big contract, maybe starts to think a little bit too much instead of just playing.”
At 6'8" tall, Myers made himself a HUGE target for criticism in 2013. rather than run and hide from it he owned it. I was taught that if you are going to eat a dinosaur, you cannot do it in one gulp. You have to cut it up into bite-sized pieces. Thats exactly what Myers has done as a plan of cirrection to insure that he never has an abysmal season like the lockout-shortened season of 2013. First, he changed his mental approach to the the game. Its easy to say "don't get too high, don't get too low". But when faced with adversity, we as human beings default to our DNA. Admittedly, Myers was down in the dumps for extended periods of time in 2013. Its understandable. He allowed his teammates to see through his poker face. he was dying on the insides and he was allowing the pain and suffering to be seen by all in the room, including the media. He allowed the lows to get lower. Thats going to change this year. Myers went home to Kelowna and found himself a new head space. For the first time in his NHL career, he spent the majority of the summer in Buffalo, skating in the mornings with rooks and vets, among others: Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko, Andrey Makarov, cody mcCormick, Mike Weber, Brayden McNabb, Pat Kaleta, Matt Ellis, Chad Ruhwedel, and Corey Tropp. Myers worked with Sabres skating coach Dawn Braid to improve his skating and to drill himself on the fundamentals.
Since the Tallinder trade in July, Sabres fans and media have been speculating about the "inevitable" reunion of Myers and Tallinder. Not so fast there, Sparky.
On Thursday, Tallinder wasn't paired with his bro Myers. He was skating alongside Mark Pysyk, the former Edmonton Oil King star, who made a huge impression in his abbreviated maiden voyage in Buffalo after Rolston took over the Sabres interim head coaching reigns after Lindy ruff was fired in late February. Pysyk added immediate value to the Sabres back end and his excellent showing in 2012 has given him an inside track to compete for and legitimately be considered a contender for one of the seven D jobs in Buffalo this season.
Perhaps Roslton and Regier are looking for Tallinder to mentor and groom Pysyk in his first full season in the NHL , the same way that he had Myers in his memorable rookie year in 2010.
Former D coach James Patrick played Myers with Ehrhoff at the end of the 2013 season and it looks for now like Rolston likes that pairing playing together. Will 57 and 10 stick and stay together? Will Tallinder and Pysyk? Only time will tell. For no, it is what it is. Weber and ristolainen have been playing together in training camp and they look brilliant together. Two days of training camp is a far too small sample size to evaluate players on. The rubber will hit the road in the exhibition games, which begin in Montreal on Sunday night.
In some ways, Tallinder was brought back to Buffalo to serve as the 2006 version of Teppo Numminen. Older vet with knowledge and respect who can be trusted to lead the youngsters and to show them how to play the Buffalo Sabres way. Look at the Sabres blue line depth and you're immediately amazed at how sick and thick their talent pool runs. Mike Weber has made the transition to the NHL , but right behind him are blue chippers Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorov, the 2013 first round picks who impressed all observers at Sabres rookie camp in July and then again in Traverse City last week. Mark Pysyk, Brayden McNabb, and Chad Ruhwedel are youngsters who have tasted a bit of NHL success, however, now have to earn a roster spot in Buffalo. If not in training camp, then in stupendous play in Rochester when the season begins in October. Injuries happen every shift in the NHL. The Amerks kids have to be ready to make the I-90 Express like first responders to a fire call, at a moment's notice. Then, there's captain USA, Jake McCabe who is fast at work right now at the University of Wisconsin, who will be in Buffalo perhaps as soon as the end of this NCAA season. McCabe is the captain of teh Badgers and he recently told me that its his team's goal to win the NCAA Frozen 4 National Championship this year. When that happens, McCabe will have punched his ticket from the college ranks to pro hockey. Don't forget Jerome Gauthier-Leduc, either.
The Sabres are loaded with excellent, USDA prime cuts on their blue line. Tallinder will act as a teacher and role model to help them to make the smoothe, seamless transition to pro hockey in Rochester or Buffalo.
"With my experience, whether I want to or not, they’re going to look at the more experienced guy. When I think back when I got into the league, who do you look for? Not necessarily just talking, but just showing or just acting like the way I am, hopefully that helps them out a little bit. I might not be the most vocal guy, but if I have something to say, I’m saying it, I’m not afraid anymore.”
The new, older-wiser Tallinder says that he expects big things from the Sabres this season.
Not to be forgotten is that Tallinder was a prime contributor to Team Sweden's gold medal win at the IIHF World Championships in Stockholm in April. Jhonas Enroth got by with a lot of help from his friend Tallinder. Enroth and Tallinder tasted gold and now they never want to lose that addictive flavor from their palates.
“I expect the Buffalo Sabres to be in the playoffs and in the playoffs anything can happen.”
Now thats leadership.
Welcome back, Hank
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Source: WGR.com)
Remember, goalie pad height (thigh rise) is now reduced by 10%. For Ryan Miller and Henrik Lundqvist, this represents 2" of padding. Knees will be exposed.
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