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.
Showing posts with label Darcy Regier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darcy Regier. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Cody Hodgson Put on Waivers; to be Bought Out!! Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish
Cody Hodgson has been waived and will be bought out by the Buffalo Sabres, ending what has been a very disappointing tenure since he came over here in a trade at the 2012 Trade Deadline. I'm glad we are getting rid of him as there is no place for him and his large salary. That large salary was in part of Darcy Regier always overvaluing players and giving him a six-year contract, rather than giving him a three or maybe even four-year deal at most.
As much of a disappointment he was here in Buffalo and Vancouver as well I will put myself on record saying I was for the trade when in it first happened. In the 2011-12 season, the Sabres had lousy center depth, one of the worst if not the worst. Ville Leino was a major bust of a signing as he was brought in to be a center despite never playing it in the NHL. As it turns out, he wasn't that good of a winger either here. More on Leino later don't miss that.
Luke Adam started that season as the "number one center" as he centered a line between Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville. Adam produced early on, but struggled and eventually was demoted until he was sent down to Rochester. Derek Roy came back from a serious quad injury he suffered the year before and struggled to come back from the injury, posting career-low numbers in any season in Buffalo for him. Tim Connolly left the team in free agency and things were so bad we could have used him. Heck, Paul Szczechura centered Vanek and Pominville for a while.
Injuries and the lack of a center which led to a lack of scoring and poor defense had the Sabres at the bottom of the league standings by the All-Star break. We were looking at a top-3 pick for hopefully that number one center. Mikhail Grigorenko's name was floating around there at the time as he was projected to be a top pick in that year's draft before he fell to the Sabres at number 12. The Sabres, however, got healthy and started to win. Tyler Ennis was hurt but came back and Lindy Ruff decided to try him at center when he should have done that earlier with their lack of depth at center.
Ennis played very well back from injury at center as his playmaking ability more fit the center position up the middle instead of on the wing. Ennis was very good the last two months of the season and the line of him, Drew Stafford, and Marcus Foligno were the best line on the team and one of the hottest in the NHL. They each averaged more than a point a game down the stretch and had incredibly high shooting percentages. We all knew they would start to come back down a bit from those ridiculous numbers but still thought that maybe the chemistry of them three together would give the Sabres a formidable line for years to come.
Then at the trade deadline, Regier first shipped out Paul Gaustad to Nashville for surprising a first round pick (which turned out to be Zemgus Girgensons). Then he brought Hodgson in from Vancouver for another disappointing prospect Zack Kassian, who failed to live up to the hype of the "legend of Zack Kassian." Hodgson had a falling out in Vancouver dating back to before the 2009-10 season when he had a back injury he suffered working out. He was initially cleared by team doctors and he failed to make the team and was sent back to juniors in the preseason.
Hodgson got a third opinion and had to have surgery, which led to a rift between himself and then-head coach Alain Vigneault, who claimed Hodgson had a procedure because he didn't make the team and blamed it on that. Their GM said there was no rift between themselves and Hodgson. He finally played for Vancouver in 2010-11 and appeared in 12 playoff games, registering a single point, as the Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Hodgson's first full season was 2011-12, where he had 16 points and 33 points in 63 games before being traded to the Sabres at the trade deadline. Hodgson didn't get a lot of playing time as he was the third line center behind Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler, but he put up a decent amount of points, which excited me. There was the potential for him to maybe become the number one center. Things did not start off well as he did not register a single point in 10 games and was a -5.
Things eventually changed as he centered a line between Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville and the final 10 games Hodgson had 3 goals and 8 points. Vanek and Pominville both were a point a game in the final 10 games as the offense looked a lot better. Hodgson was second to Vanek in 2012-13 with 15 goals and 34 points in the 48-game lockout shortened season.
After signing a ridiculous six-year deal before the 2013-14 season which he had yet totally prove himself, Hodgson led the team with 20 goals and 44 points in 72 games on the worst team in hockey that year. Hodgson was an effective scorer, but his defense was a huge problem and he was a huge liability in his own end. He was terrible at back-checking and turned the puck over a lot in his own end which led to a bunch of goals being scored while he was on the ice. At least he could score even if he's giving up goals, which isn't luck or by chance or by accident.
The "he could score" defense (no pun intended) came to a crashing end this past season as he had an awful 6 goals and 13 points in 78 games with an awful 4.7 shooting % and fallen out of favor with Ted Nolan. He went from a top-two center to a top-six winger to out of the top-six altogether. A lot has to do with his awful defensive game while his offense completely disappeared. He wasn't even getting power play time on the worst power play and offense in the NHL.
Another reason for the demotion was his awful possession game. He was a lousy 5-on-5 player as evidenced by his Corsi rankings listed below.
264th 2011-12 (49.4 career-high)
349th 2012-13 (46.5)
468th 2013-14 (42.5)
476th 2014-15 (38.7)
He was never a positive Corsi player in any of his NHL seasons and never ranked in the top-250 and just barely in the top-500 the past two seasons. His -65 as a Sabre further cemented his defensive liabilities and poor even strength play. He was a healthy scratch a few times this season for his awful play and the potential for him being a buyout grew further as the season wore on.
We all know 13 points in 78 games is awful, but just how awful was it? Ville Leino had zero goals in 58 games in 2013-14 which was awful and we make fun of that and rightfully so. But Leino had 15 assists and had two more points than Hodgson had IN 20 FEWER GAMES!!! That's not a misprint, Hodgson played 20 more games than Leino did last season and had two fewer points to a guy who didn't score a single goal in 3/4 of a season.
Hodgson looks like a complete joke when we look at how he scored fewer points than Ville Leino did the previous season. Leino was an awful signing and only had 10 goals in three seasons for the Sabres. Leino, however, was a significantly better possession player as his worst season here in Corsi was about as good as Hodgson's best here. Leino could definitely carry the puck in, but would not shoot the puck ever as evidenced by his low goal scoring totals and low shooting %.
Leino and Hodgson were both terrible additions by Regier and it makes me so happy they got Jack Eichel. These failures of Regier reaching for mediocre at best players and hoping they can turn into stars, which never happens, made me want the Sabres to finish 30th this past season for either Eichel and McDavid to find that franchise, elite number one center who will be the best player for years to come.
With the drafting of Eichel and the trade for Ryan O'Reilly among other additions, Hodgson had no role on this team. He was a winger at best on the third line even though they upgraded at coach in Dan Bylsma, who could help him with his possession game. But with a $4+ million cap hit, it didn't make much sense. One thing for Hodgson could have been give him more power play time, but that role was diminished with Eichel, O'Reilly, and Evander Kane among others getting power play time, which meant there was no room or place for Hodgson on this team.
One thing that bothered me about Hodgson was his lack of self awareness and his ability to be uncoachable. Throughout this awful season, Hodgson always thought he was very good and never listened to coaches always thinking he knew better than they did. I usually take what players say with a grain of salt because most of them are delusional. But Hodgson's comments about how good he is and how good his game is made even the most delusional athlete say "shut the bleep up." What a loser he was.
I definitely did not respect Hodgson's game and especially his commentary about himself. Even worse was I did not respect Darcy Regier to give him a six-year contract, putting us and himself in this giant mess. Typical Regier handed out big contracts to unproven players all the time, which always brought unbelievably high expectations which they could never live up. He ruined this team so much with his decision making. I have zero or less than zero respect for the job Regier did.
Thank God Tim Murray is not that. Regier would not give up on him waiting to see if he can live up to his potential, which they never would. Murray knows to make moves to better the team and if the player does do better elsewhere, great. Who cares? Usually those players aren't good and don't do better elsewhere. Even if they do, i don't care and neither does Murray. Good luck Cody I won't miss you or your awful two-way game.
As much of a disappointment he was here in Buffalo and Vancouver as well I will put myself on record saying I was for the trade when in it first happened. In the 2011-12 season, the Sabres had lousy center depth, one of the worst if not the worst. Ville Leino was a major bust of a signing as he was brought in to be a center despite never playing it in the NHL. As it turns out, he wasn't that good of a winger either here. More on Leino later don't miss that.
Luke Adam started that season as the "number one center" as he centered a line between Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville. Adam produced early on, but struggled and eventually was demoted until he was sent down to Rochester. Derek Roy came back from a serious quad injury he suffered the year before and struggled to come back from the injury, posting career-low numbers in any season in Buffalo for him. Tim Connolly left the team in free agency and things were so bad we could have used him. Heck, Paul Szczechura centered Vanek and Pominville for a while.
Injuries and the lack of a center which led to a lack of scoring and poor defense had the Sabres at the bottom of the league standings by the All-Star break. We were looking at a top-3 pick for hopefully that number one center. Mikhail Grigorenko's name was floating around there at the time as he was projected to be a top pick in that year's draft before he fell to the Sabres at number 12. The Sabres, however, got healthy and started to win. Tyler Ennis was hurt but came back and Lindy Ruff decided to try him at center when he should have done that earlier with their lack of depth at center.
Ennis played very well back from injury at center as his playmaking ability more fit the center position up the middle instead of on the wing. Ennis was very good the last two months of the season and the line of him, Drew Stafford, and Marcus Foligno were the best line on the team and one of the hottest in the NHL. They each averaged more than a point a game down the stretch and had incredibly high shooting percentages. We all knew they would start to come back down a bit from those ridiculous numbers but still thought that maybe the chemistry of them three together would give the Sabres a formidable line for years to come.
Then at the trade deadline, Regier first shipped out Paul Gaustad to Nashville for surprising a first round pick (which turned out to be Zemgus Girgensons). Then he brought Hodgson in from Vancouver for another disappointing prospect Zack Kassian, who failed to live up to the hype of the "legend of Zack Kassian." Hodgson had a falling out in Vancouver dating back to before the 2009-10 season when he had a back injury he suffered working out. He was initially cleared by team doctors and he failed to make the team and was sent back to juniors in the preseason.
Hodgson got a third opinion and had to have surgery, which led to a rift between himself and then-head coach Alain Vigneault, who claimed Hodgson had a procedure because he didn't make the team and blamed it on that. Their GM said there was no rift between themselves and Hodgson. He finally played for Vancouver in 2010-11 and appeared in 12 playoff games, registering a single point, as the Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Hodgson's first full season was 2011-12, where he had 16 points and 33 points in 63 games before being traded to the Sabres at the trade deadline. Hodgson didn't get a lot of playing time as he was the third line center behind Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler, but he put up a decent amount of points, which excited me. There was the potential for him to maybe become the number one center. Things did not start off well as he did not register a single point in 10 games and was a -5.
Things eventually changed as he centered a line between Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville and the final 10 games Hodgson had 3 goals and 8 points. Vanek and Pominville both were a point a game in the final 10 games as the offense looked a lot better. Hodgson was second to Vanek in 2012-13 with 15 goals and 34 points in the 48-game lockout shortened season.
After signing a ridiculous six-year deal before the 2013-14 season which he had yet totally prove himself, Hodgson led the team with 20 goals and 44 points in 72 games on the worst team in hockey that year. Hodgson was an effective scorer, but his defense was a huge problem and he was a huge liability in his own end. He was terrible at back-checking and turned the puck over a lot in his own end which led to a bunch of goals being scored while he was on the ice. At least he could score even if he's giving up goals, which isn't luck or by chance or by accident.
The "he could score" defense (no pun intended) came to a crashing end this past season as he had an awful 6 goals and 13 points in 78 games with an awful 4.7 shooting % and fallen out of favor with Ted Nolan. He went from a top-two center to a top-six winger to out of the top-six altogether. A lot has to do with his awful defensive game while his offense completely disappeared. He wasn't even getting power play time on the worst power play and offense in the NHL.
Another reason for the demotion was his awful possession game. He was a lousy 5-on-5 player as evidenced by his Corsi rankings listed below.
264th 2011-12 (49.4 career-high)
349th 2012-13 (46.5)
468th 2013-14 (42.5)
476th 2014-15 (38.7)
He was never a positive Corsi player in any of his NHL seasons and never ranked in the top-250 and just barely in the top-500 the past two seasons. His -65 as a Sabre further cemented his defensive liabilities and poor even strength play. He was a healthy scratch a few times this season for his awful play and the potential for him being a buyout grew further as the season wore on.
We all know 13 points in 78 games is awful, but just how awful was it? Ville Leino had zero goals in 58 games in 2013-14 which was awful and we make fun of that and rightfully so. But Leino had 15 assists and had two more points than Hodgson had IN 20 FEWER GAMES!!! That's not a misprint, Hodgson played 20 more games than Leino did last season and had two fewer points to a guy who didn't score a single goal in 3/4 of a season.
Hodgson looks like a complete joke when we look at how he scored fewer points than Ville Leino did the previous season. Leino was an awful signing and only had 10 goals in three seasons for the Sabres. Leino, however, was a significantly better possession player as his worst season here in Corsi was about as good as Hodgson's best here. Leino could definitely carry the puck in, but would not shoot the puck ever as evidenced by his low goal scoring totals and low shooting %.
Leino and Hodgson were both terrible additions by Regier and it makes me so happy they got Jack Eichel. These failures of Regier reaching for mediocre at best players and hoping they can turn into stars, which never happens, made me want the Sabres to finish 30th this past season for either Eichel and McDavid to find that franchise, elite number one center who will be the best player for years to come.
With the drafting of Eichel and the trade for Ryan O'Reilly among other additions, Hodgson had no role on this team. He was a winger at best on the third line even though they upgraded at coach in Dan Bylsma, who could help him with his possession game. But with a $4+ million cap hit, it didn't make much sense. One thing for Hodgson could have been give him more power play time, but that role was diminished with Eichel, O'Reilly, and Evander Kane among others getting power play time, which meant there was no room or place for Hodgson on this team.
One thing that bothered me about Hodgson was his lack of self awareness and his ability to be uncoachable. Throughout this awful season, Hodgson always thought he was very good and never listened to coaches always thinking he knew better than they did. I usually take what players say with a grain of salt because most of them are delusional. But Hodgson's comments about how good he is and how good his game is made even the most delusional athlete say "shut the bleep up." What a loser he was.
I definitely did not respect Hodgson's game and especially his commentary about himself. Even worse was I did not respect Darcy Regier to give him a six-year contract, putting us and himself in this giant mess. Typical Regier handed out big contracts to unproven players all the time, which always brought unbelievably high expectations which they could never live up. He ruined this team so much with his decision making. I have zero or less than zero respect for the job Regier did.
Thank God Tim Murray is not that. Regier would not give up on him waiting to see if he can live up to his potential, which they never would. Murray knows to make moves to better the team and if the player does do better elsewhere, great. Who cares? Usually those players aren't good and don't do better elsewhere. Even if they do, i don't care and neither does Murray. Good luck Cody I won't miss you or your awful two-way game.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
I'm Glad the Sabres No Longer Reaching in the Past Like Other Teams; They are a Completely Different Team than Last Season; a Complete 180
One thing I took real notice when I was watching the draft last night were the amount of teams that weren't very good that had former players from that franchise that were running their team as either a GM, President, head coach, or some sort of front office position. Three teams that really took notice to me were the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, and Colorado Avalanche.
The Bruins might be the worst position by trading Dougie Hamilton for a mid 1st round pick and parting ways with their number one defenseman. They brought in former players Cam Neely and Don Sweeney recently to be the President and General Manager respectively. So far they've done a horrible job and picked up where the last regimes left off.
In the last decade, the Bruins have traded Joe Thornton, Phil Kessel, Tyler Seguin, and now Hamilton. They also traded Ray Bourque 15 years ago but that was more to help Bourque get a Cup per his request so that doesn't count. Just because they won a Cup and been to another finals doesn't mean they've done things very well lately.
The moves they made remind of moves the Flyers used to make by getting rid of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards because "they partied" plus needed to free up cap space to give goalie Ilyz Bryzgalov a lucrative contract which blew up in their face. This wasn't the lone move that's made the Flyers a joke to the point where they're way too far away from being championship contenders but way too far away from the top picks of the draft to get elite players such as McDavid and Eichel and keeping them in the worst possible spot, "Hockey Purgatory."
They did get some decent pieces in the Carter and Richards trades that brought them in Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, and a first round pick that became Sean Couturier. Simmonds and especially Voracek have been great. Claude Giroux has also been very good as well. However, the Flyers lack secondary scoring outside their top players along with a terrible defense corps and lackluster goaltending.
Other moves that blew up in their face were giving up on former second overall pick James Van Riemsdyk, trading him to the Leafs for failed defenseman Luke Schenn, also giving up on future Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky after signing Bryzgalov, trading Scott Hartnell, and signing a past his prime Vincent LeCavalier. Despite those awful moves by Paul Holmgren, Holmgren, a former Flyers player, was promoted to team President and replaced by yet another former Flyer player, Ron Hextall as GM.
They recently fired former Flyer player Craig Berube and replaced him with the successful University of North Dakota head coach, a move I like that's different. This is the same franchise that kept Bobby Clarke as GM forever after he played for them and was their captain when they won two Stanley Cups in the 1970s. Clarke of course is still in the organization in the front office after making a lot of bonehead moves as a GM. This is a team, like the Bruins, who have to keep their former players in the organization and parade them out to the fans despite their failures.
In recent years, the Colorado Avalanche have hired former Stanley Cup winners goalie Patrick Roy as both head coach and vice president of hockey operations and former captain Joe Sakic as GM. Can they add Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote to the team as well? Maybe even Claude Lemieux? Their first year they went from the second-worst record to winning the division and a 100-point season in 2013-14 season. They lost in the first round as many analytics experts thought they were lucky and called for them to lose to the Minnesota Wild in the first round.
They called for a serious regression this season even though Roy and Sakic laughed at that. They "played the game" and knew more than "analytics nerds" know. They had the second-worst Corsi for (only behind the Sabres) this past season and missed the playoffs and finished with the 10th worst record this season. Once again, the analytics and advanced stats crowd called a regression much like they did a couple years ago with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The problem is that in any sport, not just hockey, bringing in players or coaches or whatever from the past glory days is usually a problem. Very teams had success when bringing in past glory because players don't usually make great coaches or GMs or front office personnel. Players with that same franchise usually don't bring a fresh perspective to a struggling team and try to relive the glory days. They also try to sell the past to fans which almost always never works out. You need a fresh perspective and a fresh set of eyes from outside the organization to tell what's really wrong with the organization.
Recently, the Edmonton Oilers had problems with former players Kevin Lowe and Craig MacTavish being the President and GM and even head coach and running that team into the ground. They were a joke for a long time as for some reason, the organization could not let go of the past. Now they seem to have done a better job at bringing in GM and head coach from outside the organization.
New Jersey has had Lou Lamoriello as GM forever and had success but recently, they've struggled as Lamoriello has failed to adapt to the newer NHL. Last year, they fired Peter DeBoar as head coach and brought in, get this, former Devil Scott Stevens along with another former Hall of Fame player Adam Oates (who failed as a head coach with his former team Washington how about that) to be the head coach.
If bringing in former franchise players are a problem, bringing in former longtime failure coaches and GMs to be coaches and GMs because they're buddy-buddy with other coaches and GMs to bring more stench of failure. New Jersey brought in former failed Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero as their new GM. Way to keep up with the times and evolve and grow. That's why the Devils aren't going anywhere for a long time. It's like when the Penguins replaced Shero last year with another former failure GM Jim Rutherford, who was fired by Carolina after he did a miserable job.
The Bills and Sabres used to have these problems for years, bringing in former players and coaches back to the team or bringing in failed coaches and GMs and scouts, etc. That is until now as both Bills and Sabres, thanks to Terry and Kim Pegula, have brought in fresh brand new ideas with people from outside the organization to bring in a fresh pair of eyes and perspective to build a winner. These are organizations both known for losing and to build a winner, you need to go away from the stench of failure that breeds among both teams.
I love the direction both the Bills and especially Sabres are heading into. It's great to see how the Sabres are almost nothing like the team a year ago. They're adding Jack Eichel, Evander Kane, and Ryan O'Reilly to the mix. This is a complete 180 from last year's mess.
The Bruins might be the worst position by trading Dougie Hamilton for a mid 1st round pick and parting ways with their number one defenseman. They brought in former players Cam Neely and Don Sweeney recently to be the President and General Manager respectively. So far they've done a horrible job and picked up where the last regimes left off.
In the last decade, the Bruins have traded Joe Thornton, Phil Kessel, Tyler Seguin, and now Hamilton. They also traded Ray Bourque 15 years ago but that was more to help Bourque get a Cup per his request so that doesn't count. Just because they won a Cup and been to another finals doesn't mean they've done things very well lately.
The moves they made remind of moves the Flyers used to make by getting rid of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards because "they partied" plus needed to free up cap space to give goalie Ilyz Bryzgalov a lucrative contract which blew up in their face. This wasn't the lone move that's made the Flyers a joke to the point where they're way too far away from being championship contenders but way too far away from the top picks of the draft to get elite players such as McDavid and Eichel and keeping them in the worst possible spot, "Hockey Purgatory."
They did get some decent pieces in the Carter and Richards trades that brought them in Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, and a first round pick that became Sean Couturier. Simmonds and especially Voracek have been great. Claude Giroux has also been very good as well. However, the Flyers lack secondary scoring outside their top players along with a terrible defense corps and lackluster goaltending.
Other moves that blew up in their face were giving up on former second overall pick James Van Riemsdyk, trading him to the Leafs for failed defenseman Luke Schenn, also giving up on future Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky after signing Bryzgalov, trading Scott Hartnell, and signing a past his prime Vincent LeCavalier. Despite those awful moves by Paul Holmgren, Holmgren, a former Flyers player, was promoted to team President and replaced by yet another former Flyer player, Ron Hextall as GM.
They recently fired former Flyer player Craig Berube and replaced him with the successful University of North Dakota head coach, a move I like that's different. This is the same franchise that kept Bobby Clarke as GM forever after he played for them and was their captain when they won two Stanley Cups in the 1970s. Clarke of course is still in the organization in the front office after making a lot of bonehead moves as a GM. This is a team, like the Bruins, who have to keep their former players in the organization and parade them out to the fans despite their failures.
In recent years, the Colorado Avalanche have hired former Stanley Cup winners goalie Patrick Roy as both head coach and vice president of hockey operations and former captain Joe Sakic as GM. Can they add Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote to the team as well? Maybe even Claude Lemieux? Their first year they went from the second-worst record to winning the division and a 100-point season in 2013-14 season. They lost in the first round as many analytics experts thought they were lucky and called for them to lose to the Minnesota Wild in the first round.
They called for a serious regression this season even though Roy and Sakic laughed at that. They "played the game" and knew more than "analytics nerds" know. They had the second-worst Corsi for (only behind the Sabres) this past season and missed the playoffs and finished with the 10th worst record this season. Once again, the analytics and advanced stats crowd called a regression much like they did a couple years ago with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The problem is that in any sport, not just hockey, bringing in players or coaches or whatever from the past glory days is usually a problem. Very teams had success when bringing in past glory because players don't usually make great coaches or GMs or front office personnel. Players with that same franchise usually don't bring a fresh perspective to a struggling team and try to relive the glory days. They also try to sell the past to fans which almost always never works out. You need a fresh perspective and a fresh set of eyes from outside the organization to tell what's really wrong with the organization.
Recently, the Edmonton Oilers had problems with former players Kevin Lowe and Craig MacTavish being the President and GM and even head coach and running that team into the ground. They were a joke for a long time as for some reason, the organization could not let go of the past. Now they seem to have done a better job at bringing in GM and head coach from outside the organization.
New Jersey has had Lou Lamoriello as GM forever and had success but recently, they've struggled as Lamoriello has failed to adapt to the newer NHL. Last year, they fired Peter DeBoar as head coach and brought in, get this, former Devil Scott Stevens along with another former Hall of Fame player Adam Oates (who failed as a head coach with his former team Washington how about that) to be the head coach.
If bringing in former franchise players are a problem, bringing in former longtime failure coaches and GMs to be coaches and GMs because they're buddy-buddy with other coaches and GMs to bring more stench of failure. New Jersey brought in former failed Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero as their new GM. Way to keep up with the times and evolve and grow. That's why the Devils aren't going anywhere for a long time. It's like when the Penguins replaced Shero last year with another former failure GM Jim Rutherford, who was fired by Carolina after he did a miserable job.
The Bills and Sabres used to have these problems for years, bringing in former players and coaches back to the team or bringing in failed coaches and GMs and scouts, etc. That is until now as both Bills and Sabres, thanks to Terry and Kim Pegula, have brought in fresh brand new ideas with people from outside the organization to bring in a fresh pair of eyes and perspective to build a winner. These are organizations both known for losing and to build a winner, you need to go away from the stench of failure that breeds among both teams.
I love the direction both the Bills and especially Sabres are heading into. It's great to see how the Sabres are almost nothing like the team a year ago. They're adding Jack Eichel, Evander Kane, and Ryan O'Reilly to the mix. This is a complete 180 from last year's mess.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Trade Miller, Build a Better Team, Don't Waste Big $$$ on a Goalie
I believe that trading Ryan Miller makes the most sense for this team if they want to rebuild and hopefully build a future winner. It makes no sense 1.) keeping a goalie who is 33 and will be 34 next season and 2.) keeping a goalie who is set to be an unrestricted free agent who doesn't seem to want to be here or else he'd sign already and they are in last place by a mile. Everyone is upset and panicking what will they do without Miller. Um hello, they are in last place, they aren't winning anything with him playing as well as he is.
If you say they'd be even worse, I think you're wrong I don't think they can really be that much worse. They have the fewest goals scored with 110 and they're 25 behind the team with the next fewest. They're 15 wins are the least and they are 5 wins behind the next team which is Edmonton with 20 and their 38 points are nine fewer than Edmonton, who is the second-worst team in the NHL. It can't get much worse than that. What they win 3-5 fewer games and have 10 fewer points? Big whoop. The Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, and New York Islanders are really, really bad but they are miles ahead of the Sabres. For me I like it because it means they have a really strong shot at the #1 overall pick in this June's draft and this team needs as many great players as possible and you get them at the top of the draft.
If you're gonna be upset that they'd trade Miller rather than re-sign him, would you rather risk losing him for nothing instead of hopefully getting a 1st round pick and maybe even a prospect? I don't think he's re-signing here and I don't think GM Tim Murray is interested in giving a long-term deal. So because of foolish pride, you'd risk losing him in free agency rather than getting something for him? I can understand if this team was say 7th, 8th, or even 9th place and are trying to get into the playoffs and don't want to lose him for the playoff run, but this team is in last place!!! It should be even easier to let him go and get over it.
This isn't like when we lost Briere and Drury after the 2007 season for nothing as they both signed deals with other teams as unrestricted free agents. The team came off a President's Trophy season and came off back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances and were Stanley Cup contenders. I don't care what anyone thinks, the Sabres are still struggling to replace both those men as they will miss the playoffs for the 5th time in 7 years. It's also not like losing Dominik Hasek, yea we traded him but got nothing no where near what we should have in return because he didn't want Detroit to give up too much so he can win the Stanley Cup. Hasek took us to an Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 1998 and all the way to Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999 and even lost in the 2nd round in overtime in Game Seven against Pittsburgh before he left. The team was very competitive and fell apart. But in this case, they are the worst team in hockey and it ain't even close.
I want to say I like Miller a lot and I hate to see him go. I appreciate all he has done here for the Sabres, for WNY, and for USA Hockey. I'll root for him of course in the Olympics and I'll even root for him if he leaves because I want him to succeed. I know what many of you are thinking: "if you like him and think he's so good, why do you want him traded? This team needs great players and why get rid of our best?" That is a great question and here is the answer. Because a goalie, even a really good one like Miller, really can't do much by himself on a terrible team.
Many of you are thinking "but if we build a better team, then it would help him out." True so why not just build a better team then? In the NHL, it's important to find a good goalie but you don't need a top-notch goalie to win. Teams have won post 2004-05 Lockout with decent, OK goalies but with better talent in forwards and defense. Notice I didn't say terrible goalie but if you can find a mediocre to slightly mediocre one and put him on a great team, they'll win no matter what. The goalies are pretty much similar as there are only a couple of elite and only a couple of really bad ones, everyone else is pretty much the same. So my question is if goalies are pretty much the same, then why pay big bucks for one when you can put money into much better forwards and defensemen and win with an average goalie?
It's about goal scoring and how do you score? With great puck possession numbers!! I looked at the top-8 teams in the NHL in terms of points (Chicago, Anaheim, St. Louis, Boston, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Colorado, and Tampa Bay) and all 8 of those teams are in the top-12 in goals scored and all are in the top-9 in puck possession. Guess where the Sabres rank? You guess it!! Dead last. Last year they were second-to-last only to the analytics nightmare known as the Toronto Maple Leafs. If you spend more time in your end than in the other team's end, then you will not score many goals and have more goals scored on you. So what would be the point of having a great, high-priced goalie who gets all these shots and goals scored on? It's not just stop the puck, there's all these bounces and deflections that go in all the time that you can't stop if you are in your own end. Conversely, if you are in the other team's end, then you'll get all the bounces and deflections. This team needs to be better possessing the puck. If a Miller trade can help enable that, then I'm all for it.
Miller is in the last year of his current deal which is worth $6.25 million a season, currently the 5th highest paid goalie in the NHL. To re-sign him you probably have to pay him in the $7-8 million a year range to keep him here as it appears he might want to move closer to his wife. Then you gotta give him 5-7 years so he'd be in his 40s by the time the contract is done. I don't want to do that. I looked up the goalie salaries and seven of the top-10 goalies are either barely in the playoffs, on the outside looking in, or completely out of the playoffs. That doesn't even include Henrik Lunqvist, whose $7.5 million a year deal doesn't kick in until next season, making him the highest-paid goalie in the NHL. I just don't get it, I'd never give a goalie that kind of money. Lundqvist and Jonathan Quick are the two best but teams paying goalies in the $2-3 million range are winning and are near or at the top of the league.
Players such as Ben Scrivens, Ben Bishop, Josh Harding, Cory Schneider, Frederik Andersen, Brian Elliott, and Jaroslav Halak are among the leaders in save percentage and goals against average and outperforming their much higher-paid counterparts. It shows if you have a great team, you can win with almost any goalie. Quick is having a great season, but was injured early in the year and Scrivens did well in his place and even third-string goalie Maritn Jones has played very well which led the Kings to trade Scrivens to Edmonton once Quick was healthy. Scrivens is doing well on a terrible Oilers team with no defense. Last year, Ray Emery, who was a big disappointment in the NHL, went 17-1-0 with a .922 save % and a 1.94 goals against average. Is it because Emery is good or the Blackhawks are great? Well it's because the Blackhawks are great. Emery is struggling on a worse Flyers team. Would you rather have Emery on a great Blackhawks team or Miller on a terrible Sabres team? I'd hope you'd answer Emery, but I can't control what you think or believe.
I want this organization and the fans to think they can win without Miller because it's probably gonna happen. That's what I hated about this organization under Darcy Regier is that they thought they can't dare win without Miller or they were doomed. The fans were conditioned to think the same. He's good but you can win without him. Miller as good as he is couldn't help this team from missing the playoffs five out of the last seven years including this year. The team was bad. When the Sabres were awesome in 2005-06 and 2006-07, they won with Miller and Martin Biron, in fact I believe Biron had something like a 12-game unbeaten streak one point. Even when the Sabres made the playoffs in 2011, Jhonas Enroth played very well in relief of Miller down the stretch run as he went 9-2-2 and an 8-game unbeaten streak which helped them make the playoffs I don't care what anybody says. Enroth's numbers are very similar to Miller's and can't do much more without a competant offense and team in front of him more than Miller can and he makes about 1/5 of the money Miller makes. We can win with Enroth (I'm not saying he's better than Miller but he's not worse) or any kid down in Rochester or anyone floating around the NHL.
I hate to say it, but it's time fans to move on from Miller and start over with a brand new identity that focuses on scoring and puck possession while the goalie is what he is supposed to be, the last line of defense. But go Miller and Team USA!!! Let's win the Gold!!
If you say they'd be even worse, I think you're wrong I don't think they can really be that much worse. They have the fewest goals scored with 110 and they're 25 behind the team with the next fewest. They're 15 wins are the least and they are 5 wins behind the next team which is Edmonton with 20 and their 38 points are nine fewer than Edmonton, who is the second-worst team in the NHL. It can't get much worse than that. What they win 3-5 fewer games and have 10 fewer points? Big whoop. The Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, and New York Islanders are really, really bad but they are miles ahead of the Sabres. For me I like it because it means they have a really strong shot at the #1 overall pick in this June's draft and this team needs as many great players as possible and you get them at the top of the draft.
If you're gonna be upset that they'd trade Miller rather than re-sign him, would you rather risk losing him for nothing instead of hopefully getting a 1st round pick and maybe even a prospect? I don't think he's re-signing here and I don't think GM Tim Murray is interested in giving a long-term deal. So because of foolish pride, you'd risk losing him in free agency rather than getting something for him? I can understand if this team was say 7th, 8th, or even 9th place and are trying to get into the playoffs and don't want to lose him for the playoff run, but this team is in last place!!! It should be even easier to let him go and get over it.
This isn't like when we lost Briere and Drury after the 2007 season for nothing as they both signed deals with other teams as unrestricted free agents. The team came off a President's Trophy season and came off back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances and were Stanley Cup contenders. I don't care what anyone thinks, the Sabres are still struggling to replace both those men as they will miss the playoffs for the 5th time in 7 years. It's also not like losing Dominik Hasek, yea we traded him but got nothing no where near what we should have in return because he didn't want Detroit to give up too much so he can win the Stanley Cup. Hasek took us to an Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 1998 and all the way to Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999 and even lost in the 2nd round in overtime in Game Seven against Pittsburgh before he left. The team was very competitive and fell apart. But in this case, they are the worst team in hockey and it ain't even close.
I want to say I like Miller a lot and I hate to see him go. I appreciate all he has done here for the Sabres, for WNY, and for USA Hockey. I'll root for him of course in the Olympics and I'll even root for him if he leaves because I want him to succeed. I know what many of you are thinking: "if you like him and think he's so good, why do you want him traded? This team needs great players and why get rid of our best?" That is a great question and here is the answer. Because a goalie, even a really good one like Miller, really can't do much by himself on a terrible team.
Many of you are thinking "but if we build a better team, then it would help him out." True so why not just build a better team then? In the NHL, it's important to find a good goalie but you don't need a top-notch goalie to win. Teams have won post 2004-05 Lockout with decent, OK goalies but with better talent in forwards and defense. Notice I didn't say terrible goalie but if you can find a mediocre to slightly mediocre one and put him on a great team, they'll win no matter what. The goalies are pretty much similar as there are only a couple of elite and only a couple of really bad ones, everyone else is pretty much the same. So my question is if goalies are pretty much the same, then why pay big bucks for one when you can put money into much better forwards and defensemen and win with an average goalie?
It's about goal scoring and how do you score? With great puck possession numbers!! I looked at the top-8 teams in the NHL in terms of points (Chicago, Anaheim, St. Louis, Boston, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Colorado, and Tampa Bay) and all 8 of those teams are in the top-12 in goals scored and all are in the top-9 in puck possession. Guess where the Sabres rank? You guess it!! Dead last. Last year they were second-to-last only to the analytics nightmare known as the Toronto Maple Leafs. If you spend more time in your end than in the other team's end, then you will not score many goals and have more goals scored on you. So what would be the point of having a great, high-priced goalie who gets all these shots and goals scored on? It's not just stop the puck, there's all these bounces and deflections that go in all the time that you can't stop if you are in your own end. Conversely, if you are in the other team's end, then you'll get all the bounces and deflections. This team needs to be better possessing the puck. If a Miller trade can help enable that, then I'm all for it.
Miller is in the last year of his current deal which is worth $6.25 million a season, currently the 5th highest paid goalie in the NHL. To re-sign him you probably have to pay him in the $7-8 million a year range to keep him here as it appears he might want to move closer to his wife. Then you gotta give him 5-7 years so he'd be in his 40s by the time the contract is done. I don't want to do that. I looked up the goalie salaries and seven of the top-10 goalies are either barely in the playoffs, on the outside looking in, or completely out of the playoffs. That doesn't even include Henrik Lunqvist, whose $7.5 million a year deal doesn't kick in until next season, making him the highest-paid goalie in the NHL. I just don't get it, I'd never give a goalie that kind of money. Lundqvist and Jonathan Quick are the two best but teams paying goalies in the $2-3 million range are winning and are near or at the top of the league.
Players such as Ben Scrivens, Ben Bishop, Josh Harding, Cory Schneider, Frederik Andersen, Brian Elliott, and Jaroslav Halak are among the leaders in save percentage and goals against average and outperforming their much higher-paid counterparts. It shows if you have a great team, you can win with almost any goalie. Quick is having a great season, but was injured early in the year and Scrivens did well in his place and even third-string goalie Maritn Jones has played very well which led the Kings to trade Scrivens to Edmonton once Quick was healthy. Scrivens is doing well on a terrible Oilers team with no defense. Last year, Ray Emery, who was a big disappointment in the NHL, went 17-1-0 with a .922 save % and a 1.94 goals against average. Is it because Emery is good or the Blackhawks are great? Well it's because the Blackhawks are great. Emery is struggling on a worse Flyers team. Would you rather have Emery on a great Blackhawks team or Miller on a terrible Sabres team? I'd hope you'd answer Emery, but I can't control what you think or believe.
I want this organization and the fans to think they can win without Miller because it's probably gonna happen. That's what I hated about this organization under Darcy Regier is that they thought they can't dare win without Miller or they were doomed. The fans were conditioned to think the same. He's good but you can win without him. Miller as good as he is couldn't help this team from missing the playoffs five out of the last seven years including this year. The team was bad. When the Sabres were awesome in 2005-06 and 2006-07, they won with Miller and Martin Biron, in fact I believe Biron had something like a 12-game unbeaten streak one point. Even when the Sabres made the playoffs in 2011, Jhonas Enroth played very well in relief of Miller down the stretch run as he went 9-2-2 and an 8-game unbeaten streak which helped them make the playoffs I don't care what anybody says. Enroth's numbers are very similar to Miller's and can't do much more without a competant offense and team in front of him more than Miller can and he makes about 1/5 of the money Miller makes. We can win with Enroth (I'm not saying he's better than Miller but he's not worse) or any kid down in Rochester or anyone floating around the NHL.
I hate to say it, but it's time fans to move on from Miller and start over with a brand new identity that focuses on scoring and puck possession while the goalie is what he is supposed to be, the last line of defense. But go Miller and Team USA!!! Let's win the Gold!!
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