The Buffalo Sabres were dealt bad news on Satutrday morning.
Forwarrd Jeff Skinner will miss the next month weeks with an upper-body injury.
Skinner was injured early in the third period of Buffalo's 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on Friday night after getting the business end of a reverse hit from Bruins forward David Pastrnak .
Skinner was in noticeable pain after a faceoff then skated to the bench where team trainers accompanied the vgeteran to the Buffalo room.
Skinner missed the final 16 minutes of play in the loss to the Bruins.
Ralph Kreuger can ill afford to lose Skinner's 11 goals and 19 points in 39 games.
Kreuger constructed these forward trios for Saturday’s practice:
Be afraid. Be verrrrrrrrry afraid.
“Why not recall Casey Mittelstadt from AHL Rochester?”, they asked.
Mittelstadt has been disappointing in his four games with the Rochester Amerks. Mittelstadt could have played to his talent level, gone down and dominated in The A but instead he has been invisible.
The Sabres will have to suck it up as the team plays in Boston on Sunday. The Sabres will home to host the Tampa Lightning on New Years Eve to close out the first half of it's 50th anniversary season.
The NHL holiday roster freeze expired at midnight on Saturday morning. Teams are once again open for business.
Sabres GM Jason Botterill has been searching desperately for a top six scoring forward now wfinds himslef in need of not one but TWO top six forwards.
Botterill has been hoarding eight NHL caliber defenseman in Buffalo since September.
Why?
Botterill has no choice now but to trade a defenseman or two in exchange for scoring forwards.
Sabres fans have been patiently waiting since August for Botterill to pull the trigger on a high impact trade. To a fault, Botterill is a patient, methodical general manager.
Sabres fans have been respectful of Botterill and his meticulous, long term process, however, there is growing restlessness inside the fan base. Sabres fans are no longer asking Botterill to make a trade for a scoring forward. They are demanding it. The Jeff Skinner injury will only exacerbate the anxiety and anger to get a deal done to import a scoring forwrad to keep the Sabres' 2020 playoff alive.
The initial conservative timeline on Skinner's injury is one month. Skinner needs to make a full recovery. The Sabres cannot afford to have Skinner return to their lineup at less than 100%.
Life without Skinner will be bluer than blue if Botterill doesn't deliver a bonafide top six forward to the Sabres in the next week to fortify and strengthen the offense.
The Atlantic Division standing are tightly compacted and will remain the same until the end of the season. On December 23, the Sabres lost winnable game on the road in Ottawa. A win against the Sens would have moved them into second place in the Atlantic at the mandatory NHL-wide holiday break.
Welcome to the Atlantic where fortunes are won and lost on a nightly basis.
Back to back losses to Ottawa and Boston have pushed the Sabres down to fifth place in the difficult Atlantic with head to head games with Tampa and Florida looming on the horizon.
The Sabres need to put together a long win streak to remain relevant competitive in the playoff race. It's time to stack points.
Failure is not an option for the angry fan base in Buffalo, where the Bills will be returning to the playoffs for the second time in three years after a depressing 17 year playoff drought.
If the Sabres can beat the Bruins tonight and the Lightning on New Years Eve, they will finish the first 41 game segment of the seaason with 45 points, which will project to a 90 point season.
The projected cut line to qualify for the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs is 94-95 points, which means that there will be a chance to punch their ticket if/when they stack points, avoid the long losing streak in the second half of the season.
Just get in the playoffs. Then do your damage.
It's time for Botterill to reward his players and coaches for a job well done and deliver them a legit scoring threat and other depth forward assets.
Botterill has the following assets to use as trade currency to procure a top six scorer:
2020 first round pick
2020 second round pick
Colin Miller
Zach Bogosian (pending UFA)
Marco Scandella (pending UFA)
Here are the noteworthy forwards Botterill and his scouts have been keeping tabs on for the past three months:
Tomas Hertl, San Jose Sharks
The Sharks are tied for dead last in the NHL standings and are sinking like a sunset. The Sharks own a dismal -32 goal differential. Despite Pete DeBoer being fired the team is 1-8-1 in its last 10 games. Hertl,26, is the power forward the Sabres desperately have been seeking. Hertl plays all three forward positions. He is big, fast, strong and highly skilled. He's also a great value at $5.625 million for the next three seasons. In 439 career regular season games, Hertl has scored 130G,144A. Last season, he scored 35G,39A. This season, Hertl has scored 14G,16A. In 62 career playoffs games, Hertl has scored 24G,18A.
Hertl is a client of Newport Sports Management, the agency that Botterill likes to do his hockey business with. Oh, by the way, Colin Miller is also repped by Newport Sports.
Rickard Rakell, Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks also are tied for dead last in the NHL standings and have been scouting the Sabres for months. Rakell plays all three forwatrd positions. The Ducks have done an excellent job of drafting young, skilled forwards in Trevor Zegras, Sam Steel, Max Jones, Max Comtois, Troy Terry and Isac Lundestrom. The Ducks need to upgrade their D corps both at the NHL and AHL level. Rakell, 26, has scored 10G,15A in 36 games this season. In 418 career regular season games, Rakell has scored 124G,142A for 266 points. In 46 career playoff games, Rakell has scored 11G,8A. Rakell earns $3,789,444 for the next three seasons.
Chris Kreider, NY Rangers
Kreider is a pending UFA and will likely be testing the market on July 1, 2020. Kreider is very productive and is responsible on both sides of the puck. He would add needed scoring pop to Buffalo's second line. He also infuses power and purpose. Kreider will earn $4,625,000 this season. In 36 games played this season, Kreider has 10G,11A. In 496 career regular season games, Kreider has scored 143G,149A. In 77 playoff games, Kreider has produced 23G,14A. The Rangers are looking for a 2020 first round pick in a deal for Kreider.
Botterill has to decide if he is willing to trade his 2020 first rounder on a player who may or may not re-sign with the Sabres on July 1, 2020. I think Botterill would go all-in on trading his 2020 first rounder if Kreider and prospect forward Lias Andersson were a package deal. Chris Kreider and Lias Andersson for Colin Miller and Buffalo's 2020 first rounder.
Tyler Toffoli, Los Angeles Kings
Toffoli, 27, will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2020. The Scarborough, Ontario native has scored 130 goals and 147 assists in 493 career regular season games. In 49 Stanley Cup playoff games, Toffoli has scored 9 goals and 12 assists.
Toffoli’s career high for goals scored in a season is 31 tucks. Toffoli plays both wing positions.
Toffoli has his name twice engraved upon the Stanley Cup Toffoli is earning $4.6M AAV this season.
2019-20: 38 games – 9 goals, 12 assists, 21 points, -4, 15:45 ATOI
2018-19: 82 games – 13 goals, 21 assists, 34 points, -16, 17:13 ATOI
Botterill won't have to trade his 2020 first rounder to acquire Toffoli.
Alex Tuch, Vegas Golden Knights
Tuch is in the first yeear of his new seven contract that pays him $4.750M AAV. In I81 career regular season games, the big, skilled power forward has scored 40G,60A and 100 points.
Andreas Athanasiou, Detroit Red Wings
Athanasiou, who plays all three forward positions, scored 30 goals last season, however, he doesn't factor in the future in Detroit.
Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman made an in-person scouting mission to Buffalo last Saturday. I'm told Stevie Y is close to trading the pending RFA with arbitration rights Athanasiou for a defenseman. The Red Wings are a bad hockey team and should begin the tear down project to Tank For Alex LaFreneiere.
In 282 career regular season contects, Athanasious has scored 78G,69A for 147 points,including 5G,12A this season.
Miles Wood, New Jersey Devils
Wood, 24, is an excellent power forward who has scored 41G,42A in 236 career regular season games. Wood, a Buffalo native, can play up and down the lineup.
Wood is in the second year of his four year contract that pays him $2.75M AAV.
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