The Buffalo Sabres have given their blessing to forward Alexander Nylander to play for Team Sweden's men’s national junior ice hockey team for the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship.
The tournament will be held in Toronto and Montreal from Boxing Day to January 5, 2017.
Nylander (6’1…, 180 lbs., 3/2/1998) has totaled 17 points (5G, 12A) in 29 games as a rookie for the Rochester Americans (AHL) during the 2016-17 season.
The Sabres’ first-round pick (8th overall) at the 2016 NHL Draft, Nylander led Team Sweden in goals (4) and points (9) at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Nylander is all about the bling and the bright lights. Having played junior hockey in Mississauga, the pressure of playing the WJCs in Toronto will not faze him one iota.
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You want to trade for Anaheim Ducks defenseman extraordinaire Cam Fowler.
Too bad. How does it it feel to want?
Fowler is not available.
The Fowler trade window slammed shut once the 2016-17 NHL season began.
Last summer, NHL teams that wanted a piece of Fowler (see Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens) had their chances to court and woo Ducks GM Bob Murray.
I've been told that Ducks new-old head coach Randy Carlyle had a huge say in Fowler remaining a Duck this season and beyond. Carlyle had coached a younger version of Fowler back in the day. After he was fired from the Ducks and hired by Toronto, Carlyle watched Fowler's career progression to the elite level among NHL defenders. Who knows? Fowler might be a Sabres star today were it not for the firing of Bruce Boudreau and the re-hiring of Carlyle.
The hockey world will never know.
Suffice to say, Bob Murray made the correct decision to not trade his best defenseman in exchange for a power winger with 30Gs in his gun. Evander Kane, perhaps? Max Pacioretty? The Ducks are in first place in the Pacific Division and are surging right now.
Sometimes the best trades are the ones NHL GMs do not make.
In Toronto on Monday night, Fowler scored the game winner, on the power play goal, his ninth goal of the season. His career high is 10 goals scored, which he will destroy this season. At this pace he is on, Fowler could easily score 18-20 goals this season. The former Windsor Spitfire star also assisted on Ryan Getzlaf's power play goal. Fowler now has 22 points in his 33 games played this season. Fowler also skated a team his 26:18 TOI. Fowler now has scored 5 PPGs this season and 3 game winning goals. He now has 11 power play points in 33 games. He has landed 73 shots on enemy goalies and is scoring at a 12.3% shooting percentage. On the defensive side of the puck, Fowler has 47 blocked shots and is logging 24:15 TOI against the best players on the other team.
Now you know why Tim Murray and Ken Holland wanted to trade for Fowler. He is arguably the best power play QB in the NHL today. It can also be argued that he is the best, most consistent/valuable defenseman to his team's success in the first three months of this season.
Fowler has scored eight points in 10 games in December starts and is now on pace for a 55-point season, which would obliterate his previous 40-point personal best from his rookie year. Randy Carlyle coached Fowler his freshman year in the NHL.
Coincidence?
In retrospect, Bob Murray didn't want to trade Fowler due to point production or personal conduct issues. It wasn't personal. It was truly financial reason why the 25 year old's name was in trad rumors last summer. Personally, I have been hearing for the past 18 months that Folwer was on the move due to salary cap constraints on the cap strapped Ducks. My sources are impeccable and I stand by them. Fowler was as good as gone last June at the NHL Draft in Buffalo. But then Bob Murray pumped his brakes and did a top down evaluation of his front office, coaching staff, veteran core and prospect pipeline. Rather than trade Fowler, Murray fired Boudreau who had just lost his fourth consecutive Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals.
Gabby was gone. Carlyle was in.
It was a mortal lock in October that the Ducks would be forced to trade a big contract of two (see Fowler's $4M AAV) in order for Murray to re-sign coveted restricted free agents Ricky Rakell, Sami Vatanen, and Hampus Lindholm. There was no way possible that Fowler could remain a Duck and Murray have enough salary cap space to finalize new long term contracts with Rakell, Vatanen, and Lindholm. Then, when all hopes seemed dashed and it looked like Bob Murray would have to trade away his best defenseman for prospects and picks (see Buffalo 8th overall and Montreal 9th overall in 2016) the hockey gods smiled upon Fowler and the Ducks. Veterans Simon Despres and Nate Thompson were forced into long term injury status. Bob Murray literally has been playing with house money all season long due to the LTIR savings of Despres and Thompson. Despres has an LTIR salary figue of $3,376,667 and Thompson has a $1.6 million LTIR relief figure. Last I checked, neither Despres nor Thompson were close to returning to game action.
So, until such time that Despres or Thompson, or both are cleared for contact and are ready to play in games for teh Ducks, Bob Murray is snug as a bug in a rug which means that he doesn't have to trade Fowler, nor any other player. For now, that is.
Fowler confirmed Monday that he has heard the trade rumors. He knows his name has nbeen in the mouths of other NHL GMs and of rabid fans of teh Sabres, Devils, Habs and others. Folwer said he has heard the hockey buzz and he is using it as additional fuel to his fire to take his nightly performances to the next level.
“It kinda helped me stay in my lane. It gave me a little motivation, to be honest with you,… Fowler told Sportsnet.
“I wanted to show teams, if they’re interested in me, they’d be getting a good-quality player. It pushed me in the summer and even at the start of the season.
“Five games into the season, [Murray] pulled me in and said, ‘Hey, I was a player before, too. I heard my name tossed out there all the time.’ He just said, ‘I’m not shopping you. Teams are calling. Teams are gonna call.’ …
Yes, Cam. Teams are calling. They see the surplus of young, slick talent that Bob Murray has in Anaheim and down the road in AHL San Diego.
The trade discussion continue to happen between Bob Murray and other NHL GMs like Tim Murray. These days, Fowler's name has been replaced in the discussions by those of Ducks blue chip D propsects Shea Theodore and Brandon Montour.
Bob Murray is still looking to add a two-way power center/forward.
The Ducks have been scouting Buffalo routinely for teh past two months. Evander Kane is still very appealing to Bob Murray. Trading for Kane would require Tim Murray to absoirb a portion (50%) of the remainder of his $5.25M AAV for this season. Kane has this and next year remaoning on his Buffalo contract. Don't sleep on Zemgus Girgensons, who is a player that the Ducks learned a lot about when scouting Jamie McGinn in Buffalo last season. I'm told the Ducks like Girgensons for his toughness, penalty killing and his ability to create offense. Girgensons has had a rough start to the season offensively. Perhaps a move to southern California will help cure what ails his game. The Calgary Flames are also interested in Girgensons, who was a linemate of Johnny Gaudreau at Dubuque in the USHL.
Bob Murray isn't trading Cam Fowler. He can't right now anyway because the NHL trade freeze in effect until December 28. However, when the calndar flips to 2017, I'm confident that we will be hearing more trade chatter coming out of Anaheim.
I've told you about Tim Murray and his need for bolster his blue line. Shea Theodore (26th overall 2013, 6'2" and 195 lb., Left D) or Brandon Montour (55th overall 2014, 6'0" and 195 lb., Right D) would answer that immediate need and then some. Both are big, strong, smart, skilled defenders who play the 200 foot game and can join the rush. Don't sleep on Jacob Larsson (6'2" and 190 lb., Left D), the 19 year old lefty who was the 27th overall pick in 2015. Larsson is currently on loan to Team Sweden's World Juniors team.
The Ducks have a surplus of young defenseman. They will likely move a D prospect in exchange for the power forward they covet.