Pegula in a cage-match with the NHL big dogs over Shane Doan

Weeks ago it was leaked that an Eastern Conference team offered Phoenix free agent Shane Doan a 4yr./$30M contract.

Via cbssportsline John Gambadoro of Phoenix's KTAR 620 tweeted back in early July, "NHL source just confirmed to me that an Eastern Conference team has offered Coyotes Captain Shane Doan a 4-year deal worth more than 30 mill."

For weeks the hockey world was aghast to the point where it mattered not who the team was. Just the very fact that someone would offer a 35 yr. old winger on the downside of his career that amount and term was stunning enough.

So who made the offer, if it was in fact true, sat on the back burner while Doan made his rounds and various pundits predicted who the "front-runners" were in the Doan "sweepstakes."

But, as of the last 24 hours, it seems as if the cat's out of the bag.

Jeremy Roenick was the first to open his mouth (what a surprise) via this tweet from XM's Josh Rimer after Roenick appeared on his show (from cbssportsline.com,) "[he] also said that the Buffalo Sabres made a huge offer to Shane Doan, and as of right now he has yet to accept it."

Yes, we all know Jeremy Roenick needs attention and, yes, he thinks that it's his duty to chime in on every topic like we really care what he thinks. That's a given.

But, what Brian Stubitz--the same author who jumped on the original leak--brings up in his blog is that Roenick still has ties to Phoenix and probably has connections inside the organization.

As a confirmation, John Buccigross of ESPN, tweeted this (via sportsnet.ca,) "Was told tongiht that Buffalo''s four year, 30 million dollar offer to Shane Doan is legit. Coyotes only want to go two years for now."

I'd assume that sometime very soon (like, today maybe?) there will be an official announcement that the offer is true.

Now the big question, "Are you nuts, Terry Pegula?"

That Doan is a complete player with buckets of intangibles is not to be disputed. He's a solid contributor on the stat-sheet and is a rugged player and captain with on-ice and off-ice leadership qualities. But, $7.5M per season? That's bordering on NHL superstar level.

For a 35 yr. old power forward who's on the downside of his career, four years is a bit long. Four years from now he'll be nearly 40 and it's unsure how effective he'll be this upcoming season much less three or four years from now.

Those are just the Sabres-centric ramifications of the offer.

Looking beyond that, the ownership question in Phoenix is said to be near completion as Greg Jamison was seemingly close to finding another $20M to buy the franchise from the NHL. Having the face of the franchise potentially leaving for an offer they may not be able to match, or even come close to matching, might put the cabash on that deal. It might even be the death-knell for the team in Phoenix.

Next, one needs to look at the salary structure, and what it means to free agents in the future. One could see every player agent saying, "Well, Shane Doan's at $7.5M coming off a 22 goal, 50 season. My guy had this...so we want this"

This has an affect on other franchises as well. It's been documented that the Columbus Blue Jackets incurred huge losses over the last five seasons. The Nashville Predators have financial concerns even though they brushed them aside when they matched the Shea Weber offer sheet.

And it's just been revealed that the San Jose' Sharks, a team with a strong following and a commitment to winning, just lost $15M last season (not that the ownership really cares.)

All of this is happening in the midst of an NHL/NHLPA bargaining session where the owners want more of the pie at the expense of the players, and the players are saying that, although they're willing to help, the owners should fix the problem themselves.

Terry Pegula wasn't kidding when he said that he was taking off the financial chains of management. As level-headed as GM Darcy Regier is, this must be a huge shock to his system after years of a "just break even" mandate. Last season's $67M splurge on Christian Ehrhoff and Ville Leino was an eye-opener, but Doan's contract offer easily trumps that (well, maybe not the Leino contract.)

It wouldn't be surprising to see Pegula come off as a villain in all of this as he's thrown a monkey wrench into the entire system (one must also wonder why this info was released on the eve of another NHL/NHLPA meeting, that's for another blog though.)

But, for his team, he really has no choice.

The laws of supply and demand as well as the struggles of Buffalo to attract upper-eschelon talent dictated this course of action.

Doan was the only top-six/top-line talent left on the board this off season after Zach Parise left New Jersey for Minnesota and if the Sabres wanted to get in, they'd need to go big.

The usual big-money, high profile teams were said to be in the mix--the Flyers, the Rangers and the Canucks--with all of them having more to offer than the Sabres outside of money and term.

First and foremost, Doan has said all along (and there's no reason not to believe him) that he wanted to stay in Phoenix. But as ownership questions drag on, it would seem as if that ship is sailing leaving him the decision on a new home for the remainder of his career.

Philadelphia would have been a big player, especially after GM Paul Holmgren struck out on Parise, Ryan Suter, Rick Nash and Weber. "Homer" likes to make a splash in the off season and would be in hot pursuit of Doan were it not for his troubles on defense. He's also accustomed to being a villain and ownership, lead by Ed Snider, wouldn't think twice about a a $30M offer.

The Vancouver Canucks wined and dined Doan last month. They have a Stanley Cup contending team and would offer him the opportunity to play on a wing with the Sedin twins. Problem is, they also wouldn't want to hurt their feelings by signing Doan to a richer contract than theirs. It would seem as if $6M per season would be the most they're willing to offer hoping that his British Columbia ties would make up the difference.

The NY Rangers are always a player and Doan did in fact visit while he was in NY for labor discussion. They do have the cap-space to make a $7M-plus offer, and adding him to their group of forwards would put them amongst the best group in the league. Would they go four years? Maybe.

Regardless of where Doan ends up, Pegula threw himself into a cage-match with the big dogs of the league with the offer. It's a statement move that the Sabres are no longer a "small market" team and that he will continue to back up his proclamation that the sole purpose of the Sabres existence is to win the Stanley Cup.

Whether it's sound thinking on his part is to be determined.

The dog days of summer plod on... (Andrej Sekera, Patrick Kaleta, Tyler Ennis)

...as the hockey world awaits a Shane Doan decision.

Yup, it's been over five weeks since Doan became an unrestricted free agent. As of now it's been reported that he will either re-sign with Phoenix or sign with one of three teams--Philadelphia, Vancouver and the "favorite," the NY Rangers.

Although Pittsburgh was not mentioned, I highly doubt they are completely out of the running. Why would any player of Doan's age and talents shun a perennial Eastern Conference powerhouse with two of the games best centers in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin?

Buffalo seems to be out of the Doan race, even thought it's rumored that they are the team that offered him a 4yr./$30M contract. The free agent had visited NY, Philly and Vancouver, but not Buffalo.

GM Darcy Regier pretty much conceded when he said, "No, we have not met with [Doan], and I don’t know whether we will meet with him. We’re monitoring the situation, and I’d leave it at that."

Regier, supposedly, is still trying to work out a deal with Anaheim for Bobby Ryan. Rumors are flying with that one--like the Ducks want Tyler Ennis as a centerpiece, or, now, Thomas Vanek--but there's nothing concrete as of yet.

Meszaros injury turns Flyers away from Doan and Ryan

It's said that Buffalo is in the mix for the Ducks' Ryan and their stature should be a bit higher as the Flyers will probably be dropping out now that defenseman Andrej Meszaros is expected to miss most, if not all, of the season with a torn achilles.

It's yet another setback for GM Paul Holmgren as Philly's been striking out all summer. You can go back to the Stanley Cup as former captain Mike Richards and former top-six forward Jeff Carer both were a part of the Cup-winning LA Kings after being traded from the Flyers last season.

UFA's Ryan Suter and Zack Parise were in Homer's sights, but signed with the Minnesota Wild. Columbus traded Rick Nash to Philly's arch rival, the NY Rangers. He made an offer-sheet for Preds restricted free agent Shea Weber that was massively front-loaded and thought to be unmatchable, but Nashville matched.

They opted not to sign Jaromir Jagr up-front and Matt Carle on the back end with the latter's departure for Tampa Bay dropping an above average defense down a notch to merely average at best.

Holmgren kicked off the off season by trading from a position of strength in top-six winger James Van Riemsdyk to get bottom-pairing d-man (with top-four potential) Luke Schenn from Toronto to shore up the back end.

After striking out so many times this summer, which is very uncharacteristic of the Flyers organization, Holmgren still could have made a splash, as he likes to do, and rumor had it that he was heavily in on the Doan sweepstakes. Ryan was also on their radar.

But Meszaros going down pretty much squashes any plans to woo Doan or trade for Ryan. Their d is now in shambles without Meszaros, something we saw during the playoffs last season.

Chris Pronger is expected to go on long term injured reserve and it's quite possible his career is over. Brayden Coburn is a legit top-pairing d-man and so is Kimmo Timonen, but the latter is getting up there in age and has battled injuries as of late, and it will be quite difficult for him to log top-pairing minutes over the long-haul.

After that, they have Schenn, Nicklas Grossman, Bruno Gervais and Andres Lilja rounding out their top-six.

With a line-up like that on the back end it's pretty safe to say that the Penguins and Rangers, among other teams, are licking their chops. One would also assume that goalie Ilya Bryzgalov is falling deeper into a cosmic, zen-like state to find his happy place.

It bodes well for the Sabres, though. They have an excess of d-men should Philly come knocking. Jordan Leopold would add short-term (one year left on his contract)stability. Andrej Sekera has top-four, minute-eating, puck-moving credentials and is signed for three more seasons. The Sabres also have TJ Brennan who's out of waiver options on a team with nine NHL-quality d-men should the Fly-boys be looking for youth.

Although any trade scenarios with Philly would not include the likes of Claude Giroux or Sean Couturier, a player like third-line center Matt Read or even winger Wayne Simmonds might be a realistic.

One can probably forget about former Sabre and fan favorite, Daniel Briere. He may be a sentimental choice, it'd be far-fetched for him to leave Philly.

Holmgren has proven he never sits on his hands, so you can expect him to make a move soon, even if it's only signing a band-aid d-man like Jaroslav Spacek or Carl Colaiacovo.

But a Read or Simmonds for a Leopold or Sekera and/or Brennan and/or whatever else is necessary to make it a hockey trade would be good for the Sabres.

The Sabres sign Kaleta are working on Ennis

Regier recently re-signed uber-pest Patrick Kaleta to a 3-year deal at $1.275M per season.

The Angola native will be joined this season by Steve Ott and the two should be wreaking havoc on the ice for a good portion of the game.

Although they had fought each other when Ott was on Dallas back in 2010, they buried the hatchet upon meeting and now provide the Sabres with two "top-five" pests.

As for Ennis, he, like Kaleta, was qualified by the team to prevent an offer-sheet poaching, but they remain apart on a deal.

And things may have gotten a bit complicated as of today. Carolina re-signed 20 yr. old center Jeff Skinner to a 6yr./$34.35M extension.

Although Ennis is not regarded as a talent on Skinner's level, the price none-the-less probably just went up.

Ennis may have been on track to sign a Drew Stafford-like 2yr./$3.8M contract. He had a solid rookie season (20g, 29a) and expectations were high before a slow start and an injury took away a good chunk of his sophomore year.

He did come on strong, though. He finished with 15g and 19a in 48 games last season with the majority coming after he was moved to center.

Ennis, Stafford and rookie Marcus Foligno formed a potent line that almost single-handedly propelled Buffalo into the playoffs last season.

But, there are too many question marks abound for Ennis. Were his 25 games at center an aberration? Will that line pick up where it left off? Will injuries be a part of his future? Will he be able to reach his potential at 5'10" 160lbs.?

A two to three year contract would benefit both sides, and an annual salary of $2.5-$3.25M would probably be about right for both player and team as well.