Ask Tim Murray to evaluate the top five players in this June's NHL Entry Draft and he'll give you an honest, detailed summary.
Murray has a mental little black book with a paragraph or more on the top players in major junior, NCAA, and the ECHL. Murray is a rink rat to the core.
There's a lot to respect about a GM who relies on the opinion of his trusted scouts who have been driving through blizzards and traveling every square inch of North America in order to watch the best of the best play against kids their own ages. Murray won't be making the Sabres' first and second round selections all by himself. He's demanding that his scouts will provide the proper context while evaluating the top five to ten players in this June's draft.
Murray has a book on all players, especially the top five.
Murray's takes are interesting.
On Ekblad: Excellent two-way D who very well may be the first overall pick in June's draft. On Draisaitl: Big, strong center; o-zone dominance. Uses his ass to batter opponents. On Reinhart: Excellent vision. Smart. Skilled. On Bennett: Tenacious, edgy,skilled, will stick you in the gut. On Dal Colle: Best release we've seen in years. Projects to be an NHL goal scorer.
On Tuesday afternoon, Murray told WGR that he and his scouts will arrive at the conclusion as to which player they would select first overall in the June draft. Murray is a draft-the-best-guy-available kind of GM, however, he realizes that he and his scouts are the one's determining who the best player available is.
Murray said that if Ekblad was deemed to be the best player available, then the Sabres would select him first overall. In other words, Murray will caution his scouts in their final evaluation process that the fact that Ekblad is a dominant D should not matter. The Sabres need a dominant center right now, however, Murray doesn't want his scouts to not select Ekblad their #1 prospect due to his position played. Murray wants his scouts to evaluate each top prospect honestly and open-mindedly.
" Thanks, WGR
The more I hear Murray talk, the more I like him. I'm leaning Ekblad right now, however, I have a lot of time for Bennett and Reinhart discussions.
These next three months will be very interesting indeed.
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Speaking of impressive two-way D, Murray also mentioned that he and the Sabres are close to signing University of Wisconsin D Jake McCabe to hi entry level NHL contract. McCabe, a junior, is now available to join the Sabres organization because his NCAA season is officially over. The Badgers were knocked out of the NCAA playoffs with a loss to North Dakota on Saturday. The loss closed the door on a largely successful season for Wisconsin, which included the inaugural Big Ten tournament championship, 20-win season and an NCAA tournament appearance.
McCabe (6'1 215 lbs.) can skate like a loaded freight train and has the type of vision, passing ability and toughness to make him a top four D candidate for the Sabres as soon as next season. Yes. McCabe is THAT good. The Sabres selected him 44th overall in the second round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.
Though Rochester is in desperate need of reinforcements and blue line help right now, Murray wants to see the kid play some games in the last month of the NHL season for the Sabres.
I'm all for McCabe playing in Buffalo right now. The kid is NHL-ready. He and Rasmus Ristolainen were a D pair during last July's prospects camp in Buffalo. The duo played brilliantly together at both ends of the rink.
McCabe is a difference maker. The bigger the stage, the brighter the spotlight, the bigger and better the kid plays. McCabe is a great hockey player and a special kind of D-man.
Dare I say Mike Ramsey Part II.
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Justin Kea is now a professional hockey player.
The Saginaw Spirit star signed his entry level deal with the Sabres on Tuesday and will report directly to Rochester to help the Amerks snap their five game losing skid and to help lead them to a berth in the AHL playoffs.
Very happy to be taking another step down the right path and honoured to sign with @BuffaloSabres #bleedblueandgold
— Justin Kea (@JKea09) April 1, 2014
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