Notes as the Sabres ready themselves to hit the ice. Cody Hodgson extended

It's time.

Let the hockey season begin.

A few notes as the Sabres hit the ice today for the first time as the second day of training camp gets under way.

But first, the Sabres and Cody Hodgson have agreed to a contract extension. The 23 yr. old center signed a reported 6yr./$25.5M contract yesterday for a cap-hit of $4.25M.

The pros and cons of the long-term deal are many and will undoubtedly be hashed out and beaten to death for years to come. That's simply the way things work in Sabretown.

With the six-year commitment from Buffalo, Sabres GM Darcy Regier and his staff look at Hodgson as a top-six, potential top-line, center for years to come. Hodgson showed great chemistry in the offensive zone with bonafide top-line winger Thomas Vanek.

In the 68 games since coming to the Sabres from Vancouver, Hodgson has 18 goals and 24 assists for .62 pts/game.

But, on the negative side his plus/minus for Buffalo is minus-11. Which brings us the cons.

Matthew Coller of WGR wrote an extensive piece about Hodgson's defensive lapses using a boatload of advanced stats and concludes, "by all statistical measures, he was one of the worst defensive players in the NHL." He also throws in a couple of videos to stress his point.

Nothing earth-shattering. Even Canucks GM Mike Gillis openly admitted that he hid Hodgson's defensive shortcomings and anyone who has watched the Sabres for any length of time will tell you that he needs some serious work in the defensive zone. Something that's not lost on Hodgson.

One should also not dismiss Hodgson's skill and vision on the ice, though. Nor should one dismiss his realtively young age. Nor should one dismiss his commitment to an off season conditioning  program which keeps him in top shape. Regier said that Hodgson has been working with Sabres skating coach Dawn Braid this summer in addition to his annual visit to Gary Roberts' camp.

The skill is there and the dedication seems to be there as well, which makes for a real solid contract, if not steal, down the road.

Hodgson is a very good player right now and seems like a pretty solid character-guy. After travelling from Vancouver to Buffalo to Rochester and back to Buffalo in a matter of 10 months, Hodgson must be pretty happy to establish some roots for the next six years.

For the Sabres, at the very least they have themselves a solid #2 center who should be good for around 60 points per season at a $4.25M cap-hit within an eventual $70-80M salary cap.

Which is a pretty good deal for all parties involved.

***

The Sabres have four players signed long-term, Hodgson, Ville Leino, Christian Ehrhoff and Tyler Myers.

Leino and Ehrhoff were signed at the start of free agency in 2011 while Myers signed an extension later in that off season.

Myers has seen his confidence and performance decline since he won the Calder Cup in 2010 when he was partnered with Henrik Tallinder (Ryan Miller won the Vezina that same year.)

Tallinder was allowed to walk in the 2010 off season (of which owner Terry Pegula was said to term the departure as "unbelievable,") which may or may not have affected Myers' play. But the team thought it would be advantageous to bring Tallinder back and made a trade with New Jersey to get him.

The tall, lanky former 2nd-round pick for Buffalo (1997) came to the defense of his former d-partner, "I think Tyler is an exceptional young man and player," Tallinder said. "When he came in his first year, I've never seen a guy that talented and that good at that age. Or very few of them, that I"ve played with at least. I think he's still young. I think you guys have been pretty hard on him too. He's going to be an exceptionally good player still. Just give him time. Let him play."

Oddly enough, Sabres head coach Ron Rolston has Myers paired with Ehrhoff to start camp while Tallinder will be with rookie defenseman Mark Pysyk.

Tallinder should prove to be a steadying force for a very young Buffalo Sabres squad and looks to be a very busy man.

In addition to helping Myers mature, he'll be mentoring Pysyk and bestowing fatherly advice on fellow Swede, goalie Jhonas Enroth.

Who knows, if he's healthy, maybe he'll even get some 2nd-pairing minutes.


***

This will be Rolston's first full season behind the bench for Buffalo and his first NHL training camp.

Among the things he mentioned:

• Forward Tyler Ennis, whom Rolston likes at center, will start the season on left wing. Mikhail Grigorenko will join Hodgson down the middle
• He and his staff will decide the captain, not the players, and they will take their time
• All players look to be healthy, including Leino who's coming off of hip surgery, save for Chad Rhuwedel. The defenseman suffered an upper-body injury at Traverse City and is day-to-day

On his coaching staff, Rolston said "It was an interesting process. It was the first time I've constructed a staff of this magnitude."

Two of his assistants, Joe Sacco and Jerry Forton were professional acquaintances.

On Sacco who was hired July 2, Rolston emphasized his experience and success as a head coach (Jack Adams candidate with Colorado.) He talked about Sacco's work ethic, knowledge of the game and his communication skills who has been with young teams and knows how to develop them.

Rolston had known recent hire Forton for years through college connections. Forton, he said, "has a lot of character, a lot of integrity and a tremendous passion for the game. He shows a lot of grit as a person overall.

The final thing, which is probably most important, is he's an outstanding communicator and relationship-builder."

Forton will be up in the pressbox replacing Teppo Numminen.

Numminen has been up in the press box for the Sabres for two years and will now be on the bench.

Rolston said that Numminen wasn't in as prominent a position before as he will be now. "He'll be running the defensive core and he'll be working with our powerplay," said Rolston. "He in the position now where he'll be able to make a big difference for our hockey team."

Defense and powerplay? With the performance of the team in those two areas over the years, I'd say Numminen has his work cut out for him.


***

Regier took to the podium and talked about impending free agents Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller.

Not much needs to be said. Everyone's in a holding pattern, just like the league in general when it comes to player movement.

Late July, after second-tier free agent signings, and August are usually devoid of player movement and this summer was no exception. Especially with the salary cap diving to $64M from $70M.

Regier said the trade-window was "closed right now" and that he doesn't expect much to happen on that front until the deadline approaches.

Vanek addressed the issue in his cold, business-like fashion (which isn't necessarily a bad thing.) He basically said that he was here as a Buffalo Sabre and from his standpoint he'd like to see where this rebuild goes before talking extension. And he expects the Sabers to take the same approach.

Vanek has said before that he likes to keep his options open.

As for Miller, he was a bit warmer to Buffalo and the thought of an extension, "Darcy [Regier] has to build a team and maybe he feels he wants me here," said Miller. "I'm happy to be here, I have a great connection with the city."

He reiterated that he and his agent Mike Liut never asked for a trade yet also knew that it was a possibility and said of a possible trade, "I don't know if that was the best thing for me anyway."

Regier was on WGR this morning and made it clear that the organization would welcome the opportunity to talk to both players but emphasized that the club does not have a standing offer for Vanek or Miller.

Another player that will be a free agent at season's end is forward Steve Ott. Regier said that the two sides have had some preliminary conversations.


***

The Sabres training camp roster:

BUFFALO SABRES 2013 TRAINING CAMP ROSTER

# DEFENSE POS HT WT S BIRTHPLACE DATE 12-13 TEAM GP G A PTS PIM

67 Austin, Brady D 6-3 232 L Bobcaygeon, Ontario 6-16-93 Belleville (OHL) 64 8 15 23 22

24 Bagnall, Drew D 6-3 220 L Oakbank, Manitoba 10-26-83 Houston (AHL) 47 1 5 6 88

42 Boland, Connor D 6-2 200 L Whitby, Ontario 11-29-94 Peterborough (OHL) 49 1 2 3 34

62 Crawford, Nick D 6-1 192 L Brampton, Ontario 2-23-90 Rochester (AHL) 53 5 14 19 18

10 Ehrhoff, Christian D 6-2 203 L Moers, Germany 7-6-82 Buffalo Sabres 47 5 17 22 34

34 Gauthier-Leduc, Jerome D 6-1 190 R Quebec City, Quebec 7-30-92 Rochester (AHL) 48 3 4 7 8

51 Lepkowski, Alex D 6-4 202 L West Seneca, New York 4-8-93 Barrie (OHL) 60 0 9 9 78

47 MacKenzie, Matt D 6-5 212 R New Westminster, British Columbia 10-15-91 Rochester (AHL) 30 0 4 4 66

Gwinnett (ECHL) 2 1 0 1 2

4 McBain, Jamie D 6-2 200 R Edina, Minnesota 2-25-88 Carolina Hurricanes 40 1 7 8 12

44 McNabb, Brayden D 6-5 212 L Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 1-21-90 Rochester (AHL) 62 5 31 36 50

57 Myers, Tyler D 6-8 227 R Houston, Texas 2-1-90 Buffalo Sabres 39 3 5 8 32

3 Pysyk, Mark D 6-1 193 R Sherwood Park, Alberta 1-11-92 Rochester (AHL) 57 4 14 18 20

Buffalo Sabres 19 1 4 5 0

55 Ristolainen, Rasmus D 6-4 224 R Turku, Finland 10-27-94 TPS (SM-liiga) 56 3 12 15 32

5 Ruhwedel, Chad D 5-11 182 R San Diego, California 5-7-90 UMass-Lowell (H-East) 41 7 16 23 20

Buffalo Sabres 7 0 0 0 0

52 Sulzer, Alexander D 6-1 204 L Kaufbeuren, Germany 5-30-84 Buffalo Sabres 17 3 1 4 10

20 Tallinder, Henrik D 6-4 215 L Stockholm, Sweden 1-10-79 New Jersey Devils 25 1 3 4 10

6 Weber, Mike D 6-2 199 L Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 12-16-87 Buffalo Sabres 42 1 6 7 70

61 Zadorov, Nikita D 6-5 219 L Moscow, Russia 4-15-95 London (OHL) 63 6 19 25 54

# GOALTENDER POS. HT WT C BIRTHPLACE DATE 12-13 TEAM GP W-L-OT GAA

1 Enroth, Jhonas G 5-10 166 L Stockholm, Sweden 6-25-88 Buffalo Sabres 12 4-4-1 2.60

31 Hackett, Matt G 6-2 173 L London, Ontario 3-7-90 Houston (AHL) 43 19-20-3 2.66

Rochester (AHL) 3 3-0-0 1.62

Minnesota Wild 1 0-1-0 5.08

49 Knapp, Connor G 6-5 215 L York, New York 5-1-90 Rochester (AHL) 7 1-6-0 3.34

Greenville (ECHL) 12 5-7-0 3.05

50 Lieuwen, Nathan G 6-5 192 L Abbotsford, British Columbia 8-8-91 Rochester (AHL) 4 1-2-0 2.65

Greenville (ECHL) 27 14-10-2 2.93

35 Makarov, Andrey G 6-1 193 L Kazan, Russia 4-20-93 Saskatoon (WHL) 61 37-17-5 2.62

30 Miller, Ryan G 6-2 175 L East Lansing, Michigan 7-17-80 Buffalo Sabres 40 17-17-5 2.81

General Manager: Darcy Regier

Head Coach: Ron Rolston

Asst. Coach: Joe Sacco

Asst. Coach: Teppo Numminen

Asst. Coach: Jerry Forton

Goaltending Coach: Jim Corsi

Strength & Conditioning Coach: Doug McKenney

Admin. Asst. Coach: Corey Smith

Sabres news and notes as training camp draws near

With training camp set to begin next week, slowly but surely players are making their way to Buffalo.

Two veterans, Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek, have arrived. The pair are in the last year of their respective contracts and will be facing questions about trades and contract extensions all season until either a trade or extension is consumated.

Which is reminiscent of former Sabre Brian Campbell's situation back in the 2007-08 season.

Jon Vogl of the Buffalo News tracked down Campbell to discuss Miller and Vanek's situation and what he went through.

'I felt fine [for most of the season,] then the last few games before [the trade deadline] that I think it weighed on my mind pretty heavily,' Campbell said. 'I didn’t play very good the last couple games because mentally I wasn’t in it.'

The difference between Campbell and Miller/Vanek is that Campbell wanted to stay.

Both Miller and Vanek are playing their cards close to the vest for now and are looking at it as an emotionless business decision on the parties involved.

Just how long that will last remains to be seen.


***

Vogl pens a piece on Vanek and the star winger delves into the past and present while admitting that he's not surprised to still be with the team.

Alluding to the 2005-07 teams, Vanek said, '[our] teams in the past we’ve had, we had off nights and we would still win. I don’t think that’s going to happen too much anymore.' As for where the Sabres are now, 'Whoever makes our team, we won’t be favored by anyone.'

Vanek, in his business-like approach to the season, will be using his status as an unrestricted free agent at year's end to assess the situation in Buffalo and decide what's best for him on his side of the equation. The Sabres, of course, will be deciding what's best for the team on their end.

Said Vanek on the upcoming season, 'I just want to see where it goes. I have that right, and I’m taking it. I don’t feel like I’m doing a disservice to anyone. Some people might agree with me, some don’t. That’s the way it goes either way.'

Back in 2007, Vanek also had the right to sign Edmonton's 7yr./$51M offer sheet, which he did.

It's a business. He knows it and has known it.

Was he surprised that he's presently slated for the Sabres camp next week?

'No, not at all,' he said. 'My end-of-the-year meeting was good. I just said my thoughts. I never asked for a trade, so from that point on I’m not surprised that I’m still here. But at the same time, if they would have moved me, I wouldn’t have been surprised either way.'

I'd be surprised if Vanek was a Buffalo Sabre after the deadline. Opportunity is knocking. He could very well be looking for one of those teams who can have an off night and still win and be paid a handsome sum on said team.


***

What do Toronto's Nazem Kadri, Ottawa's Jared Cowen, the Ranger's Derek Stephan and Buffalo's Cody Hodgson all have in common?

They're all talented players coming off of their entry level contracts looking for a big raise after playing at a high level last season. And they're all unsigned as of yet.

As for Hodgson, he believes that he and the Sabres "[will] get something done."

Vogl quotes Hodgson as saying 'I like it here [in Buffalo],' and the 23 yr. old center points to the way Drew Stafford and Tyler Ennis came off of their entry level deals.

'[Stafford] told me he was just about going on the ice when he signed his contract,” Hodgson said. “I know Ennis was right up to the last minute, too. I’m excited to be here, and I’m just focusing on what I’ve got to do to get ready for the training camp.”

Quite the proffesional approach.


***

Sabres forward Ville Leino and his contract will always be the butt of jokes. Something's not right if there's a Sabres season prediction and his $27M contract doesn't come up.

Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald writes that Leino will be ready for camp after having hip surgery this summer.

Leino says that he was having hip problems dating back to his days in Detroit four years ago. He had surgery on one side in 2010 and was playing through pain the last few years as the right side was acting up.

But, 'Now they’re both fixed up,' Leino said last week after skating with some teammates inside the Riverside Ice Rink. 'Obviously, the right one doesn’t feel exactly normal. It’s probably going to take a little bit. But it’s definitely better than it was.'

Another area that might have been "fixed up" for Leino is the coaching situation.

Leino couldn't get much going when Lindy Ruff was at the helm, but he seems to have taken to new bench-boss Ron Rolston and his approach. 'I like the way he coaches,' Leino said about Rolston. 'He demands a lot. He’s very detail-oriented. The stuff that he talks makes sense to me. I think he’s fair. If you play good and work really hard, you get to play. Yeah, I’m intrigued what this season brings.'

Throughout the last couple of seasons with Buffalo, Leino has had a littany of excuses for his below average play.

With healthy hips and a coach that "makes sense to him" it would seem as if there are no more excuses which leads to a make-or-break year for Leino.

For the sake of the Sabres, let's hope it's a "make."

"Would Ryan Miller for Paul Stastny make sense," was the question posed by Lyle Richardson...

...for The Hockey News' Rumor Roundup.

Richardson of spectorshockey.net was taking on a rumor that had been getting a lot of attention lately. In an off season with little movement and no major surprises, news is pretty hard to come by. The Miller for Stastny rumor seemed to work on the surface, but one shouldn't get their hopes up.

The similarities between Sabres goalie Miller and Avalanche center Stastny are uncanny.

Both carry a $6M+ cap hit (Miller-$6.25, Stastny-$6.6) and will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the 2013-14 season.

Both at one time were highly regarded at their positions--Miller won the Vezina in 2010, Stastny scored at nearly a point/game pace in his rookie season and was second for the Calder Trophy behind the Penguins Evgeni Malkin.

Yet both have seen their numbers decline in the last few years of their contract. They're on teams that are in various stages of a rebuild and both it could be said play at a position of strength in the organization.

Even though it might seemingly make sense, Adrian Dater of The Denver Post came right out and shot down the idea writing, "There were a couple of reports the last two days that a Paul Stastny-Ryan Miller trade could be happening. But it won’t. I’m told by reputable types that there is nothing to the rumors, that the deal won’t happen."

The Miller/Stastny rumor is packaged real nice. Packaged so nicely that any hockey fan, blogger, wanna-be blogger, rumor monger or rumor site could make a strong case for it to happen.

And it really could happen. But both the Sabres and the Avalanche have other needs while the players Miller and Stastny would supposedly unseat are still growing into their roles and have untapped potential.

In July 2011 the Avalanche traded away a first round and a second round pick to Washington for Semyon Varlamov who was coming off of a strong campaign in a limited role for the Caps. They immediately signed him to a three year/$8.5M contract as their #1 goalie.

Since going to Colorado, Varlamov's number have declined, but most attribute it to a porous defense (which also leads many to wonder why the 'Lanche didn't pick defenseman Seth Jones first overall at the draft.)

Does Miller heading to Colorado make sense? Will he be able to rescue their poor defense?

No. He hasn't been able to do it in Buffalo and he won't be able to do it their either. He's not that type of goalie. Miller's numbers have been in a similar decline to those of Varlamov.

As for Stastny, the Sabres no doubt could use a top-line center. But is Stastny a bonafide #1 center?

Stats would say no. He may have been four or five years ago, but right now he should be considered a top-six center.

At 27 yrs. old, Stastny is just hitting his prime, but his statistical output seems to be leveling off somewhat. Matt Duchene seems to have eclipsed him on the depth chart, and 2013 first-overall pick Nathan MacKinnon wasn't drafted to play third-line center.

The Sabres certainly have questions at the center position right now, but the answers will come within the organization this year and possibly even next.

Cody Hodgson looks to be the teams' #1 center for the upcoming season. He's young and showing signs of steady improvement. This year he scored 15 goals and had 19 assists in 48 games (Stastny had 9 goals, 15 assists in 40 games.)

Stastny and Hodgson are very similar players with a very similar build. The bid difference between the two seems to be upside. Stastny's may be limited while Hodgson still has a room to make a big jump.

This proposed trade really doesn't make a lot of sense for either team, but it does give hope to fans who have wanted to see both of them moved off of their respective teams.

It was fun to consider, and great for a debate, but this one's pretty much dead in the water.

Like Dater wrote, "let's move on to the next rumor."

How much is RFA Cody Hodgson worth?

...And how long should his contract be?

Contract talks between the Buffalo Sabres and the Cody Hodgson camp don't seem to be headed anywhere right now. Hodgson is coming off of his entry level contract and his agent Ritch Winter, like any agent worth their salt, is looking to maximize the top-six center's worth in both dollars and term.

Winter has been in the business for quite a while and for Sabres fans, he'll be remembered for his impact on Dominik Hasek, and the end of "the Dominator's" era in Buffalo. He's a tough agent who won't hesitate to go for the jugular in contract negotiations and isn't affraid to have his client holdout or demand a trade.

As for Hodgson, what is his worth to the Sabres right now?

The 23 yr. old center is coming off of his second "full" season in the NHL, last year being a lockout shortened 48-game schedule. While in Vancouver, he was in a third-line center role as dictated by the players in front of him on the depth chart--Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler.

After coming over to the Sabres at the 2012 trade deadline, he was slotted as a second-line center behind Derek Roy. The other top-nine center slot was a mess as free agent signee Ville Leino was tried on numerous occasions to fill that role only to fail miserably. The team eventually settled upon Tyler Ennis as the third-line center for the last 20 games of the season.

Heading into the 2013-14 season, Hodgson should be considered a top-six center in the league, although on the Sabres he would be headed into camp a little above that as their top-line center.

For stats-geeks Hodgson shows solid progression from his Vancouver/Buffalo season to last season:  .49 pts./game in 2011-12; .71 ppg in 2012-13.

Last season .71 ppg ranked him 82nd overall in the league, 23rd amongst centers.

On the negative side, his minus-4 put him way down the ladder overall. Interesting to note, though, is that his plus/minus only started to tumble when he came to the Sabres. In 2011-12 he had a plus-8 with the Canucks and a minus-7 with the Sabres.

This may be the reason why.

Canucks GM Mike Gillis admittedly "built Hodgson into an NHL scorer" and hid Hodgson's deficiencies on defence by giving him an inordinate amount of offensive zone starts to make him "something we could move." Said Gillis, "We put Cody on the ice in every offensive situation we could."

It worked.

The 'Nucks sent Hodgson to Buffalo for fello first round pick Zack Kassian, who was one of six young players Gillis coveted.

Hodgson had good production for the Sabres last year as his 34 points were second on the team. But his minus-4 ranked him near the bottom in Buffalo.

The Buffalo News' Jon Vogl summed it up nicely whe he said, "The 23-year-old [Hodgson] saw goal lights flashing at both ends of the rink all season. His advance stats feature offensive promise and defensive nightmares."

Vogl continued:

The Sabres averaged 2.91 goals per 60 minutes when Hodgson skated five-on-five, according to BehindTheNet.ca, a website dedicated to hockey statistics. That number put him ahead of star centers such as Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux (2.90), Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom (2.89) and the New York Rangers’ Brad Richards (2.88).

While his offense was stellar, the other side of Hodgson’s game was a mess. Opponents averaged 3.64 goals against him per 60 minutes while skating five-on-five. Of the 689 skaters who appeared in at least 10 games, Hodgson ranked 665th.

In other words, only 24 players in the league were easier to score against.

Hodgson, defensive nightmares and all, may in fact be the most skilled player on the Buffalo Sabres at this point (sans 29 yr. old Thomas Vanek.)

After his first game as a Buffalo Sabre back in 2012 I wrote, "Vancouver has some real good forward depth from the skill side to be able to trade away a talent like him, Hodgson already looks to be better than almost anyone on the team up-front.

His skating is pretty smooth, he has great on-ice vision, his transition game is quick, he backs off the defenders and he always seems to be in the right position."

And Hodgson still has tremendous up-side on offense. For a team like Buffalo that was 23rd in the league in goals for, they could use all the help they can get.

He also showed great progress under the guidance of head coach Ron Rolston.

With Rolston as head coach for the Amerks during the lockout, Hodgson had what might be considered a solid stat line:  19 games; 5 goals, 14 assists, minus-3.

When Lindy Ruff was fired and Rolston was promoted to Sabres head coach, Hodgson's stat line was 22 games; 6g, 9a, plus-4.

Projecting out, there's no reason to believe that Hodgson won't continue to progress. He's still learning the game, still adjusting to playing against the opposition's best forwards on the top line and he's still working out every summer with Gary Roberts.

Is a consistent 70-80 point producer too far fetched?

Not at all.

While the Hodgson camp is correct in not accepting a "prove it"-type bridge contract the Sabres, especially after dolling out a big long-term contract to Tyler Myers, are rightfully skeptical about going big money/long-term again.

Hodgson will make more than Tyler Ennis' $2.8M per season, and if the Sabres were dumb enough to pay $4M to Drew Stafford and $4.5M to Ville Leino, it's not Hodgson's fault.

A 4yr./$16M contract might be one for them to look into with the Sabres doing most of the giving here.

Hodgson gets himself a hefty pay raise and a contract that will take him to unrestricted free agency at the end of it.

Buffalo gets themselves a top-six forward, potential top-line center for four years while the wealth of center prospects in the organization have the opportunity to sort themselves out.

After year three, both sides will have the opportunity to re-evaluate the situation and see how they'd like to move forward which would mean another extension or a trade.

It's something they all should be able to live with.



Edit:  6yrs/$28.5m
         $4.25m cap-hit
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=682169

Thomas Vanek will probably be having his cake and eating it somewhere other than Buffalo

Sabres forward Thomas Vanek has things falling into place for him once again.

The 2013-14 season will mark the last year of the seven-year/$50M contract he signed in 2007. And just like in 2007 when he delayed an extension with the Buffalo Sabres, the star winger looks to be heading towards the 2014 off-season ready to max out his value on the open market.

"I've never been a person to narrow my choices down," he said in an interview with KSTP (via WKBW.com) at the University of Minnesota where he's presently working out.

Back in 2006-07, Vanek was coming off his rookie contract just as league revenues, and henceforth the league salary cap, were really beginning to ramp up. Rather than sign an extension with the Sabres during the season, Vanek and his agent waited for the off season where he signed a $50M offer-sheet from Edmonton. It was immediately matched by the Sabres.

That was some pretty good timing as a number of stars aligned for him.

League revenues were soaring at the time. Edmonton wanted to--needed to--land a star player. The Sabres had screwed things up with Daniel Briere and Chris Drury and Vanek was coming off of a career year.

After signing that contract, the star winger never came close to the 43 goal, 84 point season he had in that contract year. He averaged 32 goals, 63 points in five full seasons before last year's lockout.

Last season he was a point per game player scoring 20 goals and adding 21 assists in 38 games. He missed 10 games in the NHL's lockout shortened season due to injury.

Which leads us to where the Sabres and Vanek are right now.

Vanek, who has been luke-warm (at best) to a long rebuild in Buffalo, commented on his status in the KTSP interview. "We're rebuilding," he said, "and I'm hoping we have the right pieces to accomplish something."

"I'm not saying I'm old," he continued, "but at the same time you'd like to be on a team where you feel like going into camp you're contending. Right now in Buffalo we're rebuilding which is not the best case scenario for me."

This is right in line with what his thought process has been since captain Jason Pominville was traded to the Minnesota Wild at the trade deadline.

“Let’s be honest,” Vanek told the Buffalo News back in late April. “I’m not stupid. I know I have a year left and they can probably deal me for prospects, young guys, whatever else is out there. Yeah, I’ve thought about it. If it looks like it’s a long rebuild, then it probably makes sense for both parties to move on.”

Pretty frank words coming from a player who's best friend and neighbor (Pominville) had just been traded to the Wild at the trade deadline.

There has been no movement for him since. He remains a Sabre and, in a business-like approach, he stated simply that he's ready to hit camp this September as a member of the Buffalo Sabres.

The big hindrance to his movement (read trade) is his $7.1M cap-hit. The salary cap for this season is set at $64.3M, which is down from $70M this past season. Not very many teams have the wiggle room to absorb that much money for a potential rental player.

Projections for the 2013-14 season, however, have the cap jumping up to around $70M. Which bodes well for Vanek as he seems to have some of the stars aligning once again.

There will be many teams with the cap-space to sign him to a very lucrative and presumably long-term contract. Especially a team like Minnesota, who looks to be one of those places where he can "feel like he's going into camp contending."

Vanek is a bonafide top-line winger in his prime who can score in a many different ways. There are many teams out there who will covet his skill level and he will be free to pick and choose the right situation for him.

It's highly doubtful that the Buffalo organization is the right situation for him at this time, even if the Sabres offer him a very lucrative deal.

As a businessman, he'll be looking to maximize his value, just like he and his agent did when they worked the 2007 off season. As a hockey player, his most recent statements with KTSP indicate that he's thinking about his NHL mortality and wants to be on a team contending for the Stanley Cup.

Add it up and Thomas Vanek will have his cake, and will be eating it too.

Just not in Buffalo.

Welcome to the Atlantic Division, NHL schedule released. Plus RFA signings and Eric Locke

Last season as a member of the five-team Northeast Division the Buffalo Sabres finished 12th in the Eastern Conference, seven points back of the eighth-seeded NY Islanders.

For the 2013-14 season Buffalo will be a part of the newly constructed Atlantic Division featuring the Sabres four foes from the NE--Boston, Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa--two teams from the former Southeast Division, Tampa Bay and Florida as well as transplanted Western Conference powerhouse Detroit.

Last season all four division opponents made the playoffs.

If you add Detroit to the mix, their 56 points would have been enough to knock the Islanders out of the No. 8 spot.

Heading into the upcoming season, with realignment comes a new playoff format.

The top three teams in each conference are in the playoffs, while the two teams from each conference with the next best records will get in as wild cards.

Looking at last season through the lens of the new playoff format, these would be your playoff teams:
Montreal, Boston and Toronto from freshly minted Atlantic division; Pittsburgh, Washington and the NY Rangers from the new Metropolitan Division.

The two wild card teams would have been Detroit and Ottawa.

Five of the eight teams in Buffalo's division would have made the playoffs and the Sabres would have placed 14th in the conference when you factor in new Eastern Conference addition of Columbus and their 55 points.

For 2013-14, in honor of the new divisions, Buffalo heads to Detroit on October 2nd to kick off the season.

If Sabres fans thought facing division foes Montreal, Boston, Toronto and Ottawa wasn't enough, having to play Detroit four times with Buffalo in rebuild-mode is enough to for them start thinking about tanking for Sam Reinhart or Aaron Ekblad in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

Many will look even further down the road and dream of the 2015 Draft and phenom Connor McDavid.

It will be a tough year for one of the youngest teams in the NHL. It will be even tougher if (when?) the Sabres move their two best players, Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek.

And to complicate things even further, there's a compressed schedule because of the NHL and it's players participating in the Olympics.

Here's a link to a schedule overview from Sabres.com.


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In other news, the Sabres signed two restricted free agents--F Brian Flynn and D Nick Crawford.

Flynn got the call last season when Vanek went down with an injury and never left. He earned himself a two-year deal.

Crawford, a 6th round pick in 2008 has played 199 games for the Sabres in the AHL, signed a one-year contract.


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The 2013 Draft has been in the books for a few weeks now and the general consensus is that the Sabres really nailed it.

It will be years before the final results are tallied but first-rounders Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadarov look to be a couple of good ones.

Further down the draft, the Sabres had quite a few picks in the bottom rounds including their final pick of the draft, 7th-rounder (#189-overall,) F Eric Locke.

There's always a heightened sense of optimism at the draft as hope reigns supreme, and Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald, runs with it.

Hoppe interviews Locke's former coach Greg Gilbert for an article which embodies optimism and hope while invoking the name of a Hall-of-Fame sniper. The title of the piece:  Coach believes high-scoring Sabres prospect Eric Locke has Brett Hull-like shot.

Neither writer nor coach go as far to say that Locke will approach Hull's 844 goals, but Locke's shot does make for an interesting conversation piece. And seventh-rounders rarely make it to the NHL.

Coach Gilbert, from the Hoppe piece, on Locke and the player his shot reminds him of:

'Brett Hull, to be honest with you. I mean, Hully was special, there’s no question about it. But Eric’s got that potential. He’s got that quick release. He’s low to the ice. He goes through the shot. He scored goals for us this year from just inside the blue line over the goalie’s glove. The goalies didn’t move.'

Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com first brought Locke to our attention when he said, "Locke has speed in open ice and a nice release that sees him pick corners. The Toronto native's 97 points (44+53) [last season] more than doubled the output of his previous two years combined (46+48)."

Baker points out that it was the fifth straight year that the Sabres selected an overager (Locke is 19) with a late round pick and that the players before Locke were big, physical players.

At 5'10" and with elite skills, Locke, according to Baker, fits "the Sabres need for scoring down the wings."

Maybe Locke will be the gift from the hockey gods for the Sabres now being in one of the toughest (maybe toughest) divisions in the NHL.

Why is The Hockey News' Adam Proteau so concerned with the Sabres' inactivity so far?

Noted hockey writer Adam Proteau has very little to write about this summer. Just like the hockey world in general.

It's the dog days of summer and we're just getting off a week where fans of the big-four North American sports were relegated to MLB's Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, The ESPY's and the International League All-Star Game.

"It’s nearly August, for hockey gods’ sake." cries out Proteau. "Does anyone want to tell Sabres GM Darcy Regier and his Capitals counterpart George McPhee?"

That was the opener to his piece Sabres, Caps must stop standing pat, and Proteau proceeds to bemoan the lack of activity from two teams he says are "doing their best statue impersonations at a time in each team’s history that cries out for at least a modicum of change."

Sabres fans know that goalie Ryan Miller and winger Thomas Vanek are on the block. We also know that Regier is slow, calculated and meticulous when it come to moving pieces. We know that it takes two to tango and that there are many GM's in the league who are just like Regier when it comes to valuing their players.

Therefore, nothing is happening right now with Miller and Vanek and there's the possibility that the Sabres could enter camp with both on the roster. Which, for Proteau, constitutes a "devotion to the core [which] is more than a little curious. It’s bordering on pathological and getting closer to crossing that border with every day of transactional inactivity."

Miller and Vanek are the last two pieces of Regier's "core." And they happen to be the best two players of that underachieving group that havd not gotten past the first round of the playoffs since 2007.

"Loyalty," writes Proteau, "is admirable to a degree, but eventually that attitude turns into organizational inertia and that’s what puts teams in a competitive death spiral."

Proteau is about two years behind his "loyalty" assessment with Regier and the Sabres.

When owner Terry Pegula took over, he allowed Regier to keep his "core" intact and allowed the GM to add whatever pieces that were necessary.

They failed. And Regier's "core" is in the process of being dismantled.

Since their last playoff appearance in 2011, (Pegula's first few months as owner,) only five players who played 60 or more games for the team that year remain with the big-club:  Miller, Vanek, Drew Stafford, Tyler Ennis, and Tyler Myers.

Defenseman Mike Weber, forward Patrick Kaleta and back-up goalie Jhonas Enroth, although not playing in 60 games, also played significant roles on the team.

That's a roster turnover of nearly two-thirds in the last two seasons, and of those eight players that are presently on the roster, only three are over the age of 26:  Miller (33,) Vanek (29,) and Stafford (27.)

Despite Proteau's claim that the Sabres shouldn't "make a deal just to make headlines," that seems to be what he's getting at.

Proteau wants, needs, "headlines."

That's his concern.

As for us Sabres fans? We know the drill.

Regier will pull something off that no one expected at a time when no one is watching. That's how he rolls.

No cause for concern at this point.

Quick hits as the dog-days of summer commence

It's July.

With the prospect camp finished, Sabres-related news will be relegated to the Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek trade watch (see watched-pot and boiling) and a depth signing or two.

As of right now, the off-season has consisted of a widely considered strong draft and the homecoming of defenseman Henrik Tallinder.

Some quick hits on the past couple of weeks.


Most 2013 Draft mocks had the Sabres going after a forward and a defensemen with their two 1st-round picks. A couple had them picking two defensemen. Almost invariably, all of them had the Sabres landing a "puck-mover" type defensemen, a hallmark of GM Darcy Regier's team-building for years, with one of their two 1st-rounders.

Lo and behold, the Sabres, with Assistant GM/Head Scout Kevin Devine leading the charge, chose two big, strong defensemen with an edge:  Rasmus Ristolainen (#8) and Nikita Zadorov (#16.) Both should not be confused with a pylon like Derian Hatcher, but they shouldn't be confused with Tallinder either.

A couple of names the Sabres passed up at No.8 were highly skilled winger Valeri Nichushkin and highly skilled center Alexander Wennberg. At No.16 they had "puck-mover" Mirco Mueller and a high-scoring winger Anthony Mantha available, but passed.

Devine said at last year's draft the Sabres wanted to get "bigger, stronger, faster." Regier said that the team needs to get bigger and needs to have players with "compete."

Sabres Owner Terry Pegula stated at his first presser that he wants "not only statistically good players, but winners, gritty players" and said that he wants "hard workers."

Most draft reviews have the Sabres scoring big in the draft, in no small part to selecting Ristolainen and Zadorov.

In Sabreland, the team scored big just for the fact that the team finally seems to be moving fully away from the "core" years.


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Speaking of "the core."

A big part of Regier's "puck-moving" back end was the aforementioned Tallinder.

The defenseman was the second player selected (#48 overall) by the Sabres in 1997, Regier's first draft as GM of the Buffalo Sabres.

Tallinder is a pretty big d-man at 6'3" 216 lbs., but he's as soft as the day is long. He was on the ice, looking directly at Scott Gomez when the NYR center tripped up, and injured, Ryan Miller. And he did nothing.



Tallinder does have some positives.

He has a long reach and when he was paired with rookie Tyler Myers good things happened. Myer's won the Calder Trophy and Miller won the Vezina.

Most importantly, though, Tallinder has a big fan in Sabres owner Terry Pegula.

Pegula was quoted as saying that he couldn't comprehend the former regime letting the defenseman walk over contract length, and he also, according to the Buffalo News' Bucky Gleason, said that losing Tallinder and Toni Lydman in 2010 was worse than losing Drury and Briere.

First thought when I caught wind of the trade with New Jersey (for Riley Boychuk) was that Pegula had an influence on bringing Tallinder back.

*shrugs*


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The addition of Tallinder really crowded the blueline and the Sabres now (again) have a number of NHL d-men headed into camp.

That number just increased by one as 2013 1st-round draft pick Ristolainen signed his entry-level contract last week.

Said Regier of the big Finnish defenseman, "We felt that it was important to get Rasmus under contract quickly so that we could start the development process right away. He's a very mature defenseman for his age and will have every chance to compete for a roster spot in training camp."

There was a bit of a "ta-do" with Ristolainen concerning his intentions for the upcoming season. He'd been in the Finnish Elite League and came into the prospects camp saying he had a contract with his hometown team while implying that it would be Finland or Buffalo. No Rochester.

The "ta-do" was comparisons to Russian Valeri Nichushkin who came out and said that he would either play in the NHL or the KHL. No AHL.

Buffalo passed on Nichushkin, a highly skilled winger, because of doubts about his intentions.

Regardless, the Sabres have Ristolainen under contract and according to Kevin Oklobzija of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, playing on the Amerks is an option:

"Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is eligible to play for the Rochester Americans, should he not earn a roster spot with the parent Buffalo Sabres during training camp.

The clarification comes this morning from Sabres assistant general manager Kevin Devine, and is presumably due to the NHL contract that the 18-year-old Ristolainen signed on Friday night."

Many, though, think that Ristolainen has a good shot of making the team out of camp.

Which makes for an even more crowded blueline.


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As of right now, Myers, Christian Ehrhoff and Mike Weber are pretty much locks for the defense corps.

Tallinder and Alexander Sulzer, as vets, would probably have the inside track for two of the remaining three spots.

Mark Pysyk had a strong showing in a short stint last season while leapfrogging Brayden McNabb, who was solid in 2011-12.

Jamie McBain came over from Carolina in the Andrej Sekera deal and is expected to be a 7th d-man or in the minors.

And Chad Ruhwedel played a pretty solid game for the team last season, but could be headed to the AHL as well.

That's nine NHL'ers heading into camp. Throw in Ristolainen and there are 10 defensemen battling it out for seven spots.

Pysyk, McNabb, Ruhwedel and Ristolainen all can be sent to Rochester without clearing waivers.

McBain is another option. Although he would need to clear waivers it's possible he may clear. He had a horrendous season last year.


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A quick look at the top remaining free agents this year and whether they should end up in Buffalo:

• Jaromir Jagr--would be joining Tallinder in the "mentor" role. Why not? But don't get too comfy. After 50 or so games get them bags ready for a trade to a contender.
• Mikhail Grabovski--Meh. The Sabres already have a Mikhail and a multitude of second-line centers. Love his grasp of the English language, though.
• Damien Brunner--Anyone after him is obviously suffering short-term memory loss. Does Ville Leino ring a bell?
• Dustin Penner--Even if the Sabres traded his twin, Drew Stafford, do they really need a lesser version of that type of player?
• Brendan Morrow--He's 34 yrs. old, but his rambunctious style of play makes him seem older. There's a youth movement in Buffalo (minus the Tallinder trade.) Adding a vet wouldn't really be a good fit. And besides, it would seem as if he'd rather go to a contender in the twilight of his career.
• Daniel Cleary--First option would be to stay in Detroit. But that might not be feasible. As an excellent two-way winger, there could be a fit in Buffalo. Pretty sure he'll have other options.

Lock the Blues' Armstrong and the Sabres' Regier in a room until a deal is done

Rumors perked up over the past week concerning long-time Sabres goalie Ryan Miller.

Miller's name first surfaced on the trade market back in March when Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos (via prohockeytalk) said:

"The other interesting name that's starting to float around is, yes, Ryan Miller. Miller's got another year at over $6M next season, but he's not going to get a contract extension and it's time to move on. They'd dearly love to move him at the deadline, but with that shrinking goaltender market out there it might not be the case. They might have to wait until the summer or even into next season.

But Ryan Miller's days are numbered in Buffalo."

It's been four months since Kypreos said that and in that time, Sabres GM Darcy Regier has been unable to come up with a trade to his liking.

And it's driving Sabres fans nuts.

WGR's Matthew Coller wrote a piece about Miller's trade value being "gonzo" after a number of teams traded for or signed goalies this past week during the draft and the start of free agency.

There had been talks between the St. Louis Blues and the Buffalo Sabres going on, but according to a Pierre LeBrun tweet, the ESPN insider said, "the price was too high."

The "price" was not revealed.

Regier, though,  is known for overvaluing his players. Former Toronto Maple Leaves GM Brian Burke, in a candid interview with The Score, called Regier "unreasonable" and "unrealistic" when it came to the value Regier put on his players. And it got to the point where Burke "didn't want to waste an hour" with a GM like that.

WGR's Howard Simon posed the question to TSN's Darren Dreger on his morning show, saying "the long-held belief amongst Sabres fans is that Regier, fairly consistently, over-plays his hand" when it comes to his players' value and asked, "is that what people believe around the league?"

Dreger's response, "Yes. The book on Darcy Regier is that he does overvalue his players and he is also too cautious, too conservative. But, when it comes to overvaluing players, every single manager, every owner does that. They just do. They're just trying to maximize the rate of return."

St. Louis Post Dispatch writer Jeff Gordon agrees and points to Blues GM Doug Armstrong.

While Armstrong "can make the Big Trade when necessary," says Gordon, "he tends to make changes on his terms, when circumstances favor the Blues. If that means the team has to carry three goaltenders for a while or experiment with myriad line combinations in the fall, so be it."

Two stubborn GM's, not unlike most GM's in professional sports.

Regier takes the rap in Sabreland because we've seen this throughout his 16-year tenure, and he always seems to want to be on the winning end of a trade.

He is capable of making a hockey trade, though, and we witnessed that at the 2012 trade deadline when he sent Zack Kassian to Vancouver for Cody Hodgson. Both teams had specific needs and both teams got what they wanted in the deal.

Likewise, St. Louis and Buffalo both have needs.

The Blues are knocking on the door of Stanley Cup contention with goaltending holding them back.

The Sabres are rebuilding.

The basis is there, but both need to put aside their ego.

Perhaps we need to lock them in a room until a deal gets done.

What's up with the Nathan Gerbe buyout?

In a nod to the 60's one-hit-wonder band Thunderclap Newman, there's "Something in the Air" at the foot of Washington St.

Yesterday TSN reported that the Buffalo Sabres had placed winger Nathan Gerbe on waivers and would be buying him out of the final two years of his contract.

Not that the news is anything earth-shattering.

The 5'5" 179 lb. Gerbe has struggled throughout his short career thus far. He found himself riding the pine on numerous occasions after prolonged slumps. More than once it looked as if he was headed back to the minors either with Portland or Rochester.

Gerbe was plucked in the 5th round (#142) of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, proceeded to have a strong college career (Boston College) and won the Dudley "Red" Garrett Award as the AHL's Rookie of the Year for the 2008/09 season.

At the pro-level, though, Gerbe just couldn't get it done on a consistent basis.

The Sabres will miss his heart. If you could transplant that lion's heart into a bigger, more skilled player, you'd have the makings of an All-Star/potential HOF'er.

To most Sabres fans, placing Gerbe on waivers, is not unexpected and is easily digested. But the intriguing part, if it's true, is the buyout portion.

The NHL granted teams two amnesty buyouts as part of the new CBA to be used in the two off-seasons after the lockout. Amnesty, or compliance, buyouts allow teams to rid themselves of exorbitant contracts that eat up precious cap-space, ie:  Ilya Bryzgalov in Philly and Vinny Lecavalier in Tampa.

Those two albatross contracts, for example, were both expensive and long-term.

But in the case of Gerbe and the Buffalo Sabres, his rather meager cap-hit of $1.45M is on the books for only two more seasons. At the time of his reported waiving, the Sabres had 19 players under contract for the 2013-14 season and were $14M under the salary-cap.

Only one player, RFA Cody Hodgson, would represent a significant cap-hit to the team as he's expected to get somewhere around $4M per season if/when he re-ups.

With plenty of cap-room for this rebuilding season and oodles of cap-space for next season, the big question is why they would use a buyout on a relatively insignificant contract?

One free agent we know they are pursuing is former Sabre Daniel Briere who was a compliance buyout himself. But even if he received a contract with a $4M cap-hit (which would be rather generous) to go along with a Hodgson $4M cap-hit, they would still have $6M in cap-space this season for two more roster spots.

It's a curious move by the Sabres and logic would dictate that there's something rather sizable in the offing. Why else would $1.45M in cap-space be so important?

Besides Briere, the FA pool is rather mediocre at best, at least up-front which is where the Sabres will be focusing upon.

Impending free agents of interest to Buffalo might be NJ powerforward David Clarkson, Detroit center Valtteri Fillpula and possibly NYR powerforward Ryan Clowe.

All three are in for a hefty raise that should land them in the $4-6M/yr. range, a hit that the Sabres could easily absorb this season and next.

Maybe Sabres GM Darcy Regier has a trade in mind too.

It was rumored that Boston Bruins forward Tyler Seguin was being shopped at the draft. Apparently B's GM Peter Chiarelli wasn't thrilled with Seguin's performance. Chiarelli characterized Seguin as lacking professionalism and the gumption to go into the dirty areas to score.

"Seguin," wrote Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe, "played like a youngster who never had to develop his battle level or hockey sense because of his great talent."

There's no question Seguin has the skills and at 21 yrs. old he still has room to fill out his 6'1" frame. He's a natural center with top-line talent that played on the wing in a checking role for the Bruins.

The catch with Bruins heading into the 2013-14 season is that they have cap problems.

According to capgeek, the Bruins have 19 players under contract with only $5M in cap-space.

And they have no goalie.

Tuuka Rask is a restricted free agent and will eat up all of that $5M and then some.

Seguin, for his part, will begin the contract extension he signed last September carrying a cap-hit of $5.75M over the next six seasons.

Of note. Seguin was selected #2 overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. The Bruins received that pick as part of the deal that sent Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leaves (the other being D, Dougie Hamilton, #9-overall, 2011.)

The Sabres are known for keeping everything close to the vest. Despite all the rumors that surround the team, Regier almost always pulls something off that no one saw coming.

Which probably means that none of the players mentioned in this piece will be headed to Buffalo.

Darcy Regier on team-building plus John Scott and other tidbits

It took a while.

Sabres GM Darcy Regier is finally of the mind-set that his group of soft-but-skilled, New-NHL core players can't compete in today's NHL.

Better late than never, I guess.

"I think what we're seeing in the game is it's shifting again to a bigger man's game," said Regier on WGR's Hockey Hotline. "I do generally think the game is getting bigger and you [need] to have people who are willing to compete and you [need] to have size in your lineup. There's a shift in that general direction over what we saw coming out of the [2004-05] lockout."

"We're headed to a very hard-working team and a very hard-working-game being," Regier continued in the interview, "I still think you need a blend. First of all you need competitors, but you need a blend of skill and you need a blend of work and the signature for us is to revolve around work."

It took Regier years to realize that the New-NHL came and went. He's been talking about "tougher to play against" for years and now he would like everyone to believe that the man who dismantled the hardest working team in hockey will rebuild a bigger version of that.

I'll believe it when I see it.

This off-season will give Sabres fans a clue as to whether Regier's really intent upon building like that or if it's lip service.

Looking back at past drafts, one must wonder if he's even capable of finding a player with those assets. When faced with a choice of skill or compete, he nearly always goes with the skill aspect:

• 1998--D Dmitri Kalinin (#18 overall) over D Robyn Regehr (#19)
• Slick forwards Artem Kryukov (#15, 2000,) Jiri Novotny (#22, 2001,) Marek Zagrapan (#13, 2005,) Joel Armia (#16, 2011) and Mikhail Grigorenko (#12, 2012.)
• Puck-moving defensemen--Henrik Tallinder (#48, 1998,) Keith Ballard (#11, 2002,) Dennis Persson, (#24, 2006) TJ Brennan (#31, 2007,) Tyler Myers (#12, 2008) and Mark Pysyk (#23, 2010) plus Brian Campbell, Doug Janik, Andrej Sekera, Drew Schiestel, and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc.
• Small, but skilled forwards--Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, Tyler Ennis and Daniel Catenacci
• Big forwards and defensemen who play/played small--Ales Kotalik, Drew Stafford, Michael Funk, Mike Card, Luke Adam and Zack Kassian.

It's hard to find gritty players with a workman-like mentality anywhere higher than the mid-lower rounds of Regier's drafts.

Mike Weber (#57, 2006,) Corey Tropp (#89, 2007,) Brayden McNabb (#66, 2009,) and Zemgus Girgensons (#14, 2012) are the only ones in the top 100 picks during Regier's tenure that fit the compete aspect of the equation.

Does Regier have it within him to find those types of players?

He may recognize the need for bringing in players with size, grit and compete, but based upon his history, it's doubtful.


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John Scott was re-signed for another year this week.

The knock on Scott has been that, outside of his enforcer/protector role, he was not worthy of playing a regular shift.

The big guy did his job as enforcer. Regier summed it up rather nicely on GR saying, "[Scott] created a safe work environment" for the team.

What surprised the organization, though, was his ability to log fourth-line minutes without being a detriment to the team.

Coach Ron Rolston used Scott up to 10 minutes for a few games later in the year based upon the solid work the he did when he played a regular shift.

That's a good thing for Buffalo.

Scott is also good in the locker room and his goofy antics have lightened things up a bit.


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With the NY Rangers down 3-0 in their playoff series with Boston, head coach John Tortorella benched C Brad Richards for tonight's do or die game at the Garden.

Richards is having a horrendous playoff with only one goal. His play has been so bad in the eyes of "Torts" that before his scratch he was relegated to fourth-line duties.

Two years ago, Richards was the premier free agent on the market and Buffalo was amongst the teams ready to pony up the cash and term to sign the former Conn Smythe winner.

The Olean-Times Herald's Bill Hoppe briefly recounts that time.

"Not surprisingly," Hoppe writes, "the Sabres, then at the height of their spending frenzy, wanted Richards. The brain trust planned to go up and meet with Richards as free agency opened."

Regier and Co. decided they didn't have a chance and turned their attention to FA Ville Leino, whom they signed to a 6 yr./$27M contract.

Safe to say that neither of those two signings have worked out all that well and Hoppe surmises that both may end up being an amnesty buyout this off-season.

It should be noted, though, that Leino may not be an amnesty buyout candidate due to his injury which caused him to miss the final 13 games of this shortened season.

Perhaps that's part of the reason why the Rags scratched Richards rather then use him on the fourth line. He's healthy and eligible for the buyout, which would remove his $6.66M cap-hit from their books.

If he is bought out, some team will be able to land a quality center at a very reasonable price.

His precipitous drop from franchise-like #1 center to healthy scratch is curious to say the least. Teams will need to decide if his skill-level is in serious decline or if there were mitigating factors like Torts and/or possibly the addition of Rick Nash.

Something's not right.

I've often felt Richards was overrated and that he was able to ride that playoff MVP for far too long and for far too much money.

But, he's not that bad, is he?

He's still a top-line center and if he's available this summer, the Sabres might want to take a look at signing him.

I don't care what this year's playoff numbers say.


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Sabres back-up goaltender Jhonas Enroth is full of confidence after leading Team Sweden to the gold medal in the IIHF World Championship.

"I'm ready [to start]," he told Jon Vogl of the Buffalo News. "I've been growing a lot," he continued. "I learned a lot from this season. And last season too. My goal is to be a starter one year in the NHL."

That one full year is, presumably, to prove that he can be a full-time #1 goalie.

There seems to be a pretty good chance that he'll have that opportunity this coming season.

Ryan Miller is in the last year of his contract. The team has Enroth on the big club already, and their trade-deadline acquisition, Matt Hackett, is out of waiver options.


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Speaking of Miller, if he is on the move, no one knows where he might end up.

He has a limited no-trade clause where he can list eight teams that he doesn't want to be traded to. Unfortunately for the Sabres, teams like the NY Islanders, Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers, all of whom could use a #1 goalie, are probably on his no-trade list.

There are other teams who would make for an interesting trade partner, most notably the Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning and possibly the Washington Capitals or the Colorado Avalanche.

This could be a defining moment for the Sabres organization.

I have no idea what Regier is thinking or what the return would be, but one would guess that he'd love to be able to use Miller as a spring-board to a top-3 pick this season--read a trade with Colorado, Florida or Tampa Bay.

It's highly doubtful that the 'Lanche, who have the #1 overall pick in the draft, would trade that for Miller or even some package from the Sabres.


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Colorado has a new head coach and VP of hockey operations in Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy.

Roy is a legend in Colorado after leading the team to two Stanley Cups. He was brought in by another Avalanche legend, Joe Sakic, who was also a key cog on those Cup winning teams.

Colorado and Buffalo should not be dismissed as trade partners this summer.

Miller is in a similar situation in Buffalo that Roy was in Montreal before the latter demanded a trade. The Sabres #1 goalie has been derided in Buffalo for sub-par performances over the last couple of seasons and he even gave a booing home crowd a mock-wave.

Roy was humiliated in Montreal by his coach in an 11-1 loss. After finally getting pulled by Mario Trembley he said it would be his last game in Montreal.

He was traded to Colorado, won the Cup that same season and the rest is history.

When Miller was asked about similarities between his game and Roy's he said, "It doesn't mean I want to leave, but if that's what you're getting at, the guy won two Stanley Cups. So, hey, why not?"

The guy he's talking about is now in Colorado with questionable goaltending in Semion Varlamov and one would think that he'd rather have a true #1 goalie manning the crease.

Another connection with Roy and the Sabres is that concerning Mikhail Grigorenko.

Grigorenko played under Roy for the Quebec Remparts and had a stellar season before joining the Sabres after the lockout ended.

I'd asked Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com about the possibility of Roy being highly interested in Grigorenko but Bakes said that the Russian center wasn't a good fit in the locker room after his return to junior.

Even so, it wouldn't be all that surprising if the Sabres an Avalanche hooked up. What the pieces would be is the interesting part.

From the IIHF to the Sharks/Kings plus Lupul and the Leafs collapse

It was a good hockey day yesterday. Was able to catch the most of the Slovakia/Finland game and the Canada/Sweden game yesterday afternoon at the Worlds. Plus, later that night I caught a good portion of the San Jose' Sharks/LA Kings playoff matchup.

A few things about the IIHF games:

--Jhonas Enroth was stout in net for Team Sweden, and as shown when he stifled Canada's Steven Stamkos on a breakaway, he's tough to beat mano-y-mano. Therefore the shootout win. He's done that in Buffalo often over the last couple of seasons with the Sabres. Gotta love his competitive fire.

--Former Sabres' head coach Lindy Ruff was behind the bench for Team Canada. They played a tight defensive game, clogging up the neutral zone and generally playing a cautious game. Enroth's stop on Stamkos was a game-changer as Team Canada could have gone up 2-0 had he connected. Kinda sounds familiar to Sabres fans.

--Team Canada goalie Mike Smith played a solid game. Should the Sabres end up trading Ryan Miller, Smith may be a viable alternative in net. He's coming off a contract that paid him $2M last season. Smith is a solid goalie who has kicked up his game in the playoffs. There are signs of a Tim Thomas like future ahead of him should he land on a Cup-quality team. Wouldn't mind tandem of Enroth and Smith heading into 2013-14. Might be pretty solid. And it won't break the bank either.

--Andrej Sekera scored Slovakia's second goal last night to help them claw back from a 3-0 deficit vs. Finland. The Sabres' defensman playing for his homeland team moved to the center of the ice on the play and blasted a rising shot through a crowd from near the blueline. With a much larger ice-surface in international play, Sekera had plenty of room to skate all through the game. There's a marked difference between his international game and the one he plays on a smaller NHL rink. Which isn't good for the Sabres.

*************

While watching the Sharks/Kings game last night, I couldn't help but notice the smaller ice surface in the NHL and was left to wonder why the biggest players in the world play on a smaller rink.

If the NHL really wanted to improve the game they'd make the ice-surfact bigger. Right?

Of course that would mean hundreds of high dollar seats eliminated and no owner would want that.

Perhaps Commish Gary Bettman and Co. should devise a plan to widen the rinks in the future. Maybe they could use that as a premise for the next lockout when the owners will want to add more to their share of hockey related revenue.

*************

The Kings are a team that knows how to navigate a smaller ice surface, know how to play the North American game, have oodles of talent and sandpaper and are the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

The Sharks had them on the hook last night, but two penalties late in the game allowed the Kings to pull out a victory.

Los Angeles looks primed to hoist the Cup once again.

They're hitting their stride having won six in a row and look very tough to beat.

*************

When the Toronto Maple Leafs blew a three-goal lead in Game-7 at Boston, the anguish that Leafs fans felt should not be wished upon anyone.

But...

if it's gonna happen to any team and fan-base, gotta love that it happened to Toronto (with Vancouver being a very close second.)


Speaking of the Maple Leafs collapse, forward Joffery Lupul was quoted as saying, "that hockey game will haunt me until the day I die."

Karma's a bitch there, Jof.

Better heed the warning signs, buddy. If you screw up in this life, Satan has it all lined up for you in hell:  locked in a hotel room in Buffalo with a continuous loop of your Leafs' third period/overtime, Game-7 collapse.

LA taking down St. Louis is great on a couple of levels

I've always been a fan of Robyn Regehr.

It's not that I'd followed the Calgary Flames all that much when he was playing for them for a decade, but when I did catch their games I really liked what he brought to the team.

The Sabres for the past seven years have needed more professionalism, more grit, more leadership. Regehr is that type of player and it's players like him who get the respect of hockey world.

Regehr brought those attributes to the Sabres for the nearly two years, but as his rugged style of play began to wear on him a bit, he wasn't quite as effective with the Sabres as he was with the Flames. He's not washed up by any stretch of the imagination, but the load he had to carry in Buffalo, from a leadership and grit perspective, is too much to ask a 33 yr. old player who's never missed more than 14 games in a full season.

It's too bad Sabres GM Darcy Regier opted to pick Dmitri Kalinin one spot ahead of Regehr in the 1998 draft. We could have seen him on a nightly basis smack-dab in his prime. Who knows, maybe the Carolina series would've turned out differently and/or maybe a pro like Chris Drury would've opted to re-sign with Buffalo.

Methinks the past eight seasons would've turned out quite differently--for the better.

Regehr is out in LA now, headed to the second round of the playoffs with his Kings teammates.

Much respect to the Sabres organization for sending him there (for two 2nd-round picks.) It's probably the best possible situation for him to win the Stanley Cup.

The Kings are filled with leadership, skill, grit and tenacity. They're defending their Stanley Cup crown on a shortened season and seem to be hitting their stride right now.

What's asked of Regehr is simply to play his game. Clear the front of the net. Lay some hard hits on the opposition. Help anchor the PK.

For 21:00/game Regehr is simply asked to be the player he is--a tough defensive defenesman.

After spending an entire career being a true professional in both Calgary and Buffalo, the world would be right if he was on the last team standing.


*************

A very young and talented St. Louis Blues team was eliminated in the first round and it exposed a couple of holes in the line-up.

The Kings knocked out the Blues in six games, winning the last four straight. St. Louis scored six goals on 110 shots in those four losses.

Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch called out management for " inexplicably ignoring the obvious need to add a proven finisher to the lineup."

Miklasz wants a "fearless, cold-blooded sniper that won't get the yips and repeatedly miss putting the puck in the net at crucial moments" in the lineup.

The Sabres Thomas Vanek is a sniper. He can score in a variety of ways from any area of the ice and he's proven he can score in the playoffs.

St. Louis bench-boss Ken Hitchcock had that type of player in Brett Hull when the Dallas Stars defeated the Buffalo Sabres in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals.

Although Vanek is not Brett Hull, he may be the best winger available this off-season for the Blues to acquire.

In 26 playoff games for the Sabres, Vanek has 15 goals. His average shooting percentage over those four appearances is 18.3%.

As the only real offensive weapon for Buffalo in their last two playoffs in 2010 and 2011, he had seven goals in 10 games and shot at rates of 20% and 25% respectively.

Hmmmm...

Miklasz also points out another flaw in the Blues--goaltending. He says, "[LA Kings goalie] Jonathan Quick  outplayed the Blues' Brian Elliott when pressure seeped into this series."

In blog dating back to the trade deadline, it was noted that the Blues allowed the least number of shots per game in the NHL, but their goalies' save percentage was weak.

It's a trend that bit them again in the first round of the playoffs.

Miklasz points out that over the last three Blues losses to the Kings, Elliott had an .871 sv.%. For the series Elliott had a 1.90 gaa and a .919 sv%. Pretty solid numbers on the whole, but when it really counted those last three games--when Elliott needed to steal a game--an .871 sv.% doesn't get the job done.

Elliott is what he is--a real strong back-up who can play like a starter on a number of occasions, but isn't that bonafide #1 goalie.

The Blues have a potential #1 goalie in Jake Allen, but at a very young 22 yrs. old, he still has a lot of growing to do.

The Sabres' Ryan Miller is a bonafide #1 goalie who has proven that he can steal a game or two in the playoffs.

Just look back on the Philadelphia series two years ago when he had two shutouts vs. the Flyers. The Fly-boys had possibly the best group of forwards in the NHL that year. The Sabres countered with one of the worst defenses in the playoffs that year. Of the eight d-men who dressed for that series, only three remain.

Miller is highly regarded throughout the league (outside of Buffalo, of course) and has a way of getting in the opposition's heads. If he doesn't need to worry about his defensemen playing the game properly, he's out high in his crease challenging shooters.

And when he's on, he's real tough to beat.

It wouldn't be surprising to see the Blues and the Sabres hook-up in the off-season. St. Louis needs a sniper like Vanek and could justify bringing in a bonafide #1 goalie like Miller.

The Blues also have a bevy of young talent throughout the organization with, according to Hockey's Future, depth and talent at center and on defense in the pipeline. They have size, skill and grit on the big club. And they have so much youth that moving a 1st-round draft pick this season and/or next will not set the organization back that much.

They need to make a move for some vets to fill the two holes Miklasz points out.

And the Sabres would be the team to call.

Quinn and Regier/Black and Regier--Same Sh*t, Different Owner...

and it's the last thing Sabres nation needed.

The boys at the Buffalo News' were ready to rumble at the end of year presser on Monday.

They couldn't wait to get at the two representatives of the Buffalo Sabres sitting in front of them--Team President Ted Black and GM Darcy Regier.

The News' Mike Harrington got the mike first and immediately dove into the organization.

When he asked Black to "end all speculation" concerning the status of Regier, his first question wasn't really a question, but a statement of disbelief.

Everyone knew that Regier was still on board. He was right there in front of them.

Was Regier still GM? "Yes," was Black's direct answer to the "question."

What Harrington was really trying to get at, as he asked the follow-up, was why, after six years of failure, and when the Sabres fired their longtime coach, is Regier still GM?

Black's answer started chronological, "the decision to extend [Regier] into next year was made before the lockout ended," then turned evasive, "the reality is...," he continued.

Let's stop right there.

The reality is, this team is a mess.

The reality is, this team has being mismanaged on the hockey side--Regier's side--and it seems to be severely affecting the business side--Black's side.

The reality is, Regier's team did not make the playoffs two years running and it's affecting Black's bottom line.

The reality is, owner Terry Pegula listened to his senior advisor, Ken Sawyer, as the latter called Regier a "hockey genius" and it's strained the relationship between owner and fans.

The reality is, the "hockey genius" is causing Black to lose tens of millions of his owners money, much more than anyone ever thought.

The reality is, Black's "Hockey Heaven" in Buffalo is now "Hockey Hell" and an owner who once said his main job is to be liked is now being vilified for what amounts to the incompetence of his two main charges.

Despite Pegula's lavish expenditures on everything from a newly refurbished dressing room to expensive free agent contracts, the present state of the Sabres seems to be nothing more than extension of the Tom Golisano regime.

Black's responses at the presser exposed a very troubling trait. His owner who once said "if I want to make money, I'll drill another well" has such a financial mess on his hands that the team is relying on league welfare for the second season in a row. Just like the previous regime did.

The multi-billionaire has a team president who said they had to raise ticket prices, not because of a league mandate like he initially intimated, but because the Sabres must show year over year revenue growth in order to be eligible for revenue sharing.

Said Black, "the entire process allows this franchise to still qualify unencumbered for revenue sharing. The 4% ticket price increase, is about an obligation [to the league] to raise money so you don't jeopardize that revenue stream."

With Sabres' ticket prices in the bottom quarter of the league, according to Black, they're losing bushels of money because they havent' made the playoffs.

Losses could be in the area of $10M per year outside of the playoffs. And that includes revenue sharing.

No owner, no matter how well off, should be expected to lose that amount of money year over year.

As Black said, "I can't get drunk off Terry's wealth and assume he's going to live forever and he's going to spend money forever."

Turns out we were all drunk on his wealth when he bought the team.

But none moreso than the GM.

With the financial chains off, Regier proceeded to:

• eat Ales Kotalik's $3M contract in the Robyn Regehr trade
• sign Christian Ehrhoff to a 10-yr./$40M contract, $18M of it in the first two years
• sign Ville Leino to a 6 yr./$27M contract
• bury Shoane Morrison's $2M contract in the minors
• re-sign Tyler Myers to a 7 yr./$38.5M contract with a $10M bonus paid out this year
• re-sign Andrej Sekera to a 4 yr./$11M contract with $7.5M paid out the first two years 

Also the team will be eating what's left on former coach Lindy Ruff's contract.

That sucking sound you hear is the sound of millions of dollars being thrown away on a team that failed to make the playoffs--again.

So why, after two years of futility on the ice and with a team hemorrhaging money, would they want to keep Regier on board?

Maybe it's about money--again.

It would make sense that they wouldn't want to eat Regier's contract and pay a new GM in the process.

Right now the Sabres have still have Regier in charge as they continue to dismantle his core. He's proven capable of moving players for a good return like he did when trading core players Paul Gaustad, Derek Roy and Jason Pominville over the last 18 months or so.

Two more of his core, who happen to be the two best players on the roster--Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek--look to be on the move as well, and the return will probably be mostly picks and prospects.

Financially, there isn't really much more damage Regier can do to the organization by trading high-priced veterans for picks and/or prospects.

What does all this mean?

One would expect that Regier's hand in the rebuild may be limited to the dismantling part. The Sabres will probably be heading into the 2013/14 as the youngest team in the NHL and will be relying on Head Amateur Scout/Assistant GM Kevin Devine to mold the future through draft picks and prospects.

Higher priced vets like Christian Ehrhoff, Steve Ott and Ville Leino, as well as underachieving Drew Stafford will probably remain for a variety of reasons. The Sabres still need to put a product on the ice, they'll still have the cap-floor to reach and they'll still need some veteran leadership.

We should not, however, expect any big splashes in free agency with high-priced players coming to Buffalo this off season.

And with the salary cap going down, the Sabres payroll going down, not paying for two GM's next season, and ticket prices increasing, Black should be able to keep the team finances in check for the upcoming season.

It should also be assumed that the team will retain interim head coach Ron Rolston for another year. As the team continues to pay Ruff's salary, it makes sound financial sense to keep a coach on the cheap.

This attention to the bottom line is what the team went through from 2007-2011 when Golisano owned the team and had his "just break even" mandate to then team president--and part-owner--Larry Quinn.

Same shit, different owner for Sabres fans which is the last thing Sabres-nation needed.