2014 NHL Offseason Awards

You know, it’s been over a month since anyone in the big-4 sports scene has won a trophy or an award of any kind (congrats to Germany, but I’m still not counting you for this purpose). For the last hardware, we have to go back to June 24th at the NHL Awards, where the big winner was Sidney Crosby, he of the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Art Ross Trophy, the Lester B. Pearson Award and somehow the FIFA Golden Ball.

Anyway, it’s been a while, and it’ll still be a while until the World Series trophy is dolled out. That’s over 4 months without anyone winning anything. WHAT IS THIS MADNESS? ISN’T SPORTS ABOUT WINNING THINGS?

Hey there, calm down (he said, rhetorically). I’m here to satisfy your craving for things being won. Welcome to the 2014 NHL Offseason Awards, where I arbitrarily hand out useless, made up and often silly awards to people who couldn’t care less about the fact that they have been recognized in such a manner.

The “Take Your Agent To Dinner” Award (given to the player who most benefited from his agent’s diligent work in making him overpaid) : Dave Bolland 

So David Clarkson signed a godawful contract last summer that’ll pay him $5.25 million dollars per year for another 6 years. Meanwhile, the Panthers are paying Dave Bolland $5.5 million per year for the next 5 years. Dave Bolland is a career third-liner who has never scored more than 19 goals or 28 points in a season; Clarkson scored 30 in a (contract) year. And again, his contract was terrible. Bolland’s is even worse.

Never has one goal been worth so much money.

The “Drunk Guy At A Bar” Award (given to the team who seems to have spent money without thinking things through) : Calgary Flames

Jonas Hiller’s contract wasn’t good (2 years, $4.5 million per), especially when you consider that Ondrej Pavelec (.904) is the only goaltender with a worse save percentage in the past 3 seasons (for goalies with at least 140 GP) than Hiller’s .911 – and that number by itself screams disaster in more ways than one. The Flames also overpaid Mason Raymond, at $9.5 million total over 3 years. Raymond isn’t a bad player, but after numerous injury woes, he still couldn’t crack the 20-goal mark last year despite playing all 82 games.

But the worse move of all was signing Deryk Engelland, yes, Deryk Engelland, to a 3 year, $2.9 million per contract. That’s right, $2.9 million PER YEAR. He’s a fringe NHLer at best, a bordeline 7th defenceman, and somehow he’ll be making more money next year then actual NHL-caliber blueliners like Jared Spurgeon, Nick Leddy and Karl Alzner.

Brian Burke might not have beer goggles, but he certainly has truculence goggles.

The “Big Corsi” Award (given to the team who has demonstrated an extraordinary effort in pursuing advanced metrics darlings) : Edmonton Oilers

The contracts aren’t outstanding, but in getting Mark Fayne and Derrick Pouliot (at $3.5 mil and $4 mil per respectively), the Oilers are clearly embracing the advanced possession stats. Both players were among their team leaders in Corsi-for % (the relative index of shot attempts for versus shot attempts against while on the ice). Fayne has been a solid defender for a few years now in New Jersey, while Pouliot was a key member of the Rangers’ Cup Final run, playing on what turned out to be New York’s best line against the Kings (alongside Derrick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello).

Quick, someone translate “puck possession” in Russian for Nail Yakupov before he’s traded.

The “Juan Francisco” Award (given to the team who struck out too many times this summer) : Detroit Red Wings

Dan Boyle (Rangers). Matt Niskanen (Capitals). Christian Erhoff (Penguins). Anton Stralman (Lightning). Stéphane Robidas (Maple Leafs). Tom Gilbert (Canadiens).

That’s the (non-exhaustive) list of defenceman that the Red Wings were chasing on July 1st. Besides the names of the players are the teams they chose over Detroit. And what do all those teams have in common? They’re all in the East, just like the Wings are.

In case you’re wondering, Juan Francisco is the active leader in strike outs per at bat for players with at least 1,000 plate appearances (at the time of this writing), at a staggering pace of 34.6%.

Wings fans can take solace, though, in the fact that, in about 8% of his at bats this season, Francisco has hit a home run.

Which must be how they describe the resigning of Dan Cleary, right?

The “If It Ain’t Broke” Award (given to the team.s that sensibly kept a winning formula pretty much intact) :  Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings

This one’s a tie, and it goes to the last two Stanley Cup champions (who are definitely among the favourites going into this year). The Hawks lost double-backup Jason Labarbera to the Ducks (tear) and took a one year, $2 million dollar flyer on Brad Richards. Meanwhile, the Kings were able to resign Marian Gaborik, Matt Green and Jeff Schultz, only losing Willie Mitchell from their Cup winning core. Not exactly a fire sale.

I doubt I’ll be giving these two the award next year, however. In Chicago, the extensions to both Kane and Toews kick in after this season (a jump from $6.3 mil each per year to $10.5 mil), while Brandon Saad and Nick Leddy will both be looking for extensions as RFAs.

And while LA doesn’t see any big extensions kicking in, they have a lot of key guys coming off the books after this season. It starts with 6 RFAs, including the great trio of Tyler Toffoli, Tanner Pearson and Jake Muzzin. Add to that the 5 UFAs that include the likes of 2014 Conn Smythe winner Justin Williams, 2014 Cup-clincher Alec Martinez, and Erin Andrews boy-toy Jarrett Stoll, and there’s a good chance the Kings have a much different look in 2015-2016.

But for at least one more year, the Kings and Hawks appear to be the class of the West. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts.

The “College Freshman” Award (given to the team who did enough to achieve the minimum requirements and nothing more) : Buffalo Sabres

in this case, I’m talking about the minimum requirements of the salary cap. Despite spending nearly $48 million dollars total so far this offseason, the Sabres still have over $10 million dollars of cap space (according to capgeek), and that’s for a 25 man roster. When they get down to 21, they could be anywhere from 13 to 15 million short of the $69 million dollar cap; they’ll definitely be among the league’s lowest spenders (and closer to the $51 million dollar floor than most).

This team is still in the Connor McDavid sweepstakes. If you think Matt Moulson, Andrej Meszaros, Brian Gionta and Josh Gorges have suddenly transformed Sabres from a 21 win team to a playoff team, you should apply for their marketing department, I’m sure they’d be thrilled to have you.

The “Sun Rises In The East” Award (given to the player who endured the most predictable outcome) : Thomas Vanek

If Vanek signing with the Wild took you by surprise, you might be among the few remaining. The writing’s been on the wall for a while now, with numerous outlets speculating he’d find his way to Minny, like this one, this one, or this one. And many more.

If you haven’t heard by now, Vanek played college hockey at the University of Minnesota. His wife is from Minnesota. And his good buddy ol’ pal Jason Pomminville plays in Minnesota. To say it was likely for him to wind up there was an understatement. Luckily (or unluckily?) for the Wild, Vanek struggled in the postseason with the Habs and ended up only costing them $19.5 million over three years, instead of a potential $40 million dollar contract.

The “Transformers” Award (given to the team who has changed the identity of its franchise this summer) : Toronto Maple Leafs

First the Leafs fired their assistant coaches. Then, they hired Brendan Shanahan to be the in charge of all hockey operations (except for the things Dave Nonis does?). Then they fired more assistants, this time asst. GMs, who they replaced with advanced metrics/midichlorian-infused wonderkid Kyle Dubas. Meanwhile, on the roster side of things, they let guys like Dave Bolland and Mason Raymond walk because they were going to be overpaid, and added 6 new faces (well 5 if you don’t count the return of Leo Komarov) without paying more than 3 million for any of them.

So to reiterate, the Leafs brought in people that are embracing the advanced metrics movement, all the while resisting to overpay a washed up veteran? Wow. Times, they are a-changin’.

Although…last I checked, Michael Bay is still the director of Transformers, and Dave Nonis is still GM of the Leafs. (If you’re wondering, Bay’s first installment in the Transformers series came out in 2007, while Nonis joined the Leafs in 2008. Not sure what that means, but I figured you wanted to know).

The more things change…

The “LeBron James” Award (given to the superstar player who is coming home to help end a terrifyingly long championship drought) : Steven Stamkos.

Just kidding.

That one’s for the 2016 edition.

The Buffalo Blow-Up

Usually when a team defeats one of the better NHL clubs in the Western Conference, the initial knee-jerk reaction doesn’t include firing the team’s GM of 15 years and the head coach of only 51 games. However, that is what exactly Buffalo Sabres’ owner Terry Pegula did to Darcy Regier and Ron Rolston. It’s simply the time for a change is the message that Pegula is trying to get across with his decision.

Change is for sure needed as the Buffalo Sabres are 20 games into the season and are posting a 4-15-1 record with only nine points, good enough for dead last in the NHL.

With Regier and Rolston out, Pegula has decided to put his team in the hands of a couple of former NHL players. The (new) role of President of Hockey Operations goes to current Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine and the interim head coach position goes to Ted Nolan.

Pat LaFontaine’s stats as a Sabre : 158G, 227A in 268games

LaFontaine is no stranger to the city of Buffalo; he was a former captain of the club and accumulated 268 total games.  He is NOT regarded as the general manager of the team, however; one of his first tasks as the President will be to pick the right man for the job and then proceed to oversee all the hockey related decisions.

Ted Nolan gets behind another NHL bench as coach. He hasn’t held such a responsibility since the summer of 2008 when he was the bench boss for the cross state Islanders.

Ted Nolan’s NHL coaching record : 147-140 in 327 games

HOW DID THE SABRES GET THIS BAD???

Looking back as far as the 2006-07 season, the Sabres were absolutely stacked. The team itself collected 113 points and had 6 players reach 60 points or more. Buffalo was lead offensively by guys like Chris Drury, Daniel Briere, Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy and Jason Pominville. The back end had Brian Campbell, Teppo Numminen and Jaroslav Spacek. The goalie tandem was fairly reliable with Ryan Miller and Martin Biron. The squad couldn’t get past the Ottawa Senators in the third round of the playoffs, and hasn’t got into the 2^nd round since.

The Sabres were eventually dismantled and players like Drury and Briere were basically sent into free agency in the prime of their careers with absolutely no return.

Others like Campbell, Roy, Pominville and (most recently) Vanek were slowly traded away in exchange for assets that were never equivalent, the likes of which include Tyler Ennis, Adam Pardy, Steve Ott and  Matt Hackett…just to name a few.

Unfortunately for Ryan Miller, he remains in the city with a goalie market that seems to be diminishing by the day.

Either way, the mismanagement of valuable assets and the inability to pull the trigger while these players were at the height of their value are the two largest contributing factors to why this team is where it is today.

Chris Drury and Daniel Briere during the years of the BuffaSlug

CORE PLAYERS

Assessing the team as it stands now, there ARE some really good players that can be great supporting players. However, the Sabres definitely don’t have a bonafide guy that they can build around.

CODY HODGSON – He’s currently the leading scorer of the team at 15 points. I’m pretty confident in saying HE IS their best player not named “Ryan Miller”. At the ripe age of 23 and locked until 2018-19, don’t expect him to go anywhere.

MARCUS FOLIGNO – He has all the potential to be a real gritty guy that everyone hates to play against. Everyone wants a guy like him. If he can continue the development and put more pucks in the twine he can be a Sabre for quite some time. Very Milan Lucic-esque.

ZEMGUS GIRGENSONS – BIG, YOUNG, CENTER…nuff said

MIKHAIL GRIGORENKO – See “Zemgus Girgensons”

TYLER MYERS – He hasn’t really hit his full stride since an absolutely stellar rookie season in 2009-10. At the moment his value has been at an all-time low. Buffalo’s better off starting a rebuild with him being their prize piece on the blue line than watching him flourish elsewhere.

Cody “The Sabretooth” Hodgson

PIECES THAT SHOULD BE MOVED

RYAN MILLER – The market might not be the best right now, but standing pat is even worse (see Luongo-Schneider saga).  Buffalo is all too familiar with watching pending free agents leave for nothing. Getting anything is better than nothing.

MATT MOULSON – Once again, the pending free agent rule applies. Even though he is new to the blue and gold, his colours need to be switched soon.  Only getting a 1^st and 2^nd rounder for Thomas Vanek just looks gross.

STEVE OTT – He may have been given the role of captain recently, but don’t expect that to last long. He was once one of the more prized trading pieces in Dallas and I’m sure he will be again this year with the truculence and experience he embodies at just under $3 million for the rest of the season.

JOHN SCOTT – If they can get an extra bucket of pucks for practice….make the move.

VILLE LEINO – You might as well have thrown $4.5 million into the trash. Only team that will take him will be the Rochester Americans.

YOUTH MOVEMENT

In the past two years at the NHL Draft, the Sabres have snagged 4 first round picks: Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko and Zemgus Girgensons, all of whom are playing right now. So the fact that their cupboards are somewhat stocked is a plus. Not to mention that they have two more picks in the first round going into this summer (NYI 1^st Rounder). I wouldn’t be surprised if they collected another closer to the deadline as well.

SO, WHAT’S THE PLAN?

The conventional “rebuild” entails simply tanking and performing poorly. If Pat LaFontaine were smart he would hire a GM that would have this ideology. Looking at junior players that are coming up in the next couple of drafts, the Sabres should be feeling giddy. Players like Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos and John Tavares have literally turned over the faces of the franchises that they play for. Connor McDavid is an exceptional prospect that has the hype (such as thoses players did) and has the play to back it up. His draft year isn’t for another year, but he has everything needed to turn the city of Buffalo around if he is given the chance.

Connor McDavid – Erie Otters Centre.

The long road for Buffalo Sabres fans is just beginning and the rebuild is in the very early stages. However, if the team now overseen by La-La-La-Lafontaine and Ted Nolan do it right, the Buffalo Sabres have all the tools to build something great and bring them back to the French Connection Days. Hopefully by that time a goal in the crease won’t halt them from getting a sip from the Cup.