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Eichel Can't Spell Buffalo Without "BU" |
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Danny Picard is a genius. The Boston area podcaster (WEEI and ComCast Sportsnet New England) cross examined Jack Eichel like a prosecutor from Law & Order on Monday.
In his own unique brawny, confident Boston style, Picard got Jack Eichel to tip his hockey mitt to give us a wee bit of a glimpse into his final decision making process. Picard didn't ignore the 900 lb. gorilla in the room. He denied it's time and space. Great job, Danny.
Though Jack says he is "still weighing his option" (finger quotes), he is leaning towards turning pro. Eichel has connections in Buffalo and made friends with a few thousand new bros while he was in town for the week long NHL prospects cattle call. Buffalo embraced him with it's patented charms and he obviously took note of the passion level and respect that Sabres fans have for his world class skill set. If Buffalo had paper currency, Jack Eichel's face would already be on it. That's how much this town loves this generational talent!
Last week at the NHL Combine, Eichel cautioned media to pump the brakes and to give him some room as he hasn't even been drafted yet. Oh yeah. Great point there, Jack.
If I'm a betting man, using your money, I'm saying what I have been saying and his BU head coach David Quinn has been saying right along:
Jack Eichel doesn't have anything left to prove in the NCAA nor at BU. The kid is a stone cold killah! He proved at the IIHF Worlds in Prague that he can more than adequately hang with NHLers like Geno Mlkin, Alex Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk.
In my opinion, it's all over but the shouting. Eichel is going to turn pro in a couple of weeks.
What say you, Jack?
Eichel told Picard that he is still weighing his options, however, "its looking a lot like I'll be going to Buffalo"
Eichel said that "Buffalo is a really good fit for me". He loves that it's six and a half hours from his North Chalmsford, Mass. home. He also loves that the Sabres have a large army of solid NHL-ready prospects waiting to play with him in Buffalo.
Eichel said that he will make his decision in the next two weeks from today. The EichDavid Draft is June 26 in Sunrise, Florida.
I shouldn't remind Jack that he will become an instant millionaire in July when he signs his entry level contract worth $3 million, right? To say nothing of a few endorsement deals that will pay him handsomely. Jack and his parents have some talking to do. That is, if it hasn't been done already. I think the kid knows that he is going to be a Buffalo Sabre. He loved his experience at the Buffalo Combine.
Listen how Eichel defends his "I'm the best player in the draft" statement. He is confident in his own abilities and he wanted to tell the NHL that he means it.
Listen to Eichel, his BU teammate Matt Lane and Picard break down his process by pressing play below.
**PS- Matt Lane is Eichel's eyes and ears in Western New York. "Laner" is a Rochester native and he works out with fellow Rochesterians Brian Gionta and Ryan Callahan in the summer. How much do you wanna bet that Tim Murray will be signing Matt Lane as an undrafted free agent to play with the Amerks, like his BU teammate Evan Rodrigues. Just sayin'.
Stick tap, Danny Picard for this great interview. I'm sure he and I will speaking a lot in the days and months to come as Eichelmania envelopes Buffalo, NY and the Niagara Frontier.
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The Buffalo Sabres have announced their 2015 exhibition game schedule.
The Sabres will play seven preaseason games, including three home games at First Niagara Center.
Sabres fans be be getting their first glimpses of Jack Eichel and Evander Kane as well as Samson Reinhart and the cavalcade of Sabres vets and prospects.
Below is the complete 2015 Buffalo Sabres preseason schedule (all times EST):
9/21 - Buffalo at Minnesota - 8 p.m. - Xcel Energy Center
9/23 - Buffalo vs. Ottawa - 7 p.m. - First Niagara Center
9/25 - Buffalo at Toronto - 7:30 p.m. - Air Canada Centre
9/26 - Buffalo at Ottawa - 7 p.m. - Canadian Tire Centre
9/29 - Buffalo vs. Toronto - 7 p.m. - First Niagara Center
10/1 - Buffalo at Minnesota - 8 p.m. - Xcel Energy Center
10/2 - Buffalo vs. Columbus - 7 p.m. - First Niagara Center
**
The Chicago Blackhawks deserve a huge round of appreciation. Like the phoenix, this franchise has risen from the flames. The Wirtz family should be commended for resurrecting the Hawks from NHL laughingstock to NHL dynasty. Yes, dynasty. When an NHL team wins three Stanley Cups and loses two Western Conference Finals in six seasons, it’s a dynastic accomplishment. In this day and age of salary caps and unrestricted free agency, the Chicago Blackhawks have created and perfected the winning formula for success. Over the past seven seasons, the Hawks’ organizational belief system has four key pillars:
1. Retain the core players. Stan Bowman has locked up their core players in Jonathon Toews, Pat Kane, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Marian Hossa, and Patrick Sharp.
2. Infuse young talent via the NHL Draft to augment the core. Nik Hjalmarsson, Brandon Saad, Andrew Shaw, Corey Crawford, Bryan Bickell, Teuvo Teravainen, Marcus Kruger, and Joakim Nordstrom.
3. Don’t overpay to add free agents and traded players to bond and glue the roster together. Brad Richards, Antoine Vermette, Michal Roszival, Kimmo Timonen, Andrew Desjardins, and Dan Carcillo.
4. Have trust in your prospects to step into the lineup assume larger roles when veterans leave the organization.
The Hawks philosophy is to build it up to break it down, to build it up to break it down, to build it back up again.
Rinse, wash, repeat. Rinse, wash, repeat. Rinse, wash, you get the point.
Stan Bowman and his scouts have become experts at identifying their organizational assets by careful and honest internal analysis. They always know what they have in the barn in term of their thoroughbreds. They make smart hockey decisions and player acquisitions to import role players and support structure.
Bowman and his staff deserve all of the respect in the world for showing the rest of the hockey world that doing your homework and making tough player personnel decisions can and will yield the highest dividends that the market will bear.
Bowman and his team will enjoy this Stanley Cup victory for the next 10 days. Then, they will park it when they arrive in Sunrise, Florida to select their future stars at the NHL Draft.
After the lift, comes the letdown.
Literally. Figuratively.
The Chicago Blackhawks know when to hold ‘em. They know when to fold ‘em. They know when to walk away and know when to run.
After they won their first of three Stanley Cups in 2009-10, they subtracted some heavy hitters and still remained competitive.
After that Cup win, the Hawks parted ways with several key players like:
Troy Brouwer
Dustin Byfuglien
Andrew Ladd
Ben Eager
Cam Barker
Jordan Hendry
Adam Burish
Nick Boynton
Antti Niemi
Kristobal Huet
Jack Skille
The team remained competitive. The young kids and prospects earned valuable experience while playing alongside seven future Hockey Hall of Famers in Toews, Kane, Keith, Seabrook, Hossa, Sharp, and Crawford.
It wasn’t personal. It was business. There was only so much salary cap space to be spread around.
Then, in 2012-13 the Hawks rose to the top of the NHL food chain once again. After the Cup parade and team parties, Bowman and his brain trust parted ways with a multitude of money players who were instrumental to the Cup winning success. Among the cap casualties were:
Victor Stalberg
Dave Bolland
Micheal Frolik
Michal Handzus
Jimmy Hayes
Dan Carcillo
Jeremy Morin
Jamal Mayers
Ben Smith
Sheldon Brookbank
Brandon Bollig
Brandon Pirri
Ray Emery
Carter Hutton
Being a cap-strapped GM is not exclusive to Stan Bowman. Dean Lombardi in LA, Don Sweeney in Boston, Doug Armstrong in St. Louis, Glen Sather in NYC and others are feeling similar pain and pressure right now as Bowman is experiencing. Offer sheets are also potential pitfalls for the top dogs, too. Brandon Saad, Tyler Toffoli, Vlad Tarasenko, Derek Stepan, Carl Hagelin, Nazem Kadri and other young pending RFAs are all prime targets foe offer sheets this summer. More on that later.
The failing Canadian dollar and the flat NHL salary cap are two huge impediments to NHL GMs whho want to preserve the integrity of their winning rosters. It's so hard to say goodbye to building block players like Boston had to do last October when D-man Johnny Boychuk was traded to the NY Islanders. Get ready for more of the same kind of cap casualties in the weeks to come.
The teams with the most salary cap space like Buffalo, Edmonton, and Arizona can have first dibs on the players who are being subtracted from their current teams. Don't be surprised if we see stars like Dustin Brown, Justin Williams, David Backes, Alex Steen, T.J. Oshie, Rick Nash, and others traded in the weeks and months to come.
High tide floats all ships. When the Hawks win Cups, they discard valuable players who then go on to play leadership roles on other teams.
Bowman and his management and scouting teams are going to have to perform a delicate surgical procedure on the current Hawks roster in the weeks to come. In years past, the Hawks could seemingly reload and re-shuffle the deck on the fly with favorable results. This time around, it will be a more difficult process to have to say goodbye to several difference makers who have become synonymous with the iconic Blackhawks brand.
As of this morning, the Hawks have just $4.95 million in available salary cap space to work with for next season.
Nick Leddy was traded to NY Islanders last October due to salary cap conundrum. There will be more of the same in the weeks to come. The spankin' new mega-contracts of Towes and Kane will kick in come October 2015. Toews and Kane will become $10.5 million AAV cap hits. That represents $21 million in cap space to be eaten up by just two special players. The NHL salary cap is expected to remain flat in the $70-$71 million range. Bowman has two huge RFA's that need to be re-signed before he can think about re-signing UFAs Johnny Oduya, Brad Richards and Antoine Vermette, Daniel Carcillo, Andrew Desjardins and David Rundblad.
Bowman has said publicly that he will move heaven and hell in order to re-sign RFA Brandon Saad to his next long term deal. Saad should expect to make north of $4.5 million per season for the next 5-6 seasons on his next contract. Marcus Kruger will also be getting a healthy pay bump in the $3.5 million per season range.
Bowman will likely be saying goodbye to Blackhawks legend Patrick Sharp's $5.9 million cap hit (next two seasons), as well as blood-n-guts guy Bryan Bickell's $4 million cap hit (next two seasons). The Hawks will have to say goodbye to the rock solid Oduya who will command $5 million per season on the UFA market. These three players have added a ton of value to the Chicago Cup dynasty the past few seasons. The cold, hard reality is that Bowman cannot afford to keep them in his employ anymore. Each will no doubt find new opportunities to be leaders on other teams. Bowman traded away his EichDavid Draft first round pick to Arizona in exchange for Vermette, who certainly was well worth that high price. Bowman is looking for another first round pick so that he can invest in his aging D corps. Thge Hawks are set from a top nine forwards standoint, however, they need more bite and jam on the back end. In the days to come, Bowman will be trying to trade Sharp, Bickell, Oduya and others in order to get his hands on more prized assets in the form of first round and second round picks.
Bowman has been setting the table for the mass exodus of veteran performers from Chicago by loading up on young, skilled players like Teravainen, KHL phenom Artemi Panarin, and NCAA star Kyle Baun. Ryan Hartman is a forward prospect who will have an opportunity add immediate value to the Hawks roster next season.
There aren't many NHL GM';s who are feeling blue for the Chicago Blackhawks today. The way that the NHL GMs see it, Chicago's Cup win will serve to expedite the turning over of their roster.
Bown=man's losses will be the gains of other GMs. Don't rule out an offer sheet on Brandon Saad either. He is a star in the NHL already and he is only going to continue to blow up for years to come. If a team like Buffalo or Arizona offer sheet Saad at $6+ million per season, Bowman will have to match it. Or, will he?
After the lift comes the letdown.
***
General managers, start your engines!
Ryan O'Reilly trade chatter just won't go away. In fact, Bob McKenzie told TSN 1040 in Vancouver that he thinks that the Avs will trade
On Tuesday, Bob McKenzie was on Vancouver’s TSN 1040 on Tuesday morning.
“I think the Avs are starting to take some talk on him, but again, I think it’s more to gauge the marketplace than a firm commitment that they’re absolutely trading him. I think it’s more likely O’Reilly will be traded at some point here than – yeah, more likely than not likely he’ll be traded. But at the same time, it will depend on what the deal is and the financial negotiations that go on with any contract.
“So like I said – if I were a betting man, I’d say Ryan O’Reilly is more likely to be traded, but it’s not a 100 percent slam dunk that it will happen before the draft or at all.
“So we’ll see where it goes from here.”
O'Reilly is entering the final year of his two year, $12 million contract. He earned $5.8 million last season and will pocket $6.2 million this season. Given their druthers, Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy would rather keep ROR and sign him to a long term contract. However, the supremely talented, two-way power center will not be satisfied to sign a contract for less than $6 million per season on a long term deal.
Trading O'Reilly now would pay Sakic and Roy with a windfall of premium assets like a 2015 first round draft choice, a top six forward and a D prospect.
I don't have rock solid proof of this yet, however, the Avalanche management team have to be willing to allow interested teams to speak with O'Reilly's agents at Newport Sports right now to gauge for themselves whether or not O'Reilly will be willing to sign a long term contract with their team. Why else would a GM in his good mind green light a trade for a guy who will play only one season then test the unrestricted free agent market in July 2016?
I've been saying it for two seasons and will continue to do so:
Tim Murray and the Buffalo Sabres will be front and center in all ROR trade talks. The kid plays Murray'a style to a tee. He is young, skilled and plays hard and fast.
The Avalanche are already owners of the 9th overall pick in the draft. They will likely select a D-man at that spot. Tim Murray could package his 21st overall pick in the EichDavid Draft along with former 12th overall pick Grigorenko, top four D monster Nikita Zadorov, and a second rounder in 2016 in exchange for the 200 foot terror in O'Reilly. The Avs could then parlay the 21st overall pick in a top tier, highly-respected D-man prospect like Jeremy Roy from Sherbrooke, Thomas Chabot from St. John, Jakub Zboril from St. John, Travis Dermott of the Erie Otters, Nicolas Meloche from Baie-Comeau or Niagara Ice Dog Vince Dunn.
The economic reality does not favor a long term, high dollar extension for O'Reilly in Denver.
Nathan MacKinnon is nearing the end of his entry level. I fully expect the Avs to re-sign MacKinnon to a max-out deal worth $64 million (8 years, $8 million AAV per season). O'Reilly signed a two-year, $12 million contract two years ago and will be seeking a long term contract in the 7-8 year range with an annual salary in the $6.2 to $6.5 million range. That type of contract will be too rich for Colorado's blood. Matt Duchene is a $6 million cap hit for the next three season; Gabriel Landeskog is a $4.5 million cap hit for the next 4 seasons; Jarome Iginla is a $5.5 million cap hit for one more season. MacKinnon will earn $925K this season, however, will eat up a ton of cap space when he sky rockets to an $8 million cap hit next season. Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic could fill a need at center by trading for Grigorenko. They can get some cap relief by signing him to a two-year bridge deal in the $4 million range.
O'Reilly 17 goals and added 38 assists in 82 games during the 2014-15 season. The Avs failed to make the playoffs due to poor defensive zone play and a lack of consistent goal scoring among it's talented forward group.
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