As most of you know, the Buffalo Sabres signed Cody McCormick to a one year (one way!) deal, basically to replace Adam Mair as 4th line center. He came up from Portland in the playoffs to inject some energy, and indeed he did, getting 2 assists and 14 PIM. He had 168 PIM with the Pirates. Hopefully he can bring that as an every day player.
Happy 4th everybody!
Meet your new defenseman, Jordan Leopold. He is a 29 year old former 2nd round draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks. You may know him best as being on the Calgary team that went to the Cup finals the year before the lockout, which was his best year for point production (33). He bounced around a bit after that, going to Colorado for parts of three seasons, going back to Calgary, then splitting last year between Florida and Pittsburgh. He had a solid season last year, with a career high in goals (11) between the two teams.
As pointed out by Mike Harrington over at the Buffalo News, Leopold’s playoff numbers are not awe-inspiring – 15 points, all of them assists, in 54 games, with 10 of those during that 03-04 flames run (26 games). He got squeezed a bit in ice time, averaging 4 min less per game with Pittsburgh for instance this year. He led the Flames in ice time in the playoffs last year, however, so that’s no excuse. He is more of puck-mover than a big hitter, though he is big enough that it should be part of his game, so that’s a knock against him. Still, he can play a lot of minutes and is young enough that he could get slightly better.
I know a lot of you are thinking 3 years, $3 million per is a bit high, but it doesn’t really bother me. Yes, it’s the same deal that Lydman signed, but Leopold is 3 years younger, and they should be prime years. If Jordan can notch 8-10 goals, nailing down the second pairing and second PP unit, $3 million is just right. A solid, Darcy Regier-type pick. I hope it works out. Hit the jump for a few videos of Leopold: (more…)
The draft was basically a dud as far as trades went, the Sabres made an early exit from the playoffs…are we set up for more disappointment today? We’ve gone over (and over and over) how Buffalo hasn’t been making splashy moves, likes their ‘core’, whatever, but we fans look forward to this day anyway. We love the idea of new players, or moreso current players being gone it seems like. Will the Sabres be participating? The rumor-mongers like to say we’re ‘in’ on all of the big names (other than Kovalchuk), but do we believe that? Only when we see it. That’s the Buffalo way.
I said I would try and start some rumors, so here you guy – if the Sabres can’t or won’t be able to afford Bobby Ryan, let’s go after Mason Raymond. He’s been steadily progressing and improving, notching 25 goals last year as a left wing, though his scouting report shows he can play either wing. Raymond was qualified at $708,000, but will command more than that. The rub is he is arbritration eligible. The way I’m reading things, his rights could be traded now, but if he opts for and accepts the offer from arbitration, he can’t be traded.
As for his play, I try to watch the late game on HNIC whenever it’s the Canucks or Flames as both teams have players I like. I thought Raymond was a very solid player for Vancouver, and would look good opposite Vanek, especially since he’s a good playmaker as well as scorer.
While I doubt anything happens to bring Raymond here (or anywhere other than Vancouver) it’s not impossible, as the Canucks are up against it a bit. They have just under $10 million in cap space, 8 forwards under contract not counting several they need to make RFA decisions about (Tanner Glass, Jannik Hansen for example). Just something I’m throwing out there.
What’s the hard truth? The power play most likely won’t be fixed in free agency. At best, this team gets lucky with a signing or trade, strikes on a castoff from another team that maybe will blossom here (sort of like bringing in Briere) and help. But that’s difficult in the best of times. I hate to come off too much like Lindy Ruff, but it’s the system that will bring success. The problem is, the power play system has sucked for a few years, possibly due to the loss of Scott Arniel as assistant coach. I’m not sure how much better it can get this year, without more of a coaching focus on it.
So does that mean GMDR should close up shop? Nah. If there’s a good value, even if it’s trading our Stafford for what amounts to their Stafford (or signing someone like Patrick O’Sullivan), do it. For the Sabres advance past the first round of the playoffs next year, it’s going to take team play, chemistry and good coaching. We know they have the last thing (even with some of Lindy’s quirks), which helps with the first, but that middle item is key.
Hawerchuk over at Behind the Net took a look at untouchable players, something I’ve thought about previously in regards to the Sabres. He posits that there are no truly untouchable players in a salary cap league, but there are a few that might as well be based on the cost it would take to get them. I like the way he puts it here for Drew Doughty:
if the Atlanta Thrashers or the Edmonton Oilers offered you all of their draft picks for the next three seasons, Doughty still might be more valuable. In fact, short of another team taking all of your bad contracts off your hands and giving you all of their draft picks, there may not be a set of assets in the entire NHL valuable enough to move a 20-year-old superstar.
As far as that goes, I suppose that really only leaves Tyler Myers as ‘untouchable’. Miller is theoretically attainable, because he’s only slightly outperforming his contract (considering he’s one of the highest paid goalies). Although, as I pointed out, there’s no way he’s moved. His intagible effect on the team, the confidence they have, the fact that he’s the face of the franchise, he’s a Sabre for as long as they can manage.
Note: To keep things moving during the off-season, I’m starting a series of posts looking ahead to next season, trying to determine just what we can expect to get out of certain players.
Let’s start at the top, shall we? Thomas Vanek had what is a down year by his standards, scoring 28G + 25A to equal 53 points. That’s still 1st on the team in goals and 4th in points. He missed 11 regular season games, with various injuries (‘lower body injury’, sometimes ‘abdominal strain’). I don’t consider Vanek injury prone yet, as the jaw injury was a freak accident that would knock anybody for a loop.
Vanek might just be the toughest to figure out for next season. He’s just entering his prime, so in a vacuum I’d have no problem pencilling him in for 35 goals, 40 assists (with a stretch goal all the way up at 45+ goals). HOWEVER, the problem I have with doing that has nothing to do with Atlas, and everything to do with his teammates. Vanek suffered from lackluster play from his centers and opposite wingers, and he more than anyone relies on other players getting shots on net that he can tip or scoop up on the rebound. I hate to bang on the ‘Darcy do something!’ drum too much, but a change on the top 6 might be just what the doctor ordered for our one true goal-scoring threat.
So where does that leave Thomas Vanek? Right now I can’t imagine him having more than 30-35 goals with the current ‘core’. It’s possible he’ll rediscover his chemistry with Roy or Connolly if they are still around, but I am not counting on it.
The Sabres 2010 draft class is complete, which if you need to refer to it, can be found here. Speaking as someone who is just reading up on these guys now, after the fact, I like it. It sounded like the Sabres missed out on who they really wanted at 23 (Riley Sheahan who went to the Wings at 21), but got a very solid defensive D-man in Mark Pysyk. The rest of the class shows the Sabres’ plan – get bigger (as noted below), and go North American.
The other (more exciting) side of the coin is trades, of which there were few. The ‘core’ is still here, it’s true, but there’s still plenty of time to make changes. Trades and free agent signings can still happen, so judgement is reserved on that front.
By the way, if you played along with my previous post, here are your answers:
Rather than try and and do a mock draft or analyze the prospects available at the spots where Buffalo picks (though the Tinordi kid would look nice next to Myers!), let’s have some fun. I’m going to list some over/unders, reply to this post with what you think makes sense for them.
If you have any other suggestions for things to keep track of, let me know.
The title says it all, congratulations to Ryan Miller for winning his first Vezina trophy, along with the NHL Foundation award for his charity work. Both well-deserved honors, and I’m very happy for him. I’m also happy that some of the out-of-town media got to hear him give a speech, as he got a lot of praise for being thoughtful and articulate. It’s cool that we get to hear him all the time.
Tyler Myers took home some hardware of his own, taking the Calder trophy in a landslide. He had 94 first place votes, and the next closest was Jimmy Howard with 24. I’ve been banging the Tyler Myers for Calder drum since he made the team, so it’s pretty satisfying to see him up there towering over everyone with the trophy. Sweet.
One thing that’s always interesting is to check the voting numbers for the various awards, which you can see here. Of note:
All in all, an impressive showing for our boys, and you can’t help but feel the future is bright for this team. Here’s hoping for more Calder candidates, and oh yeah, a Stanley Cup in there somewhere would work.