Tim Murray and Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill about Jhonas Enroth before last weekend's Sabres-Stars game in Buffalo. Lindy Ruff developed a respect for the Stockholm native's game when they worked with one another in Buffalo. When Kari Lehtonen's game started to show signs of weakness in recent weeks, it was Enroth who Nill inquired about.
Last Saturday night, Enroth stopped 38 shots and defeated the Stars 3-1 in Buffalo.
On Wednesday afternoon, Nill and Murray made a trade: Enroth to Dallas for Anders Lindback and a conditional third round pick. The condition on the third rounder is that if Enroth wins four playoff games for the Stars, then the pick will become a second rounder. Let's pump our brakes because the Stars aren't assured of any playoff spot right now. They are on the outside looking in right now. With Enroth in their crease, I like their chances of nailing down a Western Conference playoff spot. One gets the sense that Enroth may well end up being the Dallas starter in the days to come due to Lehtonen's inconsistencies.
Thanks, Sabres.com
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Really excited to start a new chapter with the Buffalo Sabres! http://t.co/hUDeJ83Epj
— Evander Kane (@evanderkane_9) February 11, 2015
Evander Kane is Buffalo bound.
One door slammed behind him and another one has gently opened to greet him. Kane was traded to the Sabres on Wednesday morning along with veteran D-man Zach Bogosian and a goalie prospect in exchange for Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, plus, prospect wingers Joel Armia and Brenden Lemieux, and a first-round pick in 2015. The Sabres will be sending the worst of three 2015 first rounders to the Jets to complete the deal.
Kane told Pierre LeBrun that he is looking forward to his new opportunity and the fresh new start that he will be given in the Queen City.
"I'm excited, very excited about the trade."
Kane said that he found out about the trade when he was phoned by his agent on Wednesday morning.
Sabres GM Tim Murray is revved up about having Kane on board and he is going to give Kane a featured top six forward role on the young Sabres squad. Kane will also take on a leadership role with his new team. Kane is psyched up about the opportunity to play for the newly remodeled, rapidly improving Buffalo Sabres club. In many ways, Murray has TiVo’d forward the Buffalo rebuild by landing the highly sought after Kane and Bogosian combo. By virtue of this trade, the Sabres become harder to play against. Kane’;s size and skill package make him of the most electrifying scoring forwards in the NHL. Bogosian will play in all situations and will not be shy punish enemy forwards who get too close to the Buffalo net. Kane told LeBrun Tim Murray made him feel welcome.
"Once I talked to Tim and talked to my agent, there's a lot of excitement for the future in Buffalo," Kane said. "Just looking at next year, they're going to get a top pick and that's exciting. Just to have one of those two guys (McDavid or Eichel) maybe to play with next year, plus the other young players on that team. The sense I got from Buffalo is that, yes they're rebuilding but they're not going to sit around and wait. They're looking to do something now. It's nice to go somewhere where you feel wanted and you feel that they want to put you in a situation to have success."
So, what actually happened between Kane and his Winnipeg teammates? Kane didn’t say. Maybe its best that we don’t know the details. Its ancient history. Kane is moving on.
"There's definitely a lot more to it than some of the funny story lines that came out," Kane said. "Sometimes you have to just let a story die and I guess that's what we'll do. But it was definitely disappointing with how everything shook out and some of the information was misconstrued, misleading, some of the facts kind of came out wrong or didn't come out at all. That's to be expected. But I'm definitely glad to be moving on and I'm going to have a fresh start with a new team. I'm looking forward to the future for sure."
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I appreciate that LeBrun asked Kane to clear the air about his chronic shoulder injury and his recent decision to call an end to his season so that he could have surgery to once and for all correct the problem.
"I had it [shoulder injury] last year and it got worse over the last two months," Kane said. "And actually, when they went in there to do the surgery, they found a hole in my shoulder as well and some other things they had to fix. It was a little more complicated than everyone thought at first, so it's really good we got it fixed now.
"That some people thought I was having surgery just to end my season, that's so not true. That's the biggest thing I want to make clear."
Kane says the shoulder problem got so bad last week that he couldn't bare it anymore.
"It's just common sense that I would have wanted to play in my hometown in front of friends and family where I know everyone has tickets to the game," said Kane, who played through a fracture ankle and a fractured hand this season. "Of course I would have wanted to. But unfortunately, it comes to a point where you just can't do it anymore because of the things I was going through. I couldn't do what I needed to do out there. It (his shoulder) would come out twice in a period, once a period, sometimes it wouldn't come out. It was tough to judge and get a feel for it."
Added Kane for emphasis: "After the break, we played in Philadelphia, our second game back, it came out twice in the third period and it just became harder and harder to continue. It was getting worse. I didn't want to put myself in a situation where it would become possibly career-threatening or maybe not be able to recover fully."
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So, was it “Track Suit Gate… that caused Kane to shut down his season and seek a surgeon’s scalpel as his Jets teammates are scrapping and fighting for a playoff berth?
"I'm actually one of the guys that doesn't mind that kind of stuff, to be honest," he said of the tracksuit in the shower. "That's kind of a funny part for me hearing all this. I'm a pretty tough guy mentally and physically. I think if people thought it was just about that, that's fine. That gives me a pretty good laugh."
Kane’s dark Winnipeg past is in his rear view mirror now. His windshield view of Buffalo is sunny and pleasant. Better days await Kane on the banks of Lake Erie.
"It's a fresh start, I'm excited," Kane said
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Tim Murray has a close personal friend named Craig Oster.
Last January, when Murray accepted the Buffalo GM job, Oster's name surfaced as one of the leading candidates to serve as Murray's assistant GM in Buffalo. It sounded like a great idea for the pair of passionate hockey men to join forces and to work together to remodel the Buffalo Sabres into a playoff contending team.
There was one problem. Oster had a day job. A very important day job. You see, Oster was and still is a player agent for some of the highest profile players in the NHL. Have you ever heard of Evander Kane and Ryan O'Reilly? Oster represents booth young NHL stars, among others.
The Evander Kane trade represents the dawn of a new era for the Buffalo Sabres. In his 16 seasons as Buffalo Sabres GM, Darcy Regier didn't deal much, if at all, with the high profile clients at Newport Sports. Tim Murray has opened the door and has now entered the Newport Sports echelon. Oster agency represents the A-list players of the NHL including P.K. Subban, Steven Stamkos, Henrik Lundqvist, Phil Kessel, Bobby Ryan, Corey Perry, Zach Parise, Erik Karlsson, Gustav Nyquist, and David backs to name a few.
By virtue of his strong relationships inside the NHL and top NHL player agencies, Murray has credibility with the best players in the game. Now that he has traded for Kane, he is sending notice to the rest of the NHL that Buffalo, NY is a legitimate contender for the top players in the game. Murray has a multi-billionaire owner, unlimited financial resources, and a metric ton of high quality draft choices and prospects to use to attract future free agents to choose to play in Buffalo rather than go to other NHL cities. Murray has an audience with the top player agents in the NHL and he has to be taken seriously when he is selling Buffalo as a prime destination for future free agents to play.
Perhaps Murray and Oster can cook up a deal that will deliver Ryan O'Reilly to Buffalo in the near future.
Hey, you never know.
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Dale Hawerchuk is a Hockey Hall of Famer.
He played the majority of his career with the Winnipeg Jets and Buffalo Sabres.
Today, his influence is still being felt in the OHL where he coaches the Barrie Colts.
Ever hear of Aaron Ekblad?
Yeah, Dale coached the the first player selected in the 2014 NHL Draft.
Two more of Hawerchuk's junior hockey star pupils will now be teammates in Winnipeg. Jets center Mark Schiefele has made quite a name for himself in the past two seasons as a strong two way performer. Brenden Lemieux was traded from Buffalo to The Peg on Wednesday as part fo the Evander Kane-Tyler Myers blockbuster extravaganza.