Hope y'all had a great All-Star break.
The Buffalo Sabres were off for eight days save for Zemgus Girgensons and the front office. While his teammates were spending time away from the ice tasting normalcy, Girgensons was busy rubbing elbows with an elite group of players in Columbus, OH for the All-Star festivities.
And while his players were off on their break, Sabres GM Tim Murray and his scouting staff were in the field taking in junior and college games. Murray, it's assumed, also had his phone attached to one ear as trade-deadline season is set to kick in.
If there's a player that as close to untradeable as one can get on a last place team, Girgensons is the one for the Sabres organization. As for the rest (save for Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorove, maybe,) there will be waves of emotions rising and falling as the NHL heads towards the March 2 trade deadline. If that's not enough, they'll be riding those emotional waves while trying to play the game of hockey on a last place team that comes back from an eight-day All-Star break with a west coast trip on the heels of a 11-game losing streak.
It's no surprise that the Sabres are in last place, but what's surprising is that they've managed fall to the bottom of the league only because of their recent losing streak. Even after 11 pointless games they're still only two points below the Edmonton Oilers and six points behind the Arizona Coyotes and Carolina Hurricanes who both have a game in hand on Buffalo.
The Oilers are one of two teams who have picked it up as the Sabres collapsed. They've been playing much better as of late and their recent success can be attributed in no small part to the contributions of former Sabre, Derek Roy. In 11 games Roy, who was placed on waivers by Nashville December 28, has surprised with three goals and five assists on an Oilers team that has gone 5-4-2 since he joined them via a trade December 29.
The other team picking it up a bit is Carolina who've been on the rise since Jordan Staal returned from injury. While the Sabres are an 0-fer for the month of January, the 'Canes are 6-2-1 for the month.
With those two teams playing better, and with markedly superior talent to the Sabres, the Connor McDavid watch shifts to Arizona. The 'Yotes are falling and seem to be the team that will challenge the Buffalo for the worst record in the league this season. Arizona is 2-7-1 in their last ten, have some soon to be UFA's of interest and have former Sabres GM Darcy Regier in house for what looks to be a total rebuild.
Pending UFA Antoine Vermette will be coveted at this years' deadline, but two major pieces--forward Shane Doan and defenseman Keith Yandle--won't be unrestricted until the end of the 2015-16 season. Based upon what Regier did in Buffalo with Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek, as well as his plans with Ryan Miller before getting canned, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to see the 'Yotes try to maximize the return by waiting until a player hits rental status. Doan and Yandle will surely be coveted next trade deadline.
As for the Sabres at this years' trade deadline, Murray will have plenty of rentals to offer although the quality isn't close to that of Pominville, Vanek and Miller. The most coveted of the group of soon to be unrestricted free agents is forward Chris Stewart.
Stewart, like his teammates, got off to a very slow start offensively and is just starting to get things moving. Interest remains very high, despite his pedestrian six goals and nine assists, due to attributes that can't be taught, like size and sandpaper.
The Boston Bruins still look to be the front-runner for Stewart as he fits what they want and need. Their interest in him has stretched back months as he not only has the size that GM Peter Chiarelli loves, but also has an attitude and a history of being able to score goals. As age begins to creep up on this edition of the Bruins and with the salary cap making things extremely difficult now and in the near future, this may be one of the last seasons the Bruins can go for it.
One of the two holes Chiarelli needs to fill if they plan on making a run is at right wing. Their top-line RW, Loui Eriksson had been struggling this season and they've been relying on18 yr. old David Pastrnak to fill a top-six role.
Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe last month wrote, "In 28 games, Eriksson has two even-strength goals. That’s not even close to good enough. That’s fourth-line production." He also wrote that he believes "It’s unfair, however, to ask an 18-year-old (Pastrnak) to be the right-side man the Bruins have been without all year."
At the time Shinzawa pointed out two possible players the B's might be interested in to fill that role, Stewart and David Perron. Unfortunately for Boston, they missed out on Perron. Even though Eriksson has picked up his game lately, things can change, especially if Stewart continues to heat up and/or Chiarelli believes that he may miss out on his other choice.
Shinzawa had mentioned players like Ryan Spooner and Alexander Khokhlachev, as well as Philadelphia's 2015 second-rounder (received in the Johnny Boychuk to the NY Islanders trade,) could be in play. For Buffalo, Goalie Niklas Svedberg might be of interest as well. He was in goal against the Sabres twice this season and won both contest including a 32-save shutout win on October 18th.
Luke Fox of sportsnet.ca reported that there are other suitors for Stewart as well. He cited a tweet by St. Louis' Andy Strickland that said the Winnipeg Jets and Chicago Blackhawks "have some level of interest in Stewart."
Winnipeg has been a surprise this season. They went into the All-Star break on a five-game win streak and presently are the top wild card in the western conference. They've yet to qualify for the playoffs since their move from Atlanta and the post season would be a huge jolt for their franchise and their fan base.
The Ottawa Senators and the Los Angeles Kings are other teams said to have interest in Stewart.
Not much has been mentioned concerning big right-winger Drew Stafford in this whole process despite his 22 points (7+15) outpacing Stewart's 15. Stafford doesn't have the aggressiveness of Stewart and is a little smaller, but he can play in all situations and is a former 30-goal scorer who had 20 or more goals two other seasons.
The same teams who've already missed out on Perron and end up missing out on Stewart might be drawn to Stafford and if he continues to play a solid game and produce the way he's done on a last place team. If that happens, the Sabres might get a pretty good return for him.
Other Sabres' players who might be of interest to playoff bound teams include defensemen Andrej Meszaros, Andre Benoit and Tyson Strachan and all may be available at a low price. Some teams may still consider Meszaros as a top-six d-man with some powerplay acumen while Benoit and Strachan could add some depth. The Jets reportedly are looking to add some defensive depth on the cheap and those three names, as well as Carolina d-men Andrej Sekera and Tim Gleason have popped up. Also mentioned as a possible destination for Winnipeg were the Philadelphia Flyers' Luke Schenn, Niklas Grossman and Michael Del Zotto.
Finally, it might be best to keep in mind that both of the Sabres goalies will be unrestricted free agents at year's end. It's highly possible that either could be moved at the deadline and the first team mentioned as a possible destination for one of them was the Detroit Red Wings.
Starter Jimmy Howard and back up Jonas Gustavsson are both out with injury and just how long Howard will be out is still uncertain. Twenty-two year old Petr Mrazek was playing real well until the last two games before the All-Star break. Mrazek was pulled in a game vs. Buffalo giving up three goals on seven shots. In his final game before the break he gave up four goals on 38 shots. Detroit won both games in spite of his performance.
Sportsnet's Elliot Friedman speculated (via nicholsonhockey.com) that it might make some sense for the Wings to look into a short term fix like Jhonas Enroth. "But my biggest question," Friedman was quoted as saying, "is how long do they say, ‘We need to get somebody else on a short term because our goaltender depth isn’t that deep.’ ”
The Wings sit third in the conference right now. Only four points separates the top five teams and only seven points separate the top eight. Howard could be back within the next two weeks while Gustavsson has been upgraded to week-to-week. With their faith in McCollum pretty much shattered and Mrazek incapable of carrying the weight of NHL starter duties for extended lengths, GM Ken Holland may need to bolster his goaltending situation.
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Buffalo Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons spent the weekend in Columbus, OH as a part of the All-Star festivities. The second-year forward was the highest vote-getter of any contestant surpassing the likes of Chicago's Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews as well as two-time Stanley Cup winners Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings.
That Girgensons' stats for this year are far below Jakub Voracek (PHI,) Tyler Seguin (DAL) and Rick Nash (NYR) is a given, but his Latvian countrymen and adopted North American home of Shelburne, Vermont--two tiny places in the grand scheme of things--propelled him to All-Star accolades.
In
a wonderful piece by Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald, Sabres goalie coach Arturs Irbe, a fellow Latvian as well as NHL All-Star participant in 1994 and 1999, added some perspective concerning his fellow Latvians and the wave of votes that garnered the 21 yr. old Girgensons All-Star honors. 'They’re happy that one of their representatives of Latvia’s back at the All-Star Game, and twice as special because they know without them Zemgus would not be in the All-Star Game this year,” said Irbe. “He would make it eventually most likely. They definitely fast-forwarded that process with their devotion and sense of mission.”
Girgensons played his part in the Skills Competition on Saturday and looked humbled at being on the ice with some of the best players in the game. As tentative as he appeared, he did some good things.
"He’s not going to start to think he’s become a superstar, [or] he doesn’t have to improve,” said Irbe. “There’s not the one smallest, smallest part in his body that will accept standing still or status quo. He always wants to get better, and this only can be a great experience and can make him realize how much better he can be.”
Girgensons again looked somewhat out of place as the All-Star Game, which is basically a glorified pond-hockey game with the intensity of an old-timers game, is the polar opposite of the game he plays. But that's besides the point.
Like he's shown sporadically during his short career, the kid can skate and displayed some nifty stick-work while on the ice with some of the best players in the NHL. Most importantly, though, Girgensons as a sponge had the opportunity to soak in as much as he could during the events and it wouldn't be surprising to hear later on that a move he pulled off was something he picked up in Columbus.
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Finally, congrats to Rochester's Phil Varone who will be playing in the AHL All-Star Classic tonight. The Amerks center was a recent call-up for Buffalo before being sent back down for the NHL break. Varone is tied for the Rochester team lead in points with 30 (9+21) and will be hitting the ice in Utica, NY for his first-ever All-Star appearance.
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