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No Dress Rehearsal This Is Our Life |
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Credit where credit is due.
Love their post game celebrations or not, the Carolina Hurricanes are not asking for your permission to have a good time. In Raleigh, North Carolina the Hurricanes have gone 8-2 in their last 10 games. The Canes enter play on Sunday in the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
A similar development is unfolding Philadelphia where the Flyers have saved their season. The Flyers players young and old have done so by banding together under the most desperate of conditions to create 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.
The St. Louis Blues have also pulled out of their early season nose dive and are flying high again.
There you have it. Three NHL clubs that have endured the frsutrations of losing and have all found prospecrity aand success without mashing the panic button.
The Canes, Flyers and Blues have all made wholesale changes to their rosters on the fly and are now playing with the confidence that was so badly lacking six weeks ago. The moves have paid immediate dividends.
On January 17, Waddell made a trade that has in effect saved his team's season.
Victor Rask was traded from the Hurricanes in exchange for forward Nino Niederreiter.
Straight hockey trade of players who had grown stale in their roles. A change of scenery was needed for both players.
Rask, 25, had scored a goal and 5 assists in 26 games with Carolina earlier season. Head coach Rod Brind'Amour needed more scoing out of Rask and just could not extract it from the player. Rask was selected by Carolina in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. The Hurricanes needed more out of him and couldn't get it.
Enter Niederreiter, 26, who had 9 goals and 14 assists in 46 games with Minnesota earlier this season. Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau's patience had reached it's end. He needed more from Nino, who had manufactured 231 points on 112 goals and 119 assists in 498 career NHL games with the New York Islanders and Minnesota.
Waddell and Wild Paul Fenton agreed to the terms.
By solidifying it's secondary scoring, the Hurricanes have become a formidable playoff contending team. That Waddell was able to correct his team's course without having to trade away one of a workhorse defenseman like Justin Faulk, Jaccob Slavin, Dougie Hamilton or Brett Pesce is indeed commendable.
Niederreiter has scored 8G,5A in his 13 games played with the Hurricanes. Meanwhile in Minny, Rask has just one goal and one assist in his 10 games played with the Wild.
The Canes deserve credit for identifyng their areas of need and their solution.
Prior to the Niederreiter trade, the Canes were branded as the laughinstock of the NHL. Last summer, the Hurricanes traded away two dynamic top six forwards in Jeff Skinner and Elias Lindholm.
Both players have blown up offensively this season for their new clubs.
In exchange for Skinner, the Hurricanes acquired prospect forward Cliff Pu, a second-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, and third- and sixth-round picks in the 2020 draf
In his first season with the Buffalo Sabres, Skinner has scored 36 goals and 17 assists for 53 points in 57 games game. Skinner has 28 even strength goals and was selected by fans to represent the Sabres at the 2019 NHL All Star Game in San Jose. Skinner and Sabres captain Jack Eichel have become of one the most feared scoring duos in the NHL.
Carolina traded Lindholm and defenseman Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm, two players who were both taken fifth overall in their respective draft years not too long ago, to Calgary in exchange for defenseman Dougie Hamilton, energy winger Micheal Ferland, and highly touted prospect defenseman Adam Fox.
All Lindholm has done is scorch NHL goaltenders for 25 goals and 41 assists in 58 games played. Lindholm has been an instant star in Calgary skating with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.
Looking back on the Lindholm-Hanifin trade today, both teams are in a better place for having made the deal.
The Flames are a legit Stanley Cup contending team with Lindholm and Hanifin in their leadership group. The Canes are certainly better off for having Hamilton on their PP and in their top four D corps. Ferland, a pendng unrestricted free agent, may well be traded away for assets at the February 25 NHL trade deadline. However, Waddell isn't gettng any action on his first round draft choice ask in exchange for Ferland, who will likely be signed to a long term deal at Tom Wilson's $5.1M AAV on July 1.
Sorry folks. Ferland is a nice player but he ain't worth Tom Wilson money. Hell, Tom Wilson doesn't deserve Tom Wilson money. Crushers who become rushers soon become ushers.
In Philly, goaltending and lack thereof has been a fatal flaw since the Bill Clinton Admisitration. I've said it a million times: The goalies of the Philadelphia Flyers are the drummers from the band Spinal Tap. They tragically spontaneously combust without notice.
However, on December 18, Flyers fans got to see the team’s goalie of the future for the first time.
Carter Hart, 20, was named starter by new head coach Scott Gordon against the Detroit Red Wings. Carter Hart made his Flyers debut in the game and the Flyers saved their season in so doing.
Hart is one of seven goalies to start a game for the Flyers this season, but his minor-league success has given hope to a fanbase that has consistently been let down by goaltending in recent years.
“We have some injuries in goal and we’ve tried every goalie in our organization,” GM Chuck Fletcher said at the time of Hart's call up to the mother ship.
“It’s probably not the ideal time to give Carter a game but Carter’s playing really well and he’s a professional hockey player, he’s a strong kid mentally, and he’ll go in and give his best.”
On the day he took over the Flyers' crease, his team's record was 13-15-4 (30 points) and were ranked 9th in the Eastern Conference standings, just one point out of the basement .
My, how times have changed for the Flyers and their fans.
Like the phoenix, Flyers have risen from the flames.
Gone are the trade rumors surrounding veteran core members Sean Couturier, Wayne Simmonds (pending UFA), and Shayne Gostisbehere.
Like the Hurricanes, the Flyers have morphed from deadline seller to buyer in the matter of two months time.
The Blues can thank goalie Jordan Binnington for saving their season. Prior to this season, the 25 year old Binnington had only ever started one NHl game for the Blues and that was during the 20165-16 season. Binnington was drafted by the Blues in 2011 (3rd round, 87th overall)
In mid-December, Binnington was summoned from the AHL after repeated issues with starter Jake Allen. Since his recall to The Loo, Binnington has created a materful body of work with an 11-1-1 record and 1.69 GAA, .931 SV%.
Talk about heroic efforts. If St. Louis had its own paper currency right now, Bonnington's face would be emblazoned on it.
Like Carter Hart in Philly, Jordan Binnington has been a savior for his NHL team.
In the NHl as in life, you pass the same people moving up the ladder as you do on the way down.
On December 18, the Buffalo Sabres were sitting pretty.
After 35 games played, Phil Housley's upstart Sabres were 20-10-5 with 45 points and a delicious .643 winning percentage. Life was good back then for Eichel, Skinner & Associates. Their team was firmly rooted into an Eastern Conference playoff berth and were looking to stack more points in the standings as the NHL calendar was nearing its proverbial dog days.
Their ten game winning strea took the NHL by storm. Those were the days my friends. Sabres fans thought those days would never end.
At that time, the Sabres were getting excellent primary scoring from Eichel, Skinner, and Reinhart, however, their greatest area of need was secondary scoring. Namely, a second line center who could creatae his own opportunuties while driving production for his line mates. Rookie Casey Mittelstadt has done a decent job in that regard but he is learning the 2C ropes while literraly being on the fly. However, the Sabres are still waiting for help at 2C.
There is no doubt in my mind that Mittestadt is going to be a great second line center behind Jack Eichel for years to come. The kid needs help while he continues to learn how to navigate the physical and emotionally draining aspects of the the NHL lifestyle. Hell, Mittelstadt was playing high school hockey in his native Minnesota two years ago. He's gone from drinking out of a garden hose to having to drink out of a 5,000 psi fire hose. It happens. Young centerman need time to figure out the NHL game. Not every 18 or 19 year old center can step into the NHl and dominate in the was that Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews have in the past few seasons. This season, Mittelstadt has scored 8G, 11A in 55 games. He is better suited to play 3C, not 2C.
Since December 18, the Sabres have struggled mightily and have earned only 18 points in the compressed Eastern standings. Whatever "rainy day fund" of points they had in mid-December is now gone with the Lake Erie wind.
On December 12, after 31games were played, the Sabres earned an impressive 18-9-4 (.645 win %) record and had 40 points in the bank. Since that day, the Sabres are 11-13-3.
Heading into Sunday's NHL slate of games, the Sabres find themselves on the outside looking in. Eichel and Company have been caught from behind by the once lowly Hurricanes and Flyers. Carolina now leads Buffalo by five points in the wild card race while Philly is now on their back bumper, just two points in arears of the once swashbuckling Sabres.
While the Hurricanes and Flyers continue to contemplate their next player trades, Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill continues to take the ultra conservative approach of holding on to his assets until the right deal comes along. Botterill is a shrewd business man and has had a fair amount of success making high impact trades in his career with the Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins, where he won three Stanley Cup championships.
Botterill and his scouts have been eye balling several NHL clubs this season.
The Wild, Kings, Ducks, and Avalanche are teams in pain right now. The Sabres are in similar pain these days. Botterill needs to pull off a seismic, plate-shifting trade to acquire the desperately needs 2C and a right shot D to play a top four role at even strength and augment a power play unit.
The Sabres are not done. They have 25 games left to earn a wild card berth. It won't be easy with Carolina, Philadelphia and other teams playing excellent hockey. Both teams are fallable. Pittsburgh and Montreal are withing arm's reach.
Grab them. Shake them. Choke slam them to the ice.
Jeff Skinner is a pending UFA. His agent contiues to discuss a long term congtract extension with Botterill. Skinner is seeking an 8 year, $64 million contract from the Sabres. Its a worthwhile investment in Buffalo's future. Closing the deal with Skinner will be all the more smooth and successful when the Sabres qualify for a wild card berth. NO. Jason Botterill will not be trading Skinner at the February 25 NHL trade deadline. Slow your roll on that misinformation.
Do the right thing, Jason.
Make a move. Make two moves. Tarde for a veteran 2C and call up sniper Victor Olofsson from AHL Rochester.
The Wild have made it known that they will entertain all offers on their veteran core players including center Charie Coyle. Their D corps is aging. The Matt Dumba and Mikko Koivu injuries have ravaged the Wild.
When the price is right, Kings will part with centers Tyler Toffoli and Adrian Kempe. The Kings are an old, low team who desperately need youth, speed and skill.
The Ducks are dead in the water and will trade veteran center assets Rickard Rakell and Adam Henrique.
The Avalanche, who own Ottawa's lottery pick in June are looking to tear it down to the studs to earn another lottery pick in the Jack Hughes draft. The Avs have centers Alex Kerfoot, Tyson Jost, and J.T. Compher who can be of immediate impact to the Sabres in their 25 game sprint to the wild card finish line.
Jason, what are you waiting for?
Your team needs your help. Throw the kids a bone.
Rookie Rasmus Dahlin is already being mentioned in the same breath as the GOAT Bobby Orr. Dahlin is on his way to a 45-50 point rookie season.
Trade San Jose's 2019 first rounder and veetran LD Nate Beaulieu for a legit, proven 2C for the stretch run.
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