The Bruins on Sunday afternoon will wrap up their five-game road trip in Buffalo, where for all practical purposes the 2017-18 NHL season came to an end around the Christmas break.
The Sabres entered weekend play with an 18-32-11 record, only the Arizona Coyotes (17-33-10) cushioning them from rock bottom in the Original 31 standings. The sorry sons of the French Connection won’t be going to the playoffs for a seventh straight season, and unless rookie general manager Jason Botterill is holding back some giant jug of secret sauce, they’ll run the sorry streak up to eight next year.
How bad are things in Buffalo? A local brew pub, Community Beer Works, offered up its pair of tickets for Monday’s matinee when the Capitals were in town. Good take, Alex Ovechkin, et al, right? Desperate for takers, they sweetened the offer by throwing in $10 and free parking. A few locals stepped up, though one offered to go only if the pub increased the cash to $50. Wow. Finally, someone grabbed the standing offer.
Online ticket vendors recently have been offering up weeknight Sabres games at KeyBank Center for as little as $6 apiece. It’s hard enough for season ticket-holders to stay loyal and re-up when a team is at Ice Station Zebra levels below .500, but it is flat-out painful when the secondary market turns the thought of gifting tickets into a potential insult.
Meanwhile, what is Botterill to do? He is the third GM since Terry Pegula took ownership in February 2011, and Phil Housley is the fifth head coach, following Lindy Ruff, Ron Rolston, Ted Nolan, and Dan Bylsma. Coaches jump over the boards in Buffalo faster than line changes.
Pegula made his billions in the fracking industry, and he has taken the drill-baby-drill approach to his management team, hoping and praying someone he hires taps into a rich reservoir of success. Thus far, his drill rate is lower than Blaine Lacher’s save percentage, and his present hope for kickstarting a meaningful turnaround rests in Botterill swinging substantive deals for the likes of Evander Kane and ex-Bruin Benoit Pouliot prior to Monday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline.
On top of their woes, the Sabres lost their one and only drawing card, North Chelmsford’s Jack Eichel, to a high-ankle sprain — second in his short career — when they last visited Boston on Feb. 10.
Updates have been few on Eichel — in keeping with standard league-wide double-secret-probation injury practices. But with three-quarters of the season burned, and no hope of the playoffs, the Sabres could be wise to shut down Eichel and allow him extra time to mend prior to training camp.
There is no singular, direct, traceable path that produced this motherlode of Lake Erie misery. But the Sabres’ plight underscores, once more, the inherent risk and folly that comes in tanking, as the Sabres did so spectacularly in 2014-15 when Connor McDavid was considered the crown jewel of franchise recovery.
By then, the Sabres already were eight years beyond what remains their last victory in a playoff round, 2007. With excitement high, and good times seemingly to last forever, the Sabres that summer got crushed in free agency, losing Chris Drury to the Rangers and Daniel Briere to the Flyers, a total of 164 points out the door for zero return.
When McDavid came along as the potential Next One, with all the legitimate hype, Nolan’s charges plummeted to a dead-last, 23-51-8, just slightly worse than Arizona (sound familiar?) and Edmonton. Sabres fans were thrilled. McDavid was surely on the way as the tank trophy. Until the balls bounced in favor of Edmonton, McDavid became an Oiler, and Buffalo was handed the Eichel Tower as a pretty good booby prize.
Eichel is no slouch, far from it, and maybe he one day will play into that $10 million-a-year contract that begins next season, But he’s not McDavid. And even if he were McDavid’s equal, the rest of the Blue and Gold cast is, well, exactly the kind of stock that delivers 18-32-11 and $6 tickets.
Not long ago, in the transfer of GM power from Darcy Regier to Tim Murray, the Sabres stockpiled 17 draft picks in the first two rounds, a potential framework for a proper reboot.
Murray then frittered away three of those prime picks in acquiring Ryan O’Reilly (Round 1 pick to Colorado), Robin Lehner (Round 1, Ottawa) and Kane (Round 1, Winnipeg), all in span of five months in 2015. Factor in the tank attempt gone upside-down, and voila, the Sabres haven’t won a playoff round in 11 years and remain in need of righting the listing ship.
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
Bowman also missed on Orr
Scotty Bowman, long before he became the legendary coach, was in Gananoque, Ontario, on Easter weekend in 1961. Only 27 years old, he had just begun scouting for the Canadiens and he was in town to check out a pair of hot-shot bantams, neither of whom was named Bobby Orr.
“March 20, 1948, that’s Bobby’s birthday,’’ recalled Bowman, who among other things has a razor-sharp memory. “So this was just days before or after Bobby’s 13th birthday.’’
Orr, now less than a month from his 70th birthday, was in Gananoque that day, playing for Parry Sound in the provincial bantam championship. Single at the time, Bowman was living in Ottawa with some pals, mostly football players, splitting room and board in a home owned by Bert Clark.
“Bert was in his 70s at the time,’’ recalled Bowman. “It was a Saturday afternoon and I said, ‘Bert, what are you doing today?’ He says, ‘Nothing.’ So I say, ‘Why don’t you come with me?’ And this is a guy who didn’t know a thing about hockey. So down we go to Gananoque.’’
On the ride, Bowman told Clark about the two Ganonoque bantams, Rick Eaton and Dougie Higgins, the Habs had on their radar. Unbeknownst to Bowman, Gananoque’s town teams already were sponsored by Boston, the Bruins thus having first rights to sign anyone who intended to turn pro.
“No. 8 and 17, Eaton and Higgins,’’ recalled Bowman. “And I said to Bert, ‘I want you to look at these two guys.’ And honest to goodness, about halfway through the first period . . . and this is a guy who never saw kids’ hockey . . . he says to me, ‘Scotty, I think you should forget about those two guys, what about that little guy, No. 2?’ ’’
The kid in the No. 2 sweater was Orr, and fortunately for the Bruins they had five members of the front office there that day, also ostensibly to appraise the talents of Eaton and Higgins. But like Bowman’s pal, they were blown away by the little blond kid from Parry Sound, and eventually it was the artful and persistent work of Boston scout Wren Blair that convinced Orr’s parents that Bobby would be best with the Bruins.
“I said to Bert, ‘Yeah, but I’m here to scout the other two guys,’ ’’ recalled Bowman. “And he says to me, ‘Scotty, it’s not even close.’ True story.’’
Bowman followed up days later with a visit to the Orr home, but Orr’s parents, Doug and Arva, insisted they weren’t quite ready for their son to think about pro hockey. Blair lived in Parry Sound, made regular visits to the Orr home, and it was that personal connection that eventually convinced Orr’s mother and father that Boston would be the right play, albeit with a junior tuneup in Oshawa.
Eaton and Higgins ultimately signed with the Bruins, but neither made it to the NHL.
Orr still has the contract his parents worked out with Blair, handwritten on paper from the local Belvedere Hotel in Parry Sound, where Arva Orr worked, and young Bobby spent a summer or two as a bellhop.
It’s a good bet that no one at the Belvedere ever carried the mail like Robert Gordon Orr.
ETC.
Could Toews, Kane be dealt?
Absent some unexpected March mojo, the Blackhawks won’t make the playoffs, raising questions as to whether coach Joel Quenneville and/or GM Stan Bowman will be long for the job.
Blockbuster trades rarely occur anymore, but there’s the potential for one here, provided one or both of the Hawks’ superstars, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, cared to surrender his no-movement clause. That is a big if, obviously, but they both will be 30 this year and perhaps a change of scenery would restore some vigor to their games after logging many miles. Each soon will be closing in on 1,000 games, including their combined 255 in the playoffs.
Toews and Kane are each on the books for $10.5 million a year over the next five. So money alone would make them difficult moves — again, providing they cared to be dealt. The return would be huge, the Hawks likely to net a pair of first-rounders and maybe a combination of two or three ready-to-play NHLers and/or top prospects.
The list of prospective suitors would be the 30 other franchises. But to be realistic, given their ability to control the conversation, it probably would include the three California teams along with Vegas, the Rangers, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Nashville, Boston, and perhaps Philadelphia.
If, say, Kane agreed to come to Boston, the Hawks reasonably could ask for Charlie McAvoy, Danton Heinen, and Trent Frederic or Ryan Donato, along with a pair of first-round picks.
Hurts, doesn’t it? Hurts all the more given McAvoy and Heinen earn approximately a combined $1.8 million and adding Kane to the Boston payroll would be tacking $8.7 million to an already pressured salary cap.
The Hawks aren’t shopping either of their franchise pillars, but the harsh reality of this disappointing season and the age and miles on Kane and Toews should have them thinking long and hard about it. In a year or two, no one in the league will touch them at $10.5 million and each with around 1,200 games on their playometers. It’s now or never for all concerned.
Phaneuf off to fast start in LA
Ex-Boston draft pick Nate Thompson was part of the worn-out-tools trade between Ottawa and Los Angeles that featured Dion Phaneuf moving to the Kings and Marian Gaborik to the Senators.
Maybe it works for Phaneuf in LA, but he was too slow on the backline for both the Leafs and Senators, the latter of whom retained 25 percent of his bloated $7 million-a-year salary. He can hit — provided he can get to the appropriate spot — but Phaneuf is inclined to make substantial boo boos under pressure.
Gaborik, 36, hasn’t been an effective point producer for six years and has three more years on his deal at $4.875 million. He had become a healthy scratch, and the Kings simply were willing to play slightly more per annum ($5.25 million) with the hope that Phaneuf, 32, still has some pop. They got it in the early going, with Phaneuf knocking home three goals in his first four games for the Kings, equaling what he scored in 53 games this season with Ottawa.
Thompson never could get out of Providence in his time with the Bruins, but the Alaskan-born center soon will crack the 600-game plateau, having made himself a useful NHL part with the Islanders, Lightning, Ducks, and Senators. Good guy and an accomplished checker/role player now banking $1.65 million a year.
Long overdue honor for Ratelle
If I could be anywhere in the NHL Sunday night it would be at Madison Square Garden, where the Rangers, after far too many years, finally will retire Jean Ratelle’s No. 19. Impossible to find anyone classier than Gentleman Jean.
Ratelle played across 16 seasons in New York, until the blockbuster deal in November 1975 that had him coming to Boston with Brad Park and Joe Zanussi for iconic center Phil Esposito and defenseman Carol Vadnais.
“The Bruins needed a center because Esposito was traded, so I knew they wanted me to play, and that was important,’’ said Ratelle, now 77, recalling his mind-set after arriving on Causeway Street. “I mean, I was 35 at the time, and you don’t know how it’s going to go, because I’m thinking a little about retirement then.’’
Ratelle six times scored more than 30 goals with the Rangers and piled up 817 points in 862 games, most on the GAG (goal-a-game) line with wingers Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert. Both of his old wingers will be flanking Ratelle again as he hoists his 19 to the rafters.
Including playing six seasons, often between John Bucyk and Bobby Schmautz, and later Rick Middleton and Stan Jonathan, Ratelle was with the Bruins for 24 years, the majority of those as a scout.
“Both places are very close to my heart,’’ said Ratelle, revealing a little bit of his speech. “I’ll be talking about Emile [Francis] and Harry [Sinden], and Glen Sather — I played with him in New York, and he’s the president there now.’’
In 1982, shortly after he retired as a player, Ratelle was an assistant along with Gary Doak on Gerry Cheevers’s coaching staff. It was that October that another promising Quebec kid, Normand Leveille, was felled by a cerebral hemorrhage during a Bruins game in Vancouver.
The team flew on to Los Angeles the next day, but Ratelle remained in town, as did Sinden, to be with Leveille. Ratelle was there to comfort Leveille’s French-speaking parents, who arrived the next afternoon. He was at their side when the surgeon who saved their son’s life, performing emergency surgery, explained that Normand would never play again. He was only 19, only 75 games on his playing résumé.
Compassionate, ever-dignified, Ratelle remained there for days, comforting the parents, visiting Leveille daily.
“He would have been such a great player,’’ said Ratelle.
Loose pucks
Fresh from his run with the US Olympic team, 6-foot-5-inch left wing Jordan Greenway is back at Boston University for the remainder of the Terriers’ season. He can turn pro this spring with the Wild, who picked him No. 50 in the 2015 draft, or he can play out his senior season and become an unrestricted free agent in August 2019 . . . The Canadiens shut down Shea Weber (foot injury, 26 games, 6-10—16) for the season on Thursday, and that night coach Claude Julien revealed franchise goaltender Carey Price had a concussion, and Antti Niemi is expected to fill the void for the foreseeable future. They get zero sympathy in the Hub of Hockey, but a sad-sack Canadiens franchise takes some of the luster out of the entire Original 31. Things are just better when we can all hate the Habs.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeKPD. Material from interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.
