Buffalo Sabres considering buyout for Cody Hodgson: Report
Cody Hodgson is a young former 20-goal scorer making a decent chunk of change with the Buffalo Sabres and is also a buyout candidate. Yes indeed.
Per WGR 550 in Buffalo, Sabres general manager Tim Murray alluded to the fact he could buy out Hodgson this summer.
Via Paul Hamilton who is the Sabres reporter for WGR.
Cody Hodgson is in Sweden trying to become a better skater. Murray said his agent Claude Lemieux has been sending video updates showing his progress.
Murray said he told Hodgson that he needed to improve his skating and needs to be in better condition.
Murray said a buyout is still a decision. Check back in the next few days as Matthew Coller is preparing a feature on him.
That is something, since Hodgson signed a six-year $25.5 million contract in the summer of 2013. He was acquired by Buffalo in 2012 from Vancouver for Zack Kassian.
In January, the idea was floated by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that Hodgson was a buyout candidate (S/t Mike Halford on tweeting this out)
“Hodgson has been the biggest one. And I wonder if he’s a buyout candidate at the end of the year, honestly. If he’s a guy who’s going to end up being in that position where the Sabres try and buy him out. Because he’s been a fourth-liner this year. They’ve even moved him off center. Clearly he’s in Ted Nolan’s dog house. Maybe – I don’t know – maybe he just needs a fresh start somewhere.
“I was a huge Cody Hodgson fan when he got drafted because I saw him a bit here playing in the Ontario Hockey League. And I don’t know whether it was his back injury, or whatever happened to him in Vancouver – him and Alain Vigneault were not on the same page – but he has seriously not been the same player.
“And I wonder if at this point in time he does get a buyout at the end of the year.”
So that would be quite the name on the free agent market. He’d be 25 years old, and he’s scored 20 goals in a season. Is Hodgson’s decline based on his play or the Sabres tank job? That’s for Murray to evaluate and the rest of us to opine over. Hodgson did score just six goals in 78 games last season.
Per Buffalo Hockey Beat in April:
Instead of a breakout season, Buffalo’s leading scorer in 2013-14 morphed into one of the NHL’s biggest disappointments.
“This is by far the worst years just I’ve had in my whole life, not just in just in a National Hockey League year,” Hodgson said Sunday inside the First Niagara Center as the Sabres cleaned out their lockers following a 30th-place finish. “I can’t explain what happened or what happened in more than one instance.
“It wasn’t just one time. It was consistently, whatever is was, missing opportunities, saves, bad luck – whatever you want to call it. I’ll be much better next year.”
But potentially not for the Sabres?
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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