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McPhee Aware He Owes Favor To Sabres; Futa Fighters |
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In February, the Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray said in an interview that he had discussions with Vegas Knights GM George McPhee. Murray said his buddy McPhee owed him a favor.
Murray and McPhee discussed who the Sabres not want to expose to the June expansion draft and what it would take to see the plan through to a successful end.
McPhee confirmed to John Wawrow of the Associated Press he had “productive talks” with Murray, but no deal was finalized. McPhee said he’d reach out to Murray’s replacement once he is in place.
It's McPhee's job to know which players his 30 GM counterparts are passionate about protecting. McPhee will gladly make deals.
"If they want to give us draft picks to encourage us to take a certain player or leave another player alone, we're open-minded and we're going to listen to everyone," McPhee told the AP. "You usually build your team, historically, through the entry draft, so we'd certainly be interested in acquiring picks."
In February, Murray said he did a favor for George McPhee while he was GM of the Washington Capitals. At the time, Murray sounded like he and the Sabres were openly campaigning to cash in on the favor from 2014.
"i’ve had a conversation or two with George on who I wouldn’t like to lose and how we can make that happen. Maybe I’ve done a deal with George in the past that was considered somewhat of a favor. Maybe I’ve had a conversation with him reminding him of that, and he remembered the wordage of that deal word-for-word, which I was very happy to hear", said Murray.
The favor in question is:
Washington received: goalie Jaroslav Halak and a 2015 3rd round pick.
Buffalo received: goalie Michal Neuvirth and defenseman "Rusty" Klesla
The favor was in the form of Buffalo taking Klesla, who never Laced up his skates in Buffalo. "Rusty" and his $3 million contract went back home to his native Czech Republic, and was blasted off McPhee’s salary cap.
"You only do a favor when it suits you. You do a favor for somebody when you can afford to do that favor now, knowing that you might need something down the road. That’s what favors are", said Murray.
So what do the Sabres want in return from McPhee? Only Tim Murray and George McOhee know the answer to that question.
My guess is that Murray was adamant about McPhee taking one of his bad contracts like that of Matt Moulson ( $5M x 2 years) or Tyler Ennis ($4.6M x 2 years).
Or, McPhee may take Evander Kane's one year, $5.25 million off the hands of the new Buffalo GM. I'm here in Las Vegas right now and have been since Sunday. Evander Kane's name is on the lips of many local sources that I continue to speak with. The Vegas fan base is a smart, passionate hockey culture. This is where the A-Listers live and play. Fans here want the big name entertainers to represent their fine, sinful city. Ditto the Knights. Kane to them is larger as Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor, Dave Chappell, or DJ Zedd.
Given the choice, the Vegas Knights sources that I am speaking with tell me that they would hands down prefer Evander Kane than any other player in the current Buffalo roster.
Kane's size, speed, skill, and swagger make his a desirable brand ambassador for Las Vegas and the Golden Knights.
Sabres fans aren't thrilled with the idea of losing Evander Kane in his contract year.
Personally, I agree with Terry Pegula that it's time for the Sabres to rebuild their culture around discipline, structure, skill, speed, communication and character.
I'm not suggesting that the new Sabres GM leave Kane unprotected in the upcoming expansion draft. What I am suggesting is (insert new Sabres GM name here) make a trade with George McPhee. Say, Evander Kane for a first and second round pick.
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The NY Rangers kiboshed the opportunity for Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula to interview Chris Drury for their GM vacancy. Don't blame Drury, say my Elliotte Friedman.
Following their second round Game One loss to Ottawa on Thursday night, the Rangers (GM Jeff Gorton?) reached out to Friedman Friday morning to inform him that the Rangers were the party that declined Buffalo's request to interview their AGM, not Drury. The Rangers organization went to great lengths to shift the onus from Drury.
To know Drury is to know that he is a quiet, introverted man who avoids the spotlight whenever possible. I covered Drury when he was a Sabres captain. He's a man of very few words, which is his personality. My guess is that he told his boss Gorton that he wasn't comfortable being the object of the deluge of criticism that was direct at him after the Buffalo interview denial story broke late Thursday afternoon.
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My updated list of Sabres GM candidate list:
Tom Fitzgerald, AGM New Jersey Devils
Mike Futa, AGM LA Kings
Bill Guerin, AGM Pittsburgh Penguins
Bill Zito, AGM Columbus Blue Jackets
Jason Botterill, Associate GM Pittsburgh Penguins
My sources tell me to double down on Botterill.
I've been in Vegas all week and am told that Botterill was on the short final list of candidates for the Vegas GM job that eventually was awarded to George McOhee.
Botterill, 40, has worked with the Penguins since 2007-2008 and in that time has ascended the team’s ranks from director of hockey administration to assistant GM to his current role as associate GM. Botterill is also GM of the Penguins’ top minor league affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He has been part of the Penguins leadership group that led them to two Stanley Cups as well as one additional Cup Final in his Pittsburgh tenure.
Botterill is a respected cap guru of the Penguins. Botterill gives Jim Rutherford the cap space needed to make player acquisitions and trades to theOens. Botterill has a knack for making the money work out. Botterill has been tasked with adding players to augment and support Sidney Crosby and Geno Malikn. I'd say that Botterill has had the Midas Touch.
Botterill plays a prominent role on the development of Penguins players. Working heavily with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Connor Sheary, Matt Murray, Bryan Rust, Brian Dumoulin, Jake Guentzel, Tom Kuhnhackl and other kids were ready for prime time when called upon last season during the regular season when injuries wreaked havoc on veteran Penguins players.
Botterill played the final three seasons of his NHL career with the Buffalo Sabres and Rochester Americans. He retired after the 2004-05 season. Botterill was a big, grinding left winger who was selected 20th overall by the Dallas Stars in 1994.
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I wrote on Wednesday that the Pegulas interviewed LA Kings AGM Mike Futa for three hours at New Era Field on Tuesday.
According to a source, a meeting between the Pegulas and Futa took place.
I can neither confirm nor deny the interview.
Today, the Kings officially granted Futa permission to interview with the Sabres to be the successor for Tim Murray.
Futa, who previously served as LA Kings Vice President, Hockey Operations and Director of Player Personnel, was promoted last week to Assistant General Manager under new Kings President Luc Robitaille and Vice President
“Mike has been tremendous and we’re going to sit with him over the next couple days, and there are vacant positions and I think at the end of the day I’m going to lean tremendously on him,” Blake said. “His success that he’s had here with the draft and the Ontario League and what he’s done professionally, we’ll come with an agreement there shortly.”
Futa had interviewed for the Buffalo Sabres GM job that eventually was awarded to Tim Murray in 2013. Futa had been approached by the Vancouver Canucks.
Futa is a Toronto native.
Should he get the Buffalo GM job, Futa may ask his Ontario Reign head coach Mike Stothers to be his Buffalo Sabres head coach.
Stothers has 30-plus years of professional hockey experience as both a player and coach and led the American Hockey League's Manchester Monarchs to their first Calder Cup Championship last season in his first season as head coach, finishing the regular season with an impressive 50-17-9 record and earning the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL Coach of the Year. Prior to the Monarchs, Stothers served as head coach of the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League for three seasons (2011-14).
Before that, he also served as a head coach – under then General Manager and current Kings Vice President of Hockey Operations and Director of Player Personnel Michael Futa –in the Ontario Hockey League with the Owen Sound Attack (2002-07). Stothers was also a head coach in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins (2007-08), and as an assistant coach in the NHL with the Atlanta Thrashers (2010-11) and the Philadelphia Flyers (2000-02). He was a member of the Flyers coaching staff when Head Coach Bill Barber was named NHL Coach of the Year in 2001, and he was the head coach in Grand Rapids when the parent-club Detroit Red Wings – coached by Mike Babcock – won the 2008 Stanley Cup. Stothers worked as part of Babcock’s staff during the playoffs that season.
Stothers’ coaching career began during the 1991-92 season when he served as a player/assistant coach with the AHL’s Hershey Bears. He became a full-time assistant with the Bears in 1994 and stayed with the Bears in that same role through the 1995-96 season. From there, he took an assistant coaching position with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL and remained with the Phantoms for four seasons (1996-00) until taking an assistant coaching role with the parent club Flyers prior to the 2000-01 season. The Phantoms won the AHL’s Calder Cup in 1998 with Stothers as an assistant coach there.
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