Tim Murray is left wanting more.
More of a return on his investment from his left wingers.
Murray has invested $20,312,500 of his $71.4 million salary cap budget into the left side of his forward ranks.
What has Murray's return on investment been for his opulent investment?
34 goals.
Murray has paid $597,426 per goal from his left wingers this season.
Evander Kane has 10 goal, $5.25 million
Jamie McGinn 10 goals, $2.95 million
Matt Moulson 4 goals, $5 million
Tyler Ennis 3 goals, $4.5 million
Marcus Foligno 3 goals, $1.875 million
Johan Larsson 1 goals, $800,000
Nic Deslauriers 3 goals, $637,500
Heading into the season, Murray knew that his organizational Achilles heel was his left wing depth. Or, in this case, the lack thereof. Murray knows that right wing is set for years to come with Jimpressive youngster Justin Bailey, Nick Baptiste and Evan Rodrigues already making steady progress down on the farm. University of Minnesota Golden Gopher junior Hudson Fasching may well end up in Buffalo next season. Murray speaks glowingly of the big, skilled power/scoring winger who is lighting it up during his junior season with the Gophers.
At left wing, William Carrier, acquired in the Ryan Miller-Steve Ott has been a bust. Rookie Jean Dupuy will be a Sabres in2-3 years. That's it for LW depth in the organization right now.
The left side of the cupboards are bare in Buffalo. Never has their paper thin left wing depth been so evident as it is today for the 28th place Sabres.
Simply put, as a group, the Buffalo left wingers have been dreadful this season. There is no amount of rouge or lipstick that can be applied to pretty up this pig.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's downright ugly when you take the 20 goals of Kane and McGinn out of the totals, five other LWs have scored only 14 goals among themselves. Don't get me started on Matt Moulson who squandered yet another prime opportunity to win back Dan Bylsma's trust on Friday night. The injury ravaged forward ranks needed a hero. Moulson was promoted from left out on the fourth line to left in on the top line alongside Ryan O'Reilly and Evander Kane. I counted one prime scoring chance for Moulson against Detroit's Petr Mrazek and that came just 30 seconds into the first period when the 32 year old enigma deflected a shot that just missed the open net. For the next 59:30 of game action, Moulson was David Copperfield, master illusionist. He disappeared for the umpteenth time before our very eyes. Don't get me started, ok?
Some of you will rationalize the abysmal scoring numbers by telling me that the left win position has been beat up and injured. Okay. I can buy that. I respect that players cannot contribute when they are banged up and on the trainer's table and in the cold tub.
Tyler Ennis has missed 25 total games due to three different injuries.
Evander Kane has missed to games due to injuries.
Nic Deslauriers has missed games due to injury.
Marcus Foligno has missed 6 games due to injury.
Injuries notwithstanding, Dan Bylsma's left wingers haven't lived up to their end of the bargain in the first 48 games of this season.
Murray and his scouts have been out of the road at NCAA and major junior hockey rinks scrutinizing left wingers whom they can select in the 2016 NHL Draft. Buffalo pro scouts are also scouring the NHL looking at wingers who are presently working in the AHL and on other NHL teams.
The NHL trade deadline is on February 29 and should expect Tim Murray to trade some of his expiring contracts and some of his vets with term remaining on their contract in exchange for impressive left wingers who can help Murray to flip his organizational depth at the forward position.
The solutions have to come to Murray via the upcoming draft or by the trade market.
I've composed a list of teams who have been scouting Buffalo for the past few months.
These are teams who are serious about upgrading their own rosters via trades. These teams have the types of assets that Murray wanst to get his hands on, namely young, skilled left wingers.
Tim has “Murrency” in the form of veteran layers on expiring contracts as well as vets who have term and friendly dollars remaining on their current contracts.
Arizona Coyotes:
Needs: Scoring winger, veteran left D, goaltender.
Desert Dogs director of pro scouting was in Buffalo on Friday night. Their scouts have been traiing the Sabres for months. Dogs AGM Darcy Regier knows Buffalo's organizational depth intimately having drafted most of the players who currently reside in Buffalo and AHL Rochester.
Dogs GM Don Maloney has a massive decision to make on pending UFA and left winger Mikkel Boedker (8th overall, 2008). It's January 23 and Boedker still doesn't have a long term contract extension. The former Kitchener Rangers star is earning $3.75 million this season and is looking for a bump in pay that to the $5 million AAV neighborhood. Boedker scored 19 goals two seasons ago, potted 14 last season and has 12 markers this season. Boedker projects to be a 22-25 goal scorer and at 26 still has a lot of tread left on his high performance tires. He is 6'0” and 215 lbs., skates well, and has the hands of a jewel thief.
Tim Murray could trade Tyler Ennis for Boedker straight up. Regier drafted Ennis. He knows the player implicitly. The former Medicine Hat Tiger scoring star has been 20 goal scorer for the Sabres. When healthy and when paired with the right line mates, Ennis can score 30 goals. At 26 years of age, Ennis still has speed to burn and would inject a ,massive amount of skill and velocity into the Desert Dogs attack. The Coyotes are 22-19-5 (49 points) and are locked into a dog fight for one of the Western Conference wild card s with Nashville, Vancouver, San Jose, Colorado and Minnesota.
If Don Maloney's plan is to re-sign Mikkel Boedker, then Tim Murray should set his laser focus on Arizona's future LWs in Niagara Ice Dogs LW Brendan Perlini (Arizona's 1st round 2014), or, London Knights LW Christian Dvorak (2nd round 2014).
Perlini, the 12th overall pick in 2014, 19, is a 60-70 winger in juniors. He's 6'2” 215 lbs. And he can fly. He possesses a bomb of a shot and likes to play the grind game on the wall and in front of the net.
Dvorak, 19, scored 82 points in 35 games this season in London and banged in 109 points in his draft year of 2014 (58th overall). That will happen when you are riding alongside Max Domi and Mitch Marner.
Proposed Deal:
Tyler Ennis for Mikkel Boedker with the understanding that he will sign long term deal to stay in Buffalo.
Or, Tyler Ennis for Christian Dvorak or Brendan Perlini.
Dallas Stars:
Needs: Veteran left D-man
The Stars have been scouting the Sabres hard for the past six weeks. Lindy Ruff's squad is currently second overall in the Western Conference standings with 65 points, just 3 points behind the Chicago Blackhawks.
What piece would the Stars love to add right now to such a formidable/dominant lineup?
An NHL head coach can never have enough veteran D-men. Just ask the 2005-05 version of Lindy Ruff whose Buffalo Sabres lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on the road with three AHL D-men (Jeff Jillson, Doug Janik, Nathan Paetsch) in his top six D rotation. Yeah. That happened. Injuries to Jay McKee, Teppo Numminen, and Hank Tallinder ravaged the Buffalo D corps and rendered the Sabres done and buried. The Carolina Huricanes won the Stanley Cup that season because they were able to keep their skill players and D healthy. It was a cautionary tale for Ruff.
I can see Stars GM making a trade for one of two Buffalo left-handed D in Mike Weber or Josh Gorges.
Ruff and James Patrick mentored Weber and transformed him from prospect to 5-6 starter when all three worked together in Buffalo. Weber is Lindy's kind of D-man: Big, strong, tough, snarly, smart, physical, fearless. Weber, when slotted in the 5-6 role and given only 14-15 minutes TOI, can be a monster. He blocks shots, kills penalties and makes life miserable for opposing forwards. Weber will also fight Miklan Lucic and any heavyweight who wants to go.
Weber is a pending UFA and Tim Murray will want to get max trade value for him. The brilliance of Zach Bogosian, a righty now playing lefty in the top pair with Rasmus Ristolainen, and, the emergence of lefty Jake McCabe, has rendered a left D expendable. Be it Weber or Gorges.
Gorges is the 31 year old “Steady Eddie” who can play the 4-6 role with ease. Gorges is stronger than horseradish, plays in pain, blocks shots, and is a leader in the room and on the bench.
Proposed deal:
Mike Weber for Remy Elie.
Who's Remy Elie?
He's the 20 year old left winger who skated alongside Connor McDavid, Dylan Strome and Nick Baptiste last season with the OHL Erie Otters.
Elie was Dallas' 2nd round pick (4oth overall) in 2015. At 6'1” and 210 lbs. Elie is the total package of size, strength, speed, and skill. He scored 16 goals and added 26 assists in 28 regular season games for Erie last season. In 20 OHL playoff games, Elie scored 4 goals and chipped in 20 helpers.
In his first season of pro hockey with the AHL Texas Stars, Elie has 4 goal sand 8 assists in 33 games played.
Tim Murray got a full frontal look at Elie when he was a frequent visitor to Erie last winter while he was keeping tabs on Baptiste and scouting McDavid, Strome and Travis Dermott.
Columbus Blue Jackets:
The Blue Jax have been frequent fliers in Buffalo this season. They are the 30th place team in the NHL right now. There are several reasons why Columbus is a bad as they have been. Not the least of which is serious injuries to starting goalie and former Vezina award winner Sergei Bobrovsky and team captain Nick Foligno. Toss in the Ryan Johansen trade drama, slumping veteran scorers and Johns Tortarella being hired after Todd Richards was blown out as head coach and you have a sopa opera of sorts in CBUS.
The Blue Jax management team has promised many changes in the weeks to come. I'm expecting GM Jarmo Kekelainen to trade away under performing vets with fat contracts in Scott Hartnell ($4.75M this + 3 more seasons), Fedor Tyutin ($4.5 this + 2 more seasons), Jack Johnson ($4,357,142 this + 2 more seasons).
Tim Murray is looking to add a left winger and a left shot D to play in his top four and Jack Johnson meets these requirements.
Proposed deal:
Tyler Ennis and Mike Weber for Jack Johnson and Kerby Rychel (19th overall pick 2013).
Rychel was called up to Columbus three weeks ago. In 17 games, Rychel has scored a goal and six assists). In 21 games with the AHL Lake Erie club, Rychel scored 5 goals and added 15 assists.
Perhaps that Jax called up Rychel so that NHL Gms and scouts can evaluate him against NHL talent.
Why would the Blue Jackets trade Rychel? Because before his recent call up, word got out about the player requesting a trade last summer. The Jax have rock star prospect Sonny Milan, and Paul Bittner on the come. Both are left wingers.
LA Kings:
The Kings and Sabres are no strangers to making trades with one another. Tim Muray and Dean Lombardi love the art of the deal.
The Kings will skate into the trade deadline with only $2 million in cap space.
Last weekend, Lombardi inked Anze Kopitar to his new 8 year, $80 million contract extension.
They will have to clear out contracts in time in order to re-sign pending UFA Milan Lucic.
The Kings have two veteran left D that Buffalo would love to trade for in Kae Muzzin and Alec Martinez.
Muzzin, 26, has 4 years remaining at $4 million AAV. Martinez, 28, has 5 years remaining at $4 million AAV.
Tim Murray could easily absorb either the contract of Muzzin or Martinez. Murray also wants a left winger. Lombardi would be crazy to trade World Juniors star Adrian Kempe who is playing in AHL Ontario right now. However, he could trade left winger Micahel Mersch to Buffalo. Mersch scored a goal and added two assists in a brief call up to LA in December. He currently has 13 goals and 7 assists in 24 games in AHL Ontario this season. The 6'2" 220 lb left winger plays a heavy game and can finish at the net. He is exactly the type of left winger that Tim Murray covets.
At what price?
Tyler Ennis would add needed speed and skill to LA's top 6-9. Tim Murray could always absorb a portion of Ennis $4.5 million contract. Mike Weber would be a pure rental and would vibe easily with his former Sabres D mates Brayden McNabb, Christian Ehrhoff and Jamie McBain. Josh Gorges is also a consideration for the Kings, who looked at the former Montreal Canadien and San Jose Shark earlier this season before they traded for Philly's Luke Schenn.
Anaheim Ducks:
The Murrays want to nmake a deal with one another.
Tim needs a left shot D, top four PP specialist and a left winger.
Bob needs a top six scorer with speed.
When Fowler returns from his sprained knee injury next week, the Ducks blue line will be a crowded coop. Bob Murray wants to re-sign pending restricted free agents Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen. Murray also has Shea Theodore, the amazing 20 year old, who has been holding down the fort while Fowler has been injured. Couple that with the return of Simon Despres from concussion and the emergence of 21 year old D stud Brandon Montour. Bob Murray has quality D depth that he can trade today for the goal scorers and play making forwards that his team so desperately needs right now.
On Saturday, Despres (concussion) scored a goal in his fourth game for the San Diego Gulls during a conditioning stint in the AHL. The Ducks will decide Sunday of Despres will be called up to play against Boston for their final game before the All-Star break.
Why not a Cam Fowler, Nick Ritchie trade to Buffalo in exchange for Tyler Ennis, and Nick Baptiste?
Right now, Ritchie, 20, has 15 goals and 11 assists in 29 games in AHL San Diego. Last season, he scored 29 goals and 33 assists in 48 regular season games while playing with the Peterborough Petes and the Soo Greyhounds. Ritchie added another 13 goals and 13 assists for the Soo in the OHL playoffs.
Ritchie (6'2" and 230 lbs) will have to wait his turn to play in the Anaheim top nine forward ranks as they have Pat Maroon, Andrew Cogliano, and Ryan Garbutt signed long term.
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So, why so the Montreal Canadiens send their director of pro scouting to Buffalo on Friday night?
There had been some pregame buzz that the Habs were considering trading center/winger Alex Galchenyuk and tat Buffalo and Detroit were both interested in the former Sarnia Sting scoring star.
That rumor was squashed on Saturday night when my friend in hockey Elliotte Friedman reported that Galchenyuk trade rumors are in fact erroneous.
Its not often that Montreal dispatches its director of pro scouting to Buffalo. I will keep digging for the answer to why he was there and which Buffalo or Detroit player)s) he was pepping.
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St. Louis Blues
Another frequent flyer in the sky box in Buffalo.
The Blues are hot to trot to add a scoring winger. They also are in need of depth on defense.
If they swing and miss on a Jonathon Drouin trade, they may focus in on Buffalo center/winger Tyler Ennis.
They can also rent Mike Weber for the stretch run and playoffs. They can also offer Josh Gorges.
The Blues do not have left wing help that they can send to Buffalo, however, they have center/winger Robby Fabbri, right wing Dmitrij Jaskin and right winger Ty Rattie.
Tim Murray, the floor is yours.
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