COVID outbreaks continue to impact the NHL schedule as this week has seen a number of teams impacted by positive tests and game postponements. We discuss how these most recent outbreaks are affecting the NHL schedule and what influence it may have on the league’s ability to send players to the Olympics. Also on the docket is the impressive play of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and how he may be influencing Buffalo’s choices in net. Lastly, we touch on the World Junior Championships rosters, the Sabres prospects expected to participate and who we predict to take home gold in this year’s tournament.
Buffalo Sabres
The Instigator Podcast 10.14 – Can the Sabres Solve their Goalie Woes?
Malcolm Subban has been acquired, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been recalled and there’s still no end in sight for Buffalo’s issues in net. We discuss what options are left to the Sabres as they navigate an injury crisis to their goaltenders and how it could affect the remainder of the season. Along the way we touch on the latest round of firings as Jim Benning and Travis Green are out in Vancouver and Alain Vigneault has been fired by the Flyers.
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Sabres Fill Need with Subban Acquisition
Help is on the way to the Sabres goal crease. The Sabres acquired Malcolm Subban from the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, addressing a glaring weak spot in the wake of Craig Anderson’s absence.
Even without the vagueness surrounding Anderson’s recovery, it was becoming apparent that the Sabres needed reinforcement in net. Dustin Tokarski has started to battle some inconsistency as the bell cow and Aaron Dell simply hasn’t played anywhere near an NHL level since being recalled.
It’s been Dell’s play in particular which has highlighted the need for some sort of upgrade in net. He’s made five total appearances and has posted a ghastly 4.56 GAA and .862 SV%. Those numbers are actually being boosted by the two relief appearances he’s made, where he turned aside 24 of 25 shots across roughly 60 total minutes of action. In games Dell has started, he’s posted an 0-3-0 record with an .833 SV% and a 6.06 GAA. He’s been sloppy, struggled with angles and has been generally unreliable since the Sabres called him up to replace Anderson.
Continue readingThe Instigator Podcast 10.12 – Bright Spots and Line Changes
The Sabres are slowly returning to health which means reinforcements are hitting the lineup. While Buffalo isn’t back to full health, the return of Victor Olofsson and Henri Jokiharju will help boost the Sabres’ lineup and we talk about what’s on the horizon for further additions from within. The challenge surrounds how the Sabres and Don Granato will shape Buffalo’s lines once more reinforcements come along. Will the additions give the Sabres the help down the lineup or will their forward corps still have holes? We also touch on some of the bright spots that have popped thus far this season, including Tage Thompson, Victor Olofsson and more.
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The Instigator Podcast 10.11 – Can the Sabres put Butts Back in the Seats
The Sabres are off to a rough start at the box office. Ranking last in the NHL in ticket sales by a wide margin. We discuss all of the factors that have led to the Sabres averaging fewer than 8,000 tickets sold per game and debate whether or not they can turn a proverbial corner and push their ticket sales back up above 10,000 or potentially higher. We also touch on the situation playing out with the Omaha Lancers and offer up a brief look at the standings and the teams who have impressed thus far, and those who haven’t.
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The Instigator Podcast 10.10 – Sabres Skid Raising Questions
The Sabres came back down to earth on their West Coast swing and their struggles to keep the puck out of the net are threatening to make the coming weeks an arduous journey. We discuss some of the struggles Rasmus Dahlin has dealt with and the path back to success for the former first round pick. We also offer up an update on Buffalo’s prospect pipeline as a number of prospects are off to great starts this season.
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Looking Forward in the Wake of the Eichel Deal
Kevyn Adams pulled out the final piece of his rebuild in dealing Jack Eichel to Vegas on Thursday. The move the entire hockey world had been waiting on since the spring was finally completed, ending a months-long saga once and for all.
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The Sabres come away with Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, a first round pick and a second in exchange for their wantaway star. It’s a package that on the heels of Thursday’s deal, feels mostly adequate, if not slightly underwhelming. Of course, you’re always going to want more when you’re trading a player of Eichel’ stature. That’s just par for the course.
Overall, I think Adams did well here. If a deal with Vegas was going to be made, Krebs was the piece they needed to get. Add in the first-round pick with fairly minimal protections (pick pushes to 2023 if Vegas is picking in the top 10) and two key futures that were believed to be q requirement for the deal were included. Tuch comes over on a team-friendly deal with plenty of term. At 25 he’s right in the window the Sabres should be looking for as they build out the roster. Maybe an additional mid-level prospect like Lucas Elvenes would have moved the needle a bit more. Or perhaps building a condition on to the 2023 second rounder that would make it a first based on Eichel reaching some basic games played benchmarks beefs this up a bit. But given the circumstances and the leverage each side had; I don’t think Adams deserves too much heat for this deal. At least in the short term.
The real value of this deal will play itself out in the long term for both sides. Particularly the Sabres. At best the first-round pick will be a year from contributing, if not longer. The second rounder will require more than that. Which is fine. The Sabres have wisely stockpiled picks and prospects over the last six months, an effort that has started to replenish a depleted pipeline. Krebs also represents a great deal of long-term value for the club. He’s only seen action in 13 NHL games between last spring and the start of this year. What he has to offer as an NHL player is still an untapped well and given his pedigree as a prospect, should be exciting for Sabres fans to track.
Continue readingUpdated & Reformatted Rick Martin Trade Tree
The deadline deal to ship Brandon Montour to the Florida Panthers and the subsequent selection of Stiven Sardarian in the 2021 draft added another leg to the continually expanding Rick Martin trade tree. Given the scope of the image and the generally confusing nature of the layout I chose to use originally, it seemed like it was time to revisit the format and recreate it in a manner that would be easier for people to digest.
This new format follows a more traditional trade tree layout – something I originally avoided because of how much length it would add to the image. While it did increase the image size by quite a bit, making it easier to decipher the outcome of each trade was more important. This also made it a little easier to separate the Don Edwards trade tree from the Martin tree while combining the two players that link them (Ryan Miller and Steve Ott). You’ll now see the Martin tree is indicated by the blue branches while the Edwards tree is represented in gold. The branches which belong to both have blue and gold accents.
As you can see, there are still a handful of branches that can keep this thing going for a few more years as Sardarian, Rasmus Asplund, Aaron Huglen, Colin Miller and Ukko Pekka Luukkonen should all project out additional growth in one way or another.
The Instigator Podcast 10.9 – Jack Eichel Traded to the Vegas Golden Knights
We went into emergency pod mode to offer up our reaction to the trade that sent Jack Eichel and a 2023 3rd round pick to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, a 2022 1st round pick and a 2023 2nd round pick. We offer up our thoughts on the quality of the return the Sabres got and what sort of players you can expect to see in Krebs and Tuch.
The Instigator Podcast 10.8 – Movement on the Eichel Front?
Perhaps the most significant update in the Jack Eichel saga dropped on Wednesday as Kevin Weekes reported an apparent trade package offered by the Calgary Flames for the Sabres former captain. We touch on some of the context surrounding the Weekes tweet, and the likelihood that Matthew Tkachuk would be involved in a deal for Eichel. We also discuss how things could be framed from the Vegas perspective, as the Golden Knights are believed to be the other front runner for Eichel along with Calgary.
But we start the show with further discussion of the Blackhawks case and the newest developments in the wake of Gary Bettman’s press conference on Monday afternoon.
Two in the Box 