July 17, 2014

Thomas Drance

2014-07-17

The Buffalo Sabres have reportedly come to terms with diminutive scoring forward Tyler Ennis on a five-year, $23 million contract extension. Ennis has some of the best hands in the league and is a super elite stick-handler, but from what I’ve seen over the years, he still struggles to really use his teammates well and isn’t a particularly good possession player.

Despite his issues as a playmaker and two-way forward, Ennis produces offense at an extremely efficient clip, something pretty much no one else on the Sabres roster can do. Over the past three years Ennis ranks 113th out of NHL forwards who have played more than 2000 minutes in even-strength points rate, which is legitimate second-line forward production. Considering the quality of the players he’s been sharing the ice with in Buffalo, that’s pretty impressive.

At 24-years-old, Ennis has at least a couple of years left in his scoring prime and $4.6 million is pretty much the going rate for good second-line forwards. Obviously the Sabres are going to need someone to produce offense while they’re rebuilding.

The Toronto Maple Leafs agreed to a two-year contract with forward Peter Holland, a talented 23-year-old forward who cost them a second-round pick a year ago and played pretty well filling in for Dave Bolland on the third-line last season. Despite strong AHL production, Holland’s rate stats don’t jump out at me and I think it’s pretty likely he’ll be a depth center this upcoming season with only fantasy occassional value (like if one of Nazem Kadri or Tyler Bozak get injured).

If you’re interested, I recorded a podcast with Justin Bourne yesterday in which we chatted about P.K. Subban’s arbitration hearing and Bourne told one of the best/grossest locker room stories I’ve ever heard.

Jordan Caron’s agent becomes a hero in Boston, by all but asking for a trade. The former first-round pick recently signed a one-year, one-way deal worth $600K but it’s clear that he’s running out of opportunities from the Bruins organization and fans. There was like a surprisingly big outcry of condemnation when the club even extended him a qualifying offer…

Caron’s offensive production is unlikely to ever really match his draft slot and he’s prone to mental mistakes and offensive zone penalties, but he’s still a big winger with some speed and skill. He might still project in a bottom-six role on a good team, even as it seems less and less likely that he’ll ever really take a step in Boston.

Here’s the problem though, he’s a reasonable bottom-six option with a nothing cap-hit on a team that’s desperate for cheap pieces. Caron may want a fresh start and Bruins fans may agree with him, but he’s not getting it this offseason, he’s just too affordable…

The Sharks avoided an arbitration hearing with under-rated defenseman Jason Demers on Wednesday, by agreeing to a two-year contract worthy nearly $7 million. That’s a tidy bit of work for Doug Wilson and company, although restricted free agents don’t have a lot of leverage (something that is especially true for defensive defenseman).

New York Islanders head coach Jack Capuano wants Ryan Strome to play a bit freer, to feel less constrained by the pressures of sticking in the NHL and such. I’m really curious to see where Strome lines up next season, because it would seem to me that a spot is open beside John Tavares and Kyle Okposo. Obviously Strome is the name with pedigree that fantasy owners all dream of owning the year they put it together, but looking at the Islanders lineup, it would seem that he’s got a legitimate shot.

His main competition? It might be Brock Nelson, honestly. Either way, those are two young players that may be poised to bust out fantasy-wise this season, depending on where Capuano ends up using them in the lineup.