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Never Be Your Vesey Of Burden |
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You have to hand it to Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray. The guy is relentless in his pursuit of excellence in his hockey team.
Murray is all about gathering intel. He demands of his scouts that they gather the best information that they possibly can when they are in the rink watching young players and future prospects. Murray will not tolerate his scouting filling out game reports with just stats and analytics on it alone. Yes, Murray wants to know the TOI, number of shifts, plus minus, points and puck possession metrics. However, he wants to know what makes the kid tick. What are his parents' names? What is his favorite TV show and style of music?
Murray is like radio hall of famer Paul Harvey. Murray wants to know the rest of the story. He wants to know what makes prospects tick.
Murray is also a salesman. He loves to scout, draft and select athletes to play for his Sabres team. Murray is like the Alec Baldwin character in the Academy Award winning movie "Glengarey Glenross". Murray believes in the ABC's of hockey:
Always
Be
Closing
On Monday, Murray cut the line of 29 NHL GMs to get first position on pending UFA and 2016 Hobey Baker winner Jimmy Vesey. On Monday morning, Murray held 12 picks in this weekend's NHL Draft. Four of Murray's twelve picks were in the third round of the draft where NHL GMs tend to find valuable players. Murray flipped one of his third-round picks to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Vesey’s UFA rights. The Buffalo third rounder
was acquired in the Jamie McGinn trade to Anaheim.
Murray and the Sabres closed the show on the Vesey sweepstakes and now has the exclusive negotiating period to woo Vesey to Western New York.
I've been telling you in this space for three plus months that Tim Murray has had his eye on Vesey. Murray said in April that he believed that Jack Eichel's other winger is not on the Sabres' roster yet. Samson Reinhart played lights out right wing for Eichel last season after Dan Bylsma paired the former second overall picks together.
Murray's quest for Eichel's left winger has led him to Vesey of North Reading, Mass.
Eichel and Vesey are represented by the same player agent, Peter Fish.
Fish will be in Buffalo this week for the NHL Draft. He and Tim Murray will likely sit down at a local restaurant and discuss the broad strokes of Vesey's entry level contract. They will also will likely discuss and tour the HARBORCenter and the state-of-the-art training facilities inside the arena that the Sabres call home. All this will be done with the expressed intent to close Vesey and to get him to sign his name on the bottom line of his entry level contract.
Vesey and Eichel have been skating and working out together back home in the Boston suburbs. For the second summer in a row, Eichel and Vesey have been line mates for Team Harlow in the Foxboro summer pro hockey league.
Murray works so swiftly, efficiently and silently that Vesey's father, Jim, a scout for the Toronto Maple Leafs, told the Boston Herald that he is surprised that his son's UFA rights were traded to Buffalo,
“I’m surprised this deal went down, but it’s still my understanding that he’s going to Aug. 15 and free agency,” said Vesey's father, a former NHLer.
“The game plan as of like (Sunday) was to have a list of possible (potential) teams ready, and get to August 15 and then decide. I know nothing has changed. I bet Jimmy’s surprised by this, too.”
Sounds like Mr. Vesey was taken aback by Tim Murray's swift and sudden trade.
To know the NHL is to know that player agent act on the behalf of their clients. The agent doesn't make any decisions on behalf of the player unless the player is on board with it. I believe that Jimmy Vesey knew about the Buffalo trade before it happened.
Earlier this month, Vesey said that he was gravitating towards hitting the UFA market on August 15. So, what changed? Murray and the Sabres ponied up a third round draft choice to own exclusive negotiating rights for Vesey. Smart play on Murray"s part.
“I’ll look at what a team has in terms of NHL roster, and also what it has in the prospect pool,” he said. “I’ll also be looking at the coaches and what style of play is going to fit me the best. The city, definitely. There’s a lot that’s going to go into it. I’m excited about it and I can’t wait to see where I’m going to end up.”
Murray took all of this intel to heart when formulating his strategy to acquire Vesey's rights.
Roster? Yeah. Murray has been building a monster.
Dan Bylsma has a top six forward job and top 6 TOI with Vesey's name on it right now. The likes of Eichel, Ryan O'Reilly, Samson Reinhart, Evander Kane, Tyler Ennis, Marcus Foligno, Matt Moulson and Rasmus Ristolainen, Zach Bogosian, Rasmus Ristolainen, Robin Lehner and the rest of the Sabres. Murray may still add UFA Steven Stamkos.
Coaching?
Dan Bylsma won a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009. He communicates well with young and older players. He doesn't play favorites, nor does he yell and scream. Bylsma is a teacher.
Fit and Style?
Bylsma plays a north style of puck possession hockey. His teams love top be opportunistic on special teams. Bylsma's teams deny time and space. They create offense from the opponent's turnovers.
It won't be long until Vesey pulls a #19 Buffalo Sabres sweater over his head.
Murray asks: "Why not us"?
**
Jack Eichel has a new line mate.
Jimmy Vesey, Eichel's great friend, is now his new liney. Check that. Will be his new linemates come August 15 when he can officially sign his entry level contract.
I've been telling you for the past few months that Jimmy Vesey has been an object of desire of Tim Murray.
Today, Murray boldly and stealthly traded a third round pick to Nashville for Vesey's UFA rights.
Vesey cannot sign until August 15. Vesey , drafted by Nashville in 2012, turned the Predators down in April and opted to head directly to NHL UFA market on August 15 when he becomes eligible to do so.
Because he completed all four seasons at Harvard, Vesey earned the right to select the team that he would like to play for.
Vesey scored 56 goals in final last 70 games at the hallowed halls of Harvard.
Nashville now gets the third-rounder they used to draft Vesey. He was picked 66th overall.
A New England native and close friend of Eichel, Vesey was being heavily pursued by the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple leafs.
Eichel and Vesey have known each other since their travel hockey days in the Boston area.
They are line mates in the Foxboro, Mass. summer pro league for team "Harlow".
On August 15, Vesey will sign hi sBuffalo entry level contract. . Vesey played out his entire four tear commitment at Harvard and that qualifies him to become an unrestricted free agent come August 15. In April, Vesey opted to say goodbye to the Nashville Predators, who drafted him in the second round in 2013.
On locker clean out day, Eichel spoke glowingly of his rookie year experience playing in hockey-psychotic Buffalo, NY. Eichel will schmooze Vesey to sign with the Sabres by using this closing technique:
"It's a great future here. It's a great city to play in. It's a great team to be a part of. We have a young group that's headed in the right direction. It's definitely a hockey city. People care about you here. People would love to have you and it's a great place to play."
Vesey was Nashville's third round pick in 2012. He won teh 2016 Hobey Baker after finishing as runner up to Eichel for the same prestigious award in 2015.
Eichel and Vesey played together with Team USA at last year's World Championships in Prague and worked out together and shinnied together in the Boston area last summer.
Vesey had a short list of teams that he will be negotiating with come August. Buffalo obviously was at the top of his list.
Sorry, Boston. You don't have a bullpen closer named Jack Eichel.
Sabres GM Tim Murray cannot officially speak with Vesey nor his agent -- who happens to represent Vesey, Nick Bonino, and other NHLers---until 8/15/16. Eichel needs a winger to distribute the puck to. Samson Reinhart is on one flank. Tim Murray was looking for the other integral piece to complete the Eichel-Reinhart pairing. Vesey was his man from long ago when Murray scouted him at Harvard.
The Sabres have a legit top six roster spot and TOI available today for Vesey. Vesey will fit seamlessly into a group that includes Ryan O'Reilly, Evander Kane, Eichel, and Reinhart.
The 6'1” 200 pound power left winger had himself quite a four year career at Harvard.
The driven competitor loves to shoot the puck. Like his buddy Eichel, Vesey has a bomb of an NHL shot.
Vesey landed 530 shots on goal in his four year career at Yale. He had many more shots blocked and others missed the net. Vesey believes that the more you shoot, the more you score.
In 128 games played, he scored 80 goals, added 64 assists. He scored 19 career PPGs and 16 career GWGs. He netted one hat trick.
Imagine a line of three intelligent, talented hockey savants consisting of Jack Eichel, Samson Reinhart and Jimmy Vesey playing set, spike, slam hockey together for the next decade.
Eichel has 23 goals and 50 points. He has played with nearly every winger on the Buffalo roster. He has finally found his mojo with Reinhart. The dynamic duo compliment one another very well. They need a power winger who can flush the walls, set screens and bang home the one timer at even strength.
Tim Murray also covets London Knights power forward and Corey Perry impersonator Matt Tkachuk. If Murray can trade his 8th overall pick as part of a package to either Columbus or Edmonton, Murray will get his mitts on Tkachuk.
There exists a high percentage chance that Tim Murray will be signing Steven Stamkos as UFA on July 1. Should the Sabres miss out on Stamkos, they may make a power move to add UFA Kyle Okposo.
Much more to come...
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