With a 3-1 win over Finland, the Swedes wrapped up first place in Group A.
The Buffalo Sabres knew what they were getting in advance of drafting Alexander Nylander with the eighth overall pick at the Buffalo-hosted NHL Draft in June. Tim Murray was captivated by Nylander's high-end skill, blinding speed, deft passing, moves like Jagger and 360 vision.
On Thursday night in Montreal, Nylander continued his domination of the World Junior Championships when he scored twice and added an assist.
Nylander now leads his team in tournament in scoring with 4 goals and 3 assists in three games played. Nylander led Sweden is scoring at the 2016 WJCs when he accumulated 9 points in 7 games played.
Nylander has been on loan this season to the AHL Rochester Americans where he has scored 17 points in 25 games played.
Team Sweden is now 3-0 at the legendary WJC tourney.
Lias Andersson added a single goal for Tre Kronor, which rallied after trailing 1-0 for more than 32 minutes.
Aapeli Rasanen scored Finland's only goal.
Swedish starting goalie Felix Sandstrom won his head to head battle Finnish keeper Veini Vehivailainen as Finland outshot Sweden 29-20.
The Swedes are seeking their first gold since 2012 and first medal of any shade since 2014.
This game failed to live up to the advance billing and hype. The defending champion Finns are in last place in their group and their offense is virtually non existent now that Patrik Laine, Jesse Puljujarvi and Sebastien Aho are skating full time in the NHL this season.
On New Year’s Eve, the Finns will battle Switzerland in a must-win group finale.
Sweden takes on the Czech Republic.
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Regarding Nylander, Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray has been in Montreal since Boxing Day. He has been keeping a close eye on Nylandetr and Sabres 2-016 draft choice Rasmus Aspund, the slick skating Swedish attacker whose draft choice Murray acquired in the Mark Pysyk for Dmitry Kulikov trade with the Florida Panthers.
Murray will have a serious decision to make on Nylander after the WJC's end.
Will GMTM invite Nylander to Buffalo to play a game or two with the Sabres as a reward for his stellar international play?
I'm on the record as saying that I would give Nylander 2-3 games in Buffalo in January so that Dan Bylsma can play him on a regular line. What is the worse thing that can happen? If Nylander flat lines, he'll be send directly to Rochester. However, if he provides a pop to the Buffalo offense, why not keep him in Buffalo for his nine game NHL tryout?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?
Another subplot to the Nylander accelerated development and dominating performances at the WJCs is that the NHL trade deadline is on March 1.
I'm told that Murray is presently working on a deal or two that will impact the Buffalo forward ranks. And the D corps. Murray has been looking to upgrade his top four D since last summer.
The window shopping phase has passed. If Murray's team is going to be playing meaningful games later this spring in May and June, he is going to have to infuse new blood into his blue line.
Will Evander Kane be traded? The LA Kings and Tampa Lightning are two of the teams who have been scouting Buffalo aggressively for the past month. The Kings and Bolts are searching for scoring due to injuries that have hit their respective forward groups. The Kings lost Tyler Toffoli to a lower body injury and have placed him on the IR. I can see a Kane for Jake Muzzin trade brewing between Buffalo and Los Angeles. The Kings need a top six play maker and scorer to play alongside the silent Silent Kopitar. Kane fits that bill to a tee. Murray needs a top four left D and Muzzin fits that bill.
If Kane or Zemgus Girgensons, or both are traded in the next month or so, Murray will need capable forward to fill the roster in Buffalo. Nick Baptiste and Justin Bailey have 14 and 12 goals respectively right now for the Amerks. Murray and Bylsma would likely call up Baptiste or Bailey in the event Kane were to be traded.
Dan Bylsma has been preaching to his team for the past three days about the importance of winning in regulation the home and home set Boston in order to pull his Sabres to within two points of third place in the Atlantic Division. On Thursday night, the Sabres dominated the Boston Bruins for 30 minutes. Then, they blew a 2-0 lead and ended up losing the must-win game 4-2. So much for Bylsma's sermons about the importance of starting games on time and playing for 60 minutes.
The final 30 minutes of Thursday's regulation loss to the Bruins is a microcosm of their 2016-17 season. The Buffalo blue line isn't good enough to compete for 60 minutes a night. Rasmus Ristolainen played 29:35 TOI against the Bruins. He's been averaging 27 minutes TOI per night. Bylsma can count on his 22 year old Finnish Rock of Gibraltar. Bylsma can also count on Zach Bogosian and Jake McCabe to play 20 solid minutes a night. However, he cannot rely on playing Josh Gorges, Dmitry Kulikov, Justin Falk nor Cody Franson in crunch time minutes.
The Buffalo blue line succumbed to the aggressive fore check pressure by the speedy Boston forwards for the final thirty minutes on Thursday night. The Buffalo D have been getting rattled by making sloppy breakout passes to the wingers and create turnovers in their own end of the rink.
Murray and Bylsma know their blue line weaknesses. Murray can use Evander Kane as the trade chip to finally get his hands on a top four, left shot D-man.
When Murray trades a forward for a D, it will create an opportunity for a prospect from Rochester to draw in to the Buffalo lineup. Be it Nick Baptiste, Justin Bailey, or Alex Nylander.
You see. Murray and Bylsma can find goal scoring from within the family. They are desperately seeking a legit top four D-man from outside the organization. Why trade Kane for said top four D? Because you trade assets at their highest value. Kane has eight points (7G, 1A) in his last ten games.