November 27, 2018.
The day the Buffalo Sabres won their tenth straight game to improve their season record to 17-6-2.
That 3-2 OT win against Evander Kane and the San Jose Sharks, the vaulted the Sabres into first place in the NHL standings.
The Sabres finished 31st overall in the 2017-18 standings and won the NHL Draft Lottery. They drafted Swedish phenom Rasmus Dahlin with the first overall pick in the draft.
The worst to first trek was intoxicating. The Sabres embraced the improbable feat which catured imaginations and was manna from heaven for ans around the globe.
The euphoria of winning was intoxicating for Sabres fans. Their improbable rise from the out house to the penthouse in a 25-game span was super impressive. The 10-game winning streak revealed the resilience and battle of the upstart Sabres. The Cardiac Kids proved themselves to be a team that could not be counted out when trailing opponents on the scoreboard.
What goes up must come down. What must rise must fall.
Its been a tale of two seasons for the Sabres.
Buffalo's first twenty-five games (17-6-2) were exceptional. They found new and unique ways to win each and every night. They got the bounces and they buried their chances.
In their last twenty games the Sabres have left a lot to be desired.
Since the Tampa Lightning snapped the Sabres' ten game win streak with a 5-4 win on November 29, the Sabres have struggled and have lost 14 of 20 games played.
Phil Housley's Sabres have fallen flat on a wicked patch of black ice and are struggling to find safe footing. The Sabres are mired in a nasty 6-10-4 streak. Housley is having a tough time finding secondary and tertiary scoring. As the Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart trio goes, so go the Sabres. Eichel missed four games recently with an upper body injury and the Sabres went 2-2 in his absence. Housley has been scratching his head while searching for solutions for his goal secondary scoring.
The silver lining is that the Sabres have not been getting blown out and embarrassed in their recent losses. The games have been close. Too close for comfort. The margin of error has been razor thin. Nine of the losses in their current 6-10-4 losing streak are by one or two goals.
On Saturday night, the Sabres held a third period lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning. They played a very impressived 55 minute game only to lose on a Steven Stamkos power play goal.
Owners of a 23-16-6 record (52 points), the Sabres better pull up their socks, keep a stiff upper lip and attack the game.
The Sabres are now tasked with havng to stop the bleeding before their playoff lives are are placed in intensive care.
Eichel, Skinner & Associates have three games left before the All Star Game. They will stab westward to Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. The next three game are winnable for the Sabres who need to win all six points in the next five days.
On Monday night, the Sabres enter the Eichel-McDavid grudge match on a 3-6-1 losing streak. The Oilers are 3-7 in their last ten games. Something has to give.
The Sabres are meeting the same teams moving down the standings as they met on the way up the ladder.
On Sunday afternoon, the Eastern Conference playoff chase got more chaotic when the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Nashville Predators. The win leaves the Canes with 49 points in the standings. Right now, five teams are seperated by a mere six points in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Teams 6-10 are now compressed together like an accordion:
Blue Jax: 55 points
Canadiens: 53 points
Islanders: 52 points
Sabres: 52 points
Hurricanes: 49 points
Housley keeps preaching persistence beats resistance.
“We’ve got to fight and keep clawing away,” Housley said after the gutting loss to Tampa on Saturday night. “We knew that nothing was going to be easy from this point moving forward, and I think that’s a valuable lesson for our guys that it’s going to take every shift, every period, every game, a 60-minute effort. We can’t take anything for granted.
“But at the same time, I think there’s a lot of valuable lessons that we’re learning. If we play a 60-minute game like we’re capable, we’ll get on the right side of things. We’re facing a little adversity here and we have to overcome that. That’s just through hard work.”
Sabres GM Jason Botterill has had 45 games to assess the talent and lack thereof on his roster. Botterill has patiently waited for teh pendulum to swing back the other way from losing to winning. He's still waiting.
His blades and edges are dull. It’s time to take them in for a sharpening for optimal performance in the final 37 regular season games.
I'm confident that we will see a Botterill make a trade for a second line center before the February 25 NHL trade deadline.
The Flyers find themselves 31st in the NHL with just 38 points.
I expect the Flyers to declare their desire t "Lose For Hughes" (Jack Hughes, first overall 2019).
Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher will begin the selling off of his assets in the very near future. Several NHL playoff contenders have been scouting the Flyers in hopes that Fletcher will trade away an impact player or two. Fletcher has decisions to make on his players with expiring contracts like Wayne Simmonds, Jori Lehtera, Michael Raffl, Christian Folin, and Michael Neuvirth.
Fletcher is looking for forward prospects and premium draft choices to invest in building blocks for the future.
Contending teams will trade second and third round picks for rental players. Hell, Fletcher certainly could trade Simmonds for a mid to late first rounder because of the pugnacity, truculence and offense that the power forward woud infuse into a Cup contending team's roster.
Last week, I told you about chatter I have been hearing about Flyers centerman Sean Couturier.
I've been hearing Couturier's name in trade rumors. It makes sense to me. He's a productive player on a very friendly, cost-controlled deal. Couturier is a 30-goal, 80 point producer that has his compensation fixed at $4.333M AAV for the next three seasons.
Couturier is exactly the player that Sabres GM Jason Botterill is looking to add to his group which is in need of an upgrade at 2C where rookie Casey Mittelstadt is still learning to play the NHL game. Trading for Couturier the Sabres a 1-3 center punch of Eichel-Couturier-Mittelstadt.
Couturier is a younger, more cost efficiency answer to their 2C needs than Brayden Schenn, Kevin Hayes or Jeff Carter.
Botterill owns three first round selections in 2019. Botterill has said he is willing to entertain trading one of his first rounders for a young player with a fair AAV and term. Botterill can trade San Jose's first rounder and a forward to Philly in exchange for Couturier.
The Anaheim Ducks continue to be a case study in an aging, veteran core roster in a young man's league. The Ducks entered Sunday 's game 0-7-3 in their last 10 games. Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle has vultures circling over his head. Ducks GM Bob Murray constructed a veteran-heavy roster which is bereft of speed. What they lack in velocity, the Ducks more than make up for with their skill level.
The Ducks are in a fight for their playoff lives right now.
Injuries to their goalies John Gibson and Ryan Miller have undermined their consistency. Secondary scoring and leaky team defense are also reasons for their struggles. Its looking more and more like the window for a Stanley Cup run has closed in Anaheim.
On Sunday, the Ducks blew a lead and lost in OT to the Winnipeg Jets. The Ducks are now winless in their last 11 games.
Less than an hour after losing their 11th straight game, Ducks GM Bob Murray issues this statement, absolving Randy Carlyle of the responsibility of losing games.
Murray is holding his players, young and old responsible for the losing. The Onus is on Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler and teh rest of teh Ducks to fix the problems.
If the losing continues, I fully expect tp see Murray make trades leading up to the February 25 NHL trade deadline.
With the Buffalo Sabres searching for veteran 2C, they should target Ducks pivot/winger Richard Rakell. Rakell, 25, is a star in the making. Rakell flies under the radar. He has playoff success, is a 30G scorer, and is earning $3,789,444 this season and for three more seasons. Rakell is the secondary scoring trigger man that Botterill and Housley are desperately seeking for the Sabres.
In 345 career regular season games with the Ducks, Rakell has scored 103 goals and 118 assists for 219 points. In 36 career playoff games, has scored 11 goals and 8 assists.
Why would Bob Murray trade Rakell? The young Swede can fetch Murray a hefty haul: a first round draft choice, an NHL D and a prospect.
The Ducks are blessed to have several fantastic centermen in their organization in Max Comtois, Sam Steel, Troy Terry, and Isac Lunderstrom.
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