You spent the whole season afraid of the Edmonton Oilers. You forgot that the original architect of our tank job is now part of another one out West. You barely noticed when you heard Mikkel Boedker was lost for the season. You might remember hearing the same about Martin Hanzal. And then, just before the deadline, with the trades of goalie Devan Dubnyk, center Antoine Vermette and defenseman Keith Yandle, you saw the real threat for the first time.
The Arizona Coyotes’ blatant tanking combined with a 9-game losing streak (which I discussed in my weekly Tank Watch piece yesterday) left the Sabres no choice but to respond. And respond they did.
Deadline day saw the Sabres trade away Michal Neuvirth, Chris Stewart, Torrey Mitchell, and Brian Flynn. By far, the most significant move is sending Neuvirth to the Islanders for a third-round pick in 2016 and significantly-worse goalie Chad Johnson (your Ochocinco joke isn’t funny, sorry). It’s like a remix of the Enroth-for-Lindback trade.
The deal is significant because stellar goaltending has been a thorn in Buffalo’s side since the beginning of the rebuild, from Miller to Enroth to Neuvirth. Neuvy had a .940 save percentage since taking the Sabres’ starting job. Now Nolan has to choose between Johnson’s .889 and Lindback’s .875. That’s not taking a step down, it’s jumping off a cliff.
I can only imagine how Ted Nolan feels about all of this. None of these trades brought back a player he’s going to be able to use to improve his team. Stewart netted a future 2nd round pick from Minnesota, Flynn got a 5th from Montreal, and Mitchell went for former undrafted free agent Jack Nevins (who may well never make it to the NHL) and a 7th rounder, also to Montreal. According to GMTM’s remarks at yesterday’s press conference, the Sabres will use AHL call-ups to fill the holes in their roster rather than turn to waivers, so Nolan won’t get much to work with besides possibly a few overmatched 20-somethings eager to prove themselves.
If you want to finish last, you have to be very pleased with yesterday’s moves. Arizona’s selling – which continued on deadline day, sending defensemen Zbynek Michalek to St. Louis for a prospect – has now been thoroughly matched. Even the Coyotes don’t have a goaltending duo this bad. I wouldn’t say 30th place is in the bag, but the Sabres reaffirmed their frontrunner status, to say the least.
To me, that’s enough for Buffalo’s deadline moves to earn a positive grade. There are always fans who think the team didn’t get enough for a player, but when you’re dealing impending free agents and everybody knows it, the market sets the price. You can’t let guys walk for nothing because you were too proud to accept a mid-round pick. So you listen to the offers and choose the best one.
The Sabres were smart enough to get what they could for their UFAs rather than watching them leave for nothing in the summer, and to know that they couldn’t afford to let goaltending get in the way of landing McDavid or Eichel. It’s another sign our team is in good hands. The rest is up to the hockey gods.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
