The Buffalo Sabres managed to barely beat the clock last night in overtime as they took down the Detroit Red Wings 3-2. Defenseman Marco Scandella buried a feed from Johan Larsson with 0.2 seconds left in overtime for the win.
(via NHL.com)
It was a great sight to see, one that brought a lot of happiness to a bedraggled team that's been struggling all season.
Although overtime was great with a lot of rushes and scoring chances going both ways, the main event in regulation was a battle between two teams in the lower portion of the Atlantic Division with the Sabres dead last. The Red Wings have been in transition since losing Pavel Datsyuk and head coach Mike Babcock while the Sabres have been transitioning for about seven years now. Both teams have some talent up front, a suspect defense and goaltending that has a tendency to disappear when needed.
The win for Buffalo puts them at 18-32-11 on the season (47 points) while dropping the Red Wings to 24-26-10 (58 pts.) With both teams out of the playoffs and with the NHL trade deadline this coming Monday at 3 pm, the Sabres and the Red Wings both have something to offer teams looking at the playoffs and beyond.
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In Buffalo the big name on the trade front is winger Evander Kane and if you don't know his story by now, here's a brief history.
Kane was a multi-faceted powerforward drafted fourth-overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009 and was with the team when the franchise moved to Winnipeg in May, 2011. He was a beast in 2011-12, his first season in Winnipeg, scoring a career-high 30 goals for the Jets and as luck would have it was also coming off of his entry-level deal. On September 15, 2012 he signed a six-year, $31.5 million deal with the Jets.
His time in Winnipeg after that first season was marred by injuries and rumors of tumult in the dressing room. In the two seasons following his breakout year Kane's numbers took a hit as he scored only 36 goals in 111 games. In 2014-15 his numbers tumbled as he was limited to 37 games scoring 10 goals. Those are the tangibles.
Off the ice there was a number of issues which included the famous "track suit" incident where he was said to have violated the team dress code with teammate Dustin Byfuglien throwing the suit in the shower. Fans in Winnipeg (as well as many throughout the NHL) didn't take kindly his infamous
"money phone" photo during the NHL lockout of it's players in 2012 nor did Jets fans seem to like his choice of
hair engravings. Then again, Jets fans didn't take kindly to him possibly because, according to Kane, he was a black man in a mostly white city. Said Kane of the latter, "I think a good portion of (criticism) is because I'm black and I'm not afraid to say that,"
Kane told The Hockey News' editor in chief Jason Kay for a THN Magazine story on March 4, 2012.
Whatever the reasons, any or all, the Jets wanted to trade Kane and Sabres GM Tim Murray wanted him. On February 11, 2015 Kane was part of an eight-piece blockbuster trade that brought him to Buffalo. A bonus for the tanking Sabres at the time, Kane underwent surgery on his shoulder less than a week prior to the trade and would be out 4-6 months so he would not be a detriment to their overall plan of landing a top-two pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.
Kane's recovery went as planned, Buffalo drafted Jack Eichel that June and both hit the ice for the 2015-16 season. After a slow start the Sabres improved mightily over their previous tank season and headed into the summer with plenty of positives. They even had the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo that year, which as great. Until Kane was involved in an off-ice incident during draft weekend that put a bad light on him and the organization. This was in addition to a sexual misconduct charge in late December, 2015 and missing a team practice after attending the NBA All-Star game in Toronto only two months later (for which he was suspended.)
It was rumored after the draft incident that owners Terry and Kim Pegula wanted him out as he'd done a lot of damage to their brand image. Kane didn't have a spectacular first season in Buffalo as he missed 17 games because of injury, but he still managed 20 goals. His stock was at an all-time low in the summer of 2016 but regardless of that he hit 20 goals in a shortened 65-game season, most would have taken a bag of pucks just to move on from him.
Yet Murray held firm and kept him in the fold.
The 2016-17 season started out like a trainwreck for Kane. In the opener on October 13 he crashed into the boards at full speed and broke his ribs then later in the month a Buffalo City Court judge ruled that his incident at the draft was in "adjournment in contemplation of dismissal." He was basically put on probation with the order saying that if Kane kept his nose clean for six months "the charges, four harassment and one trespassing charge, will be dismissed and sealed," according to WKBW TV in Buffalo.
He would keep his nose clean the rest of the season.
After an 11-game adjustment coming back from the opening game rib injury, Kane went on a tear and scored 28 goals in the remaining 58 games he played in. However, the Sabres regressed and the Pegulas fired Murray and his head coach Dan Bylsma following the 2016-17 season.
Buffalo struggled out of the gate this year with an 0-4-1 mark to start and went 6-15-4 through the first two months of the season. The only bright spot was Kane as he scored 12 goals and 23 points through those first 25 games. He would add three more goals and eight more assists in December bringing his totals to 15 goals and 31 points through 38 games for the 2017 portion of the program. Since then he's scored only five goals in his last 23 games which includes a 14-game goal-drought from January 5-February 8.
With the Sabres in terrible shape and Kane a pending unrestricted free agent, the 6'2" 212 lb. powerfoward began reeling in is game as the calendar turned to 2018 in what looked like a player trying to save himself for a new team. Trade rumors had been swirling for a while, but they were becoming more and more real with each passing week. The was team not even having talks about a contract extension and reportedly there were (are) a number of suitors wanting him as a rental, and when you add it all up, the writing was on the wall in bold letters.
His goal last night was his fourth in his last seven games and got him to 20 goals, the third time he's hit the 20-goal mark in Buffalo. His totals as of right now are 68 goals and 118 points in 196 games for Buffalo.
New GM Jason Botterill had a high asking price for Kane some weeks ago but it's safe to say that that price has come down as supply and demand came into play. Kane was the marquis forward in the trade market prior to the NY Rangers struggles and their willingness to part ways with two other wingers. One of them, Michael Grabner, was traded yesterday to the New Jersey Devils for a 2018 second round pick and d-prospect, Yegor Rykov. Veteran Rick Nash is also on the market and, like Grabner, was pulled from the Rangers' lineup prior to their game last night.
Kane played last night and scored a goal on a powerful wrap-around. He displayed his speed and his on-ice intensity moreso last night than at most any time this calendar year. Some are of the opinion that Kane's goal-slump would hurt the return Buffalo gets and they may be right to a point. Yet scouts have been tracking him for months and know exactly what he brings to the table so it's hard to fully validate that point of view. If they want him, they want him for a reason and supposedly have done the legwork on him.
The best part for teams looking at Kane as a rental this season is that on the ice, he is what he's always has been which is what attracts team to him in the first place. To use the words of Murray after he made the trade for Kane, "He plays hard. He plays in traffic. He doesn't play a perimeter game. He plays a heavy game. He scores goals around the net. He plays the game right." And a bonus for teams weary of his incidents, they're only exposed to that potential for a handful of months. And, be it known, he's done a lot for kids in the Buffalo community.
In looking back at how Kane kept his nose clean when he had to, and in the process he came close to reaching a career high in goals-scored, it wouldn't be that far of a reach to think that he'll do so for his new team. It's also important to remember that he hasn't been on a playoff team his entire career, another incentive to just play the game and keep all outside foolishness at bay.
Then again, you just never know with him.
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