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Antipin Bucket To Buffalo |
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A super duper puck mover will be arriving in Buffalo in the next week.
According to Sport-Express RU, Russian defenseman Viktor Antipin will be finally joining the Sabres for next season.
Antipin will make his long anticipated visit to Buffalo on May 29th to sign his NHL free agent contract.
According to the report, Antipin is only interested in playing for the Buffalo Sabres and not their AHL affiliate the Rochester Americans.
Makes sense because the kid is ready for prime time, in my own humble opinion.
The Buffalo Sabres are in desperate need of two or three defensemen to add more structure and responsibility to their D corps.
In 2016-17, the Sabres finished a disappointing 19th overall in goals against with 2.28 GA, allowing 231 total goals against in 82 games played.
Serious injuries to their NHL D group and inconsistency play of incumbent D-men doomed the Buffalo back end.
On the majority of night, Dan Bylsma was forced to have to play 12 different defenseman, some of which were raw AHLers who lacked NHL experience but acquitted themselves rather well playing while under duress.
The 12 different defensemen accumulated a pathetic -71 plus-minus rating.
Unrestricted free agent Dmitry Kulikov was an abysmal -26 in his first season in Buffalo.
The Sabres need to add three more NHL playing D.
Antipin brings needed confidence, skill, and competence to the Buffalo blue line.
Before he was canned in April, former Sabres GM Tim Murray planted his flag on Mount Antipin. Murray identified the kid in March.
One of Murray's fatal flaws was that he failed to draft and acquire organizational D prospects.
Murray's one blue chipper, Brendan Guhle, will be a full time player in Buffalo come September. Antipin will be another upgrade to the down trodden Buffalo blue line. Guhle impressed in the three game emergency call up he performed in back in November and December. Guhle's junior hockey days are done for good and he is now more polished and ready for NHL prime time next season.
Thankfully, Dmitry Kulikov and Cody Franson will be leaving Buffalo as UFA in July. Murray's successor, Jason Botterill, will have a decision to make on Taylor Fedun, who is also UFA.
Why was the Buffalo blue line so bad in 2016-17?
Youngsters Rasmus Ristolainen and Jake McCabe were forced to play excessive TOI per game against opponent's top six forwards in late stages of close games. At the end of the season, Ristolainen, McCabe Zach Bogosian and Josh Gorges were fatigued from their elevated time on ice which allowed opponents to take advantage of the Sabres in their end of the rink.
Ristolainen averaged 26:28 TOI while McCabe skated 20:52 TOI. Bogosian worked 20:05 TOI per game while Gorges, 32, was forced to have to play 18-20 minutes per game, which proved to be too much ice time for the veteran defender.
Buffalo's next head coach will have to integrate Guhle and Antipin (as well as another new top six D) to find balance in his D corps. Botterill has said that he admires Ristolainen and McCabe and will have to find the strategy to distribute TOI of Ristolainen and McCabe so as to avoid fatigue and burn out during the 2017-18 season.
Adding Guhle and Antipin will buoy Buffalo's D for sure. Botterill may end up trading his 8th overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft in exchange for a veteran D like Cam Fowler, Shea Theodore or Brandon Montour from the Anaheim Ducks, who will not be able to keep all of their talented D due to the Las Vegas expansion draft to be held next month.
Tim Murray spent his final ten months as Sabres GM scouring the NHL for trade partners to upgrade his back end. Murray needed D in the worst way and could not look within the organization to promote stop gap defenders from AHL Rochester because there is such a lack of depth in the defense prospect pool. Murray's Waterloo in Buffalo was that he over stocked the offensive side of the puck at the expense of the defensive side of the biscuit. Too many forwards, not enough D. A recipe for disaster manifested itself in Buffalo in 2016-17.
Did Murray really need to invest his 2016 8th overall pick in slick forward Alex Nylander when he could have easily snagged D men of distinction in Jakob Chychrun or Mikhail Sergachev?
I was flabbergasted when Murray skipped over Chychrun and Sergachev so that he could draft Nylander in Buffalo in 2016. I love Nylander's high skill and his speed, however, the Sabres desperately needed D and not another skilled forward. Murray's decision to skip over Chychrun and Sergachev bit him in the patoot.
Before his ouster from Buffalo, Murray said that he and the representatives for Antipin, were continuing to speak about the talented rear guard leaving Russia for Buffalo. Antipin, who was first linked to the Sabres by Elliotte Friedman in March, now appears to be close to signing a contract with the Sabres. My colleague Aivis Kalnins tweeted about Antipin to Buffalo on Sunday night.
Antipin, 24, a left shot D, already plays a man's game in the KHL. He reminds me a lot of a left shot Sami Vatanen in the style of how well he skates, defends in his own end, joins the rush and gets involved in the battles in front of his own net and along the walls .
Antipin thrives at even strength and in the power play. Buffalo are owners of thevNHL's number one rated PP in 2016-17. Having Antipin QB PP2 will only create more blunt force trauma for opponents to have to deal with next season.
Antipin scored 24 points (6G, 18A) in 59 games played (+10) with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL this season.
Antipin also added 11 points (7G, 4A) in 18 playoff games. Antipin was named the top defensive player in the KHL Finals (Gagarin Cup) where his team was eliminated by Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk and CSKA Saint Petersburg.
Antipin chipped in four assists in 10 games played for bronze medal winners Russia at the recently concluded IIHF World Championships in Cologne Germany. Antipin skated 18 minutes TOI, registered 8 shots on goal and was +5.
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