We are five games into their 50th Anniversary season, the Buffalo Sabres are hitting on all cylinders right now.
With Friday night's win over the Florida Panthers, Eichel and Associates find themslves with a 4-0-1. The Sabres have earned nine of a possible ten total points in their first five games.
The last time the Sabres started a season with points in four straight games was the 2009-10 season when the team went 4-0-1 in its first five games of the season. The last time the Sabres qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs was in 2009-10 when Lindy Ruff's Sabres finished the season with a 43-29-10 record and 96 points.
The Sabres are 3-0 on home ice this season, a feat that hasn't been accomplished by a Buffalo team since the 2008-09 season.
On Friday night, Linus Ullmark earned the shootout win victory. Coincidentally, Ullmark has the sixth-best career shootout save percentage (15-for-18, .833) of any NHL goaltender with at least 15 shots faced in shootouts.
However, the stars of the game were the #GLOStickLine
Zemgus Girgensons, Johan Larsson and Kyle Okposo have been a blessing in disguise for the Sabres this season with their dogged determination defensively. What's more, the Larsson line has been spending a ton of time in the offensive zone creating new scoring chances.
The GLO trio have been playing like a second or third line, which is what Krueger expected from Day 1. Kruger does not number his forward lines 1-4. He refers to each trio by the name of its centerman. He doesn't typecast his role players. He hands each and every player a specific task to be performed. Each player knows his role. Krueger's culture is such that EVERY player is a key cog in the operation.
No one man is more important than the man sitting next to him.
I give all due respect to Girgensons, Larsson and Okposo for their dominationg, consistent contributions in all three zones. I also give a stick tap to assistant coaches Chris Taylor and Don Granato for offering positive reinforcement to all Sabres forwards, especially the GLO trio.
Larsson got the Sabres offense started with his first goal of the season against the Panthers.
Girgensons added two helpers which gives him 19 two-point games in his career.
Okposo chipped in primary assists on both of the Sabres' goals.
I'm here to eat a thick slab of humble pie.
At the moment, I appear to be wrong for wanting Krueger and Botterill to move on from Larsson and Girgensons. At the conclusuon of training camp, I was hopeful that youngsters Tage Thompson and Curtis Lazar would make the cut and remain in Buffalo. Thompson and Lazar performed outstandingly for the Sabres in the exhibition games they appeared in. I was willing to subtract Larsson and Girgensons from the roster to create room for the youngsters.
**
The Sabres are off today and return to the rink for practice on Sunday.
The Sabres host the Dallas Stars for an early Canadian Friendsgiving dinner party at 3:00pm Monday afternoon.
On Tuesday, the Sabres will stab westward for three games in four nights:
Wednesday, October 16: Buffalo at Anaheim
Thursday, October 17: Buffalo at Los Angeles
Saturday, October 19: Buffalo at San Jose
The next home game will be on Tuesday, October 22 when Evander Kane makes his return to Buffalo.
**
Jason Botterill is a busy man these days. His team is playing exceptionally well on the ice which makes his cell phone ding and ping with incoing call and email alerts.
Botterill cannot get a break. He is in constant discussions about players on his current roster. Rival GMs are phoning and texting Botterill looking for him to provide solutions to the top four defense and forward depth problems.
Botterill will not be making any deals until he absolutely has to.
However tempted he may be to pull the trigger on a deal involving a defenseman, Botterill must remain calm and not do anything hasty. Whatever trade(s) he makes will have to be dollar-in-dollar out due to the fact the Sabres are presently scraping up against the NHL salary cap ceiling. Botterill is getting cap relief right now with the LTIR savings experienced by the long term injuries to defenseman Matt Hunwick.
For now, Zach Bogosian and Brandon Montour are on injured reserve.
Montour is expected to return in two weeks from his hand injury.
What then?
When that day comes, Botterill will have to make a decison on Bogosian and a trade to alleviate the presssure he will be experiencing on his D corps.
I believe that Bogosian is headed to long term injured reserve as he continues to rehab from offseason hip surgery. Bogosian is not ready to return to NHL duty. On Friday, Botterill said Bogosian will not be rushed back early from. It is important to allow time heal Bogosian's hip. That precious healing time will afford Botterill with needed cap relief should he push off Bogosian's return to duty to January or February. The fact is that the Sabres do not need Bogosian right now with righties Rasmus Ristolainen, Colin Miller and Hank Jokiharju holding down the fort and doing an admiarble job at that.
Botterill is looking more and more like a genius for recognizing his RD depth deficiencies and making the trades for Miller and Jokiharju in the summer.
At the time of the Miller and Jokiharju trades, Montour was recovering from the MCL sprain he suffered in May while playing for Team Canada at the World Championships. At that time, Bogosian was still in his post-op surgery rehab program.
Rather than sit on his hands Botterill acted aggressively and made two huge trades for Miller and Jokiharju that set him up for future success. Today, Miller is averaging 17:59 TOI while Jokiharju is skating 17:13 per night. Both defenders have earned the trust of their new teammates and coaches.
Botterill and Krueger now know what they have in Miller and Jokiharju. Both are reliable and dependable defenders in their own end of the barn. They are excellent puck movers who love to jump up the ice and involve themselves in the rush.
Miller and Jokiharju are not leaving the lineup when Montour returns from his hand injury. At 20 years of age, Jokiharju has already passed his NHL audition. His position coach Steve Smith raves about the youngster. Botterill and Krueger wore ski masks to the trade discussion with the Chcago Blackhawks. The Sabres committed grand larceny when they stole Jokiharju away from the Hawks in exchange for forward Alex Nylander.
With Montour back in the mix, the Sabres' RD depth chart will look like this:
Montour
Miller
Jokiharju
Ristolainen
How is Risto going to tolerate being bumped down from the top D pair where he is munching a team-leading 24:28 TOI per game?
Ristolainen will not be a happy camper when that day comes. Or, will he?
Marco Scandella and Casey Nelson then become trade currency. Botterill would be wise to find new opportunties for Scandella and Nelson in exchange for more draft picks for 2020. Scandella, 29, scored Friday night and has played well alongside Jokiharju this season. Scandella is on an expiring contract at $4M AAV and doesn't figure in Buffalo's future plans.
For the past two weeks, the Ted Darling Memorial Press Box in Buffalo has been packed with NHL dignitaries and scouts. Presumably, they have made the trip to Buffalo to do the eyeball test on Ristolainen.
When NHL GMs send their pro scouting directors and player personnel directors out on the road to accompany scouts in the field, that's when you know teams are serious about making trades to improve their rosters.
The teams that have sent to Buffalo high ranking suits and their scouts is growing by the game.
Winnipeg, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Columbus, Montreal, San Jose, Tampa, St. Louis, Calgary, Los Angeles, and Vegas all have been scouting Buffalo intently for the past month.
Kevin Cheveldayoff, Jim Rutherford, Ray Shero, Jarmo Kekalainen, Marc Bergevin, Doug Wilson, Julien BriseBois, Doug Armstrong, Brad Treliving, Rob Blake and George McPhee are of the belief that you keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Botterill has the panacea that will cure all that ills his NHL GM counterparts. Botterill is in no hurry to make trades.
Devils GM Ray Shero is Jason Botterill's NHL mentor. Shero gave Botterill his first NHL management opportunity with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Wilkes Barre Scranton Baby Penguins.
The Devils find themselves in hockey hell right now. After four games, New Jersey is in 15th place in the East with zero wins and two loser points.
The Devils badly need a dominating right defenseman. Their pop gun offense has scored only 9 goals while allowing 20 goals against (Sabres have scored 7 of these goals). Their -11 goal differential is tied with San Jose for dead last in the NHL.
The Devils are a brutal defensive team. Their goaltending is a joke. Their forwards are not willing to pay the price to fight to the danger areas to create shot attempts.
One can argue that the Devils are worse off today after they traded for 30 year old right shot veteran defenseman P.K. Subban, who has 3 years remainng at $9,000,000 per season.
To add insult to injury, the Devils announced Friday night that veteran defensman Andy Greene has been placed on injured reserve with an upper body injury. Shero has called up NHL suitcase Matt Tennyson to attempt to keep the puck out of the New Jersey cage.
Band Aids don't fix bullet holes.
For the past couple of weeks, Shero has been sending one of his veteran consiglieres to Buffalo to presumably chart progress on Ristolainen. The feisty Finn is munching 24:28 TOI per game with 12 hits, 5 blocked shots and 16 shots on goal. Ristolainen has played exceptionally well at even stregth (-1 rating) while making life miserable for the top forwards on opposing teams.
Shero must be asking his ally Botterlll:
At what price Ristolainen?
Botterill and Krueger are likely demanding Taylor Hall.
The 27-year-old center-winger has had it up to here. In 4 games played, Hall has zero goals and 3 assists. Amazingly, he is an even rating which means he he not the problem at 5v5.
Hall is a pending UFA and is not interested in having contract extension talks with Shero and the Devils.
Ralph Krueger has a positive history with Taylor Hall from their time together in Edmonton.
During the NHL work stoppage during the 2012-13 season, Hall played in Oklahoma City. When the lockout ended, Hall was a point per game player for Krueger scoring 16 goals and 34 assists.
If Taylor Hall were interested in continuing a long term relationship with the Devils, he would have signed a new contract extension during the summer. Hall is a UFA and the Devils need to maximize his value now before he leaves the Meadowlands wih nothing to show for it on July 1, 2020.
Hall has a $6M AAV contract this season. Ristolainen carries a $5.4M AAV for the next three seasons, which is a tremendous value for a 27:00 TOI top pair defender who excels at EV, PP, and PK.
Ristolainen has given seven years of loyal service to the Sabres. The 25 year old elite defenseman has played through the misery of tanking seasons and constant negativity. Perhaps a change will do him good.
The Sabres are looking to add another highly skilled scorer to their top six forward group.
The Devils are desperately seeking a top four defense tourniquet bnd to help stop the bleeding on their D corps.
I said it in June and people laughed at the idea for Hall for Ristilainen.
Who is laughing now?
Makes a lot of sense for both teams. Doesn't it?
Dollars in. Dollars out.
Join the Discussion:
»