Butcher, Devils win opener
The Devils’ youth movement has a lot more going for it than No. 1 overall draft pick Nico Hischier.
The Devils are three deep in the rookie department. Hobey Baker Award winner Will Butcher and Swedish import Jesper Bratt stole a lot of the spotlight from Hischier in a 4-1 seasonopening victory over the Avalanche on Saturday at Prudential Center.
Butcher set up three power-play goals and Bratt had a goal and an assist as the Devils created some excitement after posting the worst record in the Eastern Conference last season.
“The vibe the arena gave off is what I’ll remember most,” Butcher said after becoming the first Devil to collect three assists in his initial game with the franchise. “It was an unbelievable crowd. And to play my first game with Nico and Jesper, it’s like we were all in this together. It was a great feeling”
Adam Henrique, Jimmy Hayes and John Moore also scored as the Devils fielded a lineup with eight new players. Kyle Palmieri added two assists before leaving in the second period with a leg injury. Cory Schneider made 40 saves.
Hischier had six shots on goal and forced Bernier to make a good save on a snap shot and another in close coming out of the circle.
“I think I had some chances to score my first goal, but what’s even more important is we got the win,” Hischier said.
THE bridge contract has become the Bridge on the River Kwai. Blown to bits this week by general managers in Buffalo and Winnipeg who might as well have whistled while they worked at eviscerating the CBA.
Because honestly, if teams are not going to exercise leverage the one time they own it when dealing with an established player — and that is, on the contract following their entrylevel deal — then what is the point of having it?
The NHL started on its way down the slippery slope just before Owners’ Lockout III when Edmonton, Carolina and Boston began signing pretty good, but hardly remarkable players not yet even out of entry level to extensions in the six-year, $36 million range for no good reason at all.
There has been some effort to suggest that signing players to multiyear extensions that eliminates arbitration years and might buy out a handful of unrestricted free agency seasons is ultimately cost effective, and I am sure in certain cases that is true.
But someone please explain what numbers Jack Eichel could possibly put up for the Sabres over the next four seasons that would turn the eight-year, $80 million extension he was granted this week — and for which the Sabres were hailed — into a cost-saver?
They are spending $10 million dollars a year for a player — as gifted and motivated as the 20-year-old center might be — who in 143 career games had recorded 48 goals and 114 points for a team that hadn’t come close to contending for a playoff spot.
More per year than Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin earn in Pittsburgh. More per year than Carey Price earns in Montreal. More than Alex Ovechkin earns in Montreal. More per year on a deal for which Eichel had zero negotiating leverage. Zero.
There might be exceptions to the rule, but if there are, it is only because NHL general managers who operate under the most restrictive governing document in pro sports waived their leverage while creating stupid precedents in previous unwarranted cases — e.g., Jeff Skinner, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, to name three.
Connor McDavid, the guy who is faster than a speeding bullet, is one. Auston Matthews, after just 84 games in the league, most certainly appears to be another. But that is why they are called generational players.
Genuflect before me if I am wrong, but has anyone ever applied that tag to Nikolaj Ehlers? Nevertheless, the Jets rushed to sign the winger who had recorded 40 goals and 102 points in his first two seasons to a sevenyear extension worth $6 million per.
And there in Tampa Bay is generational talent Nikita Kucherov working
DEVILS 4 AVALANCHE 1