Toews asking price not as high as expected, Lafferty drawing interest and Sabres to be buyers, as well as Injury and Waiver News.

Here is my latest blog post as today I give my opinion on some recent Waiver news and injury updates, and I also discuss a few recent trade rumours involving the asking price for Toews, Lafferty drawing interest, and Buffalo possibly being buyers. 

Jamie Sabau USA Today Sports 

Toews to be had for a 2RD or 3RD pick.

As we know, the Blackhawks are going to be sellers at the deadline and there is a lot of speculation that long time Blackhawks Kane and Toews will be moved by the deadline, but while Kane will probably bring in a pretty good return for Chicago, recent reports say that Toews may wind up bringing in less then expected. So the Blackhawks are sellers and everyone knows that, and the Hawks will be trying to move out as many players as they can, especially guys like Kane, Athanasiou, Domi, McCabe, Toews and Murphy, but it is starting to sound like the Hawks may not get the asking price they would like for Center Jonathan Toews. Now in the last few weeks we have heard Elliotte Friedman say that teams are telling him that the market around Toews at the deadline will probably be a 2ND or 3RD round pick. Now Toews is a longtime member of the Hawks and is in the final year of his contract and with the status of the Blackhawks as sellers right now and the fact that his contract is up after this year I don’t think it is any surprise the Hawks would want to try to trade him. But I don’t think it is too surprising that teams would only want to pay a 2ND or 3RD round pick for Toews given the fact that Toews has a monster cap hit and his production over the past few years hasn’t been great while his longtime teammate in Kane has consistently put up more then a point per game season. Now Toews has a monster $10.5 Million dollar cap hit and even the though it is only for this season and the Hawks will probably retain 50% of his salary to bump the cap hit down to $5.25 Million, it still seems like teams wouldn’t want that contract and I think if the Hawks could have another team retain more salary they could probably get a stronger return, but I still don’t think he is as good as maybe a Horvat or O’Reilly. And secondly, prior to this season Toews hasn’t been a great offensive producer, now 5 and 4 years ago he was producing well putting up 81 points in 82 games in 18-19, and 60 points in 70 games in 19-20, but then missed the entire shortened season due to injury and hasn’t been the same since recovering, only putting up 12 goals and 37 points in 71 games last year and this year he has done much better putting up 14 goals and 28 points in 46 games so far, but while he has done quite well, he is a solid two way Center while winger Kane has put up 4 consecutive point per game seasons and it seems like he would get a 1RD pick. So I am not too surprised to see that the return for Toews would be a 2RD or 3RD round pick, especially depending on how much money is retained, but while I think he is a good player and for a Center needy team like Carolina, Minnesota or Colorado, the Hawks will probably bring in a decent return, but I don’t feel like he has the talent at this point to bring in a 1RD pick like Kane, Meier, Chychrun or like we just saw Horvat, so I think he could maybe get a 2RD pick or a 3RD pick and decent prospect for Chicago, I just think Toews won’t bring a 1RD pick back for Chicago. 

Buffalo could be buyers at the deadline.

The Sabres have surprised a lot of people this year as after they had a really good start again they were surprisingly able to keep pace in the playoff race past the half way point, and with the Sabres only a couple points out of a playoff spot, there are some people out their who think they could wind up being buyers prior to the deadline. Now I think this would probably surprise many people as I don’t think many people (myself included) thought that the Sabres would be in contention for a playoff spot this year, maybe in a year or two but they have had a fantastic season this year, they are getting good goaltending from their 3 headed monster of UPL, Anderson and Comrie, getting good defensive play from Samuelsson, Power and especially Dahlin, and have had good offensive production from their young forwards such as Cozens, Peterka and Quinn and have also had a monster season from Tage Thompson, who is top 5 in the NHL in goals and points and has been a real driving force for Buffalo this year. Now over the past couple seasons the Sabres would get off to a hot 10 to 15 game start and then trail off and be a bottom dweller, and even though they started like that again this year, where they had a good first 10 games but then a bad next 15 (including a 8 game losing streak) but unlike past seasons they bounced back and continued to do well and at the all star break find themselves only 1 point back of a playoff spot and due to this some think they could be buyers. Now I think they could wind up going after a big name, as they have been linked to a few big names as some say that the Sabres have checked in on big names such as Chychrun who would be a amazing top 4 addition for them, or Meier from San Jose who could be a good top 6 forward in Buffalo and they would have the cap space unlike some other teams to sign him to his $10 Million dollar qualifying offer or work out a long term deal, and they would have the assets to possibly go after a big name as I think they could consider moving next years 1RD pick, especially if how they are playing this year is a sign of things to come, and they have 3 2RD picks for this years draft (their own plus the Flyers and Golden Knights) so they could consider moving one, and they are stockpiled with young talent as they 

already have Krebs, Peterka, Cozens, Power and Quinn up in the NHL as well as guys like Thompson, Dahlin, Tuch, UPL and others, and they have a stacked prospect pool, as they have forwards Savoie, Ostlund, Rosen and Kulich as well as Bloom and Nadeau and with all the young talent they already have, I am not sure all of these players will be regulars for Buffalo so maybe the Sabres consider trading one, and we already know that Erik Portillo will probably not sign with Buffalo and may be a trade chip to get him a better path to the NHL, so they definitely could go after a big name but in my opinion I just don’t think so. Now I think that in the offseason or next year when Buffalo is a bit stronger, they may decide to try and get some big fish out of the trade market, but given the fact they are in a tight race for a wildcard spot and could still miss the playoffs, I think they would be more conservative buyers, as I think they will add to show that they are finally coming out of their rebuild and are ready to push for the playoffs, but I think they would go after maybe a 3rd line forward or 3rd pair defensemen and maybe someone younger who could fit in long term, but for me at least, I think they go after a smaller acquisition for know and then if they continue to do well they make their big splash either in the offseason or at some point next year, but the Sabres have officially turned a corner and could now be a team others will have to watch out for in the East. 

Eric Hartline USA Today Sports 

Sam Lafferty drawing interest from other teams. 

With most of the focus on the Blackhawks players being moved surrounding guys like Athanasiou, Domi, Toews and Kane as well as McCabe and Murphy, some of the smaller names have gone under the radar and it seems like bottom six forward Sam Lafferty could be another Blackhawk who is moved prior to the deadline. Now the Hawks are for sure going to be sellers this year and we have heated a lot of big names be mentioned like Toews and Kane and McCabe as well as others, but 1 name that has sort of flied under the radar and could be a stellar depth addition before the deadline would be Sam Lafferty of the Hawks. Now Lafferty has been a good bottom six forward for the past couple of years as he started hit career a few seasons ago with the Penguins and in his first seasons with Pittsburgh he was able to get 6 goals and 19 points in 84 games and then started last season with Pittsburgh but after only having 2 assists in 10 games with Pittsburgh, he was dealt early in the year by Pittsburgh to Chicago to give him a fresh start, and he would finish the season with Chicago and put up 5 goals and 11 points in 46 games last year and impressed the Hawks enough to earn himself a 2 year contract with Chicago and now in the first year of that contract he is having a career year, putting up 8 goals and 17 points in 42 games and on his way to hit between 25 and 30 points which is quite nice for a bottom six forward and he does seem to be drawing interest from around the NHL. Now Lafferty is in the 1st year of the 2 year contract he signed with Chicago last year and only has a $1.15 Million dollar cap hit for this year and next so I definitely think that he should be able to fit under a teams salary cap quite well and he also has next year on his contract so I definitely think he would be a hot commodity given his contract money and term, and I believe the Hawks could get a 3RD pick and low level prospect, or a 4th or 5th round pick and maybe mid level prospect for Lafferty and given the Hawks status as sellers, I think they would be open to trading Lafferty and could get a solid return for him, and in my opinion teams like Tampa, Boston, Edmonton or Los Angeles might have interest in a cheap bottom six forward, so while big names like Toews and Kane continue to draw speculation about possibly being dealt before the deadline, don’t be too shocked if Lafferty is a name the Hawks will also move before the trade deadline. 

Here is the Injuries from JAN 26th to JAN 27th. 

Detroit 

Tyler Bertuzzi: has recovered from his LBI and has returned to game action 

Montreal 

Cole Caufield: has suffered a shoulder injury that will need surgery and will now miss the rest of the season due to the injury.

Ottawa 

Cam Talbot: has had his LBI status updated, and he will now be out for approximately two weeks.

Toronto 

Auston Matthews: has suffered a knee injury and will be out for approximately 3 weeks. 

New York I 

Noah Dobson: has been revealed to have a LBI and is still day to day with the injury. 

Philadelphia 

Zack MacEwen: has suffered a jaw injury and will be out approximately five weeks.

Anaheim

Kevin Shattenkirk: is dealing with a Lower Body injury and is going to be out for an unknown period of time. 

Calgary 

Brett Ritchie: has recovered from his Undisclosed injury and should be able to get back into game action in the next game or two.

Seattle 

Matthew Beniers: has suffered an undisclosed injury and is going to be out of action for an unknown period of time.

St.Louis

Robert Thomas: has suffered a LBI  and is currently say to day with the injury.

Robert Bortuzzo: has recovered from his LBI and has returned to game action.

Here is what has happened with the waiver wire from JAN 11th to JAN 16th.

Players who Cleared Waivers

Florida 

Zac Dalpe C (1 year left $.750 Thousand dollars)

Dallas 

Nicholas Caamano LW/RW (1 year left $.750 Thousand dollars)

Detroit 

Alex Nedeljkovic G (1 year left $3 Million dollars)

Cleared unconditional waivers

Joesph Cramarossa C (1 year left $.750 Thousand dollars)

Players claimed off of waivers 

Jake Leschyshyn C (3 years left $.767 Thousand dollars) was placed on waivers by the Golden Knights and was claimed by the Rangers. 

Analysis: there were definitely some interesting names on the waiver wire over this time frame, and there was one especially that I was surprised that he wasn’t claimed. So to start with I will get to Dalpe first as I didn’t think he was really going to be picked up off of waivers but I did think that there was a slight chance he might. Now Dalpe has been mostly a minor league player over the past few seasons but he does have a lot of NHL experience as he has been in the league since the 10-11 season and does have 165 games of NHL experience, putting up 16 goals and 16 assists in those games and that includes this year, when he was called up from the Panthers AHL affiliate and put up 2 goals and 4 points in 11 games with Florida before being placed on waivers. Now even though he has played parts of the past few seasons in the NHL, I do think that he is more of a NHL player and given the fact he isn’t playing too many NHL games anymore I didn’t think that he was going to be claimed, but as a healthy body who can do relatively good at the NHL level, I thought a team going through some injuries or a team that could usa a 13th forward might have some interest in Dalpe, but he does end up clearing and should go back down to Charlotte where he has played well this year and await his next call up opportunity. Over in Dallas they placed Caamano on waivers and he wound up clearing which I don’t think is too much of a surprise. Now Caamano has played most of his career in the AHL to this point and does look more like a spare forward tor the Stars, but he does have some NHL experience as a couple seasons ago he was able to get into a handful of games in back to back seasons and in those two combined seasons he had, 1 goal and 3 points in 36 game, but he has done well at the AHL level having 23 points in 36 games 2 years ago, and having 14 points in 47 games last year, so I don’t think it is too surprising that when he was activated off of SOIR that he was sent on waivers as the Stars have a pretty good team, and Caamano is more of a AHL forward right now but I really am also not surprised that Caamano cleared waivers as not only is he more a AHL forward, but he is also coming off a injury and I just think other teams were not willing to take a chance, so Caamano now goes back down to the minors where he should continue to show he can be a good AHL forward and hopefully earn a call up in the future. And lastly with Nedeljkovic, I was quite surprised to see him being placed on waivers and I thought that someone would’ve probably taken him. Nedeljkovic was acquired by the Red Wings from Carolina a couple years ago after it looked like Nedeljkovic could be the goalie of the future for the Canes, but they wound up moving him to Detroit and going with a completely different tandem and ever since arriving in Detroit he just hasn’t been able to find that great game he had with Carolina. In 59 games last year in his first year with Detroit he had a okay season but nowhere close to the season he had prior with Carolina as he had a .901 SV% and a 3.31 GAA in those 59 games and still looked like he could be a good tandem goalie this year but after they acquired Hellberg off of waivers in season, and he also played well and with Nedeljkovic consistently being a healthy scratch after only playing in 9 games this year putting up a .880 SV% and a 4.09 GAA, it just seemed like the Wings had more confidence in Hellberg then they did in Nedeljkovic and that is why they placed him on waivers, now I know that Nedeljkovic hasn’t played overly well over the past few seasons, and that his cap hit is still at $3 Million, but I thought that there might be a team or two out there who would take a chance on him as I do know his contract isn’t too favourable and that is probably the reason he wasn’t claimed, but he also only has the rest of this season on his contract and will be a UFA at the end of the year and in my eyes is still a good tandem goalie, so I am quite surprised that he did clear waivers and now that he has he will try to build his game back up in the minors (he has played 10 AHL games so far putting up a .919 SV% and a 2.40 GAA) and the Red Wings should run with a Hellberg-Husso tandem for the time being. 

Next over with the one player who was placed on unconditional waivers and that is Joseph Cramarossa. Now Cramarossa has been mostly a AHL forward for most of his career and has occasionally been called up to the NHL to get into a few games as his best season was in the 16-17 year when he split time with Anaheim and Vancouver and played in 59 games putting up 4 goals and 10 points with the two teams, but after that he would spend 3 consecutive seasons in the AHL, playing decent hockey and then he would sign with Minnesota, and in both years prior to this year he had been mostly a AHL player but got looks at the NHL level putting up 2 assists in 5 games over the two seasons, and even this year he had some NHL time getting 1 goal in 4 games with Minnesota, but with him not getting too much of a opportunity at the AHL level as well, the Wild and Cramarossa decided the best thing was to part ways and they terminated the contract. Now I don’t think it is surprising he cleared given he was a depth forward and people on unconditional waivers don’t usually get claimed, and now he is overseas where we hope he has a better time in the DEL to get playing time then he did with Minnesota. And finally we have the one player who wound up being claimed off of waivers and that is young Vegas forward Jake Leschyshyn, who found himself heading to NYR. Now Leschyshyn has been mostly in the minors over the past few seasons and was drafted b the Golden Knights during their first ever draft, but over the past year he has shown that he looks like he could definitely be a consistent bottom six forward at the NHL level. Last year he had a extremely productive AHL season putting up 27 points in 34 games and due to his play in the AHL and the Injuries at the NHL level, he played some games at the NHL level too, getting into 41 games last year and putting up 2 goals and 6 points and looked like he could be a good bottom six forward for Vegas, and after last years productive season and the fact he now needs waivers to be sent to the minors, he started on the NHL roster and was able to get into 22 NHL games with Vegas this season but didn’t record a point with the Knights and as more players were getting healthy for Vegas, they needed to send someone down and they decided that would be Leschyshyn but he wound up being claimed. Now with the Rangers, I believe Leschyshyn will be a good 4th line forward for them as the Rangers have lost a bit of depth lately (sending down Carpenter and trading away Reaves) and could use a cheap 4th line Center like him, and Leschyshyn is also signed for two more seasons after this year so I definitely think he could emerge as a good 4th line Center for NYR, and after already getting into 6 games with the Rangers (not having a point), he should continue to get into game action and be a good depth player for NYR.