Search the Community

Two more new faces, each with question marks Carlo Colaiacovo D (one season left at $900,000 per, age 32) Philadelphia 33/2/6/8/0/10 Matt Donovan D (one season left at $825,000 per, age 25) New York Islanders 13/0/3/3/4/0 A year ago, Tim Murray dove head-first into the bargain bin of depth defencemen and came up with Andre Benoit and Tyson Strachan clutched between his teeth. It wasn’t the meal he was looking for. Each ended up forced into roles above their ability and weren’t invited back. This summer, Murray tried his luck again at the same store. You’d have to have been really paying attention to realize Matt Donovan and Carlo Colaiacovo were in the NHL from start to finish last season. Colaiacovo got good reviews and regular ice time with the Flyers, but his season — as it always is — was limited by injury. From 2008-12, he put up a nice run of 30–point seasons with the Blues — even then missing 15-20 games a year. He’s played just 64 games in the three seasons since. Donovan, meanwhile, defined press-box defenceman. Despite good health, he dressed just 13 times last year for an Islander team that was unwilling to trust him on the ice, or to the waiver wire. The flip side for this Oklahoma-born-and-raised 2010 WJC gold medal winner is that he has dominated offensively every time he has been given the opportunity — 53 points in 87 college games and 119 points 180 games in the AHL. Murray has given a pair of low-profile puck-movers the opportunity to show they are NHL-worthy. Given the lack of depth on the Sabre blueline, fans have to hope they are up to the challenge. Links to the rest of the series: