The Anaheim Ducks are already one of the top teams in the NHL.
They continue to vie with the Nashville Predators for the top spot in the West, but seem comfortably on their way to a high postseason seed.
Still, Ducks GM Bob Murray isn't looking at his team as a finished product.
Murray, well aware of the rigors of an NHL season's second-half and the ease with which a handful of ill-timed injuries or a string of poor play can doom a once-promising campaign, is looking to shore up his roster via the potential addition of Buffalo Sabres defenseman, Tyler Myers.
"With the playoffs just over two months away, you can expect the Anaheim Ducks to step up their efforts to acquire Buffalo defenseman Tyler Myers," writes Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. "Anaheim GM Bob Murray doesn't want Myers going to the Red Wings - or anywhere else for that matter - and has held regular talks with Buffalo. If the Sabres are going to move Myers, they want big pieces in return because the organization isn't convinced he won't be just fine down the road. The Ducks have the assets to make the deal and Buffalo GM Tim Murray can get the ball rolling on the deadline. 'He's got the bargaining chips and there's a ton of interest in Myers,' said a league executive."
It's no surprise that there's interest in Myers - the 6-foot-8, 227-pound blueliner is still only 25 years old. His first two seasons in the NHL, Myers managed 11 goals and 37 assists and 10 goals and 27 assists.
He has all the tools to be a top-tier defenseman; the knock against him to this point in his career has simply been consistency, or a lack thereof.
While he has yet to regain the elite form he displayed in his inaugural NHL season, he has, thus far this season, more fully displayed the abilities that made him a first-round pick in the 2008 draft.
Defensemen, like Boston's Zdeno Chara, are known for taking longer to develop at the professional level, so there is, no doubt, concern on the part of the Sabres that shipping him out now, even for a massive haul, could come back to bite them in the end.
For the Ducks, their defensive play has dipped recently and could portend issues in the latter portion of the season. The potential addition of Myers would add a significant presence on the back end and possibly mitigate a hefty portion of the defensive slippage.
