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So much for a Jaro Halak short lay over in Buffalo.
Looks like he’ll be a Buffalo Sabres until the NHL draft.
The paper-thin NHL goalie market for all intents and purposely closed.
The Minnesota Wild have acquired Captain Universe Ilya Bryzgalov from the Edmonton Oilers, who themselves upgraded their net by trading for Anaheim Ducks goalie Viktor Fasth.
#mnwild picks up roughly 475K of Bryzgalov's cap hit/cash by my math. If Fletcher wanted, can still add roughly $3M player w/o giving up one
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) March 4, 2014Halak will have to wait a couple of months for his connecting flight out of Buffalo.
Smart play by Fletcher who can now make a solid run at Thomas Vanek with the cushion.
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So, Jaro Halak is likely to be stabbing westward at the NHL trade deadline. His likely landing spot is Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Wild GM Chuck Fletcher is ,looking for a veteran Halak to add some stability, experience, and leadership to the Wild cage. Youngster Darcy Keumper has played brilliantly in recent games, however, Fletcher will want a vet to take the net should the Wild qualify for the playoffs.
Trading Halak is a no-brainer for Tim Murray as he has no emotional attachment to the former St. Louis Blues tender. Perhaps the Sabres can retain a portion of Halak's remaining salray to make this a cleaner deal, assuming the deal gets done.
Now the big question is:
What can Murray get in return for Halak from Minnesota? Forget about stealing Mikael Granlund or Dany Heatley from Fletcher.
Two names that come to mind are center Zack Phillips and rugged winger Kurtis Gabriel.
Phillips was Minnesota's 1st round pick in 2011 (28th overall). Phillips is 6'2 200 pound center who adds size, skill and solid two-way play. He's currently playing in AHL Iowa where he is making the adjustment to the pro game after he starred for three seasons in junior at the St. John Seadogs of the QMJHL.
Gabriel (2013 3rd rounder) is a big, strong, feisty winger who can mix it up and score. He's playing his third season at the Owen Sound Attack where he has 13 goals, 15 assists and 100 PIMs.
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I told you earlier this week that Sabres D Christian Ehrhoff may be moved at the deadline. I think it will likely happen.
Teams interested in acquiring him right now are Boston, Anaheim, Detroit, San Jose and LA.
I think it will come down to Boston and Anaheim.
Murray can ask for and receive a first rounder and a prospect. if Boston balks at that, Anaheim will be all over it.
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Will he or won’t he? Ryan Miller that is. Will the former Sabres star bar tender sign a long-term contract extension to stay on board with the St. Louis Blues between now and July 5? Or, will he opt to test the unrestricted free agency route?
Miller has earned the right to consider all options presented to him.
Miller said Monday that although he has had no discussions yet with the Blues regarding an extension, he is open-minded about the idea of staying and playing long term in The Gateway City.
“I'm very open to it, Miller said during his first official scrum with the St. Louis media. "But right now, it's more about the hockey. We're going to have a lot of time later on to feel that out."
Miller left the door wide open when he said: "I think it's definitely a possibility."
Cue Blues GM Doug Armstrong and Miller’s agent, former Blues tender, Mike Liut. I’ve been telling you since last July that Miller and St. Louis is a match made in hockey heaven. Mark my words: Miller will re-sign a long-term deal with the Blues in the near future. In so doing, he will solidify his roster spot on the top team in the Western Conference for years to come. When he signs the extension, he will be helping the Buffalo Sabres by converting the conditional third round pick from the blockbuster trade into the Blues’ 2014 1st round draft choice.
Last Friday, the Sabres traded Miller with Steve Ott to the Blues in exchange for pending UFA goalie Jaro Halak, power forward Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier, a 2015 first round pick and a conditional 2015 third round pick.
It will be a win-win when Miller re-signs in St. Louis.
Will the Blues’ 2014 1st rounder be a great pick? No. It could be better. However, its better than a third rounder as the Sabres will be a guaranteed yet another pick in the top 30 of this June’s entry draft. Tim Murray already holds two picks in the top five of this June’s draft, assuming Garth Snow and the Islanders allow the Sabres to have their conditional 1st rounder this June rather than waiting until the Connor McDavid draft next June.
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I have some sage advice for Sabres interim head coach Ted Nolan.
Just sign the three year contract extensions now.
When an NHL GM offers you a three-year, multi-million contract extension, you sign it immediately. You don’t wait two weeks and think about it. A report surfaced after Tim Murray and Ted Black’s presser on Sunday afternoon that Nolan was given a contract extension proposal two weeks ago, before the Pat LaFontaine incident had occurred. Nolan said Sunday that his mind is not on himself nor his contract situation right now and that he’s hyper-focused on the 22 guys in his locker room. Great answer. Nolan is a caring coach who is putting the players’ needs ahead of his own at this most confusing and difficult time in team history. It’s the right thing for a leader to do.It’s a lot to process for a young, re-building group. Ryan Miller and Steve Ott were abruptly traded on Friday, then twelve hours later, Pat LaFontaine re-signed. To say nothing of the looming trade deadline. Nolan is the mater motivator and is great at calming down his players and getting them all to believe in the team concept and in one another.
Nolan should carve out a little time in these next two days that the team is laying over in Tampa to sign his contract extension, before its pulled off the table by Murray. The GM said rather emphatically on Sunday that he is not going to beg anyone to stay in Buffalo, players or coaches. He only wants to work with people who want to be in Buffalo. I believe Murray. Its all the more reason for Nolan to sign off on the deal and to shake hands with Murray now. Otherwise, Murray might translate Nolan’s hesitation as a sign that he has to think about it further. Signing now would guarantee Nolan three years of paychecks, even if he is let go at some point. Nolan turned down a contract extension from the Sabres in 1997. We all know how that turned out. Why would Nolan want to go there again?
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Look for the LA Kings to ramp up their pursuit of Sabres sniper Matt Moulson. The Kings need scoring. They covet Moulson and Thomas Vanek.
Dean Lombardi should focus all of his attention and resources on landing Moulson. Vanek is thinking Minnesota thoughts right now.
What will the Kings have to send to Buffalo in exchange for Moulson? Their top forward prospect, Tyler Toffoli, and highly regarded forward prospect Tanner Pearson have been linked to Buffalo. Murray said last week that he’s looking for young forward prospects who have already served their “apprenticeship… in major juniors and in the AHL.
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Congrats to Lindy Ruff! His 600th career win came against his former club on Monday night. Ruff won 571 games as the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres before he was fired last February.
In the end, Pat Lafontaine packed his bags and left Buffalo in a huff. No goodbyes. No "Thanks For The Great Job". No press conference. No explanation to elaborate on his written statement that was released on Saturday night.
Nothing but question marks, hints, allegations and things left unsaid.
That this bitter divorce between Pegula and LaFontaine made it out of the board room and onto the internet and sports talk radio is regrettable. This looks bad on the Buffalo Sabres organization right now.
We will never know what really happened between LaFontaine and the executive team. No, Tim Murray is not to blame for LaFontaine's hasty, blustery departure. LaFontaine and Murray were on the same page on trade talks, roster moves (Pysyk, Ristolainen, McNabb back to Rochester),
Its like a keystone cops routine right now.
The timing of Pat LaFontaine's resignation came ay most inappropriate and inopportune time. Why couldn't Pegula have told him to take a one week vacation and then the team would announce the resignation after the NHL trade deadline?
Now we'll never know LaFontaine's side of the story because he has agreed to sell his side of the story back to Terry Pegula in exchange for a settlement on the remainder of the 95% term left on his multi-year. Business people invoke non-disclosure agreements like you and I change underwear. The Sabres don't want to compound all of the negativity being thrown at them right now in the NHL community by having their beloved hockey Hall of Famer LaFontaine smacking Pegula and his inner circle publicly.
Throw enough money at the problem and the problem goes away.
#Sabres /LaFontaine settle terms on his multi yr deal. Won't be hearing from Pat anytime soon as he also signed a non-disclosure agreement
— Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper) March 3, 2014Pegula may have silenced Lafontaine with the stroke of his Mont Blanc pen across his big fat check. How will he appease his disgusted season ticket holders? How will he make things right with the hundreds of thousands of Sabres fans who have had it up to here with their hockey team? Trade Miller and Ott. Pay Lafontaine to walk away quietly.
Whats really go on in Pegulaville?
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While Patty La La was silenced on Monday, Ryan Miller and Steve Ott met the St. Louis media for the first time on Monday.
Miller was especially impressed with his team's ability to score four unanswered third period goals in support of Miller in the 4-2 Blues win in Phoenix on Sunday night.
Steve Ott is pinching himself right now. He's been reunited with his great friend Brenden Morrow and his former head coach Ken Hitchcock in St. Louis.