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Grigorenko #blueprint

September 10, 2013, 9:11 AM ET [33 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
grigo sabres
(Photo courtesy Dan Hickling)


Its a bummer that Mikhail Grigorenko was ruled ineligible for the Traverse City Prospect Tournament. It would have been nice to get a progress report on how his offseason conditioning program is going to give him more strength and endurance this season. Grigo played 25 NHL games last season and he was excused from the TCity event. He'll begin his second rookie year on Wednesday when he and his teammates and prospects report to training camp for physicals and fitness testing. Grigo is in tip-top shape as he has been in Buffalo since July, working out with his fellow Sabres players. He's been working with skating coach Dawn Braid and is ready to show his GM, coaches, and the fans that he is ready to take charge and to play the role of NHL difference maker.


Thanks, Sabres.com


Grigorenko will be staying in Buffalo for the entire 2013 season. No trips to rochester. No demotions to junior. He's a Buffalo Sabres player. Now, its time to go out and create 45-55 points for the entire 82 game NHL season.


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Updated 1:46pm:

Tim Thomas to Buffalo rumors are already sizzling across the fiber optics back channels of the internet.

I'll save the thrill seekers their time and trouble.

It ain't gonna happen for Thomas in Buffalo.

Darcy Regier would woo Dominik Hasek out of retirement before he sniffed around Thomas.

Its a "YOUTH Movement" in Buffalo, not a retirement community.

Mikhail Grigorenko, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Zemgus Girgensons are 19 years old. Thomas is almost 40. The kids need a goalie, not a chaperone whose old enough to be their father.

Nope.


Calgary and Florida can use Thomas today.



Buffalo will give their net to Jhonas Enroth and Matt Hackett when Ryan Miller is traded.


jhonas


Clearly, the internet rumor hounds have never heard of Jhonas Enroth, he of the gold medal for Team Sweden at the 2013 IIHF World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden.




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When we last heard from 2011 Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Tim Thomas, he was talking about retirement from the NHL. That was February.

Then in July came rumors that Thomas was interested in coming out of retirement to resume his NHL career at age 39, after spending the 2012 season away from the bright lights at the rink to focus om his “friends, family and faith.”

Today, Thomas is free to sign with one of 30 NHL teams. He's a UFA.

He can be a cheap, stop-gap goalie that can help a team win now.

Who has seen Thomas in the past year? For all we know he can emerge from his retirement a 300 pound slug. I'm told that Facebook can add 10 pounds to a guy's waistline. Damn Candy Crush is addicting!

I'll be willing to bet that Thomas has spoken with his former Team USA GM, Brian Burke about the starting goaltending job in Calgary. Burke was hired as Director of Hockey operation in Calgary last week and Mikka Kiprusoff officially retired yesterday.

Thomas to Calgary?

The Flames have a goal tending itch that they can scratch with Thomas. Journeyman Karro Ramo was signed this summer after he spent the past 4 seasons playing in Russia. Veteran backup Joey MacDonald is well, a backup.

The Flames have a ton of cap space to work with, not that Thomas will be an expensive contract.

Stranger things have happened.

Just think, if Thomas signs with Calgary as their starter, and he wins the Stanley Cup, he won't have to visit the White House in Washington, DC.




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When the Buffalo Sabres invested their 16th overall pick in power forward Joel Armia, they did so as a measure to upgrade their size, strength and skill up front. The Sabres love Armia's combination of assets. When they drafted him in 2011, it was with the idea that he would stay home in Finland and complete his mandatory military obligation, which meant that he could still develop his skills while playing against men in the Finnish league.

The 20 year has spent the past three seasons playing with Assat Pori in the respectable SM-Liiga.





Judging by his performance at the Traverse City Prospects Tournament, I'd have to say that the Sabres are pleased with Armia's overall growth and development. He played with poise and confidence while working with center Johan Larsson and left wingers Dan Catenacci and Zemgus Girgensons. He was held pointless in four games at the Traverse City tourney. He took 11 shots and was +2. His passing skills stood out as he found the open man with pucks on tape. It would have been nice to see him get rewarded with a goal or a few assists for his at-times dominant play against the top lines of the Blue Jackets, Rangers, Hurricanes, and Red Wings. He's played on the 200 by 100 international-sized rinks his whole life, and there were times that Armia struggled with time and space issues. Thats to be expected. Every foreign player has to make the adjustment to having less time to make plays and passes.

In my opinion, he saved his best performance for last. Armia was a thorn in the side of the Red Wings for the entire championship game. He made silky plays, like the one where he set up gauthier-leduc busting down the chute while on the PP. Gauthier-Leduc's shot went over the net when it should have gone bar down. Or, when he fed Larsson and Girgensons for chances in close. He banged bodies around and won his share of loose pucks. is best chance of teh tourney came when he hammered a shot off the post in the stages of the third a 3-2 game.

Armia is a scorer. That part of comes naturally to him. He was born to make goalies look foolish. The area of his games that scouts have said need improvement is his play on the defensive side of the puck. He's always used his size to lean on opponents, but the Sabres wanted to see Armia use his 6'3 195 lb. frame to shield opponents while holding on to pucks in the offensive zone. They also wanted to see his use his big body to win wall battles and to fight against D-men to get to the dirty areas in front of the net.

If I have criticism of his game, its that he didn't shoot enough. He'd possess a hard, deadly accurate clapper and a deceiving snap shot/wrister. I don't think that he used those weapons enough.

After the 4-2 loss to the Red Wings in the championship game, Armia talked about his adhustment to playing on the 200 by 85 ice surface for the first time.


Thanks, Sabres.com

I'm giving Armia a grade of B- for his first four games on NHL ice. His overall game built to a crescendo over the course of the four games in six days.

He'll take what he learned from Traverse City and immediately transfer it to the Buffalo Sabres training camp which begins Thursday morning.

In case you missed the game, here are the highlights:





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Updated 9:59am EDT:


Looks like Derek Stepan and Nazem Kadri are the two players from this year's RFA class who will be waging training camp hold outs. Stepan wants more than just a 'bridge contract". He and his agent want more than a "show me what you can do, then you'll get the big contract" agreenment.

Larry Brooks of the NY Post spoke with Stepan's agent.




NHL training camps open tomorrow. Players will take their fitness tests and physical exams.

Stepan has been seeking a multi-year contract extension. Rangers GM Glen Sather is only offering a "bridge deal".

According to reports, Stepan and his agent are seeking a contract similar to the one that his Rangers D-man Ryan McDonagh recently signed for six-years and $4.7 million per season AAV. Sather and the Rangers are holding firm on a "bridge contract".

Stepan is NY's second line center and he's proven himself to be a reliable, 200 foot player.

Sounds like the PK Subban and Drew Doughty situations all over again, doesn't it?

Player wants "X". team offers "X-Y".

Staring contest to see who blinks first.

The Rangers only have $4 million in cap space for this season. Stepan wants all of it. Rangers not willing to give him north of $3 million for 2 seasons.

Sather has said the that the Rangers are willing to sign Stepan to a "bridge contract" now and then will look to extend him before the bridge contract.

Sounds like Stepan will be a training camp holdout.

In toronto, RFA Nazem Kadri is in a similar plight with Leafs management, He wants between $5M and $6M per season, for 6 seasons. The leafs are not convinced yet that Kadri is worthy of such a lavish contract, therefore, they are selling a "bridge" to Kadri. The Leafs have only $4.9 million remaining on their salary cap and they have to use it to sign Kadri and RFA D Cody Franson.

In Buffalo, it appears very likely that RFA center Cody Hodgson will be signing a "bridge contract" in the next day or so.

On Saturday Washington signed their RFA center Marcus Johnasson (2 years, $4 million) to a "bridge contract". Ditto Phoenix with their RFA Mikkel Boedker (2 years, $4.5 million).




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When the Philadelphia Flyers ink Dan Cleary to his new three year contract, the Flyers will have some chopping to do to their roster. Cleary will play for $2.75 AAV per season, and will reportedly receive a no trade clause.




The Flyers have 10 D and will likely trade Braydon Coburn's $4.5 million contract in order to become cap compliant.

They may also consider trading forward Matt Read's $900,00 0 contract. Read will be UFA on July1, 2014.

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Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher traded away a small fortune in order to acquire Jason Pominville from the Buffalo Sabres last April. Fletcher gave Buffalo its two top organizational prospects in goalie Matt Hackett annd center Johan Larsson. The Wild also traded a 2013 1st round pick which the Sabres used to draft D monster Nikita Zadorov. The Sabres also received a 2014 2nd round draft choice.

Thats a huge haul for Pominville, the veteran scorer who immediately assisted the Wild to qualify for the playoffs. They lost to Chicago in the first round of the playoffs. Pominville was injured late in the regular season when he was blasted in the face by a Dustin Brown elbow. Pominville scored four goals and added five assists in 10 games played.

Pominville's contract expires at the end of the 2013-14 season. His agent and Fletcher have been going back and forth on contract talks.

Pominville told the Star Tribune that he wants to stay and play in Minneapolis.

“They’ve talked a few times for sure and are going back and forth about what the plans are,” Pominville said last week. “We’ll just go day by day and see if both sides can make progress and go from there.

“They committed to getting me, so just that means a lot to me and being part of a group that is committed to having success and being in a city that loves hockey, that makes it even better.”





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It took the Detroit Red Wings 16 attempts to win its own Traverse City Prospects Tournament.

Hail to the victors.




Perhaps it was the pregame speech that was delivered to the Red Wings prospects by living legend Gordie Howe.




How cool is that?

On Monday night, Anthony Mantha and the star-studded Red Wings prospects roster defeated the defending champion Buffalo Sabres 3-2 in the tournament title game.


Mantha took advantage of Buffalo's parade to the penalty box and scored 2 PPGs. He also assisted on Detroit's game winning goal scored by Nastasiuk.

Mantha was Detroit's first round pick in 2013 (20th overall). He scored 50 goals and added 39 assist in his NHL draft year for QMJHL Val D'Or.




The Sabres should have learned a lesson from their last two games when they allowed the Rangers and Canes to combine to score five PPGs against their PK units.

The Sabres allowed 7 PPG against in just 20 shorthanded situations in the four game tournament. Having a 65% PK success rate isn't good enough to win games. Chadd Cassidy's PKers bent and broke on too many occasions, especially against Detroit. In the end, the Sabres played with fire and they got burned.

The tipping point for the Sabres in the title game was penalties. The Red Wings cashed in their chances while the Sabres went 0-5 on their PP chances.

Another mitigating factor in Buffalo's loss was the fact that the Red Wings were able to deny time and space to the top six forwards of the Sabres who had been rolling along like a freight train in games against Carolina and the Rangers. Though they tried their damnest to get their team on the board, Girgensons-Larsson-Armia and Locke-Catenacci- Baptiste were not able to generate shots and chances. Credit the Red Wings for executing their scouting report. Baptiste (7 points) entered the game as the tourney's leading scorer. He was held in check by the Wings, as was Eric Locke (6 points).

The Sabres got their best forward play from the trio of Trainor-Jacobs-Nelson. Trainor was active and engaged. Jacobs was hard in pucks and controlled faceoffs. Nelson was a one man wrecking crew, making huge hits that separated Wings from pucks that led to scoring chances. The Sabres third line abused the Red Wings.

Buffalo got goals from Freddy Roy and Peter Trainor.

The Wings controlled the play for most of the title game. Control the puck, control the game. They out shot Buffalo, 40-25.

The Wings went 4-0 in the tourney.



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Would you recognize Bobby Ryan if he was standing next to you at a bus stop?

Don't feel bad. Neither did 99% of the Ottawa Senators fans who Ryan interviewed on the streets of Ottawa recently. Ryan was acquired by the Sens earlier this summer and judging by this "hockey player on the street" interview session, he's going to be flying under Jason Spezza's radar. Something I'm sure he doesn't mind at all.


Thanks, Sens TV


Eastern conference fans should get to get to know Ryan's face of an angel now. His words, not mine. You'll be booing him as he snipes your goalies this season.


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