TSN’s Darren Dreger reported on Wednesday that the mass exodus in Buffalo may not be limited to pending unrestricted free agents Ryan Miller, Matt Moulson, Steve Ott and Henrik Tallinder, but may also include defenseman Tyler Myers.
The 24-year-old blueliner won the Calder Trophy in 2010 and signed a seven-year, $38.5 Million contract extension in 2011, but has not matured into the dominating defenseman that Buffalo expected.
Dreger reports that Myers is drawing considerable interest from teams known to be looking for help on defense, like Anaheim, Colorado and Toronto, but that Sabres GM Tim Murray isn't anxious to move the big defenseman unless he can get a significant return.
Myers would make sense from a Toronto standpoint, based on the current state of their defense, the fact that the former 2008 first round pick is locked up at $5.5 Million per season until 2018-19 and is a right-handed shooting defenseman capable of playing on the Leafs top two pairings.
The price for Myers would likely be steep and would not necessarily be another defenseman, as the Sabres are loaded with young blueline prospects Nikita Zadorov, Rasmus Ristolainen, Jake McCabe and Mark Pysyk.
With the departure of Thomas Vanek and the impending departure of Moulson and Ott, Murray would likely be looking for scoring help in return for Myers, which would likely mean a deal involving a young playmaker like Nazem Kadri or a scoring forward like Joffrey Lupul.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs took to the ice at the Nassau Coliseum on Thursday brimming with confidence, having won 11 of the last 14 games before the Olympic break and facing the struggling New York Islanders, who have a number of players preparing to be moved before the March 5th trade deadline.
Toronto was unable to take advantage of the absence of New York top centers John Tavares and Frans Nielsen, allowing two short-handed goals to Olympic leading goal scorer Michael Grabner and blowing two one-goal leads in the third period in a 5-4 overtime loss in Uniondale, NY.
While a number of teams throughout the NHL showed some rust and loose play after the 18 day hiatus for the Sochi Olympics, the shortcomings and errors made by the Leafs were especially disturbing after a week of instruction on improving team defense and making good decisions on the ice.
“Gifts……total gifts.… said a frustrated Randy Carlyle following the game. “I got no other word to describe the goals that we gave up. You can’t give up three goals and expect to win, we were fortunate to get a point.…
Phil Kessel snapped a wrist shot over the right shoulder of Isles goalie Evgeni Nabokov 6:53 into the first to give Toronto the early lead, but the game turned later in the period as an Eric Boulton penalty gave Toronto their first power play.
Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner, who had another difficult night defensively, lost the puck right in front of goalie Jonathan Bernier, allowing Toronto native Casey Cizikas to set up Grabner for his 10th goal of the season. Less than a minute later, Grabner put the Isles in front as Bernier and rookie Morgan Rielly's miscommunication in front of the net gave the puck to Grabner with a wide-open net in front of him.
The game remained 2-1 through 40 minutes, with the only notable event in the middle frame being a fight between Boulton and Leafs defenseman Tim Gleason. Gleason was knocked down by a Boulton right cross and was sent immediately to the quiet room for examination, but returned later in the period.
Toronto surged in front midway through the third, as Paul Ranger and Dion Phaneuf scored goals within three minutes of each other to give Toronto a 3-2 lead, but that lead lasted less than two minutes, as callup Anders Lee scored his first of the season to tie the game on the power play.
Just over a minute later, Joffrey Lupul put the Leafs in front once again, backhanding the puck past Nabokov after a give-and-go pass with Nazem Kadri, but New York responded with 2:40 left in regulation, as Lee’s shot slowly dribbled through Bernier’s pads. Video review confirmed that the puck crossed the line before referee Dennis LaRue blew the whistle.
In overtime, both Gardiner and Rielly went to the corner to fight for the puck, leaving the front of the net wide open. The puck drifted in front, where van Riemsdyk mishandled it and put it on a tee for defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, who quickly fired it past Bernier for the victory.
“Mentally we were going to outskill the hockey club we played against and they had a different attitude, they tried to grind it with us and we didn’t play anywhere near the compete/grind game that were capable of.… Carlyle said
With the point earned in the loss, the Leafs move to 71 points, tying them with Tampa Bay, who lost a 3-2 decision in Nashville.
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