Now that the champagne buzz has subsided, ever so slightly, Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman is now faced with the task of having to make the most difficult decisions that he will have to make in his lifetime. The Hawks return to the United Center today to clean out their lockers and to conduct end of season physicals with the medical staff. Bowman and Quenneville will also conduct their season ending exit interviews.
After the lift, comes the let down.
Bowman will have to say goodbye to players who helped the Hawks to win the Stanley Cup. Players like former Sabres D Steve Montador and Rusty Olesz.
In a perfect world, Bowman would keep this Cup winning club fully intact. It doesn't work that way in the NHL. The Hawks had to sell off key players like Versteeg, Campbell, and Burish after their last Cup win. There will be more casualties this time around.
Pierre LeBrun tweeted this morning that veteran centre, Dave Bolland, the man who scored the Stanley Cup Game 6 winning goal, will be on the trading block.
Thanks, NHL.com
Sweetest Stanley Cup GWG celly in history of the NHL!
Bolland will be a $3,375,000 cap hit and is entering the final year of his current Chicago contract.
Bolland addressed the trade rumors with CSN Chicago's Tracey Myers at today's break-up day:
Bolland on trade rumors: "I'd love to stay here. But whatever happens happens." #blackhawks
Bowman has only $7 million in cap space to work with and will have to move a contract or two to create the money to re-sign UFAs like power forward Bryan Bickell. Other UFAs include Michal Handzus, Viktor Stalberg, Jamal Mayers, Michal Roszival, and Ray Emery. Bowman must also qualify his RFAs Marcus Kruger and Nick Leddy.
Its inevitable that Bowman will have to bid adieu to guys like Bolland, and Marian Hossa, who is a prime candidate to be traded or to be handed a compliance buyout check.
If I'm Darcy Regier, I'm buying Stan Bowman a steak and a Henieken in Newark this weekend and I'm making an empassioned plea and a generous trade offer for Bolland. He's only 27 years of age and has already won two Stanley Cups. He's a special breed of player in that he's as big a pest as you'll find in the NHL, AND, he's a 200 foot player who will lead, fight, hit, block shots and score the big goals when called upon. Bolland is a winner.
The Sabres need to re-group with players like Bolland and Horton who have won the Stanley Cup and can speak from experience.
Imagine a Sabres room with badasses like Ott, Kaleta, Bolland, Foligno, Scott, Weber, and McNabb in it. Talk about hard to play against. The Sabres would then have the NHL market corned on smack talking Sons Of Anarchy on Ott, Kaleta, and Bolland, who would drive opponents crazy.
talk about defining your team's personality. Hasn't Rolston said that he wants his team to be tougher to play against? Bolland's no choir boy. He's play a key leadership role in Buffalo, thats for sure.
When Terry Pegula purchased the Buffalo Sabres and took over the team on 2/22/11, he did so with a lot of zeal and passion. The goal of the Sabres super fan turned owner was to restore the buzz and the euphoria of the bygone era. Pegula made it be known at his introductory media conference that money was not going to be an option in his administration like it had been in previous ownership regimes. Ted Black's mission was to make Buffalo a destination of choice for would-be UFAs, their agents, and other high profile players around the NHL. The "Hockey Heaven" brand was born out of the need to re-brand and re-purpose the Sabres organization as being a premiere hockey destination.
Pegula raised eyebrows on July 1, 2011 when his hot pursuit super UFA center Brad Richards was thwarted when the former Conn Smythe winner signed a big fat deal to play with the NY Rangers. Pegula, Black, and Regier wasted little time signing Ville Leino on that hot Summer day in Hockey Heaven. Leino was the consolation prize. He had just competed admirably in the Stanley Cup playoffs when he scored 3 goals and added 2 assist in 11 games while playing alongside Danny Briere and Scott Hartnell in Philly's deep run through the playoffs. Midway through the 2009-10 run to the Cup, Leino was traded from Detroit to Philly where he made a name for himself when he scored 7 goals and added 14 assists in 19 playoff games for Philly. The new Sabres owner took notice of the shiny Finn's scoring and skill. When the free agency market officially opened and the Sabres lost the Richards sweepstakes to the Rangers, it was Leino who was recruited to Hockey Heaven. The winger was signed to a gargantuan contract that is makes him $4.5 million cap hit through the 2016-17 season. Two years into the experiment, its easy to call the Leino $27 million signing one of the, if not THE biggest mistakes in the Sabres' 43 year history. By grossly over paying Leino, the Sabres announced to the marketplace that they were now serious about shedding the stigma created by previous ownership groups of being a cheap, penny-pinching organization that doesn't pay top dollar to top talent (ie: Drury, Briere, Campbell).
From a PR and branding standpoint, the Leino contract accomplished the organization's goal of selling Buffalo as a free agency contender, not a pretender. The Christian Ehrhoff mammoth signing bonus and monster contract was another reminder to the market that Buffalo was serious about its "Hockey Heaven" culture.
That was then. This is now.
While the majority of other NHL teams are hitting the reset button today on bad contracts, the Sabres are sitting on their hands. The "pay for no play" market opened at 11pm on Wednesday night (48 hours after the Stanley Cup was awarded to the Chicago Blackhawks).Darcy Regier announced last week at his pre-draft presser that he would not be buying out any of his players' contracts. Leino surely would have been a prime candidate to be Buffalo first ever amnesty buyout recipient, however, his ailing hip required a surgical procedure to correct damage that was done during his brief (8 games) NHL season. Do you realize that Pegula paid Leino $562,500 per game this season??!! What was his ROI (return on investment)? A surgery? For now, Leino escapes the proverbial hangman's noose. there's always next year, right? The onus is squarely placed on Leino right now to shut the mouths of his many critics. Its time for Leino to be accountable and to live up to the pressure and the tension that was built into his 6 year, $27 million jumbo-sized contract. Leino is a winger, not a center. He was erroneously paid #1 or #2 center money when it became clear that Brad Richards was Broadway bound.
How do you tell a passionate billionaire how to spend his money?
Philly are righting their wrongs by scratching fat checks to buy out Bryzgalov and Briere. Tampa are signing off on a $30 million check to Lecavalier so that their captain. Many more teams will follow suit in the days to come. Available cap space is at a premium right now as free agency opens on July and teams want to be able to fill roster holes with new players. Also, the new CBA is dictating that the NHL salary cap be reduced from $70.3 million to $64.3 million for the upcoming season.
The Sabres will not be signing any such skate away check to Ville Leino or any other player this Summer.
The NHL CBA will not allow a team to buyout an injured player. The Sabres are stuck with Leino, for now. The hope is that Leino rehabs himself and re-dedicates himself to returning his game to the same levels that Pegula fell in love with in 2009-10 and 2010-11. Of that happens, Leino will be spared from being one of Buffalo's two amnesty compliance buyouts.
If not, he will be traded to one of the other 29 NHL teams once his hip is deemed to be in perfect working order. Leino will turn 30 in October. He's not a kid anymore. He's supposed to be a team leader and a go-to guy at this point in his career. He cut his teeth in Detroit and Grand Rapids after his late arrival to North America. His pro career and development have been sabotaged by unlucky hip and lung injuries, to say nothing of his prolonged slumps and disappearing acts. As I write this piece, Leino is working out at First Niagara Center. He's been in Buffalo since his surgery. he's working out under the guidance of the team. He's doing so alongside Tyler Myers, Tyler Ennis, Mark Pysyk, Brian Flynn and other Sabres teammates.
Lets hope that all of the hard work pays off for Leino this season.
Patrick Kane is just 24 years old, but he's lived a pretty exciting life to this point. Kane continues to add impressive accomplishments to his already extraordinary resume.
Lets review. Kane was the first overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft. He won the NHL Rookie Of The Year. He won a Silver medal for Team USA at the Vancouver Olympics. He's won two Stanley Cup championships in the past four years. He earned the Conn Smythe award fir being named the MVP of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
On Wednesday night, Kane conquered Broadway with his wildly entertaining appearance on The David Letterman Show.
Kane's South Park Special (his glorious mullet) got its due on international TV. Kane's shout outs to Buffalo and Chicago were much appreciated.
I have to say that I'm very impressed by Kane's willingness to participate in the water canon gag that saw Letterman blast him, and the Stanley Cup, with a wave of ice water. Kaner showed his true team spirit when he allowed the funny man to drench him.
Letterman seemed genuinely impressed with Kane and the Blackhawks' recent Stanley Cup win over Boston. Dave's line of questioning suggests that he watched the Cup Finals and that he has an awareness of Kane's many exploits on the ice. Who knew that Dave is a closet Blackhawks and NHL fan?
**
If you want to check out the photos from the Blackhawk's Cup winning locket room, follow @Dave_Sandford on Twitter. Outstanding photo album!
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