Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray says it’s “very quiet” around the NHL right now in terms of trade activity.
I think Murray’s is a master poker player. He knows that the NHL trade market has already opened. He’s just waiting for the big bang to happen. It will. Murray knows full well that the NHL trade market isn’t that quiet right now. Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford has already executed two trades that will add immediate value to his club. Rutherford did so well in advance of the March 2 NHL Trade Deadline. Earlier this month The Pens GM traded his 2015 first rounder for veteran winger David Perron. On Tuesday night he traded forward Marcel Goc for agitator Max Lapierre.
Murray has been on the job in Buffalo for a full calendar year. He’s no longer a rookie GM. He’s paid his dues. He’s done his homework. He’s made his proposals. Murray, a stealth bomber of an executive, is smart and savvy. He does his best work under cover of the night. Usually from inside the cab of his Ford pickup truck as he is traverses the highways and by-ways of Western New York and Southern Ontario. The tire kicking and window shopping phases are over. Murray and his GM counterparts have already covered that ground at the NHL GMs meetings and at the World Junior Hockey Championships. Now its time to get down to the brass tacks.
Murray wants a taste of Rutherford’s action. He wants action now. Not five weeks from now. He knows that there are more buyers than sellers today. But, that will change in the next 5-8 game segment. There are teams playing with house money right now who think that they have a puncher’s chance of making the playoffs this season. The truth will be told in the next week and a half. Murray doesn’t want to wait that long. Murray is looking to set the prime trading market. He doesn’t want to participate in the sub-prime market. He wants to trade his assets sooner than later and before more pretenders enter the seller’s market. Right now, four teams are in the sellers market: Buffalo, Edmonton, Arizona, and Carolina. I feel like Murray likes that he is one of four teams. He wants to keep it that way. In the next week to ten days, Toronto, Philly, Columbus and other teams will be entering the marketplace. Murray wants his iPhone to blow up today with offers for his pending UFAs and other roster players, like Tyler Myers. Less sellers means better trade value. I get the sense that NHL GMs are now willing to wait until February 8 to see how many "contenders" give up on their dream and declare themselves pretenders.
Murray went on the radio in Buffalo on Wednesday morning for a reason. It wasn’t an impromptu thing to do. Murray doesn’t strike me as being an impulse buyer. He’s an analytical expressive personality. He analyzes all details before he makes a major purchase. In my opinion, Murray went on the radio so that he could tell his fellow NHL GMs:
“Boys, call me today. I have the solutions to your problems. There are born-on dates on my trade proposals”.
It would not surprise me at all if Murray received calls and texts from 6-8 NHL GMs after his interview had aired. Murray’s strategy is brilliant:
To create a marketplace where one does not exist.
Its ike kick starting a slow metabolism by adding a natural thermogenic like cayenne pepper.
Murray uncharacteristically opened up the door to his ever changing world to Kevin Sylvester and Andrew Peters on the “Sabres Hockey Hotline” program. It was a fascinating discussion to listen to. Murray took great pains to say on the record that he empathizes for his players who continue to hear their names mentioned in trade speculation and rumors.
Thanks, WGR
I love how Murray said that he doesn't know how the Tyler Myers trade rumors started. Trade speculation has been surrounding Myers since March 2014 when the Detroit Red Wings first inquired about the towering D-man. Since then, the trade rumors have intensified. Today, there are three NHL team who are looking to add a Myers-like player. They are Detroit, Anaheim, and Colorado. Where there's smoke, there's fire. Murray has said on the record that he has not been "trying" to trade Tyler Myers. However, he also has been quick to add that one of his GM peers were to call and make a bona fide offer than can add value and help his club during their re-building period then he would have to listen to the proposal. There have been proposals on Myers. There will be more.
I think that part of the reason that he granted the interview was to manage the expectations of the players in question as well as the fans of the Sabres. Right now, there are more questions than answers. Murray is tuned in to the machinations of the twenty four hour sports news cycle. He’s media savvy. He listens to sports talk radio. He surfs the hockey web. He watches the NHL Network, Sportsnet, and TSN. Murray also knows his players and their families. He’s a family man. He supports his players as best he can despite the tough decisions that he has to make as the steward of the Buffalo Sabres. Murray runs a business where things can be cold and calculated. He wants to protect his players from the harshness of trade talk. However, he has to do what’s best for the Pegulas and the Buffalo Sabres. Chris Stewart, a pending UFA, has been mentioned prominently in trade rumors since October. Murray has gotten phone calls and verbal offers on Stewart. He also knows that Stewart and his wife have newborn six month old twin babies at their home right now. Drew Stafford is also playing on an expiring contract. He and his wife welcomed a new baby into the world earlier this month.
In my opinion, Murray is ready to trade Stewart and Stafford. He may end up trading away Torey Mitchell, Andre Benoit, Andrej Meszaros, Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth. Murray has always said that there are no untouchables on his roster or in his organization. I know for a fact that he'd never trade Zemgus Girgensons away. All other players are fair game. That's how Murray rolls.
Murray, Ted Nolan, and the Buffalo scouts have done their player evaluations and they know which players they want to move forward with and those who will be moved along for the best assets packages. I think that we will begin to see Murray make roster subtractions and additions in the next week or two.
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The McEichel Cup will commence on Thursday night when the 29th place Edmonton Oilers will host the 30th place Buffalo Sabres. There's a lot on the line as the Sabres own a slim two point cushion on the Oilers in the McEichel Cup. Buffalo have 31 points to Edmonton's 33 points.
The Sabres have lost 12 straight games in regulation. While the Oilers have been trending upwards since the team fired former head coach Dallas Eakins.
Oilers winger Taylor Hall missed practice on Wednesday after missing Tuesday’s morning skate and game against the Minnesota Wild as well.
Hall took a shot off the lower leg right during Monday’s practice. The injury will continue to be evaluated each day.
“He’s still day-to-day,” Coach Todd Nelson told Oilers.com. “It’s a bone bruise, and we’ll see how it reacts for him tomorrow.”
Hall is in a three-way tie for the Oilers scoring lead with linemates Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Hall has scored 11 goals and has chipped in 18 assists for 29 points in 41 games. Hall missed six games earlier this season with a sprained MCL.
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Patrick Roy is teetering on the idea of calling up a defenseman from AHL Lake Erie. His number one D-man Erik Johnson will be on the shelf for the next 3-8 weeks. Johnson had his knee scoped during the NHL All Star break and will require time away from the team in order to heal completely.
The Avs lost in OT in Nashville on Tuesday night.
The only two candidates for a call up are Stefan Elliott and Karl Stollery.
Roy told the Denver Post after Wednesday's practice that he may be looking for an insurance policy in the event of another injury to his depleted D corps. Right now, the Avs have only six D on their roster. They don't have a seventh man who can be pressed into action in the event of illness of injury.
"Playing with 12 forwards, it's OK, but six 'D' is a little risky," Roy said. "Something could happen in a morning skate or whatever."
Elliott played in the AHL All-Star Game on Monday night.
Stollery has only played five games in the NHL.
Roy and Joe Sakic are going to have to review all options, including making a blockbuster trade, in order to find a suitable replacement for Erik Johnson. Calling up a twenty-something from the minors is a Band-Aid approach to a major hole in the Colorado lineup. Johnson skated 25 minutes TOI per game and played in all situations. No AHLer can offer that kind of value to the Avs in Johnson's absence.
Roy and Sakic will have to make a trade fir a veteran top four D if the Avs are going to earn their way back into a Western Conference playoff berth.
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