In my opinion, Dustin Byfuglien has earned himself a hearing with the NHL Player Safety Department for this gratuitous head shot that he leveled on Buffalo Sabres winger Samson Reinhart.
Byfuglien was not penalized for the head shot that occurred moments after Reinhart scored the game's first goal in the opening moments of the first period of Sunday afternoon's game.
That's a blatant Rule 48 violation, folks. Byfuglien could have easily lowered his shoulder and checked Reinhart off the puck. Instead, he plowed his elbow into the 20 year old's head.
The principle point of Byfuglien's contact was Reinhart's head. Byfuglien chicken winged Reinhart as the two men came together.
I am still wrestling with what was worse. The fact that Byfuglien hammered Reinhart in the head or the fact that two officials watched it happen and opted not to call a penalty on the play. Look at the picture and you see the ref and linesman watching #33 smash #23 in white's head.
Typical Byfuglien, right? The guy is now stranger to shenanigans and extracurricular aggression on opponents.
The return of Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian to Winnipeg for the first time since last February's enormous trade helped to fuel the pregame emotions among both teams and the Winnipeg fan base.
Reinhart was shaken up on the play and took sevearl moments to get up on hi sskates. It's understandable. Th ekid got hi sbrain scrambled by a 6'5" 265 lb. defensive end with loose elbows.
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Byfuglien and the Jets really miss Evander Kane.
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Robin Lehner and the Rochester Amerks will host Jonathon Drouin and the Syracuse Crunch later tonight.
Drouin scored two beauties and put on a show for the 15+ NHL scouts who were in attendance to watch him play. He was held pointless in his second game on Saturday night.
Now that Ryan Johansen has been traded from Columbus to Nashville, Drouin is the next scoring forward up in the NHL trade rumor mill.
Last Saturday, Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman demoted Drouin to AHL Syracuse. The following day, Drouin's agent went public with the trade request that he had made on behalf of his client in November.
Drouin was the third overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft.
Make no mistake. Drouin's days are done in Tampa. He's moved in mentally. He will never achieve the trust of Bolts head coach Jon Cooper. Its a wise move for the kid to cut his losses and move on.
Tampa played in Vancouver on Hockey Night In Canada. Yzerman laid out his plan for Drouin in a CBC interview.
"We drafted Jonathan Drouin third overall for a reason — because we believe he's going to be a very good hockey player. And I still believe he's going to be a very good hockey player in this league," Yzerman said. "So it's important for our organization that if we make a trade, we get equal value. But Jonathan has been told that he won't be traded to make him happy but because it's a good trade for the Tampa Bay Lightning."
Equal value. Makes sense.
The list of teams interested in acquiring the former Halifax Mooeheads sniper is growing by the day.
Buffalo, St. Louis, Colorado, Anaheim and Montreal are among the teams who have expressed an interest in adding Drouin's offensive panache their rosters.
All week long, my Twitter followers (@SabresBuzz) have been asking me what I think the compensation for Drouin will be.
In his most excellent "Saturday Headlines" segment on HNIC, my friend in hockey Elliotte Friedman laid out the template for acquiring Drouin.
The Lightning want “young for young.”
Friedman said that the Lightning want a young player whose contract they can control.
In other words, if you are serious about winning a trade for Drouin, don't try to dump one of you fat, heavy contracts on Yzerman.
Yzerman has only $2.1 million in available salary cap space this season. Stevie Y is not interested in absorbing a huge contract or two in exchange for Drouin.
According to Friedman, the Bolts want their compensation to come in the form of great young talent, preferably still on their entry level contract.
In effect, subtracting Drouin's skill set, upside and salary cap hit and replacing him with a similar player of equal or greater stature.
Take a top forward or D prospect, add in a premium draft choice or two and you can have Drouin.
An example of the type of player that Yzerman covets is St. Louis Blues future star center Robby Fabbri, 19, who is in year one of his entry level deal. Fabbri was the 21st overall pick in the 2014 NHL draft. Fabbri is a neat and tidy $894,166 salary cap hit.
Would Yzerman love to add St. Louis right D Kevin Shattenkirk, however the $4.25 million salary cap hit is prohibitive.
Yzerman is returning water bottles and beer can trying to scrape together the necessary scratch to re-sign his captain and franchise player Steven Stamkos to a long term, max-out deal in the $10 million per season range.
Drouin is a winger who is playing center in Syracuse, so Yzerman want to take a slick, skilled winger/center back in any trade. There is also chatter that Yzerman is really impressed with Blue rookie right D-man Colton Parayko who is in year two of his entry level contract.
The Blues aren't going to trade the 22 year old Parayko away for Drouin. Blue GM Doug Armstrong would rather part with Fabbri than Parayko. Once injured winger Jaden Schwartz returns to the lineup, Fabbri will be sent back to the AHL.
I'm told that Yzerman really respects and admires the player that Samson Reinhart is. Tim Murray will not be trading away Reinhart, nor Jack Eichel for any reason. However, he may be willing to trade power center/winger Zemgus Girgensons (14th overall 2012), right D Mark Pysyk (23rd overall 2010) or prospect power forward prospect Hudson Fasching (University of Minnesota) in exchange for Drouin.
Colorado would love to get their hands on Drouin because he and Nathan MacKinnon were line mates in The Q with Halifax. The Avs would have to be willing to trade power forward Mikko Rantanen, 19, who was the 10th overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft.
Anaheim would have to trade power forward prospect Nick Ritchie (10th overall 2014) or D-man Brandon Montour (55th overall 2014)
Montreal would have to trade forward Michael McCarron (25th overall in 2013).
The moral of the Drouin story is that if you want to play, you gotta pay.
Evander Kane is treating his return to Winnipeg as a business trip.
To Kane, it's just another game.
Thanks, Sabres.com
The Buffalo Sabres, losers of six straight games, play the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday afternoon.
Evander Kane and his Sabres are looking forward to earning two points.
Jets fans are looking forward to the return of Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian to The Peg.
In my head, I can hear track suit clad Jets fans and Dustin Byfuglien serenading Evander Kane with a heart felt "Hello"
Hello, it's me
I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet
To go over everything
They say that time's supposed to heal ya
But I ain't done much healing
Hello, can you hear me
I'm in Maitoba dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I've forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet
There's such a difference between us
And a million miles
Hello from the other side
I must have called a thousand times
To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I've tried
To tell you I'm sorry for soaking your track suit
But it don't matter it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore
Hello, how are you
It's so typical of me to talk about myself I'm sorry
I hope that you're well
Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened
It's no secret that the both of us
Are running out of time
So hello from the other side (other side)
I must have called a thousand times (thousand times)
To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Hello from the outside (outside)
At least I can say that I've tried (I've tried)
To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart
But it don't matter it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore
Dan Bylsma threw his forward lines into the blender and concocted some new formations for Sunday's game.
Jamie McGinn joins ROR and Evander Kane on the top line. Samson Reinhart and Jack Eichel will be reunited on the third unit. Matt Moulson will be back in the fourth line dog house,
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