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Jack, Samson & ?; Permission granted

October 7, 2016, 8:07 PM ET [7 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Updated:







It looks like Jack Eichel and Samson Reinhart have found their winger.

His name is Evander Kane.

Dan Bylsma has skated the three talented forward trio together in practices. Bylsma waited until the final preseason game to unleash their fury on an opponent.

Boy, did they ever.

The 9-15-23 line ganged up on the Senators on Friday night and produced four points in the 4-2 Sabres win. Kane and Reinhart had a goal and an assist apiece. Eichel chipped in an assist.



"We've been skating a lot in practice and we're familiar with each other," Reinhart said. "I know we're going to sit down in the week to come before the season and kind of get more familiar with each other. But I like the way we read off each other and controlled the play for the most part."

In 2015-16, Eichel scored 24 goals, Reinhart 23, and Kane 20 goals. The trio combined for 133 total points. If they play together for periods of time thi sseason, the Kane-Eichel-Reinhart line just might produce 175-200 points together this season. That type of offensive production is intoxicating.


I love the idea of playing Kane along with Eichel and Reinhart but I get concerned because Kane loves to hold the puck. Eichel loves the to control the puck. There is only one puck and there are two alpha males who want to own it. Reinhart is content to share the puck and make plays for his mates.

If this trio is going to succeed, they will have to execute more give and go's and they will have to trust one another. Another corn of mine is Kane's bad habit of firing shots that miss the net from all angles. This can lead to odd man rushes against Robin Lehner.




Eichel liked playing with Kane and Reinhart.


"We had some success when we played the right way," Eichel said. "We obviously had some more success tonight. I mean, backchecking, stripping pucks, that's our game. Forechecking, going to the net. We were rewarded and that's how we're going to have to play."





***

Kane made his long awaited return to his Instagram account on Friday night.

Bout that time

A photo posted by Evander Kane (@evander9kane) on




It had been 12 weeks since Kane posted this gem on his Insta page.


Mood! #Flashback

A photo posted by Evander Kane (@evander9kane) on



Sabres fans want Kane to keep his head down and place 100% of his focus on hockey.






**

Samson Reinhart and Evander Kane each scored a goal and an assist to fuel the Buffalo Sabres to their 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Friday night in Kanata.

Derrick Grant and Marcus Foligno also scored for the Sabres.


Grant scored three goals and played exceptionally well in his elongated tryout during tthe exhibition season. Grant, 26, is a center/winger who has accepted more and more ice time in teh absence of O'Reilly amd Okposo and he has thrived. Grant has made a great case for why he should be the thirteenth forward in Buffalo when the final cuts are completed in the coming hours. Grant has accumulated three goals and three assists in the six exhibition games that he played in. The Abbottsford, BC native has earned the trust of Dan Bylasma and his teammates. If I were Grant, I would have all my mail forwarded to Buffalo, not Rochester.

Williamsville, NY native son Justin Bailey has also made a strong case for why he should stick and stay in Buffalo. Bailey's size, strength, speed and hoickey sense sets him apart from all other Sabres prospects. Bailey was sent down to AHL Rochester on Thursday and will likely begin the season with the Amerks. Bailey will be a call up when injuries hit the Sabres this season.

2016 first rounder Alex Nylander has shown flashes of brilliance, however, is not ready for the NHL, if you ask me. The kid needs to play big minutes against twenty and thirt-somethings in The A. His time will come.



The Sabres and Senators each have completed their exhibition hockey seasons.

The next order of business is for Sabres GM Tim Murray to cut down his final roster to 22 players.

Reinhart the remarkably versatile forward gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead midway through the first period while Kane gave Buffalo the three goal lead to push the score to 4-1 late in the the third period. Reinhart picked up the assist.

Super sophomore Jack Eichel had an assist and was plus-2 in 18:31 of ice time.

Sabres training camp MVP Derek Grant scored yet another goal, a shorthanded marker, to give the Sabres a 3-0 lead at 7:22 of the second period.

Robin Lehner made 30 saves on 32 shots faced for the Sabres.

Lehner finished teh preseason with a 3-0 record. Lehner allowed only two goals against in the nine periods that he played in the preseason.

Kyle Turris and J.G. Pageau scored for the Sens. Craig Anderson allowed four goals on 25 shots for Ottawa.


**



Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma has to be concerned about the health and well being of four of his prime movers as the season opener inches closer.

Ryan O'Reilly, Kyle Okposo, Zach Bogosian, and Dmitry Kulikov are all injured.

O'Reilly left his only preseason game played on Wednesday with back muscle spasms midway through the first period of play. On Thursday, Bylsma called O'Reilly's situation "precautionary." O'Reilly did not play against Ottawa on Friday nighta nd is listed as day-to-day.


Okposo took an errant slap shot off his left knee on Monday. The shot struck Okposo on an area of his knee that was not heavily padded. He has been making daily progress, according to Bylsma.

Bogosian began skating on his own on Thursday to rehabilitate his strained groin muscle that he suffered last week.


Kulikov suffered a "bruised butt" when he was smashed into the bench door frame last Thursday night. Kulikov was supposed to have skated on his own in Buffalo on Friday morning. Kulikov had not skated for a week since injuring his back against the Toronto Maple Leafs last Thursday night.


Bylsma cannot cut down his roster to thirteen forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies until he has confidenece that O'Reilly, Okposo, Bogosian and Kulikov are healthy.


Bylsma would normally treat the final preasosn game as his dress rehearsal for the opening night. Most NHL head coaches like to play their a veteran lineup in the final exhibition game. On Friday night, Bylsma had to play kids and AHlers in the starting lineup to counter balance the loss of his four injured players. The Buffalo blue line was missing three starters on Friday night in Bogosian, Kulikov and unsigned restricted free agent Rasmus Ristolainen.

With permission from GM Tim Murray, Ristolainen has been practicing since last week with his teammates. The young Finn has skated with veteran Josh Gorges, his partner for most of last season.

"I'm acting right now in practice and playing on a pair like he's going to be there," Bylsma said Thursady. "That might change next week when we get to practice if he still remains unsigned."

Bylsma will have to work on the power play this week. Hopefully he gets PP performer back to the ice in O'Reilly, Okposo, Kulikov and Bogosian. Ristolainen also plays a key role on the power play. He should be re-signed any day now.




The Sabres open the 2016-17 regular season when they host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursady night.









________________________________________________________________________


So much for the Edmonton Oilers trading their former first overall pick in the NHL Draft Nail Yakupov to the Chichago Blackhawks as was rumored earlier this week.

There were several heavy hitters who had Yakupov heading to Chicago to play with fellow rushin' Russian Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin.

That deal was snagged, stalled and eventually submarimed by the stealth like St. Louis Blues who have traded a prospect and a conditional third round draft choice to the Oilers in exhange for the former OHL (Sarnia Sting ) sniper.

My friend in all things hockey and red wine, Elliotte Friedman, broke the story while the rest of the sporting world was watching the MLB playoffs on Friday night.

The Oilers tweeted the deal:





Looks to me like a Grade A salary dump to me.


Zach Pochiro, is not an AHL player. He is an East Coast Hockey League winger. You likely won't be collecting Pichiro's NHL hockey card because he won't have one produced. Pochiro played juniors in Prince George. It's being reported that teh Oilers will not be absorbing any of Yakupov's salary.

Calgary Flames defenceman Kris Russell.

It's now boom or bust time for Yakupov.

I love the idea of Yakupov riding dirty with his friemd Vlad Tarasenko. If health and motivated, Yakupov, 23, can resurrect his career and re-brand himself as an NHL star who was a late bloomer.

THe Blues are not asking Yakupov to be a scoring star. To teh contrary. They want the maligned young Russian to simply blend in and be a productive player in all three zones.

Is there another player in NHL history who needed a change of scnery more than Yakupov?

Only Yakupov can make this opportunity happen. The ionus is on him to do the work, listen to his coaches and be a good teammate.


I still am having a tough time wrapping my head around the fact taht Oilers GM Pete Chiarelli has traded Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov, two former first overall draft picks, in the past three months. Hall was the first overall pick in 2010, Yakupov went numero uno in 2012, In July, Chiarelli shocked the hockey Twitterverse when he traded Hall to the New Jersey Devils for sometimes impresssive young defenseman Adam Larsson.

It appears as though Chiarelli will be investing Yakupov's Oilers cap space to veteran lefty defenseman Kris Russell. Friedman reports that Russell, who was traded from Calgary to Dallas at the 2016 NHL trade deadline, will be signing a one year UFA contract with the Oilers.








***


Griffin Reinhart is a man without an NHL team to play for.

The Edmonton Oilers have demoted the former fourth overall NHL draft pick to their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield, California.

Reinhart, 22, was one of nine defensemen left in Oilers training ca with one exhibition game remaining.

Right about now, the Oilers are dreading trading for Reinhart.

Reinhart became an Oiler at heh 2015 NHL Draft. He only appeared in 29 games for Edmonton in 2015-16. He only provided one point in his 29 games played.

Suffice to say, the Islanders are the winners of the Reinhart trade.

The Oilers traded the Islanders the #16 and #33 picks at the2015 NHL Draft. Garth Snow invested his premium draft choices in forwards Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier.


Griffin Reinhart may want to tell his agent to call Tim Murray and the Buffalo Sabres. Perhaps Griffin would benefit from a change of scenery in AHL Rochester. Perhaps being close to his kid brother Samson will get Griffin's career back on the tracks. Tim Murray found lightning in a bottle when he reunited Ryan and Cal O'Reilly in Buffalo. Maybe he can find the same chemistry with the Reinhart brothers.


Maybe, just maybe Griffin Reinhart, a left shot defenseman, is like Nail Yakupov. A change of address may be the panacea that cures all that ails his game.
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