Eich Skates, Trouble At The Ennhouse (Sabres ennis)

Sabres ennis

Eich Skates, Trouble At The Ennhouse

By GARTH'S CORNER

Nov 10, 2016 • 8:13 pm

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Updated:

Not all news out of Buffalo is bad today.

Super sophomore Jack Eichel skated for approximately 20 minutes earlier in the day on Thursday.

According to Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News, Eichel pushed off without feeling pain or discomfort. However, Eichel is not rushing his return back to the lineup from his ankle sprain that he suffered on October 12. The original prognosis for Eichel's injury was 6-8 weeks recovery time. Eichel has been off the ice for four weeks before Thursday.

Eichel visited team doctors yesterday for an assessment and to see if it would be okay to progress his rehabilitation to the next level.

"I don't want to suggest that it's going to be today or tomorrow or the next day that he's getting on the ice , but , he's progressing quite nicely. He's been working out at another level the last four or five days and hopefully he continues to progress to get to the ice soon," Dan Bylsma said Wednesday.

Eichel has missed the first 13 games of the season. The Boston University alum was injured in the final stages of a practice session the day before the season opener versus Montreal when Eichel and Zemgus Girgensons came together in a puck battle. Eichel turned to avoid contact and his skate may have caught a rut in the ice causing his ankle to give out. Eichel fell to the ice in obvious pain.

**

The hits keep on coming for the Buffalo's Sabres.

The team has announced that forward Tyler Ennis has undergone surgery on his groin and will be out for several weeks.

Ennis missed 59 games last season as a result of two serious concussions.

Ennis has a goal and an assist in 12 games played this season. He is a team worst minus six this season as he has struggled to find continuity and consistency with his line mates Samson Reinhart and Zemgus Girgensons.

A groin issue is a debilitating injury for a speed demon like Ennis , who relies on contorting his body and shifting gears at high speed. Groin injuries can cause chronic pain and further damage if not fully and completely healed.

In the first five weeks of the season, the Sabres have been besieged by several serious injuries to forwards Jack Eichel, Evander Kane, Hudson Fasching, Nic Deslauriers and defenseman Zach Bogosian. Ryan O'Reilly sat out Wednesday night's loss to Ottawa with an upper body ailment. Kyle Okposo missed the first game of the season and several exhibition games due to a knee injury.

Kane played Wednesday for the first time since he suffered four broken ribs in the season opener against Montreal.

The Sabres already have three Rochester Amerks forwards in the lineup in the trio of Nick Baptiste, Derek Grant and Will Carrier.

The Sabres host the New Jersey Devils on Friday night.

At the opening fo the NHL business day on Thursday, the Sabres are the 29th place team in terms of goals scored. The Sabres have scored just 26 goals in 13 games this season. Svcoring two goals a game is not the measure of a great NHL team. However, great goaltending and solid defensive system play by the Sabres has limited it's opponents to just 29 goals against in 13 games, which is a 2.23 goals against average. Buffalo is the fourth best GAA team in the NHL. The Sabres have scored 8 power play goals this season and only 18 goals at 5v5. Were it not for their timely PPGs, the Sabres would be stuck in teh Eastern conference basement.

The secret to their 13 points in 13 games while being ravaged by serious injuries to key players is simple:

Keep the puck out of our own net and hope that two goals per game is good enough to win games.

If you are going to play this stingy brand of D, you better have forwards who do their chores and cash in their chances. The majority of Buffalo's forwards have yet to reach apoint where they are converting the majority of their chances on a routine bases.

Bylsma's defense-first template back fired on the Sabres on Wednesday night when they failed to bury their countless chances behind Ottawa goalie Mike Condon. The Sabres outplayed and out worked Sens, however lost 2-1 in the shootout. The Sabres were shutout 4-0 in Boston on Monday night. The beat Ottawa 2-1 on Saturday night. One asks, where are all of the goals for your team, Dan?

The way I see it, Bylsma's run of stacking points in the divisional standings despite having several key contributors injured will eventually come to an end.

Even with a health Eichel, the Sabres are still going to be at a disadvantage when it comes to scoring 5v5 goals. As a team, the Sabres have yet to have a defenseman score a goal this season.

Will Tim Murray pursue a top six forward to replace Ennis via the trade market? Or, will he opt to stick with Rochester call ups?

Based on what I'm hearing and seeing, Murray has his trading goggles on.

The NHL GM metings will be held in Toronto next week. Typically, U.S. Thanksgiving is the mile marker where NHL GMs and their scouts assess the likes and dislikes of their present roster. Trade proposals generally are exchanged at these meetings and are then cultivated leading uop to the NHl trade deadline. Some trades happen. Some don't happen.

One thing is certain: No NHL trades can happen without dialog between GM counterparts.

Here's a list of the teams who were in attendance for Buffalo-v-Ottawa last night:

Columbus Blue Jackets- three reps in the building including Director of Player Personnel and Director of Hockey Administration.

Anaheim Ducks- Director of Player Development was there for the second game in a row.

Chicago Blackhawks- Director of Player Personnel and a scout

Winnipeg Jets- Director of Pro Scouting

NY Islanders- Assistant to the GM

Scouts also in attendance from: LA, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Philly, and Toronto.

Perhaps Tim Murray is looking for a top six forward and/or a top four D.

If this is the case, Murray will have to trade a key player in order to create the necessary salary cap space. Evander Kane's $5.25 million AAV immediately comes to mind. Now that he is healthy and is no longer in entangled in legal matters, Kane is once again an attractive player to several NHL teams.

**

The Vancouver Canucks have disgruntled young forward Jake Virtanen and defenseman Ben Hutton to use as trade currency to secure Evander Kane and a D prospect from Buffalo. Virtanen was demoted to AHL Utica on Wednesday after struggling to impress head coach Willie Desjardins this season.

I spoke with a few NHL pro scouts who will just so happen to be scouting in Utica on Saturday night.

Virtanen is still on his entry level contract.

***

Anaheim and the Sabres continue to scout one another. If not for Cam Fowler, then who? Shae Theodore? Brandon Montour?

**

Columbus are deep at left wing with teh drafting of LW Pierre-Luc Dubois thrid overall in the June NHL Draft. Former first round draft choice Sonny Milano may be trade bait for Jarmo Kekelainen to invest in a veteran 20 goal scoring left winger like Evander Kane. Milano is on his entry level contract.

Also, he emergence of rookie scoring left D Zach Werenski (11 points) may render veteran Jack Johnson obsolete in Columbus. Johnson, 29, is $4.35M AAV this and next season.

***

The Winnipeg Jets are still gauging interest in recently signed D-man Jacob Trouba who signed his two year bride deal earlier this week.

***

Buffalo Sabres goalie Robin Lehner unveiled his new military themed mask on Thursday.

Lehner is paying tribute to Veteran's Day and the Military Appreciation Night ceremony the Sabres will perform during Friday night's game with the New Jersey Devils.

"It's Army Night tomorrow and you know I'm not American. I appreciate the military and what all these guys do. I got a little support for my man Trump here. It's going to be a fun night", Lehner said.

You will see in the below video that Lehner pays homage to President elect Donald Trump.

"I just like him a lot," Lehner said. "I think he's going to make a lot of change."

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