SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF NHL 07/22/19 Buffalo Sabres 1149979 Vegas sees improvement from Sabres with over-under total 1149980 Sabres, Evan Rodrigues more than $1 million apart heading into arbitration hearing Dallas Stars 1149981 NHL analyst: Stars are among select teams with a 'real shot' of winning Stanley Cup in 2020 Edmonton Oilers 1149982 Does the James Neal acquisition impact Oilers’ prospects in 2019-20? New Jersey Devils 1149983 How Devils’ drive to build culture starts at development camp NHL 1149984 NHL Seattle GM Ron Francis, an avid wine collector, hopes his future player crop will yield fine fruit San Jose Sharks 1149985 Why Peter DeBoer is confident Sharks can fill Joe Pavelski's scoring void St Louis Blues 1149986 Maroon's day with the Cup: cereal, toasted ravioli and old friends 1149987 South County rink full of nostalgia and joy as Patrick Maroon brings Stanley Cup home Vegas Golden Knights 1149988 Las Vegas oddsmakers expect Golden Knights to be best in West Winnipeg Jets 1149989 Jets sign Pionk to two-year, $6 million deal, avoid arbitration 1149990 Jets could find great value in acquiring Stars’ Honka 1149991 ‘Second quick’: How the Jets and assistant Todd Woodcroft build, coach and use their centres SPORT-SCAN, INC. 941-284-4129 1149979 Buffalo Sabres Vegas sees improvement from Sabres with over-under total By Staff|Published Sun, Jul 21, 2019|Updated Sun, Jul 21, 2019 The oddsmakers at the prominent SuperBookUSA in Las Vegas released the NHL over-under totals for points and the expectation is that the Sabres will be improved, but still among the bottom teams in the league. The oddsmaker set the Sabres' over-under at 83.5. The Sabres have not reached that total since their last playoff appearance when they posted 96 points in 2010-11. Buffalo has only exceeded 80 points once since then and had 76 last season, which was a 14-point improvement over its league-worst total in 2017-18. Three teams were set at less than the Sabres: Columbus (82.5), Anaheim (80.5) and Ottawa (62.5). Tampa Bay had the highest total at a whopping 108.5. Here is the full list in alphabetical order: Anaheim 80.5 Arizona 91.5 Boston 100.5 Buffalo 83.5 Calgary 96.5 Carolina 94.5 Chicago 90.5 Colorado 100.5 Columbus 82.5 Dallas 96.5 Detroit 76.5 Edmonton 85.5 Florida 96.5 Los Angeles 74.5 Minnesota 84.5 Montreal 89.5 Nashville 97.5 New Jersey 88.6 NY Islander 94.5 NY Rangers 88.5 Ottawa 68.5 Philadelphia 90.5 Pittsburgh 95.5 San Jose 94.5 St Louis 96.5 Tampa Bay 108.5 Toronto 102.5 Vancouver 88.5 Vegas 103.5 Washington 97.5 Winnipeg 96.5 Buffalo News LOADED: 07.22.2019 1149980 Buffalo Sabres Sabres, Evan Rodrigues more than $1 million apart heading into arbitration hearing By Mike Harrington|Published Sun, Jul 21, 2019|Updated Sun, Jul 21, 2019 The first of the Buffalo Sabres' four arbitration hearings is set for Tuesday in Toronto with center Evan Rodrigues, and the sides are apparently more than $1 million apart. Rodrigues had nine goals and 20 assists in 74 games last season to set career highs in each category. He is asking for a huge raise, from $650,000 to $2.65 million. The Sabres are still offering a sizable bump in salary, but only to $1.5 million. The figures were reported Sunday by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. Rodrigues, 25, is likely to serve as the Sabres' No. 3 center next season and is Buffalo's top restricted free agent forward. The Sabres also have arbitration hearings scheduled with forward Remi Elie (Aug. 1), goalie Linus Ullmark (Aug. 2) and defenseman Jake McCabe (Aug. 4). According to CapFriendly.com, the team is down to just over $5.1 million in cap space. Rodrigues and Elie would become forwards 13-14 under contract while McCabe would be the ninth defenseman, so the Sabres are certain to move some players to free up roster spots and cap space. Buffalo News LOADED: 07.22.2019 1149981 Dallas Stars NHL analyst: Stars are among select teams with a 'real shot' of winning Stanley Cup in 2020 By SportsDayDFW.com NHL Network analyst and former NHL player Mike Johnson recently broke-down the Dallas Stars' roster for the upcoming 2019-2020 regular season. Below is a recap of what Johnson had to say as the Stars seek their first Stanley Cup title since the 1998-1999 season. You can view the full video here. On expectations and new players Johnson: "They’re high. Very high. They have so many ingredients of a team that goes far in the regular season but also goes deep in the playoffs. It starts with the guy taking batting practice behind Corey Perry: Ben Bishop. He’s been one of the best in the league for a while now. He’ll be the foundational piece of what they need to do. You need a couple of stars up front, no pun intended, and they have a few big ones in Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. These guys have been around for a long time. They haven’t had the kind of team success they’ve looked for but they’ve had great individual success. Now they have more bodies and talent around them to support to the demands on those two guys. They’ll play even better because Joe Pavelski is around, Perry is around and Roope Hintz has emerged. Because of that, they’ll get to do more. They haven’t had the depth scoring. The depth scoring hasn’t been the last few years what they’ve needed it t be. Now Perry, if he’s healthy -- he said he’s feeling 100 percent, which has not been the case the last couple of years -- should mean 20-25 goals. Joe Pavelski is 30 (goals) in his sleep. They’ll both have to deal with the change in teams. Even with veteran guys who have been the league and are comfortable in their own skin, to walk into a new team and a new room. On defense Johnson: You have to love some of the pieces they have on defense. John Klingberg -- we know how good he is at moving the puck up the ice Miro Heiskanen was as good as any rookie as there was in the league last year. Between those guys, there goes 50 of the 60 minutes per game -- if they’re on the same pair -- that one of those two guys will be on the ice. They will play in every situation. We know Esa Lindell fits in very nicely with Klingberg. Heiskanen fits in nicely with anybody he plays so they have so many big foundational pieces in place. Man, on paper you really like what you see in Dallas. On Stanley Cup chances Johnson: It’s too early to make those kinds of predictions. I’m always going to take the field. I won’t bet on them to get (to the conference final or beyond) because it’s hard. Ask Tampa Bay. It’s hard to go deep in the playoffs. But they are certainly one of the five or six teams with a real shot of winning the Stanley Cup and that’s all you want ... I think it’s a really comforting, confidence-inducing feeling when you do, and Dallas can look into this season and honestly think “we are one of the teams that has a chance to win. We need to play well. It’s on us. We are capable of it.” That is all you can ask for. Dallas Morning News LOADED: 07.22.2019 1149982 Edmonton Oilers but didn’t overwhelm the competition. I think Tierney is the best available comparable for Marody from the group. Are they ready? Does the James Neal acquisition impact Oilers’ prospects in 2019-20? If we use Tierney as a comparable, or any of the rookies from 2018-19 who were already in the NHL by the end of last season, the answer is By Allan Mitchell Jul 21, 2019 yes. After a couple of injury-plagued campaigns postdraft, Benson was kept in the minors in order to play a lot this past season. Marody did spend time in the NHL, but the team was changing coaches and making trades on the fly so there was little chance to make an impact. In the days before the Oilers traded for James Neal, there was a growing sentiment that Bakersfield Condors winger Tyler Benson had a clear shot I think it’s safe to say both men are in the window of opportunity to begin at an NHL job — on one of the skill lines. Although not as known among their NHL careers. Spending part of next season at Bakersfield shouldn’t Oilers fans, Cooper Marody was also in the conversation after an be met with a raised eyebrow, but both should be expected to compete outstanding debut in the AHL last season. Does the addition of Neal for jobs in Edmonton this fall at camp. block Benson and Marody from a roster spot? Does it prohibit both players from seeing time on a skill line? Let’s have a look, beginning with Does Neal block a roster spot? whether they’re ready for the NHL. If Neal plays right wing, then Benson has a real shot at an NHL job at left AHL entry-contract forwards’ points-per-game 2018-19 wing.