Barnabov Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Who knows which players are coming up in the Summer's Free Agency period? I heard Chara and Jovanovski - could anyone see Zdeno the Giant on the Sabres blueline? Some of you might think it's a little early to be talking about this but I'm already looking forward to 06-07 and finally ending "the curse" of WNY by bringing the Cup home. Agree with other posters that I could see Janik staying with the big club next year - especially since he had to pass waivers this last year (along with Pominville) and I don't think he'd slip through again. Also agree that Jillson is done - hopefully he can be packaged off in a trade - he's close to having what it takes to play in the NHL but seems like the final hurdle is mental discipline - he's like the North American Sandis Ozolinsh - the Gambler Jr. We haven't had a huge look at his game as yet, but I'd say Nathan Paetsch will see some time filling in for injuries next year and then stay up the following year. Still, even with some up & coming rookies, I think it's imperative we resign Jay McKee and go after a # 1 Defenseman. I don't see any changes needed in the Forward corp and if they trade Biron away (hope they keep him though), we will have plenty of cap room to add a # 1 D and resign McKee and all the RFAs - now all it takes is committment from Ownership & Management. Seeing how into the games Mr. Golisano was, I'm not worried about him wanting to take the extra step - albeit in a sensible fashion (not a Philly/Rangers style). Here are my lines already for next year.... Hecht - Briere - Dumont Roy - Drury - Grier Vanek/Kotalik - Connolly - Afinogenov Pyatt - Gaustad - Pominville Mair McKee - # 1 D man via FA Tallinder - Lydman Campbell - Kalinin Janik and/or Numinnen Miller + backup / Biron It will be tricky getting all our young players through the waivers at the beginning of the season - guess maybe Vanek will go down if he's unclaimable - seems like Lindy wants a little more effort from him before he takes a regular shift in the NHL - 25 goals notwithstanding. OK - time to catch up from all the postponed work of the last few weeks! Would be good to hear what everyone else thinks of above... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad1 Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 I still don't think that the Sabres are going to be able to fit McKee AND a #1 defenseman under in their salary structure. And no defensemen they sign will make more than Drury, so Jovanowski and Chara are out. Hopefully they can sign McKee for a little under 3.5 mil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spandrel Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 I think they'll make another Numminen/Lydman type pick-up for the blue-line to shore it up, but nothing that will cost much or make waves. Go for another character guy that can play in this system and keep trudging on. I think that a healthy Sabres team this year, or even one that wasn't so dramatically decimated, goes on to play for the Cup. I think we really need some quality depth, and not a big name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayers21 Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 I don't see them making big changes at all, especially on the Blue line, maybe Fitzpatrick leaves and one of the kids (Janik/ Paetsch) replaces him or a veteran they sign. First thing first, re-sign pretty much the whole team... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad1 Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 I think they'll make another Numminen/Lydman type pick-up for the blue-line to shore it up, but nothing that will cost much or make waves. Go for another character guy that can play in this system and keep trudging on. I think that a healthy Sabres team this year, or even one that wasn't so dramatically decimated, goes on to play for the Cup. I think we really need some quality depth, and not a big name. I agree, especially if Teppo retires. A medium priced veteren that fits the system would do fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodfella25 Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 We have room for a higher priced guy when we dump Biron's salary. I'm not saying I want Biron to go but there is no way we pay him $2 million to ride the pine. Bring in an affordable backup and relay that money towards a name defenseman/re-sign McKee. I have always liked Jovanovski and that's who I'd personally like to see here in Buffalo. I know he has injury issues but McKee has too in the past and with the exception of the very end, he stayed healthy all year long. As far as depth goes, I think we are going to see a lot of our junior/college defensive prospects in rochester this year. It should be an interesting year for their development and the experience will surely help our depth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fushetti Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Who knows which players are coming up in the Summer's Free Agency period? I heard Chara and Jovanovski - could anyone see Zdeno the Giant on the Sabres blueline? Some of you might think it's a little early to be talking about this but I'm already looking forward to 06-07 and finally ending "the curse" of WNY by bringing the Cup home. Agree with other posters that I could see Janik staying with the big club next year - especially since he had to pass waivers this last year (along with Pominville) and I don't think he'd slip through again. Also agree that Jillson is done - hopefully he can be packaged off in a trade - he's close to having what it takes to play in the NHL but seems like the final hurdle is mental discipline - he's like the North American Sandis Ozolinsh - the Gambler Jr. We haven't had a huge look at his game as yet, but I'd say Nathan Paetsch will see some time filling in for injuries next year and then stay up the following year. Still, even with some up & coming rookies, I think it's imperative we resign Jay McKee and go after a # 1 Defenseman. I don't see any changes needed in the Forward corp and if they trade Biron away (hope they keep him though), we will have plenty of cap room to add a # 1 D and resign McKee and all the RFAs - now all it takes is committment from Ownership & Management. Seeing how into the games Mr. Golisano was, I'm not worried about him wanting to take the extra step - albeit in a sensible fashion (not a Philly/Rangers style). Here are my lines already for next year.... Hecht - Briere - Dumont Roy - Drury - Grier Vanek/Kotalik - Connolly - Afinogenov Pyatt - Gaustad - Pominville Mair McKee - # 1 D man via FA Tallinder - Lydman Campbell - Kalinin Janik and/or Numinnen Miller + backup / Biron It will be tricky getting all our young players through the waivers at the beginning of the season - guess maybe Vanek will go down if he's unclaimable - seems like Lindy wants a little more effort from him before he takes a regular shift in the NHL - 25 goals notwithstanding. OK - time to catch up from all the postponed work of the last few weeks! Would be good to hear what everyone else thinks of above... Do you have any happy pills or magic potion for me? Theres no way McKee and another top notch D is here. We'll be lucky to have Jay back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 As far as depth goes, I think we are going to see a lot of our junior/college defensive prospects in rochester this year. It should be an interesting year for their development and the experience will surely help our depth. Minor detail, I know, but I might as well point out the fact that we have no defensive prospects in college right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayzor32 Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 The crop of potential free agent defensemen are either: old, slow, overpaid, or all of the above. Either Chara or JovoCop would command a salary significantly higher than Drury's, which I just can't see happening. We're going for a New England Patriots type model, with interchangable parts vs. individual superstars. It worked well this year, so I'm giving Darcy the benefit of the doubt. As for our blueline, the following should be available to choose from within our budget (for better or worse): Hal Gill Niclas Wallin Aaron Ward Tom Poti Kim Johnsson Pavel Kubina (likely too expensive) Willie Mitchell Jaroslav Spacek Filip Kuba Brendan Witt Ruslan Salei Darcy tried to get Mitchell before, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him here next fall...while the recent love affair with Scandanavian D-men makes Johnsson a possibility.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 The crop of potential free agent defensemen are either: old, slow, overpaid, or all of the above. Either Chara or JovoCop would command a salary significantly higher than Drury's, which I just can't see happening. We're going for a New England Patriots type model, with interchangable parts vs. individual superstars. It worked well this year, so I'm giving Darcy the benefit of the doubt. As for our blueline, the following should be available to choose from within our budget (for better or worse): Hal Gill Niclas Wallin Aaron Ward Tom Poti Kim Johnsson Pavel Kubina (likely too expensive) Willie Mitchell Jaroslav Spacek Filip Kuba Brendan Witt Ruslan Salei Darcy tried to get Mitchell before, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him here next fall...while the recent love affair with Scandanavian D-men makes Johnsson a possibility.. I expect a run on defensive free agents this off season - which puts most of these guys outside of Sabres money. (I hope i'm wrong) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeleslyobvious Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 The crop of potential free agent defensemen are either: old, slow, overpaid, or all of the above. Either Chara or JovoCop would command a salary significantly higher than Drury's, which I just can't see happening. We're going for a New England Patriots type model, with interchangable parts vs. individual superstars. It worked well this year, so I'm giving Darcy the benefit of the doubt. As for our blueline, the following should be available to choose from within our budget (for better or worse): Hal Gill Niclas Wallin Aaron Ward Tom Poti Kim Johnsson Pavel Kubina (likely too expensive) Willie Mitchell Jaroslav Spacek Filip Kuba Brendan Witt Ruslan Salei Darcy tried to get Mitchell before, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him here next fall...while the recent love affair with Scandanavian D-men makes Johnsson a possibility.. I could see us able to afford Zidlicky as well. Just a note, I read in the hockey news that the waiver structure is going to be slightly changed this year. I forget the details, but basically they are going to raise the salary level requirement to need to clear waivers. I think it was $75K last year, and it is going up to $95K this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peace Frog Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 I believe everyone is going a little overboard here on this thread. If you ask me, I don't think we're that far off from having a Cup winning team here. With all of the injuries we had, the Sabres still took the Hurricanes to seven games and made them switch goalies twice. Now you might be thinking What if we had had all of our players healthy for the 3rd round series? That is exactly my point. Our problem wasn't our starters, except for maybe Vanek, but was our depth. If we keep this same team in tact for next season but start guys like Janik, Paetsch, and Paille during the regular season against weaker less-tougher opponents, it would give our regulars a bit of a break and some needed experience to our minors players. If I were GM, I'd resign everyone I could (within reason) and look to replace Biron (for salary cap reasons), Fitzpatrick, and anyone else that isn't cutting it down in Rochester. Essentially, just replace Biron with a less-expensive, experienced backup and Fitzpatrick with a tough, seasoned D-man. Anyways, that's my two cents. Take it for what it's worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfreeman Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 I could see us able to afford Zidlicky as well. Just a note, I read in the hockey news that the waiver structure is going to be slightly changed this year. I forget the details, but basically they are going to raise the salary level requirement to need to clear waivers. I think it was $75K last year, and it is going up to $95K this year. $750K and $950K? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddaryl Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 I still don't think that the Sabres are going to be able to fit McKee AND a #1 defenseman under in their salary structure. And no defensemen they sign will make more than Drury, so Jovanowski and Chara are out. Hopefully they can sign McKee for a little under 3.5 mil. Unfortunately this is why I think the Sabres will end up taking a step backwards next year. We had a great team, and we couldn't afford to get the team under contract. Now everyone deserves a decent raise and the Sabres have already given hints that they have no intention of using all the money they have under the cap for obvious reasons. We only made 4 million profit last season, and we we're 10 mil under the cap. That doesn't bode well for us signing all of our FA's let alone siging a much needed to p D man or bonafide offensive threat that would be what this team needs to be a unstoppable dominant force next year. This upsets me, becuase here we go again, were too friggin poor to add the pieces. It's just getting ***king old I want complete dominance, and that requires siging the bulk of FA's and bringing in a top FA D-man and the O threat. I want to be optomisitc, but the reality of being a Sabres fan has me very depressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkman Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 Unfortunately this is why I think the Sabres will end up taking a step backwards next year. We had a great team, and we couldn't afford to get the team under contract. Now everyone deserves a decent raise and the Sabres have already given hints that they have no intention of using all the money they have under the cap for obvious reasons. We only made 4 million profit last season, and we we're 10 mil under the cap. That doesn't bode well for us signing all of our FA's let alone siging a much needed to p D man or bonafide offensive threat that would be what this team needs to be a unstoppable dominant force next year. This upsets me, becuase here we go again, were too friggin poor to add the pieces. It's just getting ***king old I want complete dominance, and that requires siging the bulk of FA's and bringing in a top FA D-man and the O threat. I want to be optomisitc, but the reality of being a Sabres fan has me very depressed. Where oh where to begin? We had a great team but we couldn't afford to get them under contract? Uh, did I just sleep for 4 months and awake at the start of the 2006-2007 season? Last time I checked, they can still sign UFA's and RFA's. Speaking of RFA's, that is what this team is mostly comprised of. I really can't see too many players whose salary requests will become exorbinant. Lest we not forget this little tid bit of info courtesy of the Buff news. Teams retain the rights to restricted free agents by tendering one-year qualifying contract offers by June 30. A player who earned less than $660,000 this season must receive at least a 10 percent raise. A player who made between $660,000 and $1 million must receive a 5 percent raise. A player who made more than $1 million can be qualified at the same salary. Based on this, I would only picture significant raises for McKee (the market demands it) and Miller (he's the franchise, take care of him). Exactly who said we are too poor to sign anyone? You want the team to sign the bulk of FA's available? Do I need to delve into how little sense that sentence even makes? We just came off the most memorable season of recent Sabres lore and you are depressed? I'm still smiling from all the cheer and jubliation this team gave me this year. It ended in heartbreaking fashion, but I'll still look back fondly. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddaryl Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 Just because we have RFA's doesn't mean we have the money to sign them, and retain them. We're going to let a few players walk IMO, and we are not going to be able to replace them with other FA's IMO. If you believe we will have the same team as last year I think there will be some surprises. Many of our FA's can fully expect to make better money on other teams, and if we undercut our RFA's for the sake of maintaining a salary structure you will start ot see some upset players who will be lookin got leave the team the moment they achieve UFA. I am extremely depressed because we are not going to be able to sign all of OUR FA's. Our season was great, but this year, due to Darcy's short sightedness, we have way to many FA's to re-sign. I honestly do not understand how or why Darcy would let this happen. Does anyone honestly believe the Sabres can sign all of their RFA's and UFA's ? I don't and I think the main core of players are going to want and deserve some nice raises. The Sabres have already released info that dictates we won't be spending much money this offseason. This means money goes to some players and others will be released or traded for picks and minor leaguers. Basically its the same old Sabre franchise. We had a great year JUST LIKE 1999, the type of year a big market team might have, but a big market team will re-sign their FA's and add a top FA or 2 for a cup run the following year. The Sabres HAVE ABSOLUTLY NO CHANCE OF SIGNING THEIR FA'S AND ADDING MORE TALENT VIA FA. IMO if we cannot spend to the salary cap limit we will watch this team slowly be decimated the same way it was decimated after 1999 season leading to the lockout. The only way a salary cap league works is if all teams are capable of spending to that limit. Otherwise nothing really has changed here, the big market clubs still have this advantage, and small market clubs who do compete can't keep up with the jonses. Not trying to be pessimistic, but the Sabres are still too friggin poor to be able to do what needs to be done to put a truly dominant cup winning team together for next season. Sure we'll still have a real good team and win some playoff games, but in the end we're still going to be 1 or 2 players away from tasting that championship IMO, and it will all be because we can't financially compete with big market teams. I'm tired of always knocking on the door, it's old and unrewarding. I'm tired of not being able to improve the team with a LaFontaine caliber addition. I'm tired of saying next year, because we never have the financial ability to add the missing piece when the time comes... NEVER, and its very obvious from the reports that the Sabres cannot and will not be spending more then what they can afford. I hope I am wrong, but their is to much precedence here. Its the reality of all Sabres fans, repeating this years season nxt year is a very tall order that I don't think Darcy and the Sabres budget can fill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeleslyobvious Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 $750K and $950K? Volume 59, Number 35, p. 8. $75K and $95K. If you are a minor leaguer making over $95K, you can avoid recall waivers if you have played enough games. Just because we have RFA's doesn't mean we have the money to sign them, and retain them. We're going to let a few players walk IMO, and we are not going to be able to replace them with other FA's IMO. If you believe we will have the same team as last year I think there will be some surprises. Many of our FA's can fully expect to make better money on other teams, and if we undercut our RFA's for the sake of maintaining a salary structure you will start ot see some upset players who will be lookin got leave the team the moment they achieve UFA. I am extremely depressed because we are not going to be able to sign all of OUR FA's. Our season was great, but this year, due to Darcy's short sightedness, we have way to many FA's to re-sign. I honestly do not understand how or why Darcy would let this happen. Does anyone honestly believe the Sabres can sign all of their RFA's and UFA's ? I don't and I think the main core of players are going to want and deserve some nice raises. The Sabres have already released info that dictates we won't be spending much money this offseason. This means money goes to some players and others will be released or traded for picks and minor leaguers. Basically its the same old Sabre franchise. We had a great year JUST LIKE 1999, the type of year a big market team might have, but a big market team will re-sign their FA's and add a top FA or 2 for a cup run the following year. The Sabres HAVE ABSOLUTLY NO CHANCE OF SIGNING THEIR FA'S AND ADDING MORE TALENT VIA FA. IMO if we cannot spend to the salary cap limit we will watch this team slowly be decimated the same way it was decimated after 1999 season leading to the lockout. The only way a salary cap league works is if all teams are capable of spending to that limit. Otherwise nothing really has changed here, the big market clubs still have this advantage, and small market clubs who do compete can't keep up with the jonses. Not trying to be pessimistic, but the Sabres are still too friggin poor to be able to do what needs to be done to put a truly dominant cup winning team together for next season. Sure we'll still have a real good team and win some playoff games, but in the end we're still going to be 1 or 2 players away from tasting that championship IMO, and it will all be because we can't financially compete with big market teams. I'm tired of always knocking on the door, it's old and unrewarding. I'm tired of not being able to improve the team with a LaFontaine caliber addition. I'm tired of saying next year, because we never have the financial ability to add the missing piece when the time comes... NEVER, and its very obvious from the reports that the Sabres cannot and will not be spending more then what they can afford. I hope I am wrong, but their is to much precedence here. Its the reality of all Sabres fans, repeating this years season nxt year is a very tall order that I don't think Darcy and the Sabres budget can fill. You're right about one thing. We are not going to have every single RFA back. If you want a team that signs big name players every off season, maybe you should root for the Rangers. But we have seen how successful that philosphy is. Expect a very similar off season to last summer. We are going to lose some forwards, but we have a lot of depth at forward. We can lose a couple of guys and not really take a step back. We will add a free agent blueliner. It's not going to be be Chara or Redden. However, I can almost garuntee he will be a player that fits in to our system perfectly. Start worrying when some of the core players go somewhere else. And if you think we are going to see a 1999-2004 all over again, well I think we would need the ownership problems we had during that time period for that to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkman Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 Does anyone honestly believe the Sabres can sign all of their RFA's and UFA's ? Isn't this really 2 questions? Call me an optimist but I see almost all if not all of our RFA's being singed. As far as UFA's goes, I can see at least two of the four back. So we lose two or three players gone? Fresh blood sounds good to me. This means money goes to some players and others will be released or traded for picks and minor leaguers. I didn't think the current CBA allowed players to be released. Put on waivers perhaps but I don't think players can just be cut. The Sabres HAVE ABSOLUTLY NO CHANCE OF SIGNING THEIR FA'S AND ADDING MORE TALENT VIA FA. I don't want any hired mercenaries. More often than not those guys kill team chemistry. IMO if we cannot spend to the salary cap limit we will watch this team slowly be decimated the same way it was decimated after 1999 season leading to the lockout. Well, we are not spending to the limit and this team will not be decimated. The only thing that happened to that team of any significance was that it lost the best Goalie in the world. That can't happen again. I'm tired of always knocking on the door... I hardly call one finals appearnace (recently) "always knocking on the door...". Its the reality of all Sabres fans, repeating this years season nxt year is a very tall order that I don't think Darcy and the Sabres budget can fill. We could sign every top free agent and success would not be guaranteed. I will agree with you that repeating last season will be difficult. A lot of things came together but mostly everyone will be back and I have confidence that this team will be ready to make another run, IMHO of coarse. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 The 1999 team was decimated after that season? I seem to remember them putting up 98 points and coming within a game of the conference finals 2 years later. The roster didn't go through too many changes during that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 I can see where this guy is coming from when talking about this offseason. To think the Sabres are going to be able to re-sign the majority of their RFA's and UFA's and then still be able to go out and find another Defencemen is not looking bright. If you add the 4 million raise in the salary cap to last years budget cap the sabres put on them selves, they'll be lucky to get the majority of last years team back at that price. Buffalo will not be looking for help in FA for a while, replacements will be brought in through Rochester to replace players who's salary demands get too big for this team, and that could become the achillies heal of this team. This may have been the best chance the Sabres have at winning the cup because they had the head start on the salary cap and the new NHL this year. Now that owners and GM's have seen what it takes in the new NHL, the competition is only going to get tougher and players like what made Buffalo successful this year are going to be at a premium and not come cheap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeleslyobvious Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 I can see where this guy is coming from when talking about this offseason. To think the Sabres are going to be able to re-sign the majority of their RFA's and UFA's and then still be able to go out and find another Defencemen is not looking bright. If you add the 4 million raise in the salary cap to last years budget cap the sabres put on them selves, they'll be lucky to get the majority of last years team back at that price. Buffalo will not be looking for help in FA for a while, replacements will be brought in through Rochester to replace players who's salary demands get too big for this team, and that could become the achillies heal of this team. This may have been the best chance the Sabres have at winning the cup because they had the head start on the salary cap and the new NHL this year. Now that owners and GM's have seen what it takes in the new NHL, the competition is only going to get tougher and players like what made Buffalo successful this year are going to be at a premium and not come cheap I do find it kind of strange that management hasn't earned at least a little credit. It was all doom and gloom from late July until October last year. Darcy has shown he knows how to build a winner. Again, we don't need to keep all of our players. We have a lot of depth at forward, and are lacking some depth on the blueline. I would imagine that we might lose a forward or two, and pick up a defenseman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 Just because we have RFA's doesn't mean we have the money to sign them, and retain them. We're going to let a few players walk IMO, and we are not going to be able to replace them with other FA's IMO. If you believe we will have the same team as last year I think there will be some surprises. Many of our FA's can fully expect to make better money on other teams, and if we undercut our RFA's for the sake of maintaining a salary structure you will start ot see some upset players who will be lookin got leave the team the moment they achieve UFA. I am extremely depressed because we are not going to be able to sign all of OUR FA's. Our season was great, but this year, due to Darcy's short sightedness, we have way to many FA's to re-sign. I honestly do not understand how or why Darcy would let this happen. Does anyone honestly believe the Sabres can sign all of their RFA's and UFA's ? I don't and I think the main core of players are going to want and deserve some nice raises. The Sabres have already released info that dictates we won't be spending much money this offseason. This means money goes to some players and others will be released or traded for picks and minor leaguers. Basically its the same old Sabre franchise. We had a great year JUST LIKE 1999, the type of year a big market team might have, but a big market team will re-sign their FA's and add a top FA or 2 for a cup run the following year. The Sabres HAVE ABSOLUTLY NO CHANCE OF SIGNING THEIR FA'S AND ADDING MORE TALENT VIA FA. IMO if we cannot spend to the salary cap limit we will watch this team slowly be decimated the same way it was decimated after 1999 season leading to the lockout. The only way a salary cap league works is if all teams are capable of spending to that limit. Otherwise nothing really has changed here, the big market clubs still have this advantage, and small market clubs who do compete can't keep up with the jonses. Not trying to be pessimistic, but the Sabres are still too friggin poor to be able to do what needs to be done to put a truly dominant cup winning team together for next season. Sure we'll still have a real good team and win some playoff games, but in the end we're still going to be 1 or 2 players away from tasting that championship IMO, and it will all be because we can't financially compete with big market teams. I'm tired of always knocking on the door, it's old and unrewarding. I'm tired of not being able to improve the team with a LaFontaine caliber addition. I'm tired of saying next year, because we never have the financial ability to add the missing piece when the time comes... NEVER, and its very obvious from the reports that the Sabres cannot and will not be spending more then what they can afford. I hope I am wrong, but their is to much precedence here. Its the reality of all Sabres fans, repeating this years season nxt year is a very tall order that I don't think Darcy and the Sabres budget can fill. No one (with the possible exceptions of the UFA's) is going to "walk". The Sabres will likely sign and trade Marty and possibly a forward (Kotalik or Dumont being my best guess at this time). Any other RFA that leaves will be worth draft picks to the Sabres. Yes, a draft pick doesn't help immediately, but draft picks will be the life blood of this organization as that is where new, INEXPENSIVE talent will typically be added to the team. I truly doubt that many (if any) Sabres RFA's will get offered contracts significantly better than what Buffalo will offer. All of the Sabres RFA's have question marks associated with them (even Miller due to age and lack of multiple years of getting it done at the NHL level). I don't expect any of the forwards (with the possible exception of Briere) to get a "there's no way we can even think about matching that offer" offer. Miller could get a fairly large offer from someone else, but I'd expect the Sabres to match nearly any offer as paying the goalie a salary outside your base structure really doesn't throw off the rest of it. The D are the guys that might see an "outrageous" offer, but remember, prior to the playoffs, there were very few here that thought the D was really stellar. I still wouldn't put it in the top 5 league-wide and there was no one individual that really shone significantly brighter than the guys around him. So the Sabres may catch a break there. Losing 1 or 2 RFA's to free agency would hurt, but remember this team played a large portion of the season without guys like Briere, Dumont, Kalinin, etc., etc., etc., so it probably wouldn't kill the team. Would it put a damper on the excitement that was generated this year? Absolutely, but it wouldn't kill the team. Also, the team only signed a handful of guys to multiyear deals because Darcy (and the rest of management) believed the "prevaling wisdom" prior to the season that the league's projection of $1.8B in revenues would actually be too high and the salary cap would likely be $35-37MM next year. In that environment, ALL the Sabres RFA's would be very re-signable, as would quite a few RFA's and UFA's from other teams, as a lot of teams would need to dump salary to get down to the salary cap. Any players released, would have counted 1/3 against the cap for 2x the length of their bought out years. The Sabres were in a position where they would have NO contracts that they'd have to eat and could keep their budget where it was. You can criticize him if you want, but remember, AT THE TIME he was signing the 1 year contracts, it appeared to be a prudent thing and most believed he was doing the right thing. While I would like to have seen the salary cap at closer to $35MM last year and still in a $36-$37MM range this coming season, I don't believe that all teams must be close to or at the salary cap to succeed. Heading into this season Carolina had the 3rd lowest payroll, Buffalo the 5th, Edmonton the 12th, and Anaheim was 6th highest. While Carolina did increase a lot down the stretch (primarily due to the injury to Cole) and Edmonton added UFA's toward the end of the season, Anaheim actually purged a lot of its salary by dumping Fedorov and Sykora. The $'s spent do not equate to success on ice, as 8 of the top 10 most expensive teams on day one did not make it past the 1st round of the playoffs. Only Jersey and the Ducks made it past the 1st round. One final note, the Sabres will have more talent next year because the players on the team are entering their prime. They don't need to go the FA route to pick up guys who will make this a better team next year. A lot of the current Sabres are at ages where they will be better the following year simply because that is what happens to professional athletes when they hit "their prime." The Sabres will likely be able to follow the model they used in '99 (and I thought they would this year) - stand pat for the most part and then pick up a piece or 2 at the trade deadline to get them over the hump if it looks like they are (as I suspect they will be) legitimate contenders. Because the players are in their prime and we don't know yet how FA will play out, I'd suggest we wait until we see who stays, who goes, and who comes in before we do our impersonation of DeLuca circa September/October of 2005. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkman Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 I'd suggest we wait until we see who stays, who goes, and who comes in before we do our impersonation of DeLuca circa September/October of 2005. :lol: :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 I do find it kind of strange that management hasn't earned at least a little credit. It was all doom and gloom from late July until October last year. Darcy has shown he knows how to build a winner. Again, we don't need to keep all of our players. We have a lot of depth at forward, and are lacking some depth on the blueline. I would imagine that we might lose a forward or two, and pick up a defenseman. I find it strange that after only one year of success everyone is giving so much credit to regier. I'm not saying he is a good or a bad GM, But that one season is not going to make me think this guy is a hockey genius and knows how to build a team, cause I think that for the amount of skill it took him to assemble this team, the same amount of luck was ivolved that everything worked out. If the new NHL wouldn't have worked out and by the end of the year everything went back to the way it was before the lockout, Would the Sabres have had the same amount of success. I think it is going to be a very interseting offseason that will be very busy for Regier, but I am not going into next year thinking that this team is going to be much better then last year because we brought some more rookies up to replace some veterans. Other teams will be improving next year, If Buffalo is content with staying the way they are, they will not be better then this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 I find it strange that after only one year of success everyone is giving so much credit to regier. I'm not saying he is a good or a bad GM, But that one season is not going to make me think this guy is a hockey genius and knows how to build a team, cause I think that for the amount of skill it took him to assemble this team, the same amount of luck was ivolved that everything worked out. If the new NHL wouldn't have worked out and by the end of the year everything went back to the way it was before the lockout, Would the Sabres have had the same amount of success. I think it is going to be a very interseting offseason that will be very busy for Regier, but I am not going into next year thinking that this team is going to be much better then last year because we brought some more rookies up to replace some veterans. Other teams will be improving next year, If Buffalo is content with staying the way they are, they will not be better then this year. There was less likelihood of that happening than the likelihood of things working out the way that they did. With payrolls "capped", management no longer had an incentive to lower scoring and place a dull game on the ice in order to keep player salaries down. The method by which the league would increase scoring (bigger nets +/or some other gimmick, or calling penalties the way they are written in the rulebook) wasn't necessarily known beforehand to us, but the league pretty well knew which method it would use to increase scoring before the ink was dry on the new CBA. As for the team not being better next year, 2 comments. 1. We'll have to wait and see what happens to the roster before we can predict that. If the Sabres only lose 2 or 3 players from this roster, the team very likely could be as good, if not a little better, next year as they were this year. 2. The team earned 110 points in the regular season. 2 more wins and they have home ice throughout the playoffs. A 110 point season is nothing to sneeze at. That is a 67% winning percentage, which in a salary capped league is pretty darn good. (Playoff winning percentage was nearly that as well.) If the team continues to play at that level, the stands will be full and Sabres fever will be hitting epidemic proportions in WNY and along the NP. BTW, I agree (and have been saying it for a long time) that Darcy's final grades won't be available until after we see how the team does this offseason and into the next season. But I do think it looks like he has a solid B going to this point and could easily bring it up to an A. (Hopefully he doesn't stop cramming for the finals now that he's seen the midterms went well!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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