Sunday, March 2, 2014

St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres Make Major Trade

The Buffalo Sabres have traded Ryan Miller and Steve Ott to the St. Louis Blues for Jaroslav Halak, Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier and two draft picks.

It had been rumored that Miller could get traded for weeks since he can become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and sign with any team he wants.  Miller was drafted in the fifth round of the 1999 draft by the Sabres and had played all of his 540 games with the team.  He has 284 wins, 186 losses, and 57 ties or overtime losses.  The goalie has a lifetime .916 save percentage to go along with a 2.46 GAA.

He went from being on a team that is completely out of playoff contention to a team that is right in the thick of the playoff race.  The goalie, 33, has played in 40 games posting a record of 15-22-3.  The 22 losses are first in the league.  He's faced 1,411 shots (6th most in NHL), while posting a .923 save percentage and a 2.72 GAA.

The Sabres have the least amount of wins in the NHL with 18, give up the second most shots in the league and give up a full goal more per game than they score.  The team isn't very good and that's what has contributed to Miller having the most loses in the NHL.

He's been to the playoffs four times in his career, but has only gotten as far as the Eastern Conference Finals in 2006.  Miller played in the 2010 and 2014 Olympics for Team USA.  He won the Vezina Trophy for being the best goaltender during the 2009-10 season.

Steve Ott, Buffalo's former captain, is also an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.  He was drafted by the Dallas Stars and later traded to the Sabres.  Ott is 31 years old.

The center has played in 59 games this season and has scored nine goals to go along with his 11 assists for a total of 20 points while averaging 19:42 of ice time per game.

He has 103 goals, 161 assists, 264 points, and is a minus 35 in 673 career games played.  The center can play on both the power play and the penalty kill units.  He is fourth in the league with 94 hits.  Ott is a physical player, who will stand up for a teammate when needed.  He also likes to stir the pot and get the opposing team's player frustrated enough to take a penalty.

Jaroslav Halak, who was sent to Buffalo, is also an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.  Halak is 28 years old and was originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 2003.

The goaltender has played in 40 games this season while posting a 24-9-4 record.  He is eighth in the league in wins and third in the league with four shutouts.  He has a .917 save percentage to go along with a 2.23 GAA.

Halak has a 139-81-26 record in 260 career games played.  He has also posted a .917 save percentage and a 2.38 GAA to go with 29 shutouts in those 260 games played.   The goalie is 10-11, has a .923 save percentage and a 2.42 GAA in 23 playoff games.

Halak also played in the 2010 and 2014 Olympics.  He was part of the goaltender tandem that allowed the fewest goals in the NHL during the 2011-12 season and won the William J. Jennings Trophy that same season.

Chris Stewart plays right wing and is only 26 years old.  He is in his first year of a two year deal worth $8.3 million.  The cap hit for the 2014-15 season is $4.15 million.

Stewart  was originally drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2006 draft.  He has played in 58 games scored 15 goals, assisted on 11 of his team's goals and has a total of 26 points.  He's a plus two and has 112 penalty minutes, which is good for eighth in the league.  The winger is averaging 13:41 minutes of ice time per game.

He has 115 goals, 113 assists, 228 points and is a minus 17 in 377 games played.  Stewart has played in 19 playoff games and has five goals and one assist on those games.  Stewart was only playing on the power play for St.Louis.  He has 78 hits, eight blocked shots, eight giveaways and 11 takeaways o the season.

The Sabres also received prospect William Carrier in the trade.  Carrier is a 6'2", 198 pound left winger who is only 19 years old.  He was drafted by St.Louis in the second round of the 2013 draft.

Carrier has size, skill, is willing to play physical in the corners and in front of the net to make a play, according to hockeysfuture.com.  He can try to do too much times but he has a good set of hands and a hard shot, according to hockeysfuture.com.

The Sabres will also get a first round pick in the 2015 draft and a conditional draft pick.  If the Blues make the Western Conference Final or Miller resigns with St. Louis then the Sabres would get a first round pick in the 2014 draft from St. Louis, according to nhl.com.

Sources:
hockeysfuture.com/prospects/william-carrier
capgeek.com
hockey-reference.com
nhl.com








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