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Murray Open To Offer Sheeting Star RFAs |
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Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray cannot wait for this week to be over. He said as much on Thursday afternoon. Murray and his entire organization have been playing host to the 120 NHL Draft eligible prospects at this week’s scouting combine. Murray, his coaching and scouting staffs were behind closed doors conducting face-to-face interviews with dozens of 17 and 18 year olds. Murray and his team were busy with interviews Monday through Wednesday. While the prospects took their medicals on Thursday, Murray made several phones calls to other NHL GMs to lay the ground work or to water the seeds of a trade that he is working on.
“I think that guys (NHL GMs and AGMs) are going to go home from here (NHL Combine) and foinalize their lists and really start making calls about the draft. I met a couple guys on the concourse. I met a couple guys on the street and you just pick up the conversation there”.
Murray says that the hockey buzz and trade chatter is starting to percolate.
“There has been a lot of talk about teams in the “teens”—21 where we are, those picks could be moved, either moving up or moving back and getting something else. It’s not football, but teams know their needs and they know where they can get their “need”. The good teams could move back and get their “need”. I would certainly like to move up (in the draft from 21). It wouldn’t be surprising to see a lot of picks being moved in the first and second rounds”.
Murray says his philosophy has been and will remain to be that he will pick for need. His team finished 30th overall the past two seasons and he and Dan Bylsma know that there are holes to fill on the Buffalo roster. Be it through the draft or via the trade market.
“I want to stay the course and stay young. I was asked in my last interview if this was a playoff bound team. He said you can’t say that but I gave him the scenario that we get to the trade deadline in March and we are four points out of the last playoff spot I’m not going to trade a top, young prospect that’s not on the big team for a quick fix that may get us in or we may miss by a point. I’m going to stay the course here. But, in saying that, I would like to, you know, like the Winnipeg trade. Getting Evander Kane for example. He’s 24. He fits what we are doing. I’m open to things like that as long as it fits the plan which is “young, fast, and hard”. I can see us making a---- I don’t know that we could make a similar deal where you get a 20 or 21 year old versus drafting the 18 year old”.
Murray and Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff solved each other’s problems with the February blockbuster deal that sent Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Bredan Lemieux, Joel Armia and a 2015 first rounder to Winnipeg in exchange for Kane and Zach Bogosian. The aggressive nature of that trade sent shock waves through the NHL community. It galvanized Murray’s “win at all costs” brand and served as a precursor to similar future trades. I’ve been telling you for the past year and a half that Murray is doing everything in his power to land Ryan O’Reilly in Buffalo. ROR is young at 23. He’s fast and he is a nightmare to play against. There is no question in my mind that Murray is willing to move a tremendous asset in Nikita Zadorov and the 21st overall pick to the Avalanche in exchange for O’Reilly. Expect the unexpected from Murray in the days and weeks to come.
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What’s Tim Murray’s take on offer sheets?
“I’m not sure. I’ve thought about that. I’m going to certainly. You know, the last three weeks we’ve had amateur meetings and our pro meetings just ended on Sunday afternoon. This past Monday the combine started, so, you’ve got a lot of balls in the air and you are juggling. But this is what we are concentrating on. I can’t wait for this week to be over and then next week you regroup and start talking more about trades, more about free agency and more about the possibility of offer sheets. It’s something we are definitely going to do our homework on. We’ve done a bit on, but we’re going to dig deep into that and look at the different players that we like and what the scenario would be, what the chances of the team matching would be. What we’re losing versus what we are gaining with the offer sheet. So, we’re going to be prepared for that. But, I can’t sit here and tell you that we’re going to tender one (offer sheet), but in saying that, we negotiated the rights to hire Dan (Bylsma) with the third round pick that isn’t our own so it’s not encumbered and you can still have the possibility of doing that because of it".
Is Murray allergic or against throwing an offer sheet at a slick, highly coveted young restricted free agent star that lives on another team’s roster right now?
“No. I’m not opposed to it. Not by any means. It’s part of our CBA and it’s within the rules. If you do it and you get a certain GM pissed off at you, well then who cares”.
Who. Freakin. Cares.
If I’m Dean Lombardi in LA, I’d be very afraid that Murray will be taking a healthy financial run at Tyler Toffoli this summer. Lombardi is pressed up against the salary cap and will not be able to match a $5+ million AAV offer to the electrifying forward. Murray watched Toffoli’s growth and development on a daily basis when he worked for the Ottawa Senators and the kid played for the Ottawa 67s. Stan Bowman in Chicago better be praying that Murray doesn’t take a hard run at versatile star forward Brandon Saad who played for Bylsma on Team USA at the Sochi Olympics. Doug Armstrong in St. Louis better hope that Murray doesn’t offer sheet Vlad Tarasenko.
Murray has the three things that star players want the most:
1. Fat stacks of Pegula jack.
2. TOI ( top 6 and special teams)
3. Leadership roles
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The one glaring area of need right now staring Murray in the face is starting goaltending. Anders Lindback drove the tank to the finish line and impressed while doing so, however, he becomes UFA on July. Chad Johnson ended the season on IR. Murray needs goaltending. He’s been making his lists and checking them twice.
“ I’ve talked to two or three different teams that are looking to move goaltenders. They’ve certainly got more options than the Buffalo Sabres”. Murray said that he will revisit the goaltending conversations after the NHL Combine circus leaves town.
“I’ve made the calls and had the conversations and I kind of know what they are expecting in return so it’s something we have to dig a little deeper at and certainly the people I’ve talked to I’ve said don’t do anything without talking to me again…. They know we are looking and we are interested so I would expect that I would get a call before they actually do something and give us the opportunity to make perhaps the best offer”.
Murray and his Uncle Bryan have no doubt talked turkey about Robin Lehner (23) and Craig Anderson (34). Tim Murray was directly involved in drafting Lehner from Sweden to Ottawa. He was also a catalyst in the trade that sent Brian Elliott to Colorado for Craig Anderson. Murray knows and trusts both goalies implicitly having worked with them in Ottawa. Lehner has one year remaining on his current contract and is a $2 million cap hit while Anderson is a $4.75 million cap hit for the next two seasons. Murray is open minded to acquiring a youngster or a vet.
“There are two scenarios: It’s a young goalie who can grow with your team, who he is an NHL player right now. If it’s an older goalie, I’m not opposed to that either. If it’s an older goalie that a team needs to move money on and he’s good, and we deem him to be good, maybe that tides us over until one of our young goalies is ready to step in. We may draft a goalie early (either at #21 or #31) this year and that would be our future but we have Ullmark coming. We have Petersen who is at Notre Dame and had the big year. We have Johansson in Sweden who is very young but has some ability”. Murray also has Makarov, Lieuwen and Hackett (UFA) as options, too. Ullmark recently had successful surgery on both of his hips and his recovering and rehabbing in Gothenburg, Sweden. Murray said that when he is ready for action, Ullmark will skip past Europe and will report directly to Rochester. He has a six month recovery time from his surgeries.
“If a 32 or 33 year old goalie can stop pucks for us for three years only, that’s not a bad thing”
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Murray may also be looking to make a trade for Anaheim’s 21 year old backup goalie John Gibson. The Edmonton Oilers are also trying to get their mitts on Gibson. Murray will have to pay a heavy price to pry Gibsoin away from Anaheim especially after Freddy Andersen faltered against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals.
Murray has also been rumored to be interested in Quebec Remparts and Montreal Canadiens prospect Zach Fucale as well as Boston prospect Malcolm Subban. Murray may also want to invest the #21 or #31 picks in drafting Ilya Samsonov later this month.
Thanks, WGR
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