Yesterday it was shocking to announce that the Toronto Maple Leafs hired former longtime New Jersey Devils General Manager Lou Lamoriello as their new GM. Lamoriello had been the GM of the Devils since 1987, before stepping down this past May but remained team president before leaving to go to the Leafs.
Lamoriello is a hall of fame GM for building the Devils into a Cup contender for most of his 28 years on the job. They missed the playoffs only six times since he's been there (although four times have occurred in his last five seasons there) and have won the Stanley Cup three times while losing twice more in 2001 and 2012.
Lamoriello is a living legend if you will and his time in New Jersey should be celebrated minus the fact if you are like myself, you hated the Devils and their stupid Neutral Zone Trap which helped really ruin the game of hockey. Nevertheless, the Leafs are doing something teams especially a big market like Toronto tend to do and that's reach for the past.
Of course Buffalo teams were really good at that but thankfully under the Pegula ownership, both Bills and Sabres are no longer doing that (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/06/im-glad-sabres-no-longer-reaching-in.html). I am mush more happy we have a young more progressive GM in Tim Murray then the old guard who has great ideas from about 20-25 years ago but does not have a clue in this day in age.
Now Lamoriello is not a part of the Leafs organization ever, but his past success is still reaching for past success with another team I might add. It is said that he drafted current Leafs President Brendan Shanahan so they have a good relationship. He was successful with the Devils in the past, the key word is WAS. Lamoriello was very successful, maybe most successful GM prior to the 2004-05 lockout with all three of his Cups in his first 17 years as GM. Post 04-05 Lockout was not as successful. While the Devils won four division titles in the first five years post 04-05 lockout (ironically same amount of division titles in his first 17 years), the Devils failed to make it out of the second round each year with three times losing in the first round.
The last five years of his tenure saw the Devils miss the playoffs four times with one notable exception being that they made it all the way to the Cup Finals in 2012, where they lost to the Los Angeles Kings. One of the biggest reasons for the decline was that Martin Brodeur was not the elite goalie (while still pretty good) as he was before the lockout. His numbers steadily declined as his save percentage kept going down each year and his playoff numbers and performances (minus the 2012 run to the finals) were bad, really bad as he was a shell of his former self.
Other reasons include Lamoriello's ability to be penny pinching, which worked for some time when they had really great talent on the blue line along with a hall of fame goalie in his prime. All that starts to catch up as they lost talented players such as Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, and Zach Parise as he let them walk and trading away other key veterans (such as Jamie Langenbrunner) or letting them walk in free agency.
Losing Parise was especially tough as he failed to get a deal done before he became an unrestricted free agent after the 2011-12 run to the finals. Actually, Parise was an unrestricted free agent in 2011, but signed a one-year deal to remain after he missed most of the season with a knee injury, but Lamoriello failed to lock him up long term and he's been doing great in Minnesota while New Jersey struggles to be competitive.
He did trade for Ilya Kovalcyuk in 2010 and managed to sign him to a 15-year, $100 million deal that saw him fight with the NHL which was eventually solved, but not without the NHL fining them and taking away a first round pick for circumventing the salary cap originally. Kovalchuk's deal hurt the Devils' cap space as in 2010-11, that along with injures forced them to dress as few as 15 players at one point in a game and management came under intense scrutiny for that.
Kovalchuk was very productive in New Jersey and I don't blame Lamoriello one bit for signing him because they were terrible offensively minus Parise during these years. Kovalchuk suddenly "retired" from the NHL in 2013 and went back to Russia to play in the KHL. That hurt the Devils even more. Kovalchuk might have cost them a chance at re-signing Parise or maybe they thought they would lose him, whatever.
I can't blame Lamoriello for these moves, maybe should have done a better job with Parise so he made some moves out of desperation. He's signed old, past-their-prime players such as Shanahan, Brian Rolston, Bobby Holik, Petr Sykora, and Henrik Tallinder during his final decade there. To help make up for the loss of both Parise and Kovalchuk in 2013, Lamoriello decided to trade a top-10 pick for goalie Cory Schneider.
Schneider is very good and has been very good for New Jersey. But they thought they can get back to the old glory days of finding an elite goalie to make up for a loss of offense, which does not happen in this day of age. You don't need a big time, big money goalie you need elite forwards. Schneider is in a seven-year deal with a $6 million a year cap hit. That's a recipe for disaster. I like Schneider a lot, he's one of my favorite goalies, but he's in no man's land with no elite players in front of him which won't lead to a ton of success.
That's just Lamoriello reaching for the past of defense and elite goaltending, which is not that game anymore. Lamoriello gets credit and rightfully so for winning, but he gets too much credit like many who are successful for a long period of time for developing a "culture of winning" and "building a winner." If you know me you know that I think that whole culture of winning is a crock. Well it's not but only if you get great players and win. Then and only then do you build a culture of winning. It's not something you go into a locker room or front office and just say you're going to do it and make up some phony things that lead to building a winning culture.
Perfect example a few years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs hired Scott Pioli from the New England Patriots to run their team. He was from a winning culture known as "the Patriot way." He tried to establish that same culture in Kansas City by doing such small and petty BS things like make sure trash is picked up by placing a candy bar wrapper and see if anyone cleans it up and throw a fit if no one does. If you think I am kidding, go Google it. How did that work out? He and his cronies were fired in less than four years with one of the worst teams in the NFL. What about that winning culture? It turned out they couldn't bring Tom Brady with them.
So how did Lamoriello build a winning culture? It wasn't because he placed trash and made sure people picked it up or cleaned the bathrooms. It was because he found great players, especially in the draft. He obviously hit on Brodeur and Patrik Elias in late first and second rounds, drafting Shanahan 2nd overall, and even signing or trading for star players that were drafted at the top of the draft for other teams like Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer.
Some of Lou's bizarre tactics such as firing coaches just before the regular season and even appointing himself as head coach, signing cheap veterans, and letting players go worked because they kept come of their best players and just fit the pieces around them. He kept the great players like Brodeur, Stevens, Niedermayer, and Elias while letting other replaceable players go. It's as simple as that.
Great players build a winning culture and the GMs, scouts, and coaches get ridiculous amounts of credit for star players. Chicago was terrible for a long, long time maybe because the culture in the locker room or bathroom or wherever was awful. People must not have been picking up their candy bar wrappers and now maybe finally someone has taken the initiative to clean up the mess. That or they were so bad and got a lot of great players like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews at the top of the draft but believe whatever you want. The reason I laugh and take shots at takes like these is because it's total nonsense and BS.
Speaking of being terrible and finishing at the top of the draft for great players, the Devils really should have done that last season. Last season, they really should have went after McEichel by bottoming out. Instead, they finished with the sixth-worst record in the NHL and were 24 points behind the Sabres for 30th, yet finished 21 points out of the playoffs. That's even worse than the Flyers did (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/07/flyers-are-in-terrible-cap-situation.html) as both organizations are going nowhere fast.
People hate bottoming out but that's what you have to do if you want to get great players to contend and win the Stanley Cup, unless you're lucky and can get a big time free agent, but those days are no more. I for one am glad the Sabres decided to take the bottoming out role and getting Jack Eichel instead of middling it for years and years to come.
I am no way saying that Lamoriello doesn't deserve the credit for what he's done overall. However, it should be noted the last 5-10 years did not go too well and I don't expect him to come in a build a winner in Toronto. I like the way Toronto is doing their rebuild and if they want to be successful, hopefully they don't go the role of Lamoriello and how he build the Devils in recent years. He was successful, but I'm glad the Sabres are not reaching for the past in their organization or off other successful organizations.
Showing posts with label Chicago Blackhawks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicago Blackhawks. Show all posts
Friday, July 24, 2015
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Flyers Are in Terrible Cap Situation; One of the Teams I Don't Want to Be; They Should have Tanked for McEichel
Boy I've said it many times just recently but I've also been saying it since the beginning of last season, the Philadelphia Flyers are one of the top teams I'd least like to be. Now after a season in which they finished 12th in the Eastern Conference and were 14 points out of the playoffs, the prophecy is even more true. Now word on the street is that they are facing a horrific cap situation to make matters even worse (http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/eye-on-hockey/25244976/flyers-face-daunting-salary-cap-situation-in-2015-16-and-beyond).
The Flyers should have really bottomed out for McEichel. They were in a terrible spot, so bad not to make the playoffs but not bad enough to finish 30th or 29th. I'm sure Philadelphia was fine not finishing last because they have too much pride like the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, the tough gritty northeastern teams. Boston is the team I'd least like to be because of their idiocy at the top of the organization letting go of top notch players for ridiculous reasons.
New Jersey and Philadelphia are very close and all three of these teams need to reload and retool and bottom out and need several years of high draft picks to be great again. These are long rebuilds unlike the Sabres. Of course Boston had several high draft picks gifted to them only to throw them away for nothing. Montreal, despite their regular season successes the last three years, is approaching team I least like to be status due to lack of big play scoring forwards (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/06/carey-price-cleans-up-nhl-awards.html).
The Flyers also made numerous dumb moves much like the Bruins have. They got rid of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards because they "partied too much", well Richards turned out to be ok to let go of because of recent events and his decline but not before winning two Stanley Cups with the Kings. Carter on the other hand was a very foolish move to get rid of him. He's been great for LA. They got good players in return for both such as Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, and Sean Couturier.
The problem isn't what they got back it's that no one else has stepped up. The bottom six forwards don't score and the defense and goaltending have been nightmares. And the flyers have spent a ton on absolutely nothing and that's what's been ruining them. Other dumb moves the Flyers have made include trading Carter and Richards to clear up cap space to sign Ilya Bryzgalov. Their goaltending wasn't great but they went to the finals in 2010 with three goalies and lost in six games to Chicago. One of those goalies ended up being Sergei Bobrovsky, who's won a Vezina and has been great for Columbus. Had they not blown it all on Bryzgalov they'd still had Bobrovsky.
After buying out Bryzgalov after two lousy years, they went back with Ray Emery and Steve Mason as neither worked out. Other foolish moves include trading former number two overall pick James van Riemsdyk to Toronto for failed defenseman Luke Schenn and signing 35 year old Vincent Lecavalier to a five year deal with a $4.5 million cap hit, 37 year old Mark Streit to a four year deal, and Andrew MacDonald to a six year $30 million deal. All these moves the Flyers have made have only given them only half a million dollars worth of cap space left.
That doesn't include the fact that Voracek is set to be an unrestricted free agent and they must do whatever to keep him and both Couturier and Brayden Schenn are set to be restricted free agents next year. That's insane some of your best young players are set to be free agents with that low amount of cap room shows just how awfully mismanaged the Flyers really are. Claude Giroux has a $8.275 million cap hit but he's obviously worth it. Simmonds has a cap hit just under $4 million and that looks like an incredible bargain.
Good news is that Sam Gagner's $3.2 million cap hit and Luke Schenn's $3.6 million cap hit both come off the books after this season and RJ Umberger's $4.6 million cap hit, Mason's $4.1 million cap hit, and Streit's ludicrous $5.2 million cap hit (when he's 39) come off the books after the 2016-17 season. Lecavalier doesn't come off the books until 2018. That's messed up considering he scored only 8 goals and 20 points in 57 games last year as it will only get better keep telling yourself. Same with newly signed defenseman Michael Del Zotto, who signed a two year deal to help the struggling blue line and carries a $3.875 million cap hit.
What's happened to the Flyers? They were the team I wanted to be back around 2008-2011 because of the moves they made. Of course I wanted to be a lot of teams not named the Sabres at that time now I'm proud what the Sabres are doing. Anyways, the Flyers had the worst record in 2006-07 with 22 wins and 56 points. The Sabres won the President's Trophy with 53 wins and 113 points and they destroyed the Flyers 9-1 early that season, which saw them fire both Ken Hitchcock and Bobby Clarke shortly after.
The Flyers made a ton of spectacular moves by acquiring Martin Biron, Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell, drafting JVR second overall, and then signing Daniel Briere from the Sabres along with youngsters like Richards and Carter stepping up. The changes saw the Flyers goes from 56 points to a whopping 95 and made the Eastern Conference Finals. Many thought the Flyers would not make the playoffs let alone go to the Eastern Conference Finals one year after being the worst team in the league. It shows you that turnarounds don't have to take forever as the Sabres are looking to show the NHL that same thing.
Two years later, the Flyers lost in the finals to Chicago and beat the Sabres in the first round in 2011 before they started to make puzzling moves to put them in the position they are currently in. I hope the Sabres show similar progress from last year to this year, which is not crazy to do. Let's hope however they don't make the same mistakes the Flyers did or like the Bruins by letting go of great players for stupid reasons.
The Flyers should have really bottomed out for McEichel. They were in a terrible spot, so bad not to make the playoffs but not bad enough to finish 30th or 29th. I'm sure Philadelphia was fine not finishing last because they have too much pride like the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, the tough gritty northeastern teams. Boston is the team I'd least like to be because of their idiocy at the top of the organization letting go of top notch players for ridiculous reasons.
New Jersey and Philadelphia are very close and all three of these teams need to reload and retool and bottom out and need several years of high draft picks to be great again. These are long rebuilds unlike the Sabres. Of course Boston had several high draft picks gifted to them only to throw them away for nothing. Montreal, despite their regular season successes the last three years, is approaching team I least like to be status due to lack of big play scoring forwards (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/06/carey-price-cleans-up-nhl-awards.html).
The Flyers also made numerous dumb moves much like the Bruins have. They got rid of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards because they "partied too much", well Richards turned out to be ok to let go of because of recent events and his decline but not before winning two Stanley Cups with the Kings. Carter on the other hand was a very foolish move to get rid of him. He's been great for LA. They got good players in return for both such as Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, and Sean Couturier.
The problem isn't what they got back it's that no one else has stepped up. The bottom six forwards don't score and the defense and goaltending have been nightmares. And the flyers have spent a ton on absolutely nothing and that's what's been ruining them. Other dumb moves the Flyers have made include trading Carter and Richards to clear up cap space to sign Ilya Bryzgalov. Their goaltending wasn't great but they went to the finals in 2010 with three goalies and lost in six games to Chicago. One of those goalies ended up being Sergei Bobrovsky, who's won a Vezina and has been great for Columbus. Had they not blown it all on Bryzgalov they'd still had Bobrovsky.
After buying out Bryzgalov after two lousy years, they went back with Ray Emery and Steve Mason as neither worked out. Other foolish moves include trading former number two overall pick James van Riemsdyk to Toronto for failed defenseman Luke Schenn and signing 35 year old Vincent Lecavalier to a five year deal with a $4.5 million cap hit, 37 year old Mark Streit to a four year deal, and Andrew MacDonald to a six year $30 million deal. All these moves the Flyers have made have only given them only half a million dollars worth of cap space left.
That doesn't include the fact that Voracek is set to be an unrestricted free agent and they must do whatever to keep him and both Couturier and Brayden Schenn are set to be restricted free agents next year. That's insane some of your best young players are set to be free agents with that low amount of cap room shows just how awfully mismanaged the Flyers really are. Claude Giroux has a $8.275 million cap hit but he's obviously worth it. Simmonds has a cap hit just under $4 million and that looks like an incredible bargain.
Good news is that Sam Gagner's $3.2 million cap hit and Luke Schenn's $3.6 million cap hit both come off the books after this season and RJ Umberger's $4.6 million cap hit, Mason's $4.1 million cap hit, and Streit's ludicrous $5.2 million cap hit (when he's 39) come off the books after the 2016-17 season. Lecavalier doesn't come off the books until 2018. That's messed up considering he scored only 8 goals and 20 points in 57 games last year as it will only get better keep telling yourself. Same with newly signed defenseman Michael Del Zotto, who signed a two year deal to help the struggling blue line and carries a $3.875 million cap hit.
What's happened to the Flyers? They were the team I wanted to be back around 2008-2011 because of the moves they made. Of course I wanted to be a lot of teams not named the Sabres at that time now I'm proud what the Sabres are doing. Anyways, the Flyers had the worst record in 2006-07 with 22 wins and 56 points. The Sabres won the President's Trophy with 53 wins and 113 points and they destroyed the Flyers 9-1 early that season, which saw them fire both Ken Hitchcock and Bobby Clarke shortly after.
The Flyers made a ton of spectacular moves by acquiring Martin Biron, Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell, drafting JVR second overall, and then signing Daniel Briere from the Sabres along with youngsters like Richards and Carter stepping up. The changes saw the Flyers goes from 56 points to a whopping 95 and made the Eastern Conference Finals. Many thought the Flyers would not make the playoffs let alone go to the Eastern Conference Finals one year after being the worst team in the league. It shows you that turnarounds don't have to take forever as the Sabres are looking to show the NHL that same thing.
Two years later, the Flyers lost in the finals to Chicago and beat the Sabres in the first round in 2011 before they started to make puzzling moves to put them in the position they are currently in. I hope the Sabres show similar progress from last year to this year, which is not crazy to do. Let's hope however they don't make the same mistakes the Flyers did or like the Bruins by letting go of great players for stupid reasons.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Ryan O'Reilly Signs Seven-Year Deal; It's Not Crazy to Think the Sabres Can Make the Playoffs; Looking at Really Quick Turnarounds in One Year
Ryan O'Reilly officially signed a contract extension with the Sabres at 7 years, $52.5 million, the largest in Sabres history at least until Jack Eichel's contract comes up. That doesn't actually kick in until the 2016-17 season. He will actually make $11 million that first season but the thing we focus on is not salary but rather cap hit, which will be $7.5 million. I know it sounds like a lot but it's really not. The fact is the cap is going up because revenues are going up. That is the going rate for a center who is great defensively, at possessing the puck, and on 5-on-5, which is what the game has become.
O'Reilly's cap hit is topped by only elite level players and some players that are better than him, don't cost their team as much against the cap. But they signed their deals within the last couple of years or so and are older than O'Reilly, who is only 24. You have to also take into consideration, this isn't the cap coming out of the 2004-05 lockout, where $7.5 million would have been looked down upon. While his cap number counts 10.5% of the total cap, it would have counted almost double at 19.2% back 10 years ago. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews $10.5 million cap hits count 14.7% of the cap each.
O'Reilly's 5-on-5 numbers are among the best among centers and his points per game over the last four seasons is 19th best among centers (http://www.hockey-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=combined&year_min=2012&year_max=&season_start=1&season_end=-1&rookie=N&age_min=0&age_max=99&birth_country=&franch_id=&is_active=&is_hof=&pos=C&handed=&is_playoffs=N&c1stat=points_per_game&c1comp=gt&c1val=0.7&c2stat=games_played&c2comp=gt&c2val=250&c3stat=&c3comp=gt&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&threshhold=5&order_by=points_per_game). The ones ahead of him are all pretty much elite.
He has great 5-on-5 Corsi numbers despite being on one of the worst possession teams in the NHL and with not a lot of skilled talent. Defensively he can shut down any line and has the most takeaways in the NHL the last two years. He also has one of the best even strength points per 60 minutes of any player as well. So yeah, he is not one of the elite number one centers, but he is very good and the going rate will show this will be a bargain in years to come.
The Sabres look to really improve from finishing in last place the last two years with all their additions. Now going from last season's total of 54 points to going into say the low 90s to get into the playoffs seems like a ginormous task. Heck, many think just a 20-point jump is a challenge not 40 points and they'll think that this will be a long rebuild. I am here to tell you that it won't take long even though they were the worst team by miles the last two years.
It wouldn't shock me if they made the playoffs. That's right I think this team can make it because one-year jumps, no matter how bleak it may look, happen on a regular basis in the NHL more than you think. The only way a team does have to go five years or longer to rebuild is because they don't have enough high draft picks and great players. That turns your franchise around quickly, especially in a salary cap era.
It doesn't take much to make the playoffs as if you finish in the top-3 in a division you automatically are locked into a playoff spot. I see the Sabres being better than pretty much every team except Tampa, Montreal (only because they have a great goalie and high point total but that will come down if they don't get better scorers), and Florida I think will be very good but it's only because they've been ahead of the Sabres in the rebuilding department.
It's possible they can finish in the top-3. Detroit is on their way down along with Boston. Ottawa doesn't scare me and Toronto is rebuilding and needs at least one more really great draft. Plus the Sabres were artificially awful as they did everything to ensure they finish 30th for Jack Eichel this past season. If they really tried and got better players by bringing them up or signing them, they could have had 65-70 points, but who wants that? That doesn't get you a potentially elite number one center like Eichel. So don't count last year's point total too much as it was meant to be awful. It wasn't an accident.
I am going to show you non-believers some teams who were awful and turned it around quickly, going from worst to first (or close to first in the division) in just one year thanks to some great high draft picks as well as great free agent and trade pickups.
The San Jose Sharks went from 47 and 62 points in the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons to making the playoffs in 1997-98 with just 78 points, but it was enough. They picked Patrick Marleau second overall in the 1997 draft behind current Shark Joe Thornton.
Since then, the Sharks were one of the better teams in the NHL missing the playoffs only twice since then, one was just this past season, despite never making it to the finals. Point is, they went from a bottom feeder to drafting and acquiring great talent and for nearly 20 years were a contender to win the Cup.
Speaking of Thornton, the Bruins finished dead last in the 1996-97 season with 61 points and won the lottery and drafted Thornton. The following year, they made the playoffs with 91 points, a 30-point jump. The Bruins then had a bad run post 2004-05 lockout posting 74 and 76 points in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons where the Sabres were at the top of the league and running over the Bruins.
Since then, the Bruins had been on the NHL's best teams with additions of former #2 overall pick Zdeno Chara, Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, and top-5 pick Phil Kessel, who was then spun off for first round draft picks that became Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton.
The Bruins were perennially a 100-point team, winning their first Stanley Cup in 29 years, going to another Stanley Cup Finals, and winning a President's Trophy. Of course the Bruins are stupid trading both Seguin and Hamilton for nothing and they missed the playoffs this past season and are on the decline.
The New York Islanders missed the playoffs seven straight seasons before 2001-02. That year, they hired an unknown Peter Laviolette as their head coach and made some purchases such as Alexi Yashin and Michael Peca among others and went from 52 points the year before to making the playoffs with 96 points (44 point jump).
In recent years, the Islanders missed the playoffs five straight seasons before acquiring some top picks like John Tavares and Kyle Okposo and made the playoffs in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. After missing the playoffs in 2013-14 with just 79 points, the Islanders rebounded this past season after some retooling with 101 points.
The Carolina Hurricanes had 61 and 76 points when Laviolette took over in 2003-04. The next season, he led Carolina to 112 points and the Stanley Cup thanks to a number two overall pick in Eric Staal and other veteran acquisitions.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were awful when they drafted Sidney Crosby 1st overall in 2005. In fact, Crosby's rookie year, they were still the worst team record wise with 58 points. After getting Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal second overall in drafts, the pens went from 58 points to 105 the next season. The year after that, they lost in the Cup finals. The year after that, they won the Cup. They have also been a perennial 100-point team every year since.
The Washington Capitals were really bad before they drafted Alex Ovechkin 1st overall in 2004. They were still bad in Ovechkin's first two years with 70 points each season before adding players like Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green (when he was an offensive machine) to finish with 94 points in 2007-08 and win the Southeast Division. They have made the playoffs all but one season since and even won the President's Trophy in 2009-10.
The Los Angeles Kings missed the playoffs six straight seasons before having a 101-point season in 2009-10. Along the way, the Kings had some high draft picks such as Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar and two other top-5 picks were traded for pieces such as Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, which helped them win two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014.
The Philadelphia Flyers had a season to forget in 2006-07 where they only had 56 points, worst in the NHL and worst in franchise history. That was the same season where they were destroyed by the Sabres 9-1 and Ken Hitchcock and many of the front office staff were fired. I am sure that 56 points was no accident they probably thought they'd win the Cup or something and then realized we need to retool.
They traded a lot of awful pieces, brought in some of their young talented prospects, brought in players such as Danny Briere, Marty Biron, Scott Hartnell, and Kimmo Timonen and drafted James Van Riemsdyk second overall. The flyers jumped from 56 points to 95 in 2007-08 and made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in one year. Two years later, they lost in the Staney Cup Finals.
Ryan O'Reilly's old team the Colorado Avalanche had the second-worst record in 2012-13, they won the draft lottery and drafted Nate MacKinnon to go along with other top-2 draft picks Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog. the very next season saw the Avalanche jump to 112 points and won the division.
The Montreal Canadiens were the third-worst team and worst in the Eastern Conference with 78 points. They ended up getting a new coach (Michel Therrian) and GM (Marc Bergevin) and a few other things and went from worst to first winning the division in 2012-13. They finished with 100 and 110 points and another division the next two seasons and have been one of the better teams in the East in terms of record. I don't know how exactly, outside of Carey Price and PK Subban they don't have much. They can't score and their forwards aren't that great. They drafted Alex Galchenyuk third overall in 2012 and he's been decent, he hasn't lived up to the hype of his draft status.
The Tampa Bay Lightning look to be the team to beat for years to come thanks to their high draft picks. They had the third-worst record in 2012-13 but rebounded to 101 points the following season. This past season, they had 108 points and lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to Chicago. Thanks to first overall pick Steven Stamkos and second overall pick defenseman Victor Hedman along with gems like second round pick Nikita Kucherov and undrafted free agent turned sensation Tyler Johnson, the Lightning will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. They will be the team that wins Cups and the Sabres will have to fight them to get there. Even 2013 third overall pick Jonathan Drouin hasn't done much. He spent 2013-14 in the juniors and didn't contribute a whole lot this season as he was a healthy scratch for most of the playoffs. When he does live up to his potential, watch out.
The Blackhawks have been the gold standard for the NHL the last 7-8 years, winning three of the last six Stanley Cups and lost in the conference finals two other times. Before that, they were one of the worst teams not only in the NHL but in all professional sports. They missed the playoffs 9 out of 10 seasons and were considered a laughing stock. The fans didn't go to Blackhawk games, instead they went to the AHL Chicago Wolves games. But they drafted Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and along with two of the best defenseman Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, Marian Hossa, and others they built what is somewhat of a dynasty. In Kane and Toews first season, they went from 71 points to 88, just missing the playoffs but the groundwork for success was laid out.
The Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets are two teams on the rise. The Panthers went from 66 points two seasons ago to 91 this past season. They have had three top-3 picks in recent years; Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, and Aaron Ekblad, who have helped this young team develop and win quickly.
The Blue Jackets don't have a ton of high draft picks except 4th overall pick Ryan Johansen, 3rd overall pick Jack Johnson, who's done well since being traded by the Kings, and 2nd overall pick defenseman Ryan Murray, who has been injured a lot and has not lived up to the hype. But the players they get off of other teams such as Nick Foligno, Scott Hartnell, Johnson, and Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky have helped turn this moribund franchise into a young promising playoff team. They went from a league worst 65 points in 2011-12 to just missing the playoffs by one point in 2012-13. They made the playoffs in 2013-14 with 93 points, but missed the playoffs this season despite having 89 points with over 500 man games lost due to injury.
So as you see, it doesn't take a lot to get your team from the bottom to just making the playoffs the following season. Even at worst, it might take two years but even the year before shows the team just barely misses the playoffs and shows tremendous progress. It's not that hard as long as you rebuild the right way, which i believe the Sabres did.
O'Reilly's cap hit is topped by only elite level players and some players that are better than him, don't cost their team as much against the cap. But they signed their deals within the last couple of years or so and are older than O'Reilly, who is only 24. You have to also take into consideration, this isn't the cap coming out of the 2004-05 lockout, where $7.5 million would have been looked down upon. While his cap number counts 10.5% of the total cap, it would have counted almost double at 19.2% back 10 years ago. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews $10.5 million cap hits count 14.7% of the cap each.
O'Reilly's 5-on-5 numbers are among the best among centers and his points per game over the last four seasons is 19th best among centers (http://www.hockey-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=combined&year_min=2012&year_max=&season_start=1&season_end=-1&rookie=N&age_min=0&age_max=99&birth_country=&franch_id=&is_active=&is_hof=&pos=C&handed=&is_playoffs=N&c1stat=points_per_game&c1comp=gt&c1val=0.7&c2stat=games_played&c2comp=gt&c2val=250&c3stat=&c3comp=gt&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&threshhold=5&order_by=points_per_game). The ones ahead of him are all pretty much elite.
He has great 5-on-5 Corsi numbers despite being on one of the worst possession teams in the NHL and with not a lot of skilled talent. Defensively he can shut down any line and has the most takeaways in the NHL the last two years. He also has one of the best even strength points per 60 minutes of any player as well. So yeah, he is not one of the elite number one centers, but he is very good and the going rate will show this will be a bargain in years to come.
The Sabres look to really improve from finishing in last place the last two years with all their additions. Now going from last season's total of 54 points to going into say the low 90s to get into the playoffs seems like a ginormous task. Heck, many think just a 20-point jump is a challenge not 40 points and they'll think that this will be a long rebuild. I am here to tell you that it won't take long even though they were the worst team by miles the last two years.
It wouldn't shock me if they made the playoffs. That's right I think this team can make it because one-year jumps, no matter how bleak it may look, happen on a regular basis in the NHL more than you think. The only way a team does have to go five years or longer to rebuild is because they don't have enough high draft picks and great players. That turns your franchise around quickly, especially in a salary cap era.
It doesn't take much to make the playoffs as if you finish in the top-3 in a division you automatically are locked into a playoff spot. I see the Sabres being better than pretty much every team except Tampa, Montreal (only because they have a great goalie and high point total but that will come down if they don't get better scorers), and Florida I think will be very good but it's only because they've been ahead of the Sabres in the rebuilding department.
It's possible they can finish in the top-3. Detroit is on their way down along with Boston. Ottawa doesn't scare me and Toronto is rebuilding and needs at least one more really great draft. Plus the Sabres were artificially awful as they did everything to ensure they finish 30th for Jack Eichel this past season. If they really tried and got better players by bringing them up or signing them, they could have had 65-70 points, but who wants that? That doesn't get you a potentially elite number one center like Eichel. So don't count last year's point total too much as it was meant to be awful. It wasn't an accident.
I am going to show you non-believers some teams who were awful and turned it around quickly, going from worst to first (or close to first in the division) in just one year thanks to some great high draft picks as well as great free agent and trade pickups.
The San Jose Sharks went from 47 and 62 points in the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons to making the playoffs in 1997-98 with just 78 points, but it was enough. They picked Patrick Marleau second overall in the 1997 draft behind current Shark Joe Thornton.
Since then, the Sharks were one of the better teams in the NHL missing the playoffs only twice since then, one was just this past season, despite never making it to the finals. Point is, they went from a bottom feeder to drafting and acquiring great talent and for nearly 20 years were a contender to win the Cup.
Speaking of Thornton, the Bruins finished dead last in the 1996-97 season with 61 points and won the lottery and drafted Thornton. The following year, they made the playoffs with 91 points, a 30-point jump. The Bruins then had a bad run post 2004-05 lockout posting 74 and 76 points in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons where the Sabres were at the top of the league and running over the Bruins.
Since then, the Bruins had been on the NHL's best teams with additions of former #2 overall pick Zdeno Chara, Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, and top-5 pick Phil Kessel, who was then spun off for first round draft picks that became Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton.
The Bruins were perennially a 100-point team, winning their first Stanley Cup in 29 years, going to another Stanley Cup Finals, and winning a President's Trophy. Of course the Bruins are stupid trading both Seguin and Hamilton for nothing and they missed the playoffs this past season and are on the decline.
The New York Islanders missed the playoffs seven straight seasons before 2001-02. That year, they hired an unknown Peter Laviolette as their head coach and made some purchases such as Alexi Yashin and Michael Peca among others and went from 52 points the year before to making the playoffs with 96 points (44 point jump).
In recent years, the Islanders missed the playoffs five straight seasons before acquiring some top picks like John Tavares and Kyle Okposo and made the playoffs in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. After missing the playoffs in 2013-14 with just 79 points, the Islanders rebounded this past season after some retooling with 101 points.
The Carolina Hurricanes had 61 and 76 points when Laviolette took over in 2003-04. The next season, he led Carolina to 112 points and the Stanley Cup thanks to a number two overall pick in Eric Staal and other veteran acquisitions.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were awful when they drafted Sidney Crosby 1st overall in 2005. In fact, Crosby's rookie year, they were still the worst team record wise with 58 points. After getting Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal second overall in drafts, the pens went from 58 points to 105 the next season. The year after that, they lost in the Cup finals. The year after that, they won the Cup. They have also been a perennial 100-point team every year since.
The Washington Capitals were really bad before they drafted Alex Ovechkin 1st overall in 2004. They were still bad in Ovechkin's first two years with 70 points each season before adding players like Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green (when he was an offensive machine) to finish with 94 points in 2007-08 and win the Southeast Division. They have made the playoffs all but one season since and even won the President's Trophy in 2009-10.
The Los Angeles Kings missed the playoffs six straight seasons before having a 101-point season in 2009-10. Along the way, the Kings had some high draft picks such as Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar and two other top-5 picks were traded for pieces such as Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, which helped them win two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014.
The Philadelphia Flyers had a season to forget in 2006-07 where they only had 56 points, worst in the NHL and worst in franchise history. That was the same season where they were destroyed by the Sabres 9-1 and Ken Hitchcock and many of the front office staff were fired. I am sure that 56 points was no accident they probably thought they'd win the Cup or something and then realized we need to retool.
They traded a lot of awful pieces, brought in some of their young talented prospects, brought in players such as Danny Briere, Marty Biron, Scott Hartnell, and Kimmo Timonen and drafted James Van Riemsdyk second overall. The flyers jumped from 56 points to 95 in 2007-08 and made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in one year. Two years later, they lost in the Staney Cup Finals.
Ryan O'Reilly's old team the Colorado Avalanche had the second-worst record in 2012-13, they won the draft lottery and drafted Nate MacKinnon to go along with other top-2 draft picks Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog. the very next season saw the Avalanche jump to 112 points and won the division.
The Montreal Canadiens were the third-worst team and worst in the Eastern Conference with 78 points. They ended up getting a new coach (Michel Therrian) and GM (Marc Bergevin) and a few other things and went from worst to first winning the division in 2012-13. They finished with 100 and 110 points and another division the next two seasons and have been one of the better teams in the East in terms of record. I don't know how exactly, outside of Carey Price and PK Subban they don't have much. They can't score and their forwards aren't that great. They drafted Alex Galchenyuk third overall in 2012 and he's been decent, he hasn't lived up to the hype of his draft status.
The Tampa Bay Lightning look to be the team to beat for years to come thanks to their high draft picks. They had the third-worst record in 2012-13 but rebounded to 101 points the following season. This past season, they had 108 points and lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to Chicago. Thanks to first overall pick Steven Stamkos and second overall pick defenseman Victor Hedman along with gems like second round pick Nikita Kucherov and undrafted free agent turned sensation Tyler Johnson, the Lightning will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. They will be the team that wins Cups and the Sabres will have to fight them to get there. Even 2013 third overall pick Jonathan Drouin hasn't done much. He spent 2013-14 in the juniors and didn't contribute a whole lot this season as he was a healthy scratch for most of the playoffs. When he does live up to his potential, watch out.
The Blackhawks have been the gold standard for the NHL the last 7-8 years, winning three of the last six Stanley Cups and lost in the conference finals two other times. Before that, they were one of the worst teams not only in the NHL but in all professional sports. They missed the playoffs 9 out of 10 seasons and were considered a laughing stock. The fans didn't go to Blackhawk games, instead they went to the AHL Chicago Wolves games. But they drafted Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and along with two of the best defenseman Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, Marian Hossa, and others they built what is somewhat of a dynasty. In Kane and Toews first season, they went from 71 points to 88, just missing the playoffs but the groundwork for success was laid out.
The Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets are two teams on the rise. The Panthers went from 66 points two seasons ago to 91 this past season. They have had three top-3 picks in recent years; Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, and Aaron Ekblad, who have helped this young team develop and win quickly.
The Blue Jackets don't have a ton of high draft picks except 4th overall pick Ryan Johansen, 3rd overall pick Jack Johnson, who's done well since being traded by the Kings, and 2nd overall pick defenseman Ryan Murray, who has been injured a lot and has not lived up to the hype. But the players they get off of other teams such as Nick Foligno, Scott Hartnell, Johnson, and Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky have helped turn this moribund franchise into a young promising playoff team. They went from a league worst 65 points in 2011-12 to just missing the playoffs by one point in 2012-13. They made the playoffs in 2013-14 with 93 points, but missed the playoffs this season despite having 89 points with over 500 man games lost due to injury.
So as you see, it doesn't take a lot to get your team from the bottom to just making the playoffs the following season. Even at worst, it might take two years but even the year before shows the team just barely misses the playoffs and shows tremendous progress. It's not that hard as long as you rebuild the right way, which i believe the Sabres did.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Eichel officially signs with Us!! He's not going back to BU so Stop Worrying About him not Coming Back Here!! Other big time signings and trades today
Well any worries about Jack Eichel not signing with the Sabres and going back to BU are officially done. Today, he signed his 3-year entry level contract and hopefully three years from now, we will have him signed to a really long-term deal. July 1st for Sabres fans usually meant disappointment and heartbreak. Eight years ago today, Chris Drury and Daniel Briere left via free agency after winning the President's Trophy. July 1st also seen the Sabres be snubbed by high profile free agents Brad Richards, Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, and Shane Doan after Terry Pegula bought the team and wanted to spend top dollar. It also meant we got Ville Leino as well.
July 1st now means the official signing and berth of the Jack Eichel era in Buffalo, NY. We'll never have to think of that ever again. We are still waiting for the announcement of the extension of Ryan O'Reilly for seven to eight years for around $7-8 million a year. To help further keep him here, his brother Cal O'Reilly signed earlier for a two-year, one-way deal which means if he plays in the NHL or AHL he's still getting the same salary.
Some former Sabres were involved in trades or signings. Cody Hodgson, waived and bought out one day ago, was signed by Nashville to a one-year deal, not 12 years. I thought Arizona and Darcy Regier would sign him. Goalies Jhonas Enroth signed with the Los Angeles Kings while Michal Neuvirth signed with the Philadelphia Flyes and Anders Lindback with Arizona. So it means currently the Sabres are going with Robin Lehner and Chad Johnson as their goalies so far as they did not bring back any of their former goalies. Drew Stafford signed a two-year deal worth around $4.35 million a season yesterday to remain in Winnipeg.
Speaking of not bringing back any former Sabres, Andrej Sekera signed with Edmonton for six years which is a great move for the Oilers. I liked Sekera and wished he came back here but he moved on. He was very good in Carolina and was used very well unlike his time here with Lindy Ruff. Vancouver did not win the Hodgson trade either as they traded Zack Kassian, who was a disappointment, to Montreal for Brandon Prust and a fifth round pick.
The biggest move of the day was the Pittsburgh Penguins trading for Phil Kessel. The Penguins didn't give up much to get Kessel out of Toronto. Kessel is a very productive scorer (a point a game player) who doesn't always play hard or try hard (as evidenced by last season) and doesn't play great defense. Maybe getting him out of a horrible situation in Toronto and playing with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will help him. Hopefully Crosby can keep him in line but he's the type of player they need badly. I think it's a great move for Pittsburgh unless they continue to go belly-up in the playoffs and he doesn't perform.
The St. Louis Blues are trying to move on from their core that's failed them in the playoffs the last few years. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk is reportedly on the trade market and I would love for the Sabres to get him. The Blues let star forward Vladimir Tarasenko hit restricted free agency but they said they'll match any offer and rightfully so. They can't let him go and need to build around him. Dallas reportedly signed him to an offer sheet for 6 years, $45 million. I bet they'll match it and eventually part ways with players like David Backes and TJ Oshie.
The Chicago Blackhawks made a big move yesterday trading restricted free agent Brandon Saad to the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was a shock because many thought the Blackhawks would have kept him as there were talks of them negotiating a long term deal. They dealt his rights to the Blue Jackets for Artem Anisimov and Marko Dano. GM Stan Bowman was worried that with the Hawks' cap trouble that teams would load up on an offer sheet for Saad.
One defenseman the Sabres would have liked, Paul Martin, signed a four-year deal with the San Jose Sharks. They also traded for and signed goalie Martin Jones. They did not resign Antii Niemi, who signed with Dallas. The Sharks sent a 2016 First Round pick and prospect Sean Kuraly to the Bruins for Jones as the Sharks immediately signed him to a 3-year deal.
Barrett Jackman's 13-year career with the Blues came to an end when he signed with Nashville. Detroit surprisingly signed Mike Green to a three-year deal while also signing Brad Richards to a one-year deal. Richards won a Cup with Chicago after signing a one-year deal one year after being bought out by the New York Rangers.
The buyouts from a day ago were very interesting. The Kings terminated Mike Richards' gigantic contract after he was stopped at the border with possession of Oxycontin. Others bought out not named Cody Hodgson were Alexander Semin and former Sabre Brad Boyes. I have no interest in any of them. I liked Semin a couple years ago when he signed with Carolina for one year and was very good. He was given a ridiculous longterm contract and never lived up close to it. And to think Jim Rutherford was fired from Carolina but hired in Pittsburgh. Go figure.
This was a very interesting first day of free agency with so much going on. More deals will be made in the coming days hopefully for Buffalo as well to get a defenseman and sign O'Reilly.
July 1st now means the official signing and berth of the Jack Eichel era in Buffalo, NY. We'll never have to think of that ever again. We are still waiting for the announcement of the extension of Ryan O'Reilly for seven to eight years for around $7-8 million a year. To help further keep him here, his brother Cal O'Reilly signed earlier for a two-year, one-way deal which means if he plays in the NHL or AHL he's still getting the same salary.
Some former Sabres were involved in trades or signings. Cody Hodgson, waived and bought out one day ago, was signed by Nashville to a one-year deal, not 12 years. I thought Arizona and Darcy Regier would sign him. Goalies Jhonas Enroth signed with the Los Angeles Kings while Michal Neuvirth signed with the Philadelphia Flyes and Anders Lindback with Arizona. So it means currently the Sabres are going with Robin Lehner and Chad Johnson as their goalies so far as they did not bring back any of their former goalies. Drew Stafford signed a two-year deal worth around $4.35 million a season yesterday to remain in Winnipeg.
Speaking of not bringing back any former Sabres, Andrej Sekera signed with Edmonton for six years which is a great move for the Oilers. I liked Sekera and wished he came back here but he moved on. He was very good in Carolina and was used very well unlike his time here with Lindy Ruff. Vancouver did not win the Hodgson trade either as they traded Zack Kassian, who was a disappointment, to Montreal for Brandon Prust and a fifth round pick.
The biggest move of the day was the Pittsburgh Penguins trading for Phil Kessel. The Penguins didn't give up much to get Kessel out of Toronto. Kessel is a very productive scorer (a point a game player) who doesn't always play hard or try hard (as evidenced by last season) and doesn't play great defense. Maybe getting him out of a horrible situation in Toronto and playing with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will help him. Hopefully Crosby can keep him in line but he's the type of player they need badly. I think it's a great move for Pittsburgh unless they continue to go belly-up in the playoffs and he doesn't perform.
The St. Louis Blues are trying to move on from their core that's failed them in the playoffs the last few years. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk is reportedly on the trade market and I would love for the Sabres to get him. The Blues let star forward Vladimir Tarasenko hit restricted free agency but they said they'll match any offer and rightfully so. They can't let him go and need to build around him. Dallas reportedly signed him to an offer sheet for 6 years, $45 million. I bet they'll match it and eventually part ways with players like David Backes and TJ Oshie.
The Chicago Blackhawks made a big move yesterday trading restricted free agent Brandon Saad to the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was a shock because many thought the Blackhawks would have kept him as there were talks of them negotiating a long term deal. They dealt his rights to the Blue Jackets for Artem Anisimov and Marko Dano. GM Stan Bowman was worried that with the Hawks' cap trouble that teams would load up on an offer sheet for Saad.
One defenseman the Sabres would have liked, Paul Martin, signed a four-year deal with the San Jose Sharks. They also traded for and signed goalie Martin Jones. They did not resign Antii Niemi, who signed with Dallas. The Sharks sent a 2016 First Round pick and prospect Sean Kuraly to the Bruins for Jones as the Sharks immediately signed him to a 3-year deal.
Barrett Jackman's 13-year career with the Blues came to an end when he signed with Nashville. Detroit surprisingly signed Mike Green to a three-year deal while also signing Brad Richards to a one-year deal. Richards won a Cup with Chicago after signing a one-year deal one year after being bought out by the New York Rangers.
The buyouts from a day ago were very interesting. The Kings terminated Mike Richards' gigantic contract after he was stopped at the border with possession of Oxycontin. Others bought out not named Cody Hodgson were Alexander Semin and former Sabre Brad Boyes. I have no interest in any of them. I liked Semin a couple years ago when he signed with Carolina for one year and was very good. He was given a ridiculous longterm contract and never lived up close to it. And to think Jim Rutherford was fired from Carolina but hired in Pittsburgh. Go figure.
This was a very interesting first day of free agency with so much going on. More deals will be made in the coming days hopefully for Buffalo as well to get a defenseman and sign O'Reilly.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Sabres Officially Draft Jack Eichel and Acquire O'Reiily on Busy and Exciting Draft Day
The future of the Buffalo Sabres starts tonight with the drafting of Jack Eichel (assuming he signs with us and doesn't go back to college which I believe he won't). He's our franchise player and it will be awesome to have a forward/ No. 1 center be our franchise elite player. It's been way too long since what LaFontaine or maybe even Perrault? Sure even Briere and Drury were very good for the short time they were here but this is an 18-year-old kid who will be here for a good 15 years or so helping leading this team to the promised land. Who doesn't love it when Tim Murray doesn't do the BS of thanking everyone just goes "Buffalo selects Jack Eichel" like he did last year with Sam Reinhart?
Eichel is considered to be one of the best prospects in the last what 15-20 years? Since then Eichel has been considered the number one pick in every draft in that time except the Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and of course the Connor McDavid years. Ovechkin and Crosby helped turn their teams around from miserable failures to success and McDavid should do the same with Edmonton. I've heard Eichel compared to fellow American Mike Modano (1988 #1 overall pick) and current stars Steven Stamkos and Jeff Carter.
As of that wasn't enough, they traded for a goalie early in the day (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/06/sabres-acquire-goalie-robin-lehner-and.html) and right after selecting Eichel, the Sabres announced they traded for Ryan O'Reilly. They traded Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko, JT Compher, and the 31st pick in this year's draft for O'Reilly and forward Jamie McGinn. O'Reilly gives them a legitimate number two center behind Eichel and gives the Sabres one of the best center depth in the NHL with Zemgus Girgensons and Sam Reinhart also on the roster.
Now O'Reilly has one year left on his deal that carries a $6 million cap hit which the Avalanche matched an offer sheet signed two years ago by the Calgary Flames and that basically ruined the relationship between the Avs and O'Reilly. We have to sign O'Reilly and it appears he wants a deal in the $8 million range which might be steep but also kind of worth it given his offensive production and amazing two-way, possession game. He's the complete opposite of Cody Hodgson as a two-way player. Murray said they are preparing to offer him a big contract or else why did they trade so much for him?
Murray got a lot of flack for making this deal especially trading Zadorov. Zadorov can be a very good defenseman and showed flashes of brilliance last season. But he also really struggled at times and got benched and suspended and had an attitude of entitlement. That doesn't mean he should be gone yet he became expendable to make a big trade. Like I wrote the other day (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/06/i-would-trade-reinhart-for-oreilly-i.html), you have to be prepared to trade someone you might not want or be comfortable trading to improve your team and Zadorov (and maybe some who still had hope for Grigorenko) were the ones to go. Rasmus Ristolainen and Eichel are the only "untouchables" on this roster. We can fill another spot in free agency and one guy I'm very interested in is former Sabre Andrej Seker, who is a UFA. We don't have a guy on the defense for the power play and he's always been good at that and point producing even though a lot of people didn't like him here. I liked Sekera.
No surprise obviously McDavid went first overall with the Oilers. Arizona was not able to trade it's third overall pick (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/06/coyotes-looking-to-trade-pick-3-bruins.html) and instead took McDavid's Erie Otters' teammate Dylan Strome. Had the Sabres not picked in the top-2 for McDavid or Eichel, Strome would have been my top pick at number three. Toronto and Mike Babcock select center Mitch Marner, who finished a close second behind Strome for the OHL scoring title this past season which McDavid would have easily won had he not gotten hurt for six weeks of the season.
Carolina took Boston College defenseman Noah Hanifan and Carolina looks to get better on the blue line and they're a team I could see on the rise. Hanifan would make an excellent addition and partner for fellow defenseman Justin Faulk, who had a breakout season and franchise record-breaking season for most points by a defenseman. If they keep both Staals and maybe Jeff Skinner or get a great trade for him (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/06/jeff-skinner-might-be-available-id-go.html) they'll be on the rise no doubt. They're penalty kill (which dramatically) and possession numbers are both very great as first year head coach Bill Peters has done a great job and they finished the second half of the season really strong. They get a good goalie, they're a playoff team.
The team who hosted the draft, the Florida Panthers, took Lawson Crouse 11th overall. Crouse was talked as a possible top-5 pick as he was 5th in the final NHL Central Scouting rankings because of his size and scoring ability plus his play in the World Juniors this past season for Team Canada. He did not score a lot in juniors which is a red flag in my opinion as he was nowhere even close to the scoring leaders, but he did jump up significantly this past season from the season before as he went from 27 to 51 points. However, he still ranked 63rd in the OHL scoring race. 63rd!!! He just averaged under a point a game in a league where the best scorers averaged 2 points a game (or in McDavid's case close to 3 points a game). He has high bust potential but could be the next Milan Lucic or Todd Bertuzzi if it pans out, maybe even better. We shall see.
Ottawa took young American center prospect Colin White, who is considered one of the better prospects in this deep draft, 21st overall with the Sabres pick. White is considered to play for Boston College this upcoming season but who knows. The one and only goalie taken in the first round one pick after as the Washington Capitals took Ilya Samsonov 22nd overall as he was expected to go late in round one and if the Sabres still had pick 21, they'd probably take him.
One last thing is that the Boston Bruins continue to make mind numbing decision after decision. It didn't matter that Peter Chiarelli was fired for making mind numbing trades like Phil Kessel for two first round picks what turned out to be Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton then trading Seguin for garbage and put them in the place they're currently in. I didn't even mention Joe Thornton going for practically nothing before Chiarelli was GM but they get credit because they won the Cup. Yes they did get lucky trading Kessel, who even though he produces points, he doesn't always show up and puts in terrible efforts night in night out and is awful defensively. Seguin and Hamilton should have taken your team to the Cup for many years to come. I don't know what's in the water in Boston but whoever the GM is, makes dumb decisions enough said.
Reports were they were interested in trading top defenseman Dougie Hamilton to the Coyotes for the third pick in the draft to take Hanifan but instead, they trade him to Calgary for the 15th overall pick?!?! Huh? Don Sweeney is doing a great job let me tell you (smh). They also traded Milan Lucic to Los Angeles for the 13th overall pick and restricted free agent goalie Martin Jones combine the two picks with their own, they had the 13th, 14th, and 15th overall picks in the draft. Many thought they'd trade all 3 or 2 of the 3 along with either Jones or Tukka Rask to move up but did not.
Trading Lucic no big deal as he's on the decline. But trading Hamilton a #1 defenseman for many years to come for basically nothing is just pathetic and I will enjoy them being a bottom feeder for quite some time. They fired Chiarelli and should fired Sweeney as well along with President Cam Neely. They want to be a physical and tough team and I say fine, we'll just circle around you like we did 10 years ago after the lockout. I love how teams bring in former players to run their teams into the ground. I'll write more about that in the coming days.
Buffalo is a team on the rise and I for one can't wait for this season to start. Next year's draft will be held here in Buffalo even though more than likely next year's draft won't be as important as they should be on the way towards winning. Let's go Buffalo!!
Eichel is considered to be one of the best prospects in the last what 15-20 years? Since then Eichel has been considered the number one pick in every draft in that time except the Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and of course the Connor McDavid years. Ovechkin and Crosby helped turn their teams around from miserable failures to success and McDavid should do the same with Edmonton. I've heard Eichel compared to fellow American Mike Modano (1988 #1 overall pick) and current stars Steven Stamkos and Jeff Carter.
As of that wasn't enough, they traded for a goalie early in the day (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/06/sabres-acquire-goalie-robin-lehner-and.html) and right after selecting Eichel, the Sabres announced they traded for Ryan O'Reilly. They traded Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko, JT Compher, and the 31st pick in this year's draft for O'Reilly and forward Jamie McGinn. O'Reilly gives them a legitimate number two center behind Eichel and gives the Sabres one of the best center depth in the NHL with Zemgus Girgensons and Sam Reinhart also on the roster.
Now O'Reilly has one year left on his deal that carries a $6 million cap hit which the Avalanche matched an offer sheet signed two years ago by the Calgary Flames and that basically ruined the relationship between the Avs and O'Reilly. We have to sign O'Reilly and it appears he wants a deal in the $8 million range which might be steep but also kind of worth it given his offensive production and amazing two-way, possession game. He's the complete opposite of Cody Hodgson as a two-way player. Murray said they are preparing to offer him a big contract or else why did they trade so much for him?
Murray got a lot of flack for making this deal especially trading Zadorov. Zadorov can be a very good defenseman and showed flashes of brilliance last season. But he also really struggled at times and got benched and suspended and had an attitude of entitlement. That doesn't mean he should be gone yet he became expendable to make a big trade. Like I wrote the other day (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/06/i-would-trade-reinhart-for-oreilly-i.html), you have to be prepared to trade someone you might not want or be comfortable trading to improve your team and Zadorov (and maybe some who still had hope for Grigorenko) were the ones to go. Rasmus Ristolainen and Eichel are the only "untouchables" on this roster. We can fill another spot in free agency and one guy I'm very interested in is former Sabre Andrej Seker, who is a UFA. We don't have a guy on the defense for the power play and he's always been good at that and point producing even though a lot of people didn't like him here. I liked Sekera.
No surprise obviously McDavid went first overall with the Oilers. Arizona was not able to trade it's third overall pick (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/06/coyotes-looking-to-trade-pick-3-bruins.html) and instead took McDavid's Erie Otters' teammate Dylan Strome. Had the Sabres not picked in the top-2 for McDavid or Eichel, Strome would have been my top pick at number three. Toronto and Mike Babcock select center Mitch Marner, who finished a close second behind Strome for the OHL scoring title this past season which McDavid would have easily won had he not gotten hurt for six weeks of the season.
Carolina took Boston College defenseman Noah Hanifan and Carolina looks to get better on the blue line and they're a team I could see on the rise. Hanifan would make an excellent addition and partner for fellow defenseman Justin Faulk, who had a breakout season and franchise record-breaking season for most points by a defenseman. If they keep both Staals and maybe Jeff Skinner or get a great trade for him (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/06/jeff-skinner-might-be-available-id-go.html) they'll be on the rise no doubt. They're penalty kill (which dramatically) and possession numbers are both very great as first year head coach Bill Peters has done a great job and they finished the second half of the season really strong. They get a good goalie, they're a playoff team.
The team who hosted the draft, the Florida Panthers, took Lawson Crouse 11th overall. Crouse was talked as a possible top-5 pick as he was 5th in the final NHL Central Scouting rankings because of his size and scoring ability plus his play in the World Juniors this past season for Team Canada. He did not score a lot in juniors which is a red flag in my opinion as he was nowhere even close to the scoring leaders, but he did jump up significantly this past season from the season before as he went from 27 to 51 points. However, he still ranked 63rd in the OHL scoring race. 63rd!!! He just averaged under a point a game in a league where the best scorers averaged 2 points a game (or in McDavid's case close to 3 points a game). He has high bust potential but could be the next Milan Lucic or Todd Bertuzzi if it pans out, maybe even better. We shall see.
Ottawa took young American center prospect Colin White, who is considered one of the better prospects in this deep draft, 21st overall with the Sabres pick. White is considered to play for Boston College this upcoming season but who knows. The one and only goalie taken in the first round one pick after as the Washington Capitals took Ilya Samsonov 22nd overall as he was expected to go late in round one and if the Sabres still had pick 21, they'd probably take him.
One last thing is that the Boston Bruins continue to make mind numbing decision after decision. It didn't matter that Peter Chiarelli was fired for making mind numbing trades like Phil Kessel for two first round picks what turned out to be Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton then trading Seguin for garbage and put them in the place they're currently in. I didn't even mention Joe Thornton going for practically nothing before Chiarelli was GM but they get credit because they won the Cup. Yes they did get lucky trading Kessel, who even though he produces points, he doesn't always show up and puts in terrible efforts night in night out and is awful defensively. Seguin and Hamilton should have taken your team to the Cup for many years to come. I don't know what's in the water in Boston but whoever the GM is, makes dumb decisions enough said.
Reports were they were interested in trading top defenseman Dougie Hamilton to the Coyotes for the third pick in the draft to take Hanifan but instead, they trade him to Calgary for the 15th overall pick?!?! Huh? Don Sweeney is doing a great job let me tell you (smh). They also traded Milan Lucic to Los Angeles for the 13th overall pick and restricted free agent goalie Martin Jones combine the two picks with their own, they had the 13th, 14th, and 15th overall picks in the draft. Many thought they'd trade all 3 or 2 of the 3 along with either Jones or Tukka Rask to move up but did not.
Trading Lucic no big deal as he's on the decline. But trading Hamilton a #1 defenseman for many years to come for basically nothing is just pathetic and I will enjoy them being a bottom feeder for quite some time. They fired Chiarelli and should fired Sweeney as well along with President Cam Neely. They want to be a physical and tough team and I say fine, we'll just circle around you like we did 10 years ago after the lockout. I love how teams bring in former players to run their teams into the ground. I'll write more about that in the coming days.
Buffalo is a team on the rise and I for one can't wait for this season to start. Next year's draft will be held here in Buffalo even though more than likely next year's draft won't be as important as they should be on the way towards winning. Let's go Buffalo!!
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Buffalo Sabres Met with Dan Bylsma Last Night and Are Meeting With Him Again Shortly
It appears that the Buffalo Sabres are about to hire former Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma as their head coach. The Sabres met with him last night and are in the process of meeting with him again. We are waiting for him to officially be hired by the Sabres. What's the hold up? The hold up is this stupid, idiotic rule that the NHL has in place which shows how the NHL is a dumb league sometimes, more like a lot of the time.
That rule is that the Sabres (or any team) would have to give up a 3rd round pick if they want to hire him. The stupid thing is that Bylsma was fired last year by the Penguins so he should be able to sign with anyone. Who has to negotiate with the team that fired a head coach? You don't need to give up compensation to sign an unrestricted free agent. This rule was designed to protect teams from allowing their AHL head coaches or top notch assistant coaches to up and leave for nothing. That I like a lot.
But there's this stupid loophole to allow a team to receive compensation despite having a head coach being fired. That's just stupid and again, the NHL looks like a joke. As long as Gary Bettman is in charge, these stupid things will continue to happen. He's a joke of a commissioner and he makes this a joke of a sports league. As for Pittsburgh, why not get your compensation you are entitled to? The Sabres are reportedly working with Pittsburgh negotiating terms of compensation.
I have zero problem with this hiring. Yeah I wanted Mike Babcock, but he wanted to go to Toronto and in this case, there is no shame in finishing a close second in the race for the best head coach. But Bylsma is no consolation prize in my opinion. If Babcock is the best, then Bylsma is a very close second. It's like trying to get Connor McDavid, but Jack Eichel is a very close second. The Sabres job is much more appealing and attractive now that we will have Eichel. Even without Eichel, the Sabres have the best group of prospects in the NHL. But Eichel makes it that much sweeter. Evander Kane makes it more appealing as well.
For those who constantly criticize or whine about how Bylsma only won one Stanley Cup with stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and how usually the Penguins underachieved in the playoffs losing in the 1st or 2nd round depsite having 100 point seasons, I will set the record straight. He did not have much else besides Crosby and Malkin. There were times where Crosby and/or Malkin were hurt and missed a bunch of a season. Regardless, Bylsma never had less than 101 points in an entire 82-game season and never finished lower than second in the division. In the lockout-shortened 48-game season, Bylsma still had 72 points which turns out to be a whopping 123 over an 82-game season.
Besides not getting anyone else besides Crosby and Malkin (Kris Letang is a very good defenseman and James Neal and Jordan Staal were also good) as well as having a very poor pool of prospects (which the Sabres don't have), the goaltending has been abysmal. Marc-Andre Fleury has had sub-.900 save percentages almost every playoff season under Byslma except one: the year they won the Cup in 09. I don't care who you are, you can't win in the playoffs with goalies with save percentages in the .800s. These are faults of the GM Ray Shero more than Bylsma. Bylsma won despite all this.
How come Babcock is considered the best coach in hockey while he only won one cup with at least 3 future hall of famers while Bylsma gets blasted for winning only one Cup with two future hall of famers? Babcock's regular season win % is .627 which is very good. Meanwhile, Bylsma's reg. season win % is an astounding .668. Babcock's postseason win % is .569 while Bylsma's is .551. So there's really not that much of a difference between the two except Babcock has been to two more Stanley Cup finals. By the way, Bylsma beat Babcock to win the Cup.
Did I mention Bylsma won the Cup his first year in the NHL? Because that's pretty important. In fact, he took over from Michel Therrien with 25 games left after the players tuned out Therrien one year after losing in the finals. Bylsma led the Pens to 40 points in those last 25 games and led them to winning the Cup. As for Bylsma winning only that one Cup, two things. 1.) how many Cups do the Sabres have (for now)? 2.) Only two teams since 2002 have won multiple Stanley Cups (Chicago and Los Angeles).
Point being, it's so hard to win the Stanley Cup and the days of winning 4-5 Cups in a decade or so are over with the salary cap era in place. Outside of Joel Quenneville and Darryl Sutter, no other coaches in the NHL right now (not even Babcock) have won more than one Stanley Cup. Quenneville and Sutter were fired at least once in their coaching careers as well so the whole Bylsma was fired thing is a joke.
The other things I love about this hire are that Bylsma coached the U.S. Olympic Hockey team and is a great puck possession coach who understands the way the game is played now. His teams were always very good in puck possession and Corsi for. He states that it's better for a player to carry the puck in through the neutral zone and into the opponent's end of the ice vs. dump and chase. I love that so much and it seems like he's not afraid to adapt to the current style of hockey of puck possession and advanced stats.
I believe it's a matter of time before Dan Bylsma will be the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres and I don't even feel like it's a consolation prize over Babcock.
That rule is that the Sabres (or any team) would have to give up a 3rd round pick if they want to hire him. The stupid thing is that Bylsma was fired last year by the Penguins so he should be able to sign with anyone. Who has to negotiate with the team that fired a head coach? You don't need to give up compensation to sign an unrestricted free agent. This rule was designed to protect teams from allowing their AHL head coaches or top notch assistant coaches to up and leave for nothing. That I like a lot.
But there's this stupid loophole to allow a team to receive compensation despite having a head coach being fired. That's just stupid and again, the NHL looks like a joke. As long as Gary Bettman is in charge, these stupid things will continue to happen. He's a joke of a commissioner and he makes this a joke of a sports league. As for Pittsburgh, why not get your compensation you are entitled to? The Sabres are reportedly working with Pittsburgh negotiating terms of compensation.
I have zero problem with this hiring. Yeah I wanted Mike Babcock, but he wanted to go to Toronto and in this case, there is no shame in finishing a close second in the race for the best head coach. But Bylsma is no consolation prize in my opinion. If Babcock is the best, then Bylsma is a very close second. It's like trying to get Connor McDavid, but Jack Eichel is a very close second. The Sabres job is much more appealing and attractive now that we will have Eichel. Even without Eichel, the Sabres have the best group of prospects in the NHL. But Eichel makes it that much sweeter. Evander Kane makes it more appealing as well.
For those who constantly criticize or whine about how Bylsma only won one Stanley Cup with stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and how usually the Penguins underachieved in the playoffs losing in the 1st or 2nd round depsite having 100 point seasons, I will set the record straight. He did not have much else besides Crosby and Malkin. There were times where Crosby and/or Malkin were hurt and missed a bunch of a season. Regardless, Bylsma never had less than 101 points in an entire 82-game season and never finished lower than second in the division. In the lockout-shortened 48-game season, Bylsma still had 72 points which turns out to be a whopping 123 over an 82-game season.
Besides not getting anyone else besides Crosby and Malkin (Kris Letang is a very good defenseman and James Neal and Jordan Staal were also good) as well as having a very poor pool of prospects (which the Sabres don't have), the goaltending has been abysmal. Marc-Andre Fleury has had sub-.900 save percentages almost every playoff season under Byslma except one: the year they won the Cup in 09. I don't care who you are, you can't win in the playoffs with goalies with save percentages in the .800s. These are faults of the GM Ray Shero more than Bylsma. Bylsma won despite all this.
How come Babcock is considered the best coach in hockey while he only won one cup with at least 3 future hall of famers while Bylsma gets blasted for winning only one Cup with two future hall of famers? Babcock's regular season win % is .627 which is very good. Meanwhile, Bylsma's reg. season win % is an astounding .668. Babcock's postseason win % is .569 while Bylsma's is .551. So there's really not that much of a difference between the two except Babcock has been to two more Stanley Cup finals. By the way, Bylsma beat Babcock to win the Cup.
Did I mention Bylsma won the Cup his first year in the NHL? Because that's pretty important. In fact, he took over from Michel Therrien with 25 games left after the players tuned out Therrien one year after losing in the finals. Bylsma led the Pens to 40 points in those last 25 games and led them to winning the Cup. As for Bylsma winning only that one Cup, two things. 1.) how many Cups do the Sabres have (for now)? 2.) Only two teams since 2002 have won multiple Stanley Cups (Chicago and Los Angeles).
Point being, it's so hard to win the Stanley Cup and the days of winning 4-5 Cups in a decade or so are over with the salary cap era in place. Outside of Joel Quenneville and Darryl Sutter, no other coaches in the NHL right now (not even Babcock) have won more than one Stanley Cup. Quenneville and Sutter were fired at least once in their coaching careers as well so the whole Bylsma was fired thing is a joke.
The other things I love about this hire are that Bylsma coached the U.S. Olympic Hockey team and is a great puck possession coach who understands the way the game is played now. His teams were always very good in puck possession and Corsi for. He states that it's better for a player to carry the puck in through the neutral zone and into the opponent's end of the ice vs. dump and chase. I love that so much and it seems like he's not afraid to adapt to the current style of hockey of puck possession and advanced stats.
I believe it's a matter of time before Dan Bylsma will be the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres and I don't even feel like it's a consolation prize over Babcock.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Drafting Forwards in the Top-3 Equal Success
I wrote about how the Sabres should trade up to get into the top-3 of the NHL Draft to take either Nail Yakupov or Alex Galchenyuk (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2012/06/what-sabres-should-do-trade-up-into-top.html). As I know many of you probably disagree and that's fine. But I am going to prove you wrong because the NHL Draft provides very successful talent immediately as they enter the NHL. I will show you each of the forwards taken in the top-3 in each of the NHL Drafts dating back to 1997 as forward is what the Sabres need. Defensemen taken in the top-3 are successful as well and I could care less about goalies taken in the top-3. But I am focusing on forwards only because that's what the Sabres need most and if they take a defenseman or especially a goalie I will puke. So here are each of the forwards who were taken in the top-3 of each NHL Draft from 1997 to last year:
1997: 1. Joe Thornton - Boston, 2. Patrick Marleau - San Jose, 3. Olli Jokinen - Los Angeles
1998: 1. Vincent Lecavalier - Tampa Bay, 2. David Legwand - Nashville
1999: 1. Patrik Stefan - Atlanta, 2. & 3. Daniel & Henrik Sedin - Vancouver
2000: 2. Dany Heatley - Atlanta, 3. Marian Gaborik - Minnesota
2001: 1. Ilya Kovalchuk - Atlanta, 2. Jason Spezza - Ottawa, 3. Alexandr Svitov - Tampa Bay
2002: 1. Rick Nash - Columbus
2003: 2. Eric Staal - Carolina, 3. Nathan Horton - Florida
2004: 1. Alexander Ovechkin - Washington, 2. Evgeni Malkin - Pittsburgh
2005: 1. Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh, 2. Bobby Ryan - Anaheim
2006: 2. Jordan Staal - Pittsburgh, 3. Jonathan Toews - Chicago
2007: 1. Patrick Kane - Chicago, 2. James van Riemsdyk - Philadelphia, 3. Kyle Turris - Phoenix
2008: 1. Steve Stamkos - Tampa Bay
2009: 1. John Tavares - New York Islanders, 3. Matt Duchene - Colorado
2010: 1. Taylor Hall - Edmonton, 2. Tyler Seguin - Boston
2011: 1. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Edmonton, 2. Gabriel Landeskog - Colorado, 3. Jonathan Huberdeau - Florida*
30 of the 32 picks (not counting Huberdeau who has yet to play in the NHL after returning to juniors this year) have been successful. Only Patrik Stefan and Alexandr Svitov has been a bust. That's a 94% success rate. Look at any other draft in professional sports and look at the top-3 to see that kind of success. I guarantee there is none. The other thing with drafting in the top-3 means that the player plays right away in the NHL. Generally outside the top-5 or 10, the player either plays a year or two in juniors or minors so it will take a few years for him to make an impact if at all. Not in the top-3 they play right now and are successful right now. The best part of all is the salary as they do not make more than $900,000 a season over a maximum of 3 years. Sure after the second year, you'll have to give them a 7-8 yr. deal of over $7 million a year. If they don't pan out, it's not expensive. But hardly any flame out or are busts taken that high. That's why it makes so much sense to draft at the top.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks were bad for a few years and drafted in the top-2 or 3 and eventually they got pieces to build a Stanley Cup winner. The Penguins lucked out in 05 and got Sidney Crosby in the lottery, a lottery in which any team had a chance to win the best player in hockey. In addition to that, they go ahead and draft MVP Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal and they win the Cup in 09 after making the finals in 08. The Blackhawks get both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane and win the Cup in 2010, the first time in nearly 50 years they won the Cup. Vincent Lecavalier, Eric Staal, and Bobby Ryan helped their respective teams win a Cup. Even Tyler Seguin, along with Nathan Horton, helped the Bruins win the Cup last year. Alexander Ovechkin and Steve Stamkos have been two of the best players in the NHL. Even Nugent-Hopkins and Ladeskog were finalists for the Calder Trophy this year. And so on.
1997: 1. Joe Thornton - Boston, 2. Patrick Marleau - San Jose, 3. Olli Jokinen - Los Angeles
1998: 1. Vincent Lecavalier - Tampa Bay, 2. David Legwand - Nashville
1999: 1. Patrik Stefan - Atlanta, 2. & 3. Daniel & Henrik Sedin - Vancouver
2000: 2. Dany Heatley - Atlanta, 3. Marian Gaborik - Minnesota
2001: 1. Ilya Kovalchuk - Atlanta, 2. Jason Spezza - Ottawa, 3. Alexandr Svitov - Tampa Bay
2002: 1. Rick Nash - Columbus
2003: 2. Eric Staal - Carolina, 3. Nathan Horton - Florida
2004: 1. Alexander Ovechkin - Washington, 2. Evgeni Malkin - Pittsburgh
2005: 1. Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh, 2. Bobby Ryan - Anaheim
2006: 2. Jordan Staal - Pittsburgh, 3. Jonathan Toews - Chicago
2007: 1. Patrick Kane - Chicago, 2. James van Riemsdyk - Philadelphia, 3. Kyle Turris - Phoenix
2008: 1. Steve Stamkos - Tampa Bay
2009: 1. John Tavares - New York Islanders, 3. Matt Duchene - Colorado
2010: 1. Taylor Hall - Edmonton, 2. Tyler Seguin - Boston
2011: 1. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Edmonton, 2. Gabriel Landeskog - Colorado, 3. Jonathan Huberdeau - Florida*
30 of the 32 picks (not counting Huberdeau who has yet to play in the NHL after returning to juniors this year) have been successful. Only Patrik Stefan and Alexandr Svitov has been a bust. That's a 94% success rate. Look at any other draft in professional sports and look at the top-3 to see that kind of success. I guarantee there is none. The other thing with drafting in the top-3 means that the player plays right away in the NHL. Generally outside the top-5 or 10, the player either plays a year or two in juniors or minors so it will take a few years for him to make an impact if at all. Not in the top-3 they play right now and are successful right now. The best part of all is the salary as they do not make more than $900,000 a season over a maximum of 3 years. Sure after the second year, you'll have to give them a 7-8 yr. deal of over $7 million a year. If they don't pan out, it's not expensive. But hardly any flame out or are busts taken that high. That's why it makes so much sense to draft at the top.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks were bad for a few years and drafted in the top-2 or 3 and eventually they got pieces to build a Stanley Cup winner. The Penguins lucked out in 05 and got Sidney Crosby in the lottery, a lottery in which any team had a chance to win the best player in hockey. In addition to that, they go ahead and draft MVP Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal and they win the Cup in 09 after making the finals in 08. The Blackhawks get both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane and win the Cup in 2010, the first time in nearly 50 years they won the Cup. Vincent Lecavalier, Eric Staal, and Bobby Ryan helped their respective teams win a Cup. Even Tyler Seguin, along with Nathan Horton, helped the Bruins win the Cup last year. Alexander Ovechkin and Steve Stamkos have been two of the best players in the NHL. Even Nugent-Hopkins and Ladeskog were finalists for the Calder Trophy this year. And so on.
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