Happy New Year, Hockey Fans!
Please remember to drink responsiblly and do not drink and drive tonight.
The Buffalo Sabres and their lack of trade activitty continues to be a hot topic in Buffalo.
A portion of the Buffalo Sabres fan base is triggered. They are mad as hell and they want Jason Botterill to make trades six months ago.
Trust me when I tell you that Botterill continues to work with a few NHL GMs. His goal is to land two top nine forwards. More specifically, Botterill has been shopping patiently for a top six forward for months.
Last week, Jeff Skinner busted his should in a collision with Bruins battleship David Pastrnak which forced the Sabres sniper to the injured reserve for the next 4-5 weeks. Therefore, Botterill needs to make a deal with one team for two forwards or two teams for one forward each.
As I have been telling you in this space and on Twitter (@SabresBuzz) for months, the Sabres and New Jersey Devils have been keeping close tabs on one another.
There was a time when both teams were shall we say "interested" in the possibility of a Taylor Hall trade to the Sabres. Bitterill and Ray Shero talked about it but never advanced the discussions to the next level. Seemingly, in their conversations about Hall, Botterill and Shero uncovered areas fo opportunity and assets for future trade discussions.
One such area is Botterill's stock pile that consists of eight, count 'em eight NHL defensemen on his current Buffalo roster. The Devils desperately needs defenseive upgrades.
The Devils are owners of a minus-36 goal differential.
No wonder they are a 30th place team. They can't score and they can't keep the biscuit out of their basket.
Shero wants capable, quality defensemen.
His forner protege Botterill has scratch his proverbial itch.
Botterill has three veteran D-men to move to Neward tomorrow. They are
Colin Miller, Marco Scandella and Zach Bogosian.
I've been told that Botterill and Shero discussed the inclusion of a top for defenseman in their Taylor Hall chats.
In his final
"31 Thoughts" column of 2019, my friend Ellliotte Friedman wrote in #16 that:
"I think New Jersey is considering some of Buffalo’s available defenders."
Smart man, that Elliotte Friedman is.
Where there is smoke, there is fire.
Now that the NHL holiday trade freeze has thawed, I have been hearing chatter about Devils forward being an object of several NHL general managers looking to add a top six forward. I'm told that Jason Botterill is in the hunt for Palmieri, who is a plug and play solution to all that ails Buffalo's offense, whicih has scored just 12 goals in its last 7 games heading into Tuesday night's home game against the Tampa Lightning.
In 534 career regular season games, Palmieri has scored 165 goals and 155 assists for 320 points. Palmieri has 108 career power play points. In 38 playoff games, Palmieri has added 8 goals and 7 assists.
Palmieri is a 30 goal scorer and a complete 200-foot player. He plays both wing positions and can add scoring, leadership and experience to a Sabres roster that desperately needs more scoring on its second line. When healthy, Jeff Skinner would vibe well with Marcus Johansson at center and Kyle Palmieri at right wing. Palmieri and Johansson played together in New Jersey.
Miles Wood is another Devils forward whom is on Buffalo's radar dashboard. Wood, 24, is a power forward that has failed to find his power source this season with the Devils. In 39 games this season, Wood has 5 goals and 6 assists. In 239 regular season games, Wood has scored 42 goals and 42 assists while earning 298 PIMs. Wood, 24, is a Buffalo native who would give teh Sabres a badly needed phyiscal deterrent in their nightly lineup.
Bottomline:
If I'm Jason Botterill, I'm trading disgrutled right defenseman Colin Miller, forward Evan Rodrigues, and Buffalo's 2020 second round pick in exchange for Kyle Palmieri and Miles Wood.
Money in, money out.
Palmieri earns $4.65M AAV this and next season. Wood earns $2.75M this season (and two more).
Miller is a $3.875M AAV this season (2 more) and Rodrigues is $2M AAV this season.
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