That the Detroit Red Wings are one of the best organizations in sports is a given. Twenty-four straight playoff appearances--with four Stanley Cups thrown in for good measure--is a testament to that. But, should head coach Mike Babcock leave it will have an impact on the team in the near term, even if highly regarded Grand Rapids head coach Jeff Blashill were to assume the reigns.
And that's the pressing question for a number of teams at this point in the season, is Babcock leaving?
The Buffalo Sabres, they of the two consecutive 30th-place finishes, are in the market for a head coach. The team is one of many who will be ready to back up the Brinks truck to Babcock's door for his services. Never mind that there are other well qualified coaching candidates on the market, they want Babcock setting up residence in Amherst, NY--the same neighborhood that houses Hall of Fame head coach Scotty Bowman, who happened to have won three of the aforementioned Stanley Cups Detroit brought home between 1997 and 2002.
Babcock is looking for a good fit. He's said to have a keen interest in phenom Connor McDavid. He's said to be interested in having star-quality atop the lineup with a strong group of youngins and prospects to fill the ranks for years to come. It's also been said that he's in more of a "win now" mode and not all that interested in a rebuild.
That being said, with all of those factors involved in his decision none of the teams in the running can give him exactly what he wants. The closest would be the Pittsburgh Penguins with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin up top, but they still have a head coach in Mike Johnston who doesn't seem to be going anywhere. The Toronto Maple Leafs are said to be another strong contender (just because it's Toronto and they're always in on the big thing,) but they're poised to go through a rebuild. The Philadelphia Flyers are in the mix and have studs Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek leading the team as well as a good supporting cast up front, but they have weaknesses in their system up front and their stable of young d-prospects are still a few years away from making an impact.
Edmonton will have four No. 1 overall picks in their lineup once McDavid is drafted next month. All of them are forwards and all will have been drafted within the last five years. They just hired a competent GM in Peter Chiarelli and the Babcock's summer home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is only a few hundred miles or so from Edmonton. The future looks extremely bright, but if Babcock wants to win now, a weak defense, spotty goaltending and an aversion to the city by top-notch free agents may impede immediate Stanley Cup aspirations.
Of all the factors that Mike Babock is looking at, perhaps the biggest factor in all of this is his wife, Maureen. "Everyone thinks Ken Holland's the boss," said Babcock last week, "Actually, my wife's the boss." What she is wants and what they'll both be looking for in the "empty-nest" portion of their personal lives is unknown to this point.
As for Buffalo, because they lost the draft lottery, they are now considered to be
10,000-1 (exponentially long) long-shots to land Babcock even though they'll begin building in earnest this off season with a franchise player in Jack Eichel who will be placed atop one of the best group of prospects in the NHL.
The Sabres have a few up and coming stars like Edmonton, have some first-line talent similar to the Flyers and a better defense corps than either of those two teams. They have a GM in Tim Murray who has connections to Babcock and an owner who has deep pockets and is committed to winning. Although not a metropolitan city like Toronto, Buffalo is only an hour's drive away. And unlike the Penguins, the Sabres are presently in the market for a head coach.
So why would Ansar Khan of mlive write this about Babcock's possible destinations, "It's silly to think he will go only to the highest bidder and wind up in a hopeless situation (Buffalo.)"
Because it's Buffalo and when you stack their history against that of the Red Wings it sure looks hopeless. Unless you go back a bit further to a period in Detroit from 1967-82 known as the Dead Wings era. It was a time before owner Mike Illitch took over and Jimmy Devellano took the reigns of the franchise. A time when they were considered hopeless as well.
No worries, Buffalonians are accustomed to associations like that. We'll take it all in stride.
I, like many, won't underestimate an owner with deep pockets who's teams stated purpose is to win the Stanley Cup. I won't underestimate the familial approach he has towards his organization nor the work of his GM who has a vision and isn't afraid to do what's necessary to see it all come to fruition.
Nor will I hold my breath.
Babcock will probably land somewhere other than Buffalo, just like the McDavid Sweepstakes came up Edmonton. Regardless, this team has a pretty bright future and dependent upon what Murray does this off season, it might start coming together a bit sooner than we anticipated.
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Buffalo Sabres prospect JT Compher said on WGR radio yesterday that he plans to head back to Michigan for his junior season. Said Compher on GR's Howard Simon Show, "[After] talking with management, they thought it would be a good idea to go back and to develop my game--work on some skating, some strength."
Compher was a 2013 2nd-round pick (35th overall) and a player coveted by the scouting department at the draft. He was a part of the Andrej Sekera trade with Carolina on the draft floor that year. Buffalo sent Sekera to the Carolina Hurricanes for defenseman Jamie McBain and that pick. Buffalo held both the 38th and 52nd picks in 2013 as well and, according to Kevin Devine, "We were actually trying to move up to possibly get [Compher].
"We thought [he] would be gone by the 38th pick," continued Devine. "We looked at moving up to the first round, but there were no takers there when our phone rang with the offer from Carolina. We would have lost both 38 and 52, so it worked out pretty good. To be able to keep [our picks] was nice."
Of note, the Sabres drafted Edina (MN) High School forward Connor Hurley with the 38th pick and Amherst, NY native Justin Bailey with the 52nd.
The book on Compher is that of a hard-working two-way player who, according to Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com, "is ultra competitive player with good speed and agility. He has a balanced two-way skill set, is smart defensively, is pesky and intense."
The 5'11" 194 lb. center took a bit of a step back from his 2013-14 Big-10 Freshman of the Year season when he had 11 goals and 20 assists so the added and development won't hurt. Compher finished last season with 12 goals and 12 assists in 34 games with the Wolverines playing mostly on the wing, something he said will help him down the road.
"Playing a little more wing, just to be versatile when I make the move to pro hockey where I can play anywhere, would be helpful to myself and [the Sabres]," he said. "I think it plays well for both of us that I can play either position just there's so many guys coming up right now, so many prospects, that being able to play wing or center will help me make the team someday."
The Sabres, to their credit, are not rushing their players through the ranks and this is yet another example of it. Unlike the Mikhail Grigorenko fiasco this team is back to doing what it was known for, allowing their prospects to develop at their own pace.
This year alone, Sam Reinhart, the 2nd-overall pick in the 2014 draft, was sent back to his junior club to finish his final year of junior eligibility. Defenseman Mark Pysyk stayed in Rochester to finish up his development at the AHL-level (that his separation from the big-club helped Murray achieve a short-term goal was also a consideration.) Forward Johan Larsson spent most of his time in the AHL this year and after fits and stops finally passed through a threshold into an NHL player. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov was also slated to head back to his junior team until the circumstances of a three-way power struggle placed him in the NHL where he suffered some growing pains.
Two players who are fixtures of the future had put in their appropriate time in the minors. Center Zemgus Girgensons played one season in the AHL before sticking in Buffalo in 2013-14 while Rasmus Ristolainen spent half a season in Rochester before going full time in Buffalo last season.
As for Compher, he'll need to work on his skating and pace. "[Management] always talked to me about playing with pace, playing faster. When you get to the NHL there's a [quicker] pace."
It's something that all young players need to learn and adapt to and something that takes time, the amount of time being unique to each individual player. Good to see the Sabres going back to that train of thought.
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