Is Regier done now?

Yesterday was a busy day for Darcy Regier has he signed UFA C Rob Niedermayer, re-signed back up G Patrick Lalime, and D Mike Weber signed his qualifying offer.

With Tim Kennedy opting for arbitration and the Sabres electing to take Patrick Kaleta to arbitration, Darcy Regier could be done for the summer in about a month.

I know some fans are hoping that Regier still makes a trade. Shipping Drew Stafford out of town is on most fans' minds. Personally, I'm wondering if a package that starts with Stafford and Nathan Gerbe might entice some teams that need to clear cap space. Stafford's cap hit of $1.9M and Gerbe's cap hit of $850k would help teams like Philadelphia, New Jersey, and perhaps Boston.

Other intriguing options would be the obvious of trying to pry Tomas Kaberle out of Toronto (I doubt the Sabres have a package that Brian Burke would want) or the little less obvious of trying to pry a defenseman out of Calgary as the Flames are heavy on defense and light up front. Although, Calgary may feel they are OK up front with the Jokinen & Tanguay UFA signings and Regier may be happy with his current crop of defensemen.

Personally, I'm expecting Regier to not bring in any more players outside of the organization. The biggest wild card I see the rest of this off season is whether the Sabres sign Zack Kassian to an Entry Level Contract or not.

That would give the Sabres a projected opening night lineup like this:

Vanek-Roy-Stafford
Hecht-Connolly-Pominville
Ennis-Niedermayer-Grier
Kennedy-Gaustad-Kaleta
Gerbe-McCormick

Leopold-Myers
Weber-Montador
Butler-Sekera
Gragnani
Rivet (IR)

Miller
Lalime

I think that roster is good enough to get into the playoffs. But, they would need to get a really good match up or Miller would need to stand on his head to get out of the first round......

I thought the plan was to get better?

Didn't Darcy Regier and Larry Quinn talk about how they wanted to improve the Buffalo Sabres this off season?

I know we're only one day into Free Agency, but I'm less than thrilled with what happened yesterday.

I didn't expect Toni Lydman or Henrik Tallinder to be back after they hit the open market. But, with two spots on defense open, I was disappointed in how the Sabres addressed the need.

I have no issue with giving Mike Weber and Marc-Andre Gragnani a shot. But giving Jordan Leopold 3 years and $9 million is tough for me to stomach.

Leopold was the Penguins' 6th defenseman in the playoffs last year before getting his season ended with a shot to the head. The fact that Leopold has previously missed large chunks of time due to concussions makes me question this signing even more.

But ultimately, my issue is that Leopold is a soft, mobile defenseman who doesn't bring big offensive production to the table.

Maybe Mike Weber will bring the nasty edge the Sabres need on defense. But, Leopold isn't the PP QB the Sabres have needed for a while now.

If the Sabres make a move where they ship out Chris Butler or Andrej Sekera and they add a legit PP QB defenseman, then it will be easier to swallow what happened yesterday.

But, Darcy Regier sounded like he was done addressing the defense and he's focusing on the forward ranks. But, with guys like Adam Mair & Matt Ellis on the UFA market, it is unlikely that Regier brings in more than 3rd/4th line guys at this point.

So once again, Regier will tweak the roster and hope for growth from is "core".

And while I could see guys like Vanek & Pominville being able to improve over last year, I don't see anyone making the impact that Tyler Myers had on this team last season.

If the Sabres don't get a pop like that, what are the odds that they improve?

Perhaps the motto for the Sabres' 40th Anniversary season should be: Commitment to Mediocrity