|
Population Of Pominville Exploding |
|
|
|
|
|
Greetings from press row in Buffalo.
The Sabres host the Ottawa Senators in a Saturday afternoon matinee.
Saturdays are for stacking points. A win this afternoon will vault the Sabres out of eighth place and into a tie for second place in the super competitive Eastern Conference standings.
In true Pominville fashion, the soon to be 36 year old Sabres sniper scored a goal to kickstart his team's third period comeback effort. Trailing 3-0 after 40 minutes of play on the road, Pomiville tipped home a point shot to give his team chance. The Sabres got as close as 3-2 but lost 4-2 on an empty net goal.
Sabres fans will have an opportunity to congraulate Jason Pominville on playing in his 1,000th game on Thursday night in Ottawa. The Sabres will give Pominville a pregame ceremony to commemorate his accomplishment.
Pominville is on a seven-game point streak, during which he has scored 6G,5Aand 17:19 TOI per game. It’s his first seven-game point streak since January 19 to 31, 2017 (2G,6A).
Pominville now has points in 8 straight games for the first time since March 9 to 20, 2014, when he posted eight points in seven games (4G,4A).
Pominville scored his 7th goal of the season to make it 3-0 in the first period. He assisted on Jeff Skinner's goal earlier in the period.
**
All this chatter about the Carolina Hurricanes being interested in Toornto Maple Leafs restricted free agent William Nylander has been on my mind a lot lately. True enough, the Canes have been scouting the Leafs, and vice versa. Leafs GM Kyle Dubas took in a Canes game in Raleigh last week and that created a massive hockey buzz in the Greater Toronto Area.
Scouts I speak with tell me the Leafs are indeed interested in acquiring the sniping forward, who has been patiently siitting at home without a contract since his entry level deal expired on July 1. Nylander is not holding out. He doesn't have a contract. Therefore, he cannot play for the Leafs. He's a restricted free agent, which means that he has many options at hand.
Nylander is asking the Leafs for $8M AAV on a long term deal. The Leafs think that's crazy talk. They want Nylander to sign off on a two-yeara bridge contract at a substantially lower annual average value.
Nylander holds leverage over the Leafs in that their explosive offense has gone silent in the past few games that Auston Matthews has been on the shelf with a serious shoulder injury. Matthews will be out of the lineup for another 4-5 weeks and perhaps longer.
I'm told that there are upwards of ten NHL teams interested in trading for William Nylander. Among those teams looking to add more even strength, power play, primary and secondary are Carolina, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Las Vegas.
The Hurricanes have been frequent flyers to Buffalo home games this season. I see them working. Don Waddell and Rick Dudley continue to scour the NHL in search of more even strength and power play goal scoring. The Canes are dead last on the power play and 31st overall on their penalty kill. Prospect sniper Martin Necas is the best player in the American League right now. Canes management should promote the kid to the Hurricanes to try his hand at kick starting their dormant power play.
The Canes have a few premium left shot and right shot defensemen and prospects to use as currency to acquire a sniping forward. Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce and Haydn Fleury are the defenseman whom are available if the price is right.
Carolina is willing to part with in a trade to acquire a top six scoring forward.
The Canes are averaging 16 more shots on goal than their opponents this season. However, they cannot convert their chances. Canes management want to add more scoring at EV and PP as well as reduce their goals against.
Ironic that the Canes are looking for another scoring forward. They clearly miss Jeff Skinner more than they thought they would, right?
Skinner is red freakin hot right now. Skinner has 14 points in 14 games. He has 12 even strength points and seven goals while averaging 17:31 TOI. Skinner is +11. Skinner scored Buffalo's second goal of the first period today against Craig Anderson.
Hurricanes won't admit it but they made a huge mistake by turning their back on Skinner, who spent the first nine seasons of his NHL career in Raleigh.
The Hurricanes have 14 points in 13 games played this season.
Which forward are the Sabres interested in trading in order to acquire a veteran puck mover to augment their D corps?
Samson Reinhart?
The former second overall pick at the 2014 NHL Draft has started slowly this season, just like he did in his contract year of 2017-18. Reinhart has scored only one goal in his first 13 games played.
Reinhart and Sabres GM Jason Botterill waged a long term contract battle over the summer. In the end, the Sabres won the deal. Reinhart was seeking a long term contract extension with an average annual value in the $5.5M to $6M range on a long term deal. Botterill dug his skate edges in and eventually got Reinhart to settle for a two-year bridge contract with a $3,650,000 AAV.
Botterill and Phil Houlsey expect more from Reinhart. Much more.
The second overall pick in 2014, Reinhart has scored 65 goals and added 75 assists for 140 points in 249 career games during his first three-years in Buffalo. He has scored only 1 goal and 5 assists this season.
In 2017-18, Reinhart achieved career highs in goals scored (25) and points (50).
Reinhart has been a consistent scorer at even strength and on the power play.
Reinhart scored a career 12 power play goals last season and has 29 PPG in his career.
Reinhart has 52 PP points in his career.
Reinhart totaled 37 points (18G,19A) in his final 38 games of the 2017-18 season. Reinhart scored 20 goals in 43 games in calendar year 2018 tying him for 12th-most in the NHL from January 1 until the end of the regular season.
Where was Reinhart for the first 45 games last season?
Where has he been for the first 13 games this season?
Of his six points this season, four have come on the power play.
Botterill did what he felt was in the best interest of the team by committing to Reinhart for two years at a lower annual average value. Botterill and Housley clearly still in "show me" mode with Reinhart.
Is Reinhart still smarting from the humbling end to his contract negotiation?
Botterill has options to fill Reinhart's roster spot should he trade the forward away . Alex Nyander, Victor Olofsson and C.J. Smith are lighting the lamp with regularity down on the farm in Rochester. Tage Thompson is also an option.
The Hurricanes have two scouts here again today, as do the Anaheim Ducks. The Maple Leafs have a scout here as well as the Canadiens, Flyers, Stars, Capitals and Blackhawks.
Reinhart, a power play specialist in the NHL, could pay immediate dividend to the Canes power play which is ranked 31st in the NHL.
Is Botterill looking to make a trade to improve his blue line?
Join the Discussion:
»