Sabres Reeling Since Covid-19 Hiatus
Plus Top 25 fantasy performers in the past two weeks
Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel is out of the lineup Tuesday with an upper-body injury, which is hardly what a team in the Sabres position needs. They are struggling and missing their starting goaltender and a top-four defenseman. They can hardly afford to lose their franchise No. 1 center.
This may not be a long-term thing with Eichel but it also is not the first game that he has missed this season and if this is the kind of injury that needs significant time to heal, well, who knows what the Sabres will look like when he returns?
That leads to the inevitable question: What can be done with the Buffalo Sabres?
Eichel and Sam Reinhart are understandably frustrated as two core players in their prime. Surely they expected to be further along in the rebuilding process.
The Sabres are 2-10-1 in 13 games since their Covid-19 hiatus and the two wins and OT loss all came against a New Jersey Devils team that also was hit hard by Covid.
Even though the Sabres started the season 4-4-2, they had relatively strong underlying numbers. Statistically, they were likely to get better results. Then they had to sit for a couple of weeks after Covid ran through the team and the season has gone downhill, fast.
Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin hasn’t yet developed as they had hoped. They waited too long to extract any real value from dealing Rasmus Ristolainen. Jake McCabe is out for the year after shredding his knee. Maybe Henri Jokiharju can turn into something.
Jeff Skinner has spent a bunch of time in the press box and the entire season in Ralph Krueger’s doghouse so he can’t be moved and that contract would be an enormous buyout. Maybe Kyle Okposo is headed for a buyout given his role and cost against the cap.
Dylan Cozens, Tage Thompson, Casey Mittelstadt are the younger forwards that they might want to include in the rebuilding process but Thompson and Mittelstadt have been around enough to be considered at least a little disappointing. Cozens is a rookie who has played 18 games for a team that is a complete mess so he can get a little more time for evaluation.
Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, and Brandon Montour are veterans with expiring contracts that need to be moved but Hall has no-move protection so even if the Sabres pull the trigger on a trade it may not bring a lot in return.
This is ultimately to say that the Sabres may have to consider moving the likes of Eichel or Reinhart because this team is years away from being competitive. There isn’t a tweak or two in the offseason that can fix what ails this team. Of course it does not mean dealing Eichel for whatever comes across the desk. It would have to be a deal for prime young players and prospects from another team and that might take some time but it is hard to see what is happening to the Sabres now and even see how they are going to get out of this hole without enduring some more pain and the Sabres have a passionate fanbase that has probably endured enough.
They haven’t played the playoffs since 2011. How do you tell them that it’s going to be three years before that’s a possibility again?
MONDAY GAMES
St. Louis 2 at San Jose 3 (OT)
SJ LW Ryan Donato 2 A
STL C Ryan O’Reilly 2 A (3 G, 9 A in past 9 GP)
Arizona 3 Colorado 2
ARZ LW Clayton Keller 2 A (6 G, 10 A in past 15 GP; 5-game point streak)
ARZ D Oliver Ekman-Larsson 2 A (7 A in past 9 GP)
Ottawa 2 Edmonton 3
EDM C Connor McDavid 2 A (1 G, 4 A in past 2 GP)
OTT D Thomas Chabot 2 A (12 A in past 10 GP)
Vegas 0 Minnesota 2
MIN G Kaapo Kahkonen posted a 25-save shutout. (.924 SV% in 14 GP)
Montreal 1 Vancouver 2 (SO)
VAN G Thatcher Demko stopped 29 of 30 shots for the W. (.916 SV% in 18 starts; .963 SV in past 5 GP)
MTL G Carey Price saved 28 of 29 shots. (.965 SV% in past 3 GP)
Los Angeles 5 Anaheim 6 (OT)
ANA RW Rickard Rakell 2 G, 1 A (5 G, 7 A during a 6-game point streak)
ANA LW Max Comtois 3 A (2 G, 8 A in past 8 GP)
ANA C Adam Henrique 1 G, 1 A (2 G, 3 A in past 3 GP)
ANA D Kevin Shattenkirk 1 G, 1 A (2 G, 3 A in past 5 GP)
LA LW Adrian Kempe 3 G (5 G, 2 A in past 5 GP)
LA C Anze Kopitar 2 A (2 G, 7 A in past 5 GP)
LA D Drew Doughty 2 A (3 G, 11 A in past 13 GP)
ANA LW Rickard Rakell was on the ice for four goals for and one against during 5-on-5 play.
LA D Olli Maatta was on the ice for three goals against and none for.
TOP 25 PLAYERS PAST TWO WEEKS – AVG (MIN. 5 GP)
1. Max Pacioretty, LW, Vegas
4 G, 5 A, 34 SOG in 6 GP
2. Rickard Rakell, LW, Anaheim
5 G, 7 A, 23 SOG in 7 GP
3. Filip Forsberg, LW, Nashville
2 G, 9 A, 25 SOG in 8 GP
4. Ondrej Palat, LW, Tampa Bay
3 G, 3 A, 5 PPP, 23 SOG, 7 GP
5. Victor Hedman, D, Tampa Bay
1 G, 6 A, 4 PPP, 14 SOG in 7 GP
6. Patrick Kane, RW, Chicago
3 G, 9 A, 25 SOG in 7 GP
7. Mikko Rantanen, RW, Colorado
5 G, 7 A, 26 SOG, 6 PPP in 8 GP
8. Alex Pietrangelo, D, Vegas
1 G, 3 A, 10 SOG in 5 GP; also +10
9. Chris Kreider, LW, N.Y. Rangers
8 G, 2 A, 19 SOG in 7 GP
10. Mark Stone, RW, Vegas
2 G, 8 A, +7, 5 SOG in 5 GP
11. Alex DeBrincat, LW, Chicago
5 G, 5 A, 23 SOG in 7 GP
12. Brady Tkachuk, LW, Ottawa
3 G, 2 A, 37 SOG, 33 hits in 8 GP
13. Jake Guentzel, LW, Pittsburgh
2 G, 6 A, 25 SOG in 8 GP
14. Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton
3 G, 5 A, 28 SOG in 7 GP
15. Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay
5-0, .963 SV%, 3 SO
16. Max Comtois, LW, Anaheim
2 G, 6 A, 16 SOG, 11 hits in 7 GP
17. Yanni Gourde, C, Tampa Bay
4 G, 4 A, 15 SOG in 7 GP, +5
18. Aleksander Barkov, C, Florida
1 G, 7 A, 25 SOG in 7 GP
19. Mattias Ekholm, D, Nashville
4 G, 2 A, 21 SOG in 6 GP
20. Jeff Petry, D, Montreal
3 G, 4 A, 18 SOG, 4 PPP in 7 GP
21. Drew Doughty, D, Los Angeles
2 G, 4 A, 11 SOG, 13 hits, 9 blocks in 7 GP
22. Anze Kopitar, C, Los Angeles
2 G, 7 A, 7 PPP in 7 GP
23. Brayden Schenn C, St. Louis
3 G, 4 A, 14 SOG, 15 hits in 7 GP
24. Kris Letang, D, Pittsburgh
3 G, 5 A, 21 SOG in 8 GP
25. William Nylander, RW, Toronto
5 G, 1 A, 25 SOG in 6 GP
Just missed: Bo Horvat, Brendan Gallagher, Zach Sanford, Adam Fox, Sidney Crosby
Digging Deep
Chicago center Carl Soderberg is not the flashiest name and he may not have value for much longer but he does have eight points (3 G, 5 A) in the past eight games and with Dylan Strome out, is getting good reps down the middle of the ice for Chicago. With Kirby Dach returning to practice, it may not be long before Soderberg gets bumped down the depth chart but, as a short-term fix, he works. (5% rostered in Yahoo)
TUESDAY GAME PROBABILITIES
DFS VALUE PLAYS FOR TUESDAY
WPG C Pierre-Luc Dubois $4500 at TOR
WSH C Lars Eller $4000 vs. NJ
BUF LW Taylor Hall $4700 at PHI
WPG LW Paul Stastny $3800 at TOR
NJ D P.K. Subban $4600 at WSH
FLA D Keith Yandle $4400 at CBJ
CHI G Malcolm Subban $7300 at DAL