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Congratulations are in order for Buffalo Sabres winger Zemgus Girgensons.
The Latvian Locomotive was due to become an unrestricted free agent on Friday, however, Renaid Lavoie of TVA reports that Girgensons will be signing a multi-year contract extension on Friday when the UFA signing period opens.
It is believed that the new contract will be for three years and $2 million annual average value.
Girgensons likes playing in blue collar Buffalo and the Sabres likes the attributes he brings to the team.
The Sabres selected Girgensons 14th overall pick at the 2012 NHL Draft.
Girgensons, 26, just finished a two-year, $3.2 million contract that average $1.2M AAV. Zemgus will be getting himself a nice pay bump from $1.6M AAV to $2.2M AAV.
In 69 games played last season, Girgensons scored 12G, 7A. His career high in goals scored was 15 in 2014-15. The burly winger has scored 61 goals and 138 points during his seven-year NHL career. Girgensons has played 489 regular season games sans playoff appearances.
Girgensons can play up and down the lineup and takes great pride in grinding his opponents and killing penalties with great dexterity. Opposing defenseman hate Girgensons because he forechecks like a scud missile and he is a pain in the ass to play against.
Last season, Ralph Kreuger leaned heavily on the Girgensons-Larsson-Okposo like to neutralize opponents and the trio delivered impressive results.
I like the Girgensons signing. He's reliable, relentless in his pursuit of the puck and is a great teammate.
I expect the Sabres to re-sign forward Jimmy Vesey,
It appears likely that Sabres GM Kevyn Adams will not be doing business on his unrestricted free agents Wayne Simmonds, Johan Larsson, Vlad Sobotka, Mike Frolik, and Matt Hunwick
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Kevyn Adams continues his quest to acquire a top six scoring winger.
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Kevyn Adams and his lieutenants need to make a move to upgrade the starting goaltending of the Buffalo Sabres.
Adams fortified organizational depth at forwad and defense at the 2020 NHL Draft. If his team is to have a puncher's chance of earning a wild card berth in 2020-21, the Sabres desperately need to upgrade their goaltending.
As it's presently constituted, the Sabres' goalie tandem of Linus Ullmark and Carter Hutton simply just isn't good enough to compete with the teams in the Atlantic Division.
To say nothing of the Eastern Conference.
The Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning live on Atlantic Division Avenue. So too do the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Florida Panthers, Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings.
The Atlantic Division is home to some ofo the best goaltending in the NHL.
Andrei Vasilveskiy is the Stanley Cup champion goalie. Tuukka Rask is still a force to be reckoned with for the Bruins. The reliable Freddy Andersen holds down the fort allows the Leafs to attack on offense.Carey Price is still Carey Price. Sergei Bobrovsky will rebound from the poor season in 2019-20.
Don't look now, but the Ottawa Senators have leap-frogged over teh Sabres in the all too important goaltending ranks. On Wednesday, Sens GM pierre Dorion traded a second round pick and a prospect to Pittsburgh for two-time Stanley Cup champion tendy Matt Murray. Say what you will about Murray. I think he is light years better than the .899 save percentage he arrived at in 2019-20. Mark my words. Murray will be a difference maker for the Senators. Murray is the owner of a career .914 save percentage and he will pay immediate dividends for D.J. Smith and the upstart Sens in 2020-21.
In Detroit, Steve Yzerman is going to distance himself from incumbent starting goalie Jimmy Howard. Jonathn bernier won't be the long term solution for the Wings. On Friday, or maybe even sooner, Yzerman will acquire a veteran puck stopper. There are too many excellent goalies available for Yzerman to choose from.
Buffalo's tandem of Ullmark and Hutton isn't going to cut it in 2020-21 and beyond.
Kevyn Adams has to make a bold move now to give his team a chance to compete on a nightly basis when the puck drops on January 1, 2021.
In 2019-20, Ullmark posted a respectable .915 SV%. Ullmark held the fort on most nights but fel into old habits while losing his net and scrambling to find pucks in his crease. Last season, Ullmark struggled to find consistency and finished with 3.11 GAA and .905 SV%.
During the abbreviated COVID19 season, Ullmark was excellent at 5v5 where he owned a .926 SV%. He allowed only one shorthanded goal against (.970 SV%). However, he allowed 25 power play goals against on 154 shot attempts which equals a .838 SV% while playing with a man down.
Hutton was not good enough with his abysmal .898 SV%.
Hutton underwent an offseason eye procedure to correct a problem with his vision.
Will his improved vision propel him into the .915 to .920 SV% echelon? Hutton was .912 at EV and plummeted to .836 SV% while on the PK (122 shot attempts, 20 opponent goals against).
Jack Eichel and the Buffalo offnese can only outscore average goaltending so many times in a season. The Buffalo tandem of Ullmark-Hutton doesn't steal games for the boys.
It's time for a change.
Sabres prospect Ukko Pekka Luukonen made great strides in his game at ECHL Cincinnati and with the Rochester Amerks. UPL still needs time in the AHL to perfect his craft, where he only played 10 games last season. I want to see UPL start 35-40 games for new head coach Seth Appert in Rochester in 2021. Buffalo can always call him up if the need arises, however, it is my opinion that UPL will benefit greatly by playing the starter's role for an entire regular season and playoff run.
What I recommend for Buffalo is to acquire a veteran puck stopper for a two year term. This strategy will allow UPL to finish his growth and development without having to be rushed prematurely to the NHL. Why tempt fate? Let the eventual starting goalie earn his stripes in the AHL while an older, established tendy warms up his crease in Buffalo. Is UPL guaranteed to have success once he earns a full time ride in the NHL? Not at all. Getting to the NHL is one thing. Earning the trust of your head coach as a starting netminder is entirely another thing.
As I have been reporting in this space and on Twitter for the past three months, Adams has been searching for a goaltending solution since he began his new GM role in mid-June. The rookie general manager likes his goaltending. Howwever, he is not in love with his starting goaltending. There were many a night in the 2019-20 season where the goaltending justt was not good enough. It's a fact of life in the NHL. Teams that struggle chronically usually are plagueed by unreliable defensive zone play and inadequate goaltening.
I heard chatter earlier this summer that Sdams was interested in acquiring veteran Devan Dubnyk from Minnesota. I'm not sure if the discussions during the Eric Staal trade to Buffalo included Dubnyk. It matters not at all now that Dubynk was recently traded to San Jose. I do believe that Adams is close to acquiring a solution to all that ails that goaltending.
I'm not interested in entertaining courtships for Hank Lundqvist and Marc Andre Fleury. I'm not sold on Cam Talbot, Corey Schneider, Corey Crawford or Mike Smith either.
Nice guys, but not the right fit for Buffalo at this time.
Anton Khudobin is a tempting option, however, he is going to be signing a long term, high dollar contract with the Stars in the very near future.
Unfortunately for Sabres fans, the Robin Lehner ship sailed away from Buffalo three years ago
Jacob Markstrom will re-sign with the Canucks if and when Oliver Ekman Larsson ends up in Vancouver.
Braden Holtby will likely end up in Calgary or Colorado.
I have heard the name of Thomas Greiss linked to the Sabres. I have also heard Anttti Ranta, and Joonas Korpisalo connected to Buffalo.
Greiss is a quakity netminder who could be the ideal bridge to connect the Sabres to Ukko Pekka Luukonen in two years. At 34 years of age, Greiss has played well for the Islanders. I especially liked Greiss' game in the recently concluded Stanley Cup playoffs where he was impressive in positing a .913 SV% and 2.74 GAA. Greiss just finished a three year contract with NYI that counted $3.33M AAV against their salary cap. I would offer Greiss a 1A starting role plus $8 million over two years ($4M AAV) to come to Buffalo. The Isles are sky high on young Russian Ilya Sorokin who about to move up to the big club to split starts and eventually take the net from Semyon Varlamov.
Ralph Kreuger would have previous knowlege of the German goalie Greiss from the time he spent consulting for the Carolina Hurricanes. The Sabres will be re-signing German born winger Dominik Kahun in the coming days. On Wednesday, Buffalo drafted German winger J.J. Peterka from Red Bull of the DEL. Why not add Greiss to reduce Buffalo's goals against average and to add more Deutschland flavor.
In 4 playoff games, Greiss posted 2.02 GAA and .929 SV%. In 31 games last season, Greiss posted 2.74 GAA and .913 SV%. Signing Greiss to a two-year deal with $4M AAV will get the crease warm for UPL #Sabres
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) October 8, 2020
If not Greiss as a UFA, then why not Antii Ranta as a UFA?
Ranta, 31, was impressive for the Arizona Coyotes in 2019-20 posting a 2.63 GAA and .921 SV%. Ranta is a career 2.41 GAA and .921 SV%. The Coyotes are looking to shed contracts not add them. Ranta was a $4.25M AAV last season and likely can be had for between $4.5M to $4.75M AAV x 2 seasons. I like the idea of having an accomplished veteran Finn in the organization to help groom UPL for his eventual promotion to Buffalo.
Korpisalo,26, has one year remaining on his deal at $2.8M AAV. I'm told that Blue Jax GM Jarmo Kekalainen is seeking three assets in exchange for Korpisalo in the form of a prospect, an NHL D and an NHL forward. Expensive, but worth every penny as Korpisalo is a tremendous netminder. So why trade him? Columbus have an embarrassment of riches in their net with Elvis Merzlikins and Russian rock star Danil Tarasov.
Unrestricted free agency begins on Friday.
What are you waiting for, Kevyn?
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