Friday 5: Reasons to Be Happy the Sabres Didn’t Acquire Hellebuyck
OPINION: As goaltending continues to be a hot topic in Buffalo, I wanted to take a look at my contrarian take. I am happy the Sabres did not trade for Connor Hellebuyck, which may sound crazy given his hot start in New Jersey and the fact that no one has been able to stabilize the position in the Buffalo crease this year. But I have my reasons, five in fact. So here we go.
Quinn Can’t Be Parted With
So it sounds like if the Sabres were going to make a deal, the Jets were going to want Jack Quinn. With Alex Tuch gone from the lineup, the Sabres have suddenly become a bit thin on the wings. Their scoring depth is absent beyond Quinn. His nine goals and seventeen points are second only to Tage Thompson. Sure, we can imagine what Hellebuyck could do in net, but can you imagine what the Sabres offence would have looked like without Quinn this season? Talk about scary.
Cap Flexibility
As of writing this, the Sabres have approximately three million dollars in cap space according to Puck Pedia. This year, the Jeff Skinner buyout is costing them just under six and a half million in dead money. They are currently spending just over seven million on goaltending. I could get really crazy with money in and money out in the various rumoured trades, and there is probably a way to get a pretty balanced number to take on Hellebuyck’s contract. However, with Noah Ostlund already set to jump up in cap hit, and Jack Quinn and Jiri Kulich needing deals for next season, the cap pinch will come up on the Sabres front office pretty quick. The Sabres could have certainly afforded Hellebuyck, but at what cost down the road?
Prospect Depth is Thinner Than You Think
It feels crazy to say that such a young team lacks depth, but in the case of the Sabres, there aren’t a ton of players ready to push through. So as much as it feels like parting with a young centre like Jiri Kulich, Noah Ostlund, or Konsta Helenius would have been doable, that is a big hole to fill in the prospect pool especially when draft picks should be used as currency to help the team win.
The Sabres have made Radim Mrtka expendable with the drafting of Daxon Rudolph. However, what if they can be the players who hold down the right side 3-5 years from now? Is that worth risking for a goalie on the back side of his career?
Timing is Everything
I can’t in good faith say that I NEVER wanted the Sabres to trade for Connor Hellebuyck. Around the draft, I was all in. I fully signed off and supported the deal that was rumoured to have involved Luukkonen, Norris, a young forward and the pick swap of 4th for 8th. Why then and not now? Because that would have given GM Jarmo Kekalainen a full summer to work with the roster. Maybe it means Tuch stays?
Hard to imagine with Hellebuyck’s eight million on the cap but you never know what could have been done. Now, the Sabres are left without a top line winger and a bonafide number one in net. A trade could have solved the goalie problem, but as I mentioned with Quinn, the Sabres can’t score enough as is, taking away a Norris and one of Benson/Ostlund/Kulich would have turned the forward group to swiss cheese.
Hellebuyck and Ryan Miller
Sabres fans should be very familiar with the Jets position when it comes to trading Connor Hellebuyck. If you’re of a certain age, (as in, last year wasn’t the first Sabres playoff game you watched), you probably remember Ryan Miller’s time in Buffalo coming to an end in 2014. However, it was on much more amicable circumstances as the Sabres began to bottom out for a full on rebuild. But if we focus on Miller and Hellebuyck, there are some parallels that should be examined. Both are American goalies, who proved to have Vezina winning capabilities, elevating their small market NHL teams to regular season success. Both were never able to help their teams fully get over the hump in the playoffs (though Miller’s playoff numbers are noticeably better).
Both found themselves back stopping American Olympic teams in gold medal games. Now, Hellebuyck has more hardware, including the gold medal, but with both goalies being traded after 11 seasons with the team that drafted them at the age of 33, Miller’s post Sabres days may be a cautionary tale. The Blues did not re-sign Miller after acquiring him in 2014 and losing to the defending cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the playoffs. Miller would only play in two more playoff series in his career with Vancouver and Anaheim, and though his Goals Against Average remained within the ball park of his career standard, Miller was never the x-factor game changing goalie fans in Buffalo got to watch for so many years
There’s no reason to say Hellebuyck is headed for the same fate, especially with the contract and security of being with a young Devils team who seem poised to continue to get better. As we know though, Father Time is undefeated and if the case of Ryan Miller shows anything, the clock is ticking in a big way for Hellebuyck.
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