|
Dubnyk to MIN and why Murray may be in a bind with his trade possibilies |
|
|
|
|
|
The Minnesota Wild are set to hit the First Niagara Center ice tonight and former Arizona Coyotes goaltender Devan Dubnyk is slated to make his first start for his new team. Arizona sent Dubnyk to Minnesota yesterday for a 2015 3rd round pick.
The 'Yotes are fourth from the bottom in the league standings, on a two-game losing streak and pretty much kissed their playoff hopes goodbye a month ago. Despite the "Mike Smith's our guy" mantra emanating from Glendale, this is a matter of jettisoning unrestricted free agents before they walk for nothing this summer. Arizona GM Don Maloney called the third-rounder "a good asset" for the future and also touted the always popular, "[we can now] take a look at a couple of our younger goaltenders in our system" rationale as well.
All sound reasoning, no doubt, as was bringing aboard former Buffalo GM, Darcy Regier, as Senior Vice President & Assistant General Manager. Regier, as we know, is pretty good at this rebuild thing, or at least the dismantling portion of the equation. As the Coyotes are primed to blow things up and start the rebuild, having Regier involved in the process may prove to be advantageous.
Although the Sabres have begun to acquire pieces with which to build a foundation, they're still in the dismantling process. That process, which began in 2012 with Regier in charge still has eight UFA's available as rentals right now.
Word on the street is that Buffalo GM Tim Murray's asking price for his UFA's, or even a player like Tyler Myers, is a bit too steep. As it should be at this point in time. But time's gettin' tight and if he wants to get anything of significance in return, he'll need to expedite the process as more teams will flood the market with their own UFA's come trade deadline time.
Dubnyk was an Edmonton Oilers first round draft pick (2004, 14th overall) and has the distinction as being one of only two non-forwards taken by the team with their first pick in an 11-year span. His pedestrian 2.88 gaa and .910 sv.% over the course of his career is befitting of a solid back-up/decent fill in starter. For a team like Minnesota who was in desperate need to shake things up between the pipes, a 3rd-rounder is a decent price to pay for a goalie of that ilk. And for Arizona, the pick represents more of an opportunity to continue stocking a pretty decent prospect pool.
Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth, who's also a free agent at season's end, has almost identical numbers to Dubnyk. For his career, Enroth has a 2.88 gaa and a .911 sv.%. With Minnesota looking to land a goalie, and Enroth or Michal Neuvirth (career 2.75 gaa; .911 sv.%) both there for the taking, what made Dubnyk to Minnesota a done deal?
Perhaps it's not so much that Murray has a high price-tag on his trade assets as it might be in what form the return might be.
Minnesota and Buffalo do have a recent history of dealings. Regier sent Jason Pominville to the Wild in 2013 while Murray sent Matt Moulson there at the 2014 trade deadline. Whether GM Chuck Fletcher is tired of dealing with Buffalo might be one angle, but methinks that the return Murray was looking for didn't fit his plans for the near future.
A third round pick is one thing, but picks are not what Murray is after. As of right now they're overflowing with picks in the upcoming draft. Thanks to Regier's wheeling and dealing, the Buffalo Sabres have drafted a total of 28 players--or the equivalent of four drafts--from 2012-14 and they have another nine picks slated for 2015.
Could Murray have gotten a third-rounder for Enroth or Neuvirth? Probably. Does he need another draft pick? Uh. Not really.
In looking at the Sabres pool of prospects, Hockey'sfuture.com lists 44 players for the Sabres, nearly half of them (21) already in the pro ranks. Seven other prospects are in the Canadian Hockey League, 11 in the NCAA, four in Europe and one in the USHL. Of the 23 players that are not in the pros, five are slated to be there next season while six more will be eligible but may not end up in Buffalo or Rochester. One player, Minnesota sophomore Hudson Fasching, has the skills to forego his remaining college eligibility.
The Sabres have been leaning heavily on college players, Europeans and players with USHL eligibility for the past three drafts so they can stretch out their prospect pool by another year or two. They simply have had too many draft picks.
It would behoove Murray to spurn draft picks as a return (unless it's a first rounder) and focus upon receiving NHL-ready prospects instead. But in doing so, if he's looking to upgrade his prospect pool with a highly rated prospect from another team in a trade, it would seem as if he'll have a tough road to hoe.
Draft picks are easily thrown around come trade deadline. Just ask Regier who threw around 2nd rounders like free candy when he pursued an upgrade for a playoff push. Conversely, he never wanted to send one of his prospects the other way in a trade like when he was forced to trade Keith Ballard in the Chris Drury deal. This is not an isolated case of Regier being in love with his prospects. Many organizations pick a player and are committed to seeing his development through.
That's where Murray seems to be in a bind heading towards the trade deadline. One could easily surmise that if he wanted to, Murray already could have moved a couple of players for more draft picks in return. Maybe even some good ones above a 3rd-rounder.
But what's he gonna do with more picks in the draft?
Join the Discussion:
»