At $5.5m per season for the extension, Tyler Myers is being looked upon as a franchise d-man and with the seven year extension, it makes him a cornerstone of the team well into his prime.
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| The re-signing of Tyler Myers represents the beginning of "the new core." |
All Sabres fans should welcome this as the beginning of "the new core."
We know what "the core" has done over the last four seasons. With the departures of the co-captains in 2007, the team went two seasons without a playoff appearance and followed it with two seasons of one series and out. No bueno.
Gotta remember, though, those players, Derek Roy, Jason Pomminville, and Thomas Vanek along with guys like Jochen Hecht plus d-men like Brian Campbell and Hank Tallinder were all "new-NHL" babies.
GM Darcy Regier has a penchant for drafting soft-but-skilled players, especially during that time period--the Jim Benning scouting-era. They were also reared in Rochester for the "new-NHL" mostly by Randy Cunneyworth and a little bit by Brian McCutcheon.
With "the new-NHL" history and as the Sabres go full-force into the Terry Pegula-era of new ownership, they'll start with none of the above mentioned, save for Regier. Kevin Devine took over the Amateur Scouting Dept. in 2007, Ron Rolston takes over for Kevin Dineen who took over for Cunneyworth, and Kevyn Adams takes over for the departed McCutcheon. Both Rolston and Adams were brought on board this past off-season.
Tyler Myers, for his part, represents the first long-term commitment by the team to a player drafted by Devine.
We all know the story (I hope.)
Devine and his scouts loved Myers and convinced Regier to go after him. Regier and his counterpart in LA, Dean Lombardi, ended up with a swap of picks for Buffalo to move up one spot and prevent any other team from jumping in to select Myers. Regier made the pick and the rest of history goes like this so far:
- Myers heads back to Kelowna for the 2008/09 season and leads the team to the Western Hockey League Championship while being selected as WHL MVP.
- In 2009, he helped Canada win a Gold Medal at the World Junior Championship. It was his second international gold medal, he won his first in April, 2008 as part of the Canadian IIHF U-18 Championship team
- The Sabres signed him to a two-year entry-level contract in 2009 and after a stellar camp and preseason, the Sabres decided for an extended look into the beginning of the 2009/10 season.
- In an unusual move by the Sabres, they decide to keep him with the big club instead of returning him to junior.
- Myers wins the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year as he helps the team make the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
- After an inauspicious start to the 2010/11 season, Myers rebounds in the second half, along with the team, and the Sabres make a strong push to get into the playoffs again.
When Craig Rivet found himself on the bench more often than not, you had a defense-corp that was full of very young d-men still trying to find their way in the league.
All of that contributed to the dreaded "sophomore slump" he was mired in, but Myers rebounded rather quickly and tallied 10 goals, 14 assists and was a plus-10 in the final 54 games of the season.
With only one year left on his entry-level deal, the clock was ticking for Regier to get him re-signed.
Nothing was mentioned about any negotiations this summer and when word finally leaked, the rumors was that he would be receiving a six or seven year contract for somewhere around $5m. That Regier and the Sabres kept a lid on negotiations is not too surprising, that the deal was amicable and easily reached caught some by surprise.
"We had two sides that wanted to stay together," Myers' agent, J.P. Barry, said [of the deal] by phone [to the Buffalo News', John Vogl]. "Tyler wanted to remain a Sabre, and having this done at an early stage was something that he wanted. He's happy that the club approached him about wanting to do this early."
Done deal. "Tyler ain't goin' nowhere," said Pegula.
It's just another in the long line of things that Pegula and Co. have gotten done in a very short span. "We're investing our hearts," said Pegula at the Myers press conference. "We want to build a team and not only the team, the whole organization, the Sabres are a first class organization and they are going to continue to be. We're walking around here like we're winners, and that's our goal."
The Myers extension represents the team's commitment to keeping their own players, is another example of Pegula reaching deep into his pockets to fill the roster with the best players they can get (and/or keep,) and it continues a definitive departure from the previous regime as the team continues to lock up players long term.
As camp practice begins today and as the team readies for the opening of the season, Tyler Myers will look to continue his development, which has already progressed at a staggering pace.
The only question mark going forward is who he'll be along side him on the top defensive pairing. And if the 2011 portion of last season is any indication, it won't really matter. Myers is primed and ready to roll.
So is Pegulaville.
Other links:
http://sabres.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=588564&navid=DL
BUF
home
http://audio.wgr550.com/a/45191308/tyler-myers-press-conference.htm
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/bucky-gleason/article558289.ece
http://blogs.buffalonews.com/sabres/2011/09/sabres-myers-finalize-seven-year-extension.html
http://www.wgrz.com/sports/article/134948/4/Pegula-Were-Investing-our-Hearts
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