Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan will likely be getting a phone call from the NHL Department of Player Safety tonight or tomorrow.
Doan destroyed Penguin D-man Kris Letang with a thundering body check that many on Twitter, including yours truly, feel was an extremely late hit. Stylistically, it was legal hit. What makes it suspect is that the puck was in the neutral zone when Doan buried Letang. Literally buried the defenseless D-man. Watch the hit here.
You be the judge:
The puck appeared to up in the neutral zone, nearly 90 feet away when Doan flattened Letang with the chest high hit that cause D-man's head to smash violently off the end boards. Letang has battled concussion issues in his NHL career.
Doan would have to fight Steve Downie moments after the Letang hit.
Letang was transported to a Pittsburgh hospital for further evaluation.
Will NHL Department of Players Safety be reviewing the hit to determine if it indeed was high, dangerous and late?
What if Doan is suspended for the Coyotes' next game vs. Buffalo on Monday night?
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The Arizona Coyotes headed into Saturday afternoon's game on a two game winning streak. The 29th place Dogs defeated the Red Wings and Sabres in OT earlier this week.
Arizona headed to Pittsburgh looking for a third straight road win, however, the Penguins shock collared them 3-2 in regulation.
Sidney Crosby scored late in the third period to make it 3-1. The Dogs pulled Mike Smith for the extra attacker and Tobias Rieder scored to make it 3-2.
The Coyotes remain six points ahead of Sabres in the McEichel race. They have six games remaining in their season. The Sabres have eight games remaining. They play in Denver tonight.
The Sabres travel to Glendale to play the Dogs on Monday night.
Speaking of the Erie Otters, what up with Ryan O'Reilly?
The Buffalo Sabres will get another up close and personal scouting report on the 200 foot terror tonight when they battle the Avalanche in Denver. His name has been trending at the top of the NHL trade runor mill for the past two seasons and its likely that he will be traded this summer.
TSN's Darren Dreger told TSN 1260 earlier this week that Patrick Roy and the Avs will do everything that they can to re-sign O'Reilly. Of course Roy and Sakic want to keep ROR. You show me a great coach, I'll show you a great two-way center.
“He’s got another season under contract, then he’s a UFA. So if you’re making that trade, then you’re going to want to be absolutely certain that there’s a deal to be reached and an extension to be had. Otherwise, you’re not going to pay a top asset to acquire Ryan O’Reilly".
“But know this – Patrick Roy loves Ryan O’Reilly for all the reasons you saw and mentioned last night. So I think the Colorado Avalanche are going to do everything they can to keep him in the mix, but everything has a price tag. So that’s going to be multiple conversations between Joe Sakic of the Avalanche and Pat Morris, who represents Ryan O’Reilly".
The Avs have a salary hierarchy that will prohibit them from committing fat dollars to O'Reilly, who will not be taking a hometown haircut to remain in Denver. That will not be happening. O'Reilly signed a 2 year, $12 million contract last summer and he's going to be seeking $6.5 million AAV for multiple years. Matt Duchene is currently earning $6M AAV per season (through 2018-19). Gabe Landeskog is earning $4.5M AAV through 2018-19.
There's no way in H-E- Double Hockey Sticks that the Avs will make O'Reilly their second highest paid player behind MacKinnon.
Their hands will be duct taped together and will prevent them from re-signing O'Reilly to the six year $6.75 to $7 million AAV contract. It will be impossible for Roy and Sakic to ink O'Reilly to a jumbo-sized contract. Nathan MacKinnon will be a restricted free agent next July, however, the Avs will make it a priority to get the wunderkind locked up to an 8 year, $64 million deal now.
Sabres GM Tim Murray understands the financial constraints of all of his 29 competitors. He covets players aged 22-24 who have NHL experience who are looking to make more money and play bigger roles. Murray has cap space. He has leadership roles available and has the currency to make smart trades for key cogs like O'Reilly.
I can confidently say that Murray is interested in trading the second of his 2015 first round picks along with Mikhail Grigorenko and Nikita Zadorov to Colorado for Ryan O'Reilly.
Ted Nolan would be wise to skate Zadorov tonight and not bench him like he hinted that he might do to the young Russian when he spoke with media on Friday.
The Avs need a tower of power on D. Zadorov will be a great player for years to come. They also need depth at center, especially if they trade O'Reilly to Buffalo. Patrick Roy is the only North American head coach that has been able to get maximum production and output from Grigorenko. I feel like a change will do Grigo and Zadorov a lot of good. I'd include Cody Hodgson in the deal as well.
Murray will have to trade high quality players and a first rounder to acquire O'Reilly.
The Avs won't be making the playoffs this season. Nor will the Sabres.
Trading O'Reilly makes perfect sense for both teams.
Buffalo's center depth would be upgraded dramatically with ROR in their lineup:
L1: MacDavid or Eichel
L2: Girgensons with Ennis on his wing
L3: O'Reilly with Reinhart on his wing
Tim Murray moves in mysterious ways. Adding Ryan O'Reilly makes a ton of sense for the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres and Avs had preliminary trade talks regarding O'Reilly before the Tyler Myers-Drew Stafford-Evander Kane-Zach Bogosian trade. Naturally, Myers was the obkect of Colorado's desires. That's ok. Zadorov will be a suitable replacement to Myers in a trade and will added more sandpaper and physicality that Myers would have.
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Stick tap Derek Roy and the Edmonton Oilers who are now mathematically eliminated from the McEichel Race.
The Oilers blasted the Dallas Stars 4-0 on Friday night to move 9 points behind the Sabres in the McEichel standings.
The 28th place Oilers are now in the #3 draft position. Only three points separate themselves from the 29th place Arizona Coyotes and 27th Toronto Maple Leafs.
They need to stop winning if they want to draft D help in the form of Noah Hanifin, who will give them credibility in that department. Otherwise, the Leafs might pass them and overtake 28th place so that they can select Hanifin or Erie Otters center Dylan Strome or London Knights sniper Mitch Marner..
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