Updated 6:40pm:
The Columbus Blue Jackets have been scouting the Buffalo Sabres heavily in the past few weeks. The Jax are a team decimated by injuries to key contributors and enter tonight's game tied with the Sabres for 27th overall in the NHL standings.
I wrote this piece Sunday morning.
My take:
Are the Sabres and Jax be working on a trade to assist one another in their quest for Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel?
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Earlier this week, Sabres head coach Ted Nolan sent shock waves through his room when he handed Chris Stewart a front row seat to the press box. Stewart knew that he was playing on borrowed ice time. Days before his benching, Nolan subtracted ice time from Stewart and his linemate Marcus Foligno in back to back games in Tampa and in Sunrise. When the Turk came calling on Tuesday, Stewart was shocked by the news, but not surprised by it. Nolan’s tough love paid dividends as the Jhonas Enroth and his teammates, sans Stewart, shutout the defending Stanley Cup Champions 1-0. Nolan took a calculated risk by benching the 6’3 230 lb. Stewart against a big, gnarlu, burly, and skilled Kings team.
Advantage: Nolan.
Understandably, Stewart was pissed off. At himself for playing so poorly. At Nolan for having the cajones to actually bench him. Stewart also took exception to Nolan referring to him as being soft. Point blank: I LOVED Stewart’s “Go ask Prust and Lucic about how soft I am… one-timer that he launched at Nolan in response to the soft smack. Nolan can add Big Brandon Bollig to the list that contains Brendan Prust and Milan Lucic. On Thursday night, Stewart went toe to toe with Flames badass Bollig in the second period of the 4-3 Buffalo win. So, why exactly did Nolan send Stewart to detention for the Kings game?
Stewart’s passion level was off. His pugnacity and verve went missing. He was seen turning away from checks rather than exploding through them like a Ford F-250 heavy duty through a Buffalo snow bank. Stewart wasn’t fighting, nor was he hitting. He wasn’t being a pain in the ass to play against. He wasn’t scoring, nor was be burying his chances.
Stewart’s hit count is surprisingly low this season and it’s a concern for Nolan. Stewart is an ice breaker who when on his game is using his size and uncanny speed to blow open huge chunks of ice for his linemates to skate through and create with. Stewart is at his best when he is smashing opponents along the walls and in open ice. Nolan has seen glimpses of Stewart’s physicality and ferocity this season. Mere inconsistent glimpses.
When we go inside the total number of hits that have been delivered by the Sabres this season, we learn that Stewart’s struggles are dramatic.
Nic Deslauriers leads the Sabres with 93 body checks in 30 games played.
Here’s the rest of the top 10 hitters on the Sabres:
Marcus Foligno: 81 in 24 games played Mike Weber: 72 in 26 games played Zemgus Girgensons: 66 in 30 games played Cody McCormick: 54 in 25 games played Rasmus Risolainen: 47 in 30 games played Nikita Zadorov : 36 in 19 games played Tyler Myers: 32 in 29 games played Chris Stewart: 32 in 29 games played Tyler Ennis: 31 in 30 games played
That highly skilled, lover-not-fighter Tyler Ennis has only one fewer hit than the bigger, badder Stewart right now is a huge cause for concern. That the 28 year old Stewart is being out worked by his 19, 20, 22, and 23 year old teammates is downright embarrassing. I could see if Stewart had 17 goals and 10 assists at this juncture of the season right now that he could justify his physicality deficiencies with his high offensive output. He doesn’t have a leg to stand on right now because he has only scored 3 goals and added only 1 assist. He’s taken 60 shots, many of them from the faceoff circles down or on the breakaway, however, he just can’t find a solution for his lack of production. Nolan has been “investing… an average of 14:40 TOI per game into Stewart. So far, Nolan isn’t getting a return on his investment. Stewart’s only added value has been his fighting. Tim Murray isn’t paying Stewart $4.5 million this season to be a fourth line bar fighter. He’s paying for the full suite of services that made Stewart such an effective power forward in earlier in his career when he scored 28 goals for the Colorado Avalanche. His former head coach Ken Hitchcock experienced the same frustration and anxiety last season that Nolan is experiencing this season with Stewart. Nolan has been patiently waiting for the dominant power forward to re-emerge. For some untold reason, Stewart hasn’t lived up to his end of the bargain. Thus, the recent benching. By comparison, 20 year old Latvia Locomotive Zemgus Girgensons has become a model of consistency and a role model for his teammates in terms of playing the 200 foot, complete game. The Riga native is thriving while centering for Matt Moulson and Tyler Ennis on Buffalo’s top line. Girgensons has scored 9 goals and has chipped in 7 assists (+5) while averaging 18:42 TOI.
Don Cherry has said for decades that “Crushers who become rushers soon become ushers…. Its no wonder that Nolan sent Stewart to Club 150 to watch the game from high above the ice surface. Message delivered. Message received.
The Sabres are now 9-3 in their past 12 games played. They have won 5 games in a row in front of their home fans. Time on ice (TOI) is the currency that hockey coaches pay their players with. The leaders and consistent players get the TOI that gets subtracted from the inconsistent and uninspired one.
I’ve been asked several times this week if Nolan’s decision to scratch Stewart earlier this week will hurt the player’s trade value. I don’t believe that for a minute. I really don’t. I know NHL scouts. I speak with them often. Scouts and GMs respect Stewart’s unique mélange of size, strength, and speed. Many NHL head coaches look at struggling players like Stewart and say to their GM: “Go trade for that guy now. I can fix his game…. Would a change do Stewart a lot of good? Sure it would. Has the benching and the “soft… blast to his solar plexus soured his opinion of Ted Nolan. Its human nature for a competitive man to get pissed off at his boss for calling him “soft… out and embarrassing him publicly, rather than keeping the encounter behind closed doors.
I can’t tell you what is going on in Stewart’s head right now in terms of what’s causing him not to be able to perform to the high standards being placed on him. I do know that he and his wife welcomed twin babies into the world within the past five months. I’m willing to cut Stewart some slack as he and his wife are adjusting to the demands of being first time being parents. It’s a precarious balance to be a professional hockey player. I recall speaking with Thomas Vanek after he and his wife had their first son. A couple of years later, they had twin boys. Finding the right balance between home life and professional life is a process. Its on-the-job-training. You have to figure it out in real time.
On Thursday night, there were more than a dozen NHL scouts in the building in Buffalo. Many of them were there to gather intel on Stewart. The Blue Jackets, Bruins, Senators, Flames, Stars, Predators and Penguins were charting Stewart’s progress.
Is a Stewart trade imminent? No.
Is a Stewart trade likely? Yes.
Will it happen this week? No
The NHL trade freeze kicks in on December 19. No player can be traded during the Christmas holidays. Trading a 28 year old Toronto kid with a wife and five month old twins before the Christmas holidays would be brutal. That’s a lot of pressure that Stewart must be feeling. He listens to talk radio. He’s on Twitter. The trade rumors and chatter are out there and his name continues to be mentioned.
I see an early January Stewart trade happening. He’s a pending UFA who can add value to a contending team’s top 9 forward group. The compensation for Stewart? An organizational prospect and a 2nd or 3rd round draft choice.
However, in the case of Columbus, Tim Murray is said to be targeting Nick Foligno. The Blue Jackets are intriguing in the Stewart trade scenarios because their GM Jarmo Kekalainen (formerly GM of the Blues) made the trade with Colorado which delivered Stewart to St. Louis. Stewart is a pending UFA as is Foligno. The Blue Jackets have been decimated by injuries to key contributors (Dubinsky, Tyutin, Letestu, Horton, Anisimov) all season long, the latest being Scott Hartnell’s broken finger that will sideline him for 2-3 weeks. They enter today’s action tied for 27th overall in the NHL standings. There are indications that the Blue Jax will enter the McEichel sweepstakes while they continue to strugglel from all of the misfortune and losing caused by all of their man game lost to injury.
Nick Foligno continues to lead the Jax in scoring with 14 goals and 13 assists. There is no doubt that he would love to play on a line with his brother Marcus in their hometown of Buffalo.
Why would the Jax trade their leading scorer right now?
Because in this season of giving, right?
Trading Foligno away would poise them for a Happier Tanksgiving.
In other words, addition by subtraction.
Like Buffalo trading away Tyler Myers, the Jax would get that much closer to winning the lottery and drafting McDavid or Eichel by subtracting Foligno than they do by keeping him. That, and Kekalainen will not trade his young stars in Ryan Johansen and Boone Jenner, nor will he trade his blue chip prospects in Kerby Rychel, Sonny Milano, Marko Dano, Alexander Wenneberg, Oskar Dansk, and others.
Like the Sabres, the Blue Jackets have stockpiled some explosive, remarkable, world-class talent and they are going to be a powerhouse for years to come when their kids eventually matriculate to the NHL. They are committed to drafting, developing and mentoring their kids just like the Sabres are. The Jax won the Traverse City Tourney back in September and they served notice there that they will be a force for years to come.
Nick Foligno helps the Jax in the now, however, will he be as productive for them in the future as he is right now? Also, does he even want to re-sign as a UFA with Columbus? Foligno just turned 27 in October and perhaps would like to play with his brother in Buffalo. Nick and Tim Murray certainly know one another have worked together in Ottawa.
Murray may want to trade Stewart and a D prospect in Chad Ruhwedel to the Jax in exchange for Foligno.
If not the Blue Jackets, then the Senators and Bruins will slug it out for Stewart.
The Jax traded D Tim Erixon for Chicago's young gun Jeremy Mornin this morning.
blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
BREAKING: #CBJ acquire Jeremy Morin (@jmorin91) from the #Blackhawks for Tim Erixon --> http://t.co/OcXyjYmHjO pic.twitter.com/iERvKmFjA6
Are willing to admit that they embracing the tank? If so, the Sabres should ask them to be their secret Santa.
Give. More. Gifts. Improve. Your, Draft. Position.
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Don’t expect to see Sabres nemesis Chris Neil to play in Buffalo on Monday night. Neil has suffered a reported serious knee injury and will be out of the lineup on a long term basis.
The Senators will be without the services of forward Zack Smith as well. Smith suffered a wrist injury in Boston on Saturday and the team sent him back to Ottawa for further evaluation. Neil has been antagonizing you Sabres fanatics for the past 13 years in the league. I know how much you love and adore him. It won’t be a Sabres-Sens game without him.
"I expect everyone to win their one-on-one battles. That's not possible to win everyone but I expect them to have the attitude that they are going to be engaged to give themselves a chance to win." When the hockey gods made Chris Neil, they broke the mold. Good luck finding his equal replacement on the Sens roster. They have skilled guys not tough guys. Perhaps Bryan Murray will buy his nephew Tim lunch in Buffalo on Monday and the two men can make a good ole fashioned hockey trade. Tim has a couple of physical wingers for hire in Drew Stafford and Chris Stewart. Bryan has youngsters like Matt Puempel and Jean-Gabriel Pageau to use as trade currency.
Look for Jhonas Enroth to battle Robin Lehner in the nets. #BattleofSwedishGoalies
More to come…
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Updated:
Disappointing news out of Toronto tonight s Hockey Canada has cut Buffalo Sabres prospect and Erie Otters right winger Nick Baptiste from its World Juniors roster.
Canada cuts Baptiste ... one more cut to come tonight
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) December 14, 2014
Canada played two games this weekend against CIS competition in Toronto.
Baptiste, who was traded to the Erie Otters two weeks ago, was invited to tryouts because he his a scoring machine with a mean streak. Frankly, I'm shocked by this cut. I'm thinking that his Erie teammate Connor McDavid isn't happy about Baptiste being sent home.
Baptiste scored 54 goals and added 44 assists for the Sudbury Wolves last season. Now, he can focus on heading back to Erie where he will play a featured role in the Otters' quest to win the 2015 Memorial Cup.
Baptiste was told Yahoo Sports that he's disappointed about being cut, but he'd going to take it all in stride.
"It's tough, but it's such good competition here and I'm proud to be [considered] one of the top 30 [junior players] in Canada," said the Buffalo Sabres prospect, who hails from Barrhaven, Ont. "I'm going to go back to Erie and hopefully go on a [Memorial] Cup run. It's not the end of the world. It sucks, but it's life and that happens. It stings but you got to keep your head up."
Canada hasn't won WJC gold medal since 2009.
Sabres center Samson Reinhart is safe and will play a big role on Team Canada when the WJC pool games begin in Montreal on Boxing Day.
Besides Baptiste, Morgan Klimchuk, Travis Sanheim, and Chris Bigras have also been cut by Canada.
Canada's final roster is set. Canada will keep 25 players, including:
15 forwards, 8 D-men, and 2 goalies.
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