Ken Hitchcock is like Lindy Ruff, Mike Babcock, Barry Trotz and Dave Tippett. All five men play a puck-possession style. They love their forwards and D to choke passing veins and arteries by denying time and space in all three zones. In order to succeed in the puck-possession system, the coach needs buy in from his forwards and D at all times. The slightest hiccup can lead to breakdowns inside games that will lead to odd man rushes that put pressure on the goal tending.
The Blues finally have their D corps set, just the way that Hitchcock likes to play it.
He boasts of one of the top five D bluelines in the NHL with Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, Barrett Jackman, Roman Polak, Jay Bouwmeester, Jordan Leopold, and Kris Russell.
Blues GM Doug Armstrong added Bouwmeester and Leopold at the NHL trade deadline with the hopes that they would be able to buoy the Blues D corps and solidify the group to the point that they could defeat the LA Kings in the first round of the NHL playoffs. The Blues D gave the Kings forwards fits and they generally made their lives miserable by hammering away at them mercilessly. The Blues forwards and the Kings D waged war on one anotehr as well. The series was a saw-off. A classic Western Conference heavyweight bout.
Ultimately goal tending killed the Blues in the first round against the Kings, for the second postseason in a row. Jonathon Quick was better in the Kings net than Brian Elliott was in the Blues net. Their fatal flaw was their wonky net minding. Thats why it makes good sense for the Blues to make a serious run at Ryan Miller because I don't see Elliott beating Quick, Crawford, or Niemi anytime soon. The only reprieve that the Blues will get this reason is that Jimmy Howard and the Winged Wheel have moved to the Eastern Conference. Other than that, the team with the best goal tending will win the Western arms race. Right now, Elliott and the Blues just are good enough in their net. Sorry, Blues fan. The news is out on the street. You are only as good as your starting goalie, and right now, Elliott is being questioned. Jake Allen played well for the Bin the AHL and in spot starts with the Blues this season, however, I don't see him starting 65+ games this season in St. Louis. Injury prone vet Jaro Halak will make $3.75 million this season, and like Elllott, will become UFA on July 5. 2014. I can see the Blues unloading Halak's salary. Elliott will have to earn a long term extension. I just don't see the Blues wanting to keep him long term. Thats why Miller makes better sense for the Blues because he knows how to handle the rigors of a 70+ game season. Elliott can be Miller's back-up.
Another reason why it makes sense for the Blues to trade for Miller is that they have $20 million in cap space right now, however, that will be eaten up shortly when Armstrong has to re-sign his RFA group that includes:
Franchise building block D-men Pietrangelo ($3.166,66M cap hit in 2013) and Shattenkirk($1.3M cap hit in 2013) . D Kris Russell ($1.3M cap hit in 2013). Power forward Chris Stewart ($3M cap hit in 2013) is RFA as well. All four are keepers and all four will command fat pay raises moving forward. They will create a huge bidding war if/when they hit the UFA market.
Jordan Leopold is UFA and will likely be re-signed. Bouwmeester ($6.68M) will be UFA next July, however, Armstrong will have to think long and hard about locking him up to a long term contract now. UFA Jamie Langenbrunner will not ne re-upped.
Oshie is the power forward that the Sabres have been looking to develop for years.He's a big, scoring winger whose offensive ceiling is very high. (I inadvertently listed Oshie as a center in this space on Tuesday).
Time for Armstrong to upgrade his net with Miller so that next April, the Blues aren't getting knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by LA or Chicago.
Do you honestly think that Elliott or Halak will beat Crawford or Quick in the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs?
***
Its been a hectic 72 hours in the NHL goal tending marketplace.
With every passing day, Ryan Miller's trade value increase all the more.
The NHL Entry Draft will be held on Sunday afternoon in Newark, NJ. As predicted, the market is starting to heat up dramatically. The first ever NHL amnesty buyout period is ready to kick start on Wednesday night (48 hours after the Stanley Cup Finals concludes). NHL GM are jockeying for position to get their balance sheets and salary caps in order for two reasons: 1). free agency, and, 2). The NHL salary cap will shrink from $70.3 million this season to $64.3 million next season.
The Sabres do not have to trade Ryan Miller right now, as he has one year remaining in his current deal. However, there will be 2-3 teams who will be making Darcy Regier offers he cannot refuse for Miller in the coning days. Regier owes it to his owner and his loyal fan base to consider moving Miller for the treasure trove of talented players and high-value draft picks that picks that he will receive in return for trading Miller now. Regier doesn't want to create the same scenario that saw the sabres lose their leverage over UFA-to-be all star goalie Dominik Hasek back in the day. Slava Kozlov for The Dominator? Please. Once bitten. Twice shy. Regier now has an opportunity to inject immediate value into his struggling franchise by moving Miller for integral pieces that can be used to "re-group" the Sabres in real time, rather than having them play losing hockey for the next 3-4 seasons and to fix the roster through the draft. Trading Miller now for several assets is the equivalent of TiVo-ing through the bad parts of the movie to the good parts. The Sabres don't have to sit in last place for 3-4 seasons in order to get good again. They can do exactly what Montreal and Ottawa did last season, which is to say, make wholesale organizational changes on the fly. Winning next season can be as simple as trading Miller now.
I don't call it a "re-build" or a "re-tool" project in Buffalo.
I call it a neutral zone "re-group".
Regier and Rolston simply have to leave the "zone", tag-up, then re-enter on the fly, metaphorically speaking.
Otherwise, their momentum and zone time will be killed by a long delayed offsides call.
Here's the latest in the goalie market:
Sunday: Toronto Maple Leafs acquire goaltender Jonathon Bernier from the LA Kings.
Monday: Minnesota Wild re-sign UFA to be starting goaltender Nik Nackstrom to 3 year, $10.25 contract extension.
Monday: Calgary Flames incumbent starting tender Mikka Kiprusoff issued his retirement through the Finnish media.
Tuesday: Flyers announce that they will be using an amnesty buyout on enigmatic goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.
Roberto Luongo will not be in Vancouver long enough to work for John Tortarella, he will be traded in the days and weeks to come. Luongo has nine years at $5,333,333 remaining on his current contract. Good luck selling this cap hit to an interested GM, that is of course unless the Canucks owners are will to eat a portion (50%) of Luongo's remaining contract. if so, he'll become a more marketable goaltender. Mike Smith of the Coyotes is about to go to the UFA market, as is Anton Khudoin of the Cup losing Bruins. Whether you care to believe it or not, Bryzgalov will work again in the NHL. The market is thin. Supply is low and demand on solid puck stoppers is very high, and getting higher as we speak. The aforementioned goalies will command respect and offers on the open market. Neither come with the cache and the skill set of Miller, who right now sits alone at the top of the food chain in terms of most valuable most available NHL goaltenders.
There are suitors for all of these goaltenders. Here are the ones who are said to have expressed interest in Miller: St. Louis, Minnesota, Edmonton, and Washington. Calgary enter the picture now that Kipper is gone, from the NHL at least. You can now add Philly to Miller's list of suitors. They will have the money and they need a starting goalie to lead them out of the murky depths of mediocrity. Young Mason is no Ryan Miller. Minnesota's signing of Backstrom is curious to me in that the veteran goalie signed for less per season than he would have gotten on the UFA market. Is Bacstrom truly going to remain the Wild's starting goaltender, or, is Chuck Fletcher still looking for his true #1? If so, Miller would be a serious consideration for the Wild GM to contemplate. Fletcher would have to move gritty winger Cal Clutterbuck and another contract to make room for Miller. No an impossible feat at all.
Miller is the owner of a No Trade Clause, therefore, he must submit a list of eight teams he will not accept a trade to.
Personally speaking, trading Miller to the Western Conference is the only destination. Philly and Washington are too close comfort in the East.
Edmonton? Word out of Edmonton is that MacT is working on a long term contract extension to keep Sam Gagner in the City of Champions. Gagner has been a target if choice for many NHL clubs in the past. I can't see MacTavish trading him right now.
St. Louis?
TJ Oshie and a first rounder please.
Oshie is a 26 year old power center who is exactly the type of leader the Sabres are looking to add. He's big, tough and skilled. His career high is 19 goals scored and his ceiling is 30-35 goals pet season high.
Oshie has 4 years remaining on a 5 year deal that makes him a $4,175,000 per season.
Oilers GM Craig MacTavish updated the Edmonton media today on his mindset as he heads into the June 30th entry draft. Trade the 7th overall pick? Also, MacT says that he wants to lock up veteran forward Sam Gagner to a long term contract extension. Video courtesy Oilers TV.
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