Ruff Will Ride Enroth (habs)

Lindy Ruff didn't trade for Jhonas Enroth just for giggles. He did so to secure a Western Conference playoff spot.

Ruff will not have a "Hi, How Ya Doing?" phase with Enroth. Lindy knows Jhonas. Jhonas knows Lindy. Bam. Instant chemistry.

Ruff told the Dallas Morning News that he is going to ride Enroth immediately. “I think it serves no purpose to bring him in and not get him in there [and] get him going right away,… Ruff said. “I don’t want him sitting around. I think he deserves that from the way he has played. It gives us that opportunity to keep two guys fresh.… Enroth, 26, was Ted Nolan's go-to-guy in Buffalo this season with a 13-21-2 with a 3.27 GAA and a .903 save percentage. Ruff doesn't care about the stats. He likes that Jhonas can eat minutes and grind opponents.

Ruff trusts Enroth. He didn't necessarily trust Anders Lindback who was Lindback 2-8-0 in Dallas this season. Kari Lehtonen has been up and down all season long. He has ben inconsistent lately and Ruff wants better play from his golaies.

Enter Enroth. “We’re going to have a lot of big games down the stretch, and I just think he [Enroth] is tested,… Ruff said. “He’s faced a ton of rubber this year, and Anders, I don’t think he played enough. In Jhonas’ case, he has a little bit more experience that I think he gives us a little bit more margin of chance to win inside of this last stretch of games.…

Enroth didn't make it to Dallas in time to practice with his new teammates on Thursday.

The Stars host the Florida Panthers Friday night. I think Ruff will start Enroth in Denver on Saturday night against the Avalanche.

**

Poor Enroth. He was traded Wednesday from Buffalo to Dallas hours after the blockbuster trade that sent Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, a first rounder and two prospects to Winnipeg for Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian.

The Stockholm, Sweden native was sitting on the couch watching soccer when he saw Tim Murray's name pop up on his caller ID.

The pending UFA picked up the call.

Murray told him that he had been traded to Dallas.

“I was actually just sitting on the couch watching a soccer game when I saw that Tim Murray’s name pop up on the phone. I figured that was the trade call. It was a bit of a bittersweet feeling at first, but right now it’s just excitement. I’m very proud of being in Dallas right now.…

Go time.

Jhonas was on the NHL Network on Thursday afternoon and he recounted his experiences in Buffalo and talked about his excitement to be reunited with Lindy Ruff.

“Well, it started yesterday (Wednesday) around four when Tim Murray called me and told me I was traded. Since then it’s been a pretty busy time. I guess Lindback had a little bit quicker turnaround than I did. But, yeah, I left Buffalo around 6 a.m. It’s definitely an exciting time.…

***

“I’m very excited to go to a team that actually wanted me and traded for me. So it’s nice to feel wanted I guess. And it’s like you said. We’re only a couple of points out of the playoffs here, so we’ve got a couple of big games coming up. That’s definitely a bit more fun and a little more exciting to play bigger games like this.…

** “It’s great. I’m pretty fortunate to know the coach, I guess, and I’m pretty sure the goalie coach is half Swedish so we’ve talked. I know the coaching staff pretty well I guess.…

Thanks, NHL Network

***

Anton Lander scored 1:47 into overtime to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 comeback victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

The 29th ranked Oilers (41 points) now lead the 30th place Buffalo Sabres (35 points) by six points in the McEichel standings. The Sabres are idle until Sunday night when they host Philly.

The Canadiens have not been able to beat the Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, and Arizona Coyotes this season.

The Habs have lost three of four games to Buffalo this season. The Oilers have beaten the Habs both times that they have played and the Coyotes are 1-0 against Montreal this season.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his second goal of the game tied it with 25 seconds left in regulation time while Edmonton was playing with an extra attacker.

Grinder Matt Hendricks also lit the lamp for the Oil (16-31-9), who are 2-2-0 so far on a six-game road trip that takes them to Ottawa on Saturday and Winnipeg on Monday.

Lander knocked in the winner from the crease while RNH slipped a puck off Andrei Markov’s skate and scored on a spin-around shot from the slot to force the four on four session.

Oiler head coach Todd Nelson is now 9-9-2 since taking over the Oilers bench after Dallas Eakins was fired.

The Oilers are 5-5 in their last 10 games.

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Super sleuth Elliotte Friedman told Sportsnet 960 Calgary Thursday that there were multiple suitors for Tyler Myers and Evander Kane.

When it was all said and done Myers wound up in Winnipeg and Kane in Buffalo.

The price of poker was high.

"I definitely believe that Buffalo asked other teams for more than that, but I don’t think anybody was willing to do it.

“I was with Vancouver yesterday in Chicago. I got the sense that the Canucks – they were in it, but it was really half-hearted. They weren’t including Horvat. They weren’t including Virtanen. They weren’t including Jared McCann, who’s a young defenceman they’ve got. When they saw what Buffalo traded, their reaction was, ‘We weren’t even in the same ballpark.’

“The Kings were involved at some point with Myers. Buffalo asked I think for Toffoli, or to be included, and they’re like, ‘We’re not doing that.’

“Detroit, we know that they had asked for either Anthony Mantha and Dylan Larkin, and Detroit was, ‘We’re not doing that.’

“Now Calgary from what I’ve heard, and I haven’t spoken to Brad Treliving, but from what I’ve heard, Calgary was in on both Myers and Kane. They would let them know we would like to be involved. But I think the ask for both teams was very similar. It was one of Bennett and Monahan, plus. And I’m sure they probably asked for both because you can’t shoot a team for asking. But it was one of those two guys, plus more. And the Flames just aren’t going to do that, and you can’t blame them, because when you trade a center, what’s the next thing you’re saying? "We need a center" and I just don’t think Calgary was going to do it if it was going to cost them Sam Bennett or Sean Monahan.…

I hate to say I told you so, but.....

I told you months ago that the Sabres were serious about wanting to acquire Anthony Manta from the Red Wings. Ken Holland will now shift his attention to acquiring Toronto's UFA to be Cody Franson.

Also, I told you that LA wanted Myers badly, however, Dean Lombardi was not willing to send Toffoli back to Buffalo as part of a package.

Regarding Kane, the Canucks were not willing to trade top prospects to Winnipeg so the Kane Train left the station. The Flames were not willing to part with Sam Bennett and Sean Monahan so they missed out on Kane.

Listen to the interview here:

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When Vancouver, B.C. native Evander Kane was benched in his hometown, Canucks GM Jim Benning inquired with the Jets as to the power forward's availability. Benning, the first year GM of the Nucks, is looking to add a veteran scoring winger to his lineup.

But, he had a limit that he would not allow himself exceed with regard to trading for Kane.

Benning was guest on TSN 1040 in Vancouver this fternoon and explained how close the Canucks really were to acquiring Kane.

As a stand-alone piece, or a one for one trade, Benning was all-in. However, when Buffalo GM included multiple pieces, and prospects Joel Armia and Brenden Lemieux to the deal, Benning tapped out.

In the end, Benning was not interested in mortgaging his club's future by trading any of his top three prospects in Bo Horvat, Jake Virtanen, and Jared McCann.

"We were talking to Winnipeg, I was talking to Chevy. But when I was talking to him, it was more of a stand-alone. It was just Evander Kane. When it got to the point where there was multiple players involved, we weren’t in any sort of deal like that.

“Evander Kane, he’s a Vancouver boy. He grew up playing around here. He’s a good hockey player. So I wanted to make sure we did our due diligence and contacted him just to see if he could figure something out for him.

“He sent me a text Wednesday morning saying that he was involved in a bigger deal and that we were out. And it really did turn out to be a big deal, so we weren’t in it to the extent the deal he made.…

Listen to the full interview here:

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Fresh off his torrid, all-tournament performances at the recently concluded IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, Sabres center Samson Reinhart was a guest on Sabres Hockey Hotline on Thursday morning. Reinhart propelled Team Canada to the gold medal on home soil.

Reinhart surprised the Hell out of me when he said that Connor McDavid is the best linemate that he has played with in his international hockey career for Team Canada. Reinhart said that he hopes that the Sabres can select him first overall to Buffalo in the June entry draft.

Harry Neale took the words out of my mouth when he asked Samson if he's spending time in the gym and working on his body. Samson said that he is dedicated to his gym work outs and he is making gains in his strength and conditioning program. When the Sabres sent Reinhart back to Kootenay it wasn't because of his hockey skills. It was to allow him time to pump the weights and to build his body so that he can endure the perpetual pounding of the NHL.

Thanks, Sabres Hockey Hotline

***

Tyler Myers played well in his Winnipeg Jets debut. That is until a Shea Weber bullet struck Myers on the leg.

Myers blocked the shot and then struggled to get back to the front of the net. It was too little too late as James Neal found the rebound and scored the PPG to seal the 3-1 lead for Nashville.

Click link below to se Myers injury:

You'll recall that Myers was injured two weeks ago while blocking a shot.

Myers skated 21:23 TO1 and was -1.

Drew Stafford skates 14:25 TOI and took a minor penalty.

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