By Michael Augello
Each week in “Rink Rumblings” we’ll take an in-depth look at the players, games, news and rumors from around the National Hockey League from the past week.
A War of Attrition
Injuries are a fact of life in the NHL and teams that find a way to cope with the loss of key players can become stronger for it.
St. Louis resides near the top of the Central Division in spite of key injuries to Paul Stastny, Patrick Berglund, Jaden Schwartz and Kevin Shattenkirk, Montreal continues to win in spite of losing Carey Price to a lower body injury, Buffalo is enjoying some success with rookie netminder Linus Ullmark taking over for the injured Robin Lehner and the New York Islanders are treading water while John Tavares battles with a lengthy bout of the flu.
The loss of Edmonton rookie phenom Connor McDavid however is particularly cruel for a franchise that has only known disappointment in recent years and will likely make the Oilers weaker.
The 18-year-old who was named Rookie of the Month after being one of the league’s top scorers in October (12 points in 13 games) will be out for months after surgery to repair a broken left clavicle was performed on Wednesday.
The loss is a significant blow for the Oilers, who were 5-8-0 and gaining confidence after a slow start. Some of that improvement had to be credited to new coach Todd McLellan and more stability in goal with Cam Talbot, but McDavid’s success with wingers Benoit Pouliot and Nail Yakupov took pressure off of Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and allowed 2014 pick Leon Draisaitl to play the wing instead of up the middle.
Draisaitl will likely move to center (where he had trouble as a rookie), Yakupov will need to find a way to score without his talented center and Hall, Nugent-Hopkins and a returning Jordan Eberle will have to pick up the slack.
Except for the additions of defenseman Andrej Sekera and Cam Talbot, the Oilers are pretty much the same group that finished near the bottom of the NHL standings and won the lottery last season and could revert back to that form without their 2015 top pick.
Defensive Demand
NHL general managers are starting to venture out and explore possibilities for trades as American Thanksgiving approaches.
Anaheim GM Bob Murray was spotted in Toronto at the Maple Leafs – Dallas Stars game on Monday and could be looking to add a scoring boost for a club that has a league-low 17 goals this season, but the area that many GM’s have on their shopping lists is defense.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Buffalo Sabres have been looking for a left-handed shooting defenseman since the NHL Draft.
Buffalo GM Tim Murray added stop gap free-agent veterans Carlo Colaiacovo and Cody Franson and has forced young defenders Jake McCabe and Mark Pysyk into service with Zach Bogosian nowhere close to returning, but the Sabres are likely looking for an acquisition that they can hold onto long term and not a rental.
Clubs such as the Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets are also looking to add to their blueline, but may be aiming more for the rental market will not pick up until the trade deadline approaches.
The only team that may be open to making moves this early on is the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have pending UFA Roman Polak and veteran Dion Phaneuf as possible trade targets.
Polak is a tough, hard-hitting right-hand shooting defenseman whose $2.75 Million salary would fit in well with the limited cap space of many contending teams, but the only way that Toronto moves him now as opposed to next February is if a team in desperate need offers what Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello expects to get closer to the deadline.
Phaneuf is a more difficult situation with five more years remaining on a seven-year, $49 Million contract. The 30-year-old is tied for the club scoring lead with Morgan Rielly and has performed well under new head coach Mike Babcock, but in a more secondary role than in recent years.
This may be because Babcock is trying to transition to Rielly as the future focal point of the Leafs blueline, but reducing Phaneuf’s responsibilities also serves making the veteran more attractive statistically and visually to other teams looking for defensive help.
Another blueliner who has yet to attract attention is Philadelphia’s Luke Schenn, who becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2015-16 season.
The Flyers have little interest in re-signing the 26-year-old defenseman (who has been a disappointment since being acquired for James van Riemsdyk in 2012) with prospects Shayne Gostisbehere, Samuel Morin, Travis Sanheim and Ivan Provorov in the pipeline and his $3.6 Million salary is too pricey for teams interested in a rental.
Written by Michael Augello, who can be found on twitter @MikeInBuffalo
