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5 Shopping Days Until NHL Christmas |
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The Buffalo Sabres will resume their quest for a wild card berth tonight in Denver. It's the first game after a five-day hiatus for the Sabres, who return from their bye week tonight.
The last time the Sabres and Avs hooked up was earlier this month in Buffalo. Robin Lehner made 23 saves, Samson Reinhart and Evander Kane scored to give the Sabres a 2-0 win against the tanking Avalanche.
Lehner made 12 saves in the third period to get his second shutout of the season and fifth in the NHL.
On that night, there were more NHL GMs, personnel men and scouts in the press box than there were players on both benches. I counted 26 different representatives for 17 different NHL teams in attendance.
I expect a similar head count of NHL dignitaries in Denver. The NHL trade deadline is on Wednesday a March 1.
All NHL big game hunters in attendance tonight will be trained on Evander Kane, Matt Duchene, Gabe Landeakog and Tyson Barrie.
Teams interested in Evander Kane include: Anaheim, LA, San Jose, Vancouver, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Philadelphia and Calgary.
Do I think Kane will be traded on or before Wednesday?
Yes, I do.
There have been far too many NHL teams tracking and scouting Kane for the past three months.
While the eyes and the skies have been watching him, Kane has potted 21 goals, 20 at even strength, since December 1. Kane's off the charts production has been extraordinary and NHL GMs are clamoring to add the big, string, fast, fearless and productive winger. Why would Tim Murray trade Kane now and not this summer before the NHL Expansion draft? Because there will be 2-3 NHL GMs whose teams are in the precipice of winning the Stanley Cup this season who will make Murray offers that he cannot refuse. Kane is a plug and play rock star who will add immediate value, scoring, jam, speed and skill to a Cup contending team's roster.
Murray will get legit offers for top pair D-men and top organizational prospects in exchange for Kane. Murray will not decline the opportunity to convert Kane to a star defenseman.
Keeping Kane is a tough proposition for Murray and the Sabres. If Evander pots 30 goals this and next season he will be looking for a substantial raise on his current $5.25M AAV. Paying Kane north of $6M AAV over a seven year mega deal will be cost prohibitive for Buffalo. Ryan O'Reilly is already earning $7.5M AAV and Kyle Okposo $6M AAV. Rasmus Ristolainen earning $5.4M AAV. Jack Eichel and Samson Reinhart are now in line for large, lucrative contract extension in their second pro contracts. In a flat salary cap world, there is only so much money for Murray to invest in his forward ranks. Murray needs All Star D men.
Desperately.
Want another reason to trade Kane now?
The Sabres are not a playoff team today with him. Therefore, all veteran players except Eichel, Reinhart, Ristolainen, O'Reilly, Okposo and McCabe are expendable.
Also, the prices for Duchene and Landeskog are so artificially inflated right now that it is creating a strong movement towards Kane as the March 1 trade deadline approaches.
Other notable trade targets the will be evaluated tonight include Dmitry Kulikov, Cody Franson, Josh Gorges, Mikhail Grigorenko, Jarome Iginla, and Nikita Zadorov.
There are five shopping days left before NHL Christmas. Last minute shoppers will converge on the mall in the Mile High City tonight.
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The Sabres are looking to win their fourth game in their past five games.
Robin Lehner has started all three games against the Avalanche since he joined the Sabres last season, stopping 90 of 93 total shots (.968 save %).
Jack Eichel (1G, 2), Evander Kane (3G) and Ryan O’Reilly (4A) all have points in each of their last three games against the Avalanche.
Samson Reinhart has three points (2G, 1A) in three career games against Colorado.
Eichel has logged 18 points (5G, 13A) in his last 18 games, including six multi-point games. The Sabres are 10-0-0 this season (and 19-3-0 in his career) when he has at least two points.
Evander Kane has 15 points (9G, 6A) in his last 14 games.
Sam Reinhart has six points (2G, 4A) in his last six games, but missed the team’s last two games with an illness.
Rasmus Ristolainen has a point in eight of his last 10 games (1G, 7A) .A point tonight would stretch his point streak to a career-high six games.
Robin Lehner has logged a .942 save % in 10 starts during the hectic month of February.
Ryan O’Reilly has nine points (4G, 5A) in 11 games in February.
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Tonight is the Sabres’ fourth game in a seven-game stretch against Western Conference teams. Buffalo is 2-1-0 in the first three games.
The Sabres are 12-7-2 in all games against the Western Conference this season and 12-6-3 in their last 21 games against the Central Division.
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The Sabres entered play Friday ranked third in the league with a 22.5% success rate on the power play.
Buffalo has not finished a season ranked in the top five in power play percentage since the 2005-06 season (third, 21.2%).
Buffalo's current power-play percentage would rank as the ninth-best conversion rate in franchise history and the best since the team’s 22.6% mark in 1993-94. It would be the 50th-best season by any team since the league began publishing the stat in 1987-88.
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