Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock had a very busy Mother's Day yesterday. After, presumably taking care of his wife Maureen, the mother of their three children, Babcock turned his attention to potential coaching destinations.
First up was Toronto.
According to Elliot Friedman of sportsnet, "No one’s giving a straight answer about it, but there was an interesting private plane in Detroit yesterday." It's assumed that the "interesting private plane" had Maple Leafs GM Brendan Shanahan on board and that they did a little more than chat about their one season together back in 2005-06. Tornoto's set to begin a massive rebuild and because they are the self-proclaimed "Center of the Hockey Universe" they jumped right into the fray and got to the head of the line.
Friedman's take is very simple "Here’s the thing, though: Shanahan said at the lottery that even if Toronto got McDavid, they still had a long rebuild. Can anyone who really knows Babcock see him losing for so long? It won’t be good for him, the players, or the franchise. It is not in his DNA. He wants to be the best, and he won’t be able to be the best here."
Next up for Babcock was another private jet.
*cue secret-agent, spy-thriller music*
Sabres owners Kim and Terry Pegula grabbed GM Tim Murray, hopped aboard "Sabres-1" and whisked Babcock to Buffalo. From there they made a beeline to HARBORCENTER in their super-secret dark SUV's. Unbeknownest to them, an HC employee used his decoder phone to tweet that Babcock was at HC with the Pegulas. Methinks said employee's ass is grass.
Soon the local media decends on HC with the AP headed to the airport to intercept the participants. Terry Pegula says, "Hello!" and comments on the amount of rain that's fallen. The plane leaves, drops Babcock off in Detroit then heads to Boca Raton, FL.
The cool part about the phrase "If you build it, they will come" is that it takes on a dual meaning for the Sabres right now.
First off, the physical HarborCenter is an impressive dual-rink facility downtown right next to the First Niagara Center, home of the Buffalo Sabres. The whole concept was based upon making Buffalo a focal point of all things hockey. From pee wee hockey to college, the two-rink, hockey-centric facility is designed to further the sport developmentally but it can also hold smaller-sized special events like the recently completed 2015 World Sledge Hockey Tournament and the next two NHL Scouting Combines in late May of 2015 and 2016.
It's assumed that Babcock had a full tour of that facility as well as the remodeled player facilities at First Niagara Center. One of the first things the Pegula's did after purchasing the team was do a comprehensive, multi-million dollar lockerroom makeover designed to "is to improve the day-to-day function of the space for the players," according to the team. Although the team at the time, it would seem, was more interested in furthering their "country-club" mentality when using the facilities, one would think that it's use by this new group of players would stay true to it's original intent.
What the Sabres have also done is build their roster with a rising core of high-quality players.
Over the course of the last three drafts they've chosen five 1st-rounders including 2014 second-overall pick Sam Reinhart, and seven 2nd-rounders. In addition to that, they'll be headed to the podium this June with the second overall pick again and almost assuredly will be picking Boston University's Jack Eichel.
Unlike the Edmonton Oilers, Murray has been able to augment his first-round picks with young players like Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian as well as lure some quality veteran leaders in Brian Gionta and Josh Gorges. One would think that Murray isn't done either. Time and again he's said he's willing to use picks and or prospects to land a player of his liking. Even though he used one of his three first-rounders in the Kane deal with Winnipeg, he still has another first-rounder to dangle.
There shouldn't be much doubt that the Sabres organization has built a pretty solid young team for the future. How far away that future might be is the question Babcock will be wrestling with as he makes his decision. Like Friedman said, it doesn't seem to be in his DNA to lose for very long.
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After the conclusion of the Anaheim/Calgary series, we now know where the Sabres second first-rounder will be: No. 21.
That pick was a part of the October, 2013 Thomas Vanek to NY Islanders deal that also brought in Matt Moulson and the Islanders second-rounder this year which is finalized at No. 51.
The first-round pick that the Sabres received from St. Louis in the February, 2014 Ryan Miller deal is now the lowest of their first-rounders and will be sent to Winnipeg to complete the February, 2015 Evander Kane trade.
The selections for Buffalo at the 2015 NHL Draft are now:
#2
#21
#31
#51
This is said to be a deep draft and Murray will have plenty of options including a shot at trying to move from No. 21 into the top-10.
Of note, in 2012 former GM Darcy Regier was able to move from No. 21 to No. 14 by using their extra second rounder that year (No. 42.) The Sabres selected Zemgus Girgensons.
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Back in March of last year, Murray dealt from organizational depth to bolster organizational weakness when he made a deadline deal with Los Angeles. He sent young defenseman Brayden McNabb plus two extra second-round draft picks to the Kings for young forwards Nic Deslauriers and Hudson Fasching.
At the time Buffalo had a pretty solid pipeline on the back end but were real thin at forward. The two second rounders were acquired from the Kings in the Robyn Regehr trade and were a luxury as they had second-rounders coming out the yin-yang.
Deslauriers has already earned a roster spot and the team will be looking at him to help solidify the bottom six while Fasching is still at Minnesota, and, he recently announced, will continue their next season.
The '6 2" 207 lb. right winger told the Minnesota Star Tribune, I’m ecstatic about coming back,” Fasching said. “I love it here and love Gopher hockey and love playing at Mariucci. … We lost some key guys, but we still have a lot here and a lot coming in.”
Fasching had a bit of an off year as a sophomore seeing his goal and point totals drop, albeit minimally, but it may be somewhat attributed to a bone chip that was in his right knee. The injury occurred in during the Christmas break while playing in the World Juniors and he played with it the remainder of the season. Fasching had surgery in late April and should be ready to go next season.
While commenting on the whole process this season and his return to Minnesota Fasching said, 'I kind of knew for a while [I’d return for another year of college hockey], I was just making sure everything was smoothed out. … I wanted to make sure [the surgery] went well and I was ready to go for next year. … It’s healing up really well and I’m doing rehab.'
From the Sabres standpoint, Joe Battista, Sabres vice president of hockey-related business, told the Star Tribune that the team felt Fasching could make the jump after his sophomore season, but that it could wait. According to Fasching there was no pressure from the organization, 'They’re perfectly fine with me staying at Minnesota,' he said. 'They were very understanding and have been great at making sure I’m still developing here and growing as a player.'
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Finally, that organizational depth on defense for Buffalo has taken a bit of a hit lately and the Sabres might need to do some work at the draft to fill it up again.
While on Hockey Hotline last Friday Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com said there's plenty of defensive depth in the second round where the Sabres could load up as they have two 2nd-rounders right now.
In addition to overall depth, the one thing Buffalo is missing on the back end is that Brian Campbell-type offensive defenseman who can go end-to-end as well as commandeer the powerplay. Yes, I know, news flash, right?
The Washington Capitals' Mike Green has offensive acumen and the 29 yr. old former first-rounder is set to become a free agent this summer, something that may be of interest to the Sabres. They could also look towards this year's draft and spend some time developing a prospect like that.
Or they could look to Mother Russia.
The Philadelphia Flyers,
according to our own Bill Meltzer of hockeybuzz.com, have been making a push for young defenseman Nikita Zaitsev for two years now (to no avail) and it would seem as if he's ready to cross the ocean to play in the NHL. Meltzer also points out that, unlike before when Philadelphia was the main suitor, Zaitsev is now also on Buffalo's radar as well as other teams.
Meltzer says Zaitsev, "is considered to be a good two-way defenseman with above-average puck moving skills as well as an accurate shot from the point." The defenseman calls himself a powerplay quarterback who likes to jump into the rush but is still aware of his defensive responsibilities.
At 6'1" 176 lbs. the 23 year old Zaitsev has some bulking up to do, but he's been able to adapt as shown by his numbers. Last season he had 12 goals, 20 assists and was a plus-27 for CSKA Moscow, also known as the Red Army.
Zaitsev believes he's ready for the NHL, but according to Meltzer, he doesn't want to fool around in the AHL, " I suspect that part of his decision a few years ago to stay in Russia may have been a disinterest in potentially having to work his way up from the [AHL's Philadelphia] Phantoms to get an NHL roster spot," wrote Meltzer. "He has continued to improve in the years since then, and would now likely be in immediate competition for an NHL roster spot."
A 23 yr. old player like Zaitsev, with his skill package, is right in Murray's wheel house.
Could "Sabres-1" be refueling for a jaunt to Russia?
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