Dear Darcy

Follow Ken Holland's lead and don't overpay for Shane Doan.

I know that you (or your bosses) want to make a splashy addition this off season and dealing Derek Roy for Steve Ott just isn't enough.

But, giving a four or five year deal at $7 million per year or more to a guy who turns 36yo in a few months and averages around 20 to 25 goals and 55 to 65 points per year lately.

I know that Shane Doan has the reputation as a great leader and you think he'll be a great influence on the young core of the team. But come on, signing him to that deal will likely work out as well as overpaying Chris Drury worked for the NY Rangers.

Follow Ken Holland's lead and back away. There will be other good players available in the future.

If you can't help yourself and need to make a stupid move, then sign Jamie Benn or Ryan O'Reilly to a stupid RFA Offersheet.

That way you get a player entering the prime of his career and you address a position of need!

Culture Change

For years the Sabres were viewed as a talented, but soft team.

After Ryan Miller was trucked by Milan Lucic and the reaction from the Sabres was "Meh", it became obvious to many that the Sabres needed to upgrade the team's backbone.

After the team failed to make the playoffs, Darcy Regier talked about wanting to upgrade the team's "compete level". After two days of the NHL off season, Regier has made two moves that have started to change the complexion of the roster.

First, he signed 6'8" 270 lb enforcer John Scott who grew up a Sabres fan in St. Catherines. He won't get a lot of ice time and is a throwback in that he's a pure enforcer who is a liability at 5 on 5. But, he's a monster who can really chuck knuckles and he only costs $600,000.

Then he traded Derek Roy to Dallas for superpest Steve Ott and big defenseman Adam Pardy. This after WGR's Paul Hamilton said Roy had no trade value.

Yeah, on pure talent, Dallas wins the deal. But, on "compete level", the Sabres win this deal going away. But the really interesting piece to me is what comes next. Regier has said that he wants to add a center with size. The team has a lot of depth on defense and some on the wing.

Regier has also hinted that they have offers out to a UFA or two and are awaiting decisions by the players.

I can't wait to see what Regier has up his sleeve as he goes about changing the culture of the Sabres and trying to upgrade the grit and toughness on the team.

Now whether this makes them a better team remains to be seen. But, they do appear to be a tougher team to play against than they were a week ago.

Put the checkbook down and slowly back away

With the second UFA period of the Terry Pegula era about 48 hours away, I'm going to take a position that I doubt too many Sabres fans will agree with: the Sabres should NOT go after any big money UFAs this year.

The #1 reason is that the Sabres don't have any glaring holes on the NHL roster today. Just look at the CapGeek Sabres page.

The Sabres are set in goal with Miller and Enroth. They have 8 NHL ready defensemen under contract and TJ Brennan as an RFA who would have to clear waivers to go to Rochester. So while it's nice to dream about adding Ryan Suter to play with Tyler Myers for the next five years or longer, it could be a very tough sell.

At center, the Sabres have Roy, Ennis, and Hodgson and Grigorenko may be NHL ready. So, they could have 4 centers for 3 spots. The Sabres could potentially use a gritty fourth line center. But, that wouldn't be a premier, big dollar acquisition.

The Sabres have plenty of NHL depth at LW (Vanek, Foligno, Leino, Gerbe, McCormick, & Ellis). RW is a spot that isn't as deep (Pominville, Stafford, Kaleta, Tropp). But, they likely need more of a depth guy unless they flip Vanek or Leino from LW to RW to balance things out. Plus, if Grigorenko makes the team and the Sabres don't trade Roy, Ennis likely gets moved back to the wing to help the depth there. The Sabres could use maybe one depth addition on the wing. But, that's not a big ticket item, either.

The #2 reason is the contract Ville Leino got last year, the Sabres cap situation, and the CBA uncertainty. The Sabres have around $11.6 million available against the cap right now. But, that's with a provisional cap at $70.2 million that could come down when the new CBA is signed. They also have to re-sign RFAs (Ennis, & Kaleta) and if Grigorenko makes the big club, he'll count over $1 million against the cap.

While Terry Pegula has proven that he'll bury contracts, it's not an ideal situation. I'd rather that the Sabres pass this off season and help clean up the team's cap situation.

The #3 reason is that I want to see the Sabres spend their time not looking to make the roster better for the 2012-13 season and instead building around the "young core" of the team. Guys like Grigorenko, Girgensons, Myers, Hodgson, Ennis, Armia, and Pysyk are the guys that the team needs to build around. So, instead of adding UFAs that are older than the "young core", I'd rather see the team focus on moving out the "Rochester core" and adding new pieces to the "young core".

Can the Sabres move out guys like Vanek, Roy, Stafford, Pominville, and Miller and add to the young core. Anaheim winger Bobby Ryan has been mentioned as a player that is available. The Ducks have a lack of depth at center behind Ryan Getzlaf. Could the Sabres package up Roy, the team's 2013 1st round pick, and a prospect defenseman not named McNabb or Pysyk to get Ryan? Anaheim might prefer Tyler Ennis or Cody Hodgson to Roy. I would try and improve the other parts of the Sabres offer and keep Roy as the center moving and see if a deal can get done. But if push came to shove, I probably would move Tyler Ennis in a deal for Bobby Ryan.

I would see about moving Ryan Miller and then trying to trade for LA Kings back up Jonathan Bernier since the Kings just locked up Jonathan Quick to a ten year extension. Bernier and Enroth would give the Sabres a young goalie tandem that fits into the "young core" model.

If the Sabres could move Vanek and Stafford for prospects and/or young players, the Sabres could then potentially dip into UFA for some veteran bridge players like perhaps Shane Doan to try and give the "young core" some role models.

Given what happened at the draft, I think now is the time to try and move on from the "Rochester core" and build around the "young core" that the team has. And it doesn't have to be a complete rebuild where the team will suffer on the ice in 2012-13. There are plenty of young players on the roster already that can compete at a high level this season.

The final reason is that I doubt Suter or Parise will sign in Buffalo. Suter has a stated desire to stay in the Western Conference and Detroit and Minnesota have a need for a big time defenseman and the cap space to give Suter a handsome offer. Parise might get courted by the Penguins who have a need for a big time winger to play with Crosby or Malkin. I don't see the Sabres and their Pegulabucks enticing either guy to come here.

And I've seen what happens when the Sabres can't entice the #1 differencemaker and sign the #2 guy to a stupid contract. I don't want the Sabres signing another Ville Leino.

So, I hope that Pegula and Regier put the checkbook down and slowly back away. Hopefully I'll be as excited about the off season moves they make with the NHL roster as I am about how the draft went.

Two thumbs up. Way up.

I woke up my kids I was so excited when the Sabres surprised me, and a few other Sabres fans, by taking Mikhail Grigorenko at 12 on Friday night.

Sabres head scout Kevin Devine had talked about the Russian Factor at the top of the draft and that had people expecting the Sabres to pass on Grigorenko if he fell on draft night.

I was excited because betting on Grigorenko's talent is the type of gamble that a team like the Detroit Red Wings would take. Grigorenko was the most talented player on the board at 12. He fit a huge need that the team had. He could make the jump to the NHL next season.

There was no good argument against taking Grigorenko in that spot. That's why I was so psyched to see him don a Sabres jersey. The fact that he was happy to be a Sabre and a little ticked to be passed up by 11 other teams was icing on the cake.

The work ethic issues that caused him to drop seem to be late in showing up. Grigorenko has already moved into a Buffalo hotel to train with the team and to try and give himself the best chance possible to make the big club this season.

But, he's lazy and is going to be a bust. Uh huh.......

Then the Sabres gave Calgary their 2nd round pick back to jump up from 21 to 14 to take Zemgus Girgensons. It may have given Don Stevens a heart attack, but Girgensons may be the ultimate compliment to Grigorenko as a tough, physical, and still skilled center that is getting compared to guys like Ryan Callahan, Dustin Brown, Bobby Holik, and a whole host of other tough guys that Sabres fans would love to see play here.

And did I mention that the kid played a period and a half with a broken jaw that ultimately ended his playoff season in the USHL this year?

Girgensons has options with where he is to play next season. He could honor his commitment and go play at the University of Vermont in  Hockey East of the NCAA. He could sign a pro contract with the Sabres and then play either in Buffalo, Rochester, or he could go the major junior route where the Kelowna Rockets own his rights currently.

He is training in Vermont with some other Catamounts. So, it would appear that he is leaning towards the college route for next season. Personally, I'd rather that he goes to the CHL where he would play more games. But, I'd rather see him in Vermont than Rochester next season. The jump from the USHL to the AHL is a big one, even for a guy with "pro ready" frame like Girgensons.

The day two picks had a defenseman that Amerks head coach Ron Rolston knows well in Jake McCabe, a bunch more centers, and a Swedish goalie in Linus Ullmark that the Sabres hope will be their Pekka Rinne. Like most second day picks, we'll judge them in five to ten years.

But so far, I've got two thumbs up with how things went.

Draft Day is upon us

Here are some random thoughts on one of my favorite days of the year.

- If Mikhail Grigorenko is there at 12 and the Sabres use the Russian Factor excuse to pass on him, they are really stupid.

- I wish there was a way for the Sabres to get Alex Galchenyuk. He's a potential franchise center and the Sabres need one badly.

- If Radek Faksa becomes a Sabre tonight, I'll be psyched.

- I will be conflicted if the Sabres draft Teuvo Teravainen. I love the skill and hockey sense. I hate the size and position that he plays, though.

- There are a lot of good defensemen in this year's draft. But, if the Sabres bypass a solid center prospect to take a defenseman at 12, I may throw something at my television.

- TSN's rankings are pretty close to what happens in a lot of drafts and they have 3 solid centers (Faksa, Grigorenko, and Zemgus Girgensons) at 11, 12, and 13. I'll be happy if the Sabres get one of those three players at 12.

- At 21, the Sabres might take this year's "next Milan Lucic" in Plymouth Whalers winger Thomas Wilson. It would be an interesting pick given that the Sabres just traded away Zack Kassian who was touted as his draft year's "next Milan Lucic".

- If Belleville Bulls center Brendan Gaunce falls to 21, I would hope that the Sabres would sprint to the podium to take him. I think he could be like Mike Richards as a center that goes in the mid to late 1st round and turns into a very good NHL player. Although, a comparison to Wayne Primeau scares me a bit.

- Oshawa Generals center Scott Laughton is another guy that the Sabres could look at both at 12 and 21 and I wouldn't be upset if the Sabres take him.

- Czech center Tomas Hertl is a finesse guy with good size and if he falls to the early 2nd round, I would hope the Sabres would take a look at him.

- If the Sabres take a goalie in the second round, I hope it Sweden's Oscar Dansk. I'm not really big on Malcolm Subban or Russian Andrei Vasilevski in goal. I'd rather roll the dice on a later round American like Anthony Stolarz, Jon Gillies, or Collin Olson.

- I don't see the Sabres making too many deals despite all the talk. But, they could surprise me. I can't wait to see what happens tonight and again tomorrow.

Sulzer re-signs, Chewy goes to Europe, Regier waits on the trade market to open, and is Parise worth it

The Sabres have re-signed Alex Sulzer to a one year $725,000 contract. I like getting him back given how nicely he meshed with fellow German Christian Ehrhoff following his deadline acquisition from Vancouver.

The interesting piece to this is that it would appear to create a logjam of NHL defensemen with seven defensemen not named Brayden McNabb or TJ Brennan signed to contracts for next season.

It will be interesting to see if guys like Jordan Leopold, Andrej Sekera, or Mike Weber gets moved this summer to create a roster spot for McNabb.

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Paul "Chewy" Szczechura has signed to play with Prague's KHL team for the 2012-13 season per Kevin Oklonzija of the Rochester D&C.

While this news won't hugely impact the Sabres' ability to make the playoffs in 12-13, this isn't good news for the Amerks who need a talent infusion. Plus, it further dents the Sabres center depth that was less than stellar to begin with.

Although, the Sabres/Amerks do have Kevin Sundher turning pro next season and that should help a bit.

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Darcy Regier wants to upgrade the Sabres center position. He also knows that the trade market is the most likely route to get the player that would fill that need.

So, he has to sit back and wait for the trade market to open up once the playoffs end and the NHL Entry Draft rolls around on June 22/23.

While the trade deadline and the opening of Free Agency on July 1st get all the attention, the week before the draft starts the time of year where NHL teams really are built.

Remember, the Flyers shocked the hockey world on June 23rd last year when they dealt both Jeff Carter and Mike Richards ahead of Free Agency.

I can't wait to see if Regier does his heavy off season lifting before Free Agency as opposed to last season.

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Justin Bourne puts out the case why Zach Parise will defy the odds and be a 28yo Free Agent that is worth $6 to $7 million per year.

Will he be Daniel Briere or will he be Chris Drury?

I love Parise and I wouldn't mind if he replaced Thomas Vanek as the highest paid forward on the Sabres this off season.

But, I doubt that Regier goes that route this summer. I just hope that Parise doesn't go the Scott Gomez route and leaves NJ for the NY Rangers in Free Agency.

If he doesn't re-sign with the Devils, I'd like to see him return home and sign with the Minnesota Wild.

Risk Management

I'm a hockey fan. But, it has been hard to stay really focused on the NHL with the Sabres missing the playoffs.

But, today I feel like talking about risk management and some risks the Sabres will be looking at this off season.

Risk #1 is South Buffalo native Patrick Kane. In case you missed it, Patrick Kane has been partying this off season. And that has created a lot of media chatter that the Chicago Blackhawks need to rid themselves of the talented, but immature Kane. 

If the cost of acquiring Kane is greatly reduced due to the immaturity issues, I wouldn't mind the Sabres rolling the dice on acquiring Kane. I would give up Derek Roy and a 2nd round pick and hope that a move back home will get Kane to mature. There is plenty of risk given how one of Kane's most infamous partying episodes that led to a brush with the law took place in Buffalo. But, if the Sabres can buy low on a player that has the talent to be a difference maker, I think they need to consider it.

But, it all comes down to risk management and whether the Sabres have a belief that they can put the right support system around Kane to get him to mature quickly.

Another potential risk assessment the Sabres will need to do this off season is at the draft with top 5 talent Mikhail Grigorenko could fall on draft day due to concerns about whether he plays hard all the time and more importantly, whether he'll go back to Russia to play for CSKA of the KHL since they can offer way more than he will get from an NHL rookie max contract.

Some people see the Montreal Canadiens taking Grigorenko, especially given that Patrick Roy was Grigorenko's coach with the Quebec Remparts. Although, plenty of people have downgraded Grigorenko given how quietly the Remparts went out in the QMJHL playoffs.

One reason I can see the Sabres passing on Grigorenko is previous comments by Sabres GM Darcy Regier where he said that you need a few Russians in the locker room if they are to work out. The Sabres currently have no Russians on the team or in the development pipeline. And I don't see Grigorenko being a guy that the Sabres make major changes to the players on the roster and/or in the pipeline to fit into the team.

But, the guy has a ton of talent and he fills a position of need at center...........

Another question is what do the Sabres view as the "Prototypical Sabre"?

I wouldn't mind it if the answer was similar to what the NFL's Baltimore Ravens have. The Sabres could use more tough guys that play hard and fast and would play the game for free.

Getting over Briere and Untouchables

Since it's playoff time, it must be the season for Sabres fans to kvetch about how Daniel Briere got away. Personally, I think that a pre-requisite for whining about how Briere left is that you had to be in the Pro-Briere camp. If you were a Pro-Drury person in that edition of "Pick a Player" fan talk battles, then you have no right complaining that the Sabres got it wrong.

And even if you were a Pro-Briere guy, you really need to move on. No amount of looking back longingly at what was will change the fact that Daniel Briere is not walking through that door.

The bigger question is do the Sabres have a guy that can turn into a Briere-esque impact player and clutch guy that turns things up a notch or three in the playoffs.

That gets us to players that I believe should be untouchable this off season when Sabres fans dream of guys like Jordan Staal coming to Buffalo.

Cody Hodgson is a guy that has Briere & Drury type qualities. And while he wants to take the high road with the comments coming out of Vancouver, Gary Roberts couldn't hold his tongue. If Hodgson has been held back by injuries and he's full go this summer with Roberts, I can't wait to see what he brings to the Sabres next season.

Marcus Foligno is another member of the new Sabres core that has people excited. And one of the things that excites me is that he talked about taking out his frustration with the way his season ended in the weight room this off season.

Hodgson and Foligno are two guys along with Tyler Ennis and Tyler Myers that I would place the untouchable tag on this off season.

If it means missing out on a guy like Jordan Staal to keep these guys, it would hurt. But, I'd make that call.

The media is trading everyone!

If you live in Vancouver, you're reading about how the Canucks need to move Roberto Luongo and Ryan Kesler.

If you live in Chicago, you're reading about how the Blackhawks should shop Patrick Kane for a #1 goalie.

If you live in San Jose, you're reading about how the Sharks need to move a guy like Patrick Marleau.

If you line in Pittsburgh, you're reading about how Jordan Staal is tired of being the third best center on his team and he might be shopped.

Here in Buffalo we get to read about how GM Darcy Regier and head coach Lindy Ruff have had long enough and need to be replaced.

While there is a case to be made to replace Regier and Ruff and move forward with new people in charge of the hockey team, we know that isn't happening for a while. So, it is time to project what big name guys will move this off season and can Regier pull off a deal for one of them.

With Vancouver GM Mike Gillis taking time to blast Sabres C Cody Hodgson, I wonder if he is gun shy about dealing with Regier again. But, if Ryan Kesler is made available, he would be the type of guy that Regier has to go after if he does plan to move Derek Roy. Kesler could fill that checking center with offensive talent that Ruff has used successfully in the past with the likes of Chris Drury and Mike Peca.

I like Patrick Kane as a player, especially since he hasn't looked too bad at center, but I worry if he's mature enough to handle a trade to his hometown team. But, a Miller for Kane deal would be very intriguing to me.

I don't want anything to do with Patrick Marleau since it's been a while since he played center. And I doubt the Sharks will move guys like Joe Pavelski or Logan Couture, even if they want to shake things up. If they are made available, Regier needs to work his magic.

And if Jordan Staal is made available, Regier needs to give up whatever it takes to get a deal done short of moving Tyler Myers, Tyler Ennis, or Cody Hodgson. Staal is a better version of Ryan Kesler to me.

Who knows what Regier can pull off this off season. I just know that mid-June can't get here fast enough for me.

Roy a goner? A big center coming to town?

Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier were both on WGR on Tuesday in lieu of a season ending press conference. Regier also talked to John Vogl of the Buffalo News and gave him some tidbits on where he wants to take the Sabres this off season.

One thing that had people buzzing was the fact that Regier mentioned Tyler Ennis and Cody Hodgson more than a few times on WGR and yet he never mentioned Derek Roy once. Many are taking that as Derek Roy (who is one year away from UFA) will be moved this off season.

Regier did mention that he wanted to increase the competitiveness on the team and that he wanted to add a center with size that can contribute either offensively or defensively.

That comment has me dreaming of Regier landing a big name center this off season. The problem might be what Regier is willing to move to get that player as there isn't a big offensive center of note in this year's UFA class.

The names that intrigue me are as follows:

Jordan Staal (Pittsburgh) - Sure, he had a hat trick last night, so his name is buzzing. But, the reason he could be available is that he has one year left on his contract before becoming a UFA in 2013. With Sidney Crosby also slated to hit UFA in 2013, the Penguins may need to move Staal or risk not being able to continue to fit Malkin, Crosby, and Staal under the cap. It would take a huge package and Regier may not want to move what it would take to get Staal out of Pittsburgh (Tyler Myers would likely be a guy that the Penguins would ask about), Staal is the type of guy that would fit nicely with what Regier and Ruff want to do with the Sabres.

Ryan Kesler (Vancouver) - Kesler is a lot like Staal. The big differences are that Kesler is coming off a less than stellar season, he's signed long term, and he has a No Trade Clause that kicks in after this season. But, I would expect that Ryan Miller, Cody Hodgson, and Christian Ehrhoff would be guys that the Sabres use to recruit Kesler ala the recruitment to get Robyn Regehr to waive his NTC last summer. Again, would the Canucks want to shake things up and move a core guy like Kesler? Would the Sabres be willing to part with the type of players that the Canucks would want for Kesler?

Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim) - Like Staal, Getzlaf has one year left on his contract and is a pending UFA in 2013. Like Kesler, Getzlaf is coming off a less than stellar season. The Ducks have some soul searching to do this summer with Getzlaf & Corey Perry a year away from UFA. Do the Ducks try and extend those two players and continue to try and build around them moving forward or do they blow things up? If they do decide to blow things up after missing the playoffs this season, I would expect Regier to try hard to land Getzlaf.

Joe Thornton (San Jose) - Like Kesler, Thornton would take some recruiting as he has a No Movement Clause in his contract. Like Getzlaf, Thornton is a core guy for the Sharks and it's unknown whether they will look to make some drastic moves this summer. The Sharks do have a lot of centers on their roster. So much so that they have a few natural centers playing on the wing. Would a deal that centers around Vanek for Thornton work for both teams? Could the Sabres get Thornton to waive his NMC? It would be very intriguing.

Before Pegula bought the Sabres, I'd never expect the Sabres to even think about getting any of these guys. Now, I have a sliver of hope.

I can't wait for the playoffs to end so that we can get to the week before the draft when the building for next season will begin.

The Amerks make the playoffs

It came down to the final weekend of the regular season, but the Amerks made the AHL playoffs thanks to a big 5-1 win at home on Friday night over the Syracuse Crunch and then a 2-1 win in Cleveland against the Lake Erie Monsters on Saturday.

Sure, a freak combination of results across three different games on Sunday could have seen the Amerks on the outside looking in. But, that didn't happen.

So now the Amerks get to face the Toronto Marlies in a five game first round series. The series will start on Thursday night in Toronto. Game 2 is Saturday in Toronto with Game 3 a week from tonight in Rochester.

It will be interesting to see how many fans come out after a big crowd of over 10,000 fans came out for the final home game of the regular season. I'm guessing that Monday's crowd will be less than 5,000 fans.

It will be interesting to see who lifts their play in the postseason. Marcus Foligno was a monster on Friday and Luke Adam had a clutch goal on Saturday. The Amerks have been riding David Leggio in goal and he played well both nights.

Toronto is a tough match up. But, I believe!

All's quiet on the Sabres front


Now comes the calm before the storm. The most important month of the NHL year is a week or two before the draft (mid-June) through the first couple of weeks of Free Agency (mid-July).

Between now and then, the Sabres will likely not be making a whole lot of news as they prepare to build their team for the 2012-13 campaign.

What throws a huge monkey wrench into things is the fact that the current CBA expires after this season. The trickier part is that it doesn't expire when the Stanley Cup is handed out or even after the draft.

It doesn't expire until September 15th.

It will make Free Agency really interesting. Will teams spend without any care for what could happen with the salary cap in the new CBA expecting a roll back if things change drastically?

Will teams be conservative until they get an indication of what will happen with the CBA?

It's going to be very interesting to watch. And it may be a reason why fans that want the Sabres blown up aren't going to get what they want in that regard this off season.

I'm still sticking with the idea that Regier & Ruff will remain in charge of the Sabres until after the 2013-14 season when Vanek, Pominville, and Miller are all UFAs. That just appears to be the perfect time to blow things up as it is the end of the 3 year window to win a Cup and it would be a time where a new GM could let big salaries walk and remake the roster the way he would like.

Pegula = Ilitch perhaps?

Let's take a look at where the Detroit Red Wings were when Mike Ilitch bought the team in 1982.

From the 1966-67 season through the 1981-82 season, the Red Wings won 1 playoff series and missed the playoffs in 14 out of the 16 seasons.

There is a reason they were nicknamed the Dead Wings. Enter Mike Ilitch.

In 1982-83, they missed the playoffs again. Their reward was the 4th overall pick in the 1983 draft that the team used to select Steve Yzerman. Yeah, that worked out pretty well for them.

In Yzerman's first two seasons, the Red Wings made the playoffs and lost in the first round. Then they missed the playoffs again in 1985-86.

Then the Red Wings made back to back Western Conference Finals appearances in 86-87 & 87-88. Then they had two first round losses sandwiched around a miss of the playoffs.

It wasn't until 1994-95 that the Red Wings made their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance with Ilitch as the owner. And it would be two more years before they won the Stanley Cup for Ilitch.

So while Ilitch is lauded as a great owner now, many people forget that it took the Red Wings over a decade to win a Stanley Cup under his stewardship of the franchise.

Building a model NHL franchise can take a while. Terry Pegula has owned the franchise for less than 18 months.

Pegula has proven so far that his heart and his wallet are in the right place. Hopefully it doesn't take 14 seasons for the Sabres to win the first Stanley Cup under Pegula's ownership.

No lottery luck

So, for the third year in a row, the Edmonton Oilers own the 1st overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft after winning the draft lottery last night. That leaves the Sabres first pick at 12th overall and the slot of the Nashville 1st rounder to be determined by how far the Predators advance in the playoffs. The current round of mock drafts have the Sabres picking in the 26th slot with that pick.

While plenty of people are dreaming of trade up scenarios, know that no team has trade out of the top 5 picks and out of the top 10 since the lockout. In fact, there has only been one team that traded down and out of the top 5 picks since the lockout. And that trade had the Nashville Predators only trading back two spots from 5th to 7th in 2008.

So while I'd love to see the Sabres trade up and get a center like Alex Galchenyuk or Mikhail Grigorenko, I don't see that happening.

The next tier of center prospects that the Sabres are more likely to have a shot at are Radek Faksa, Brendan Gaunce, and Colton Sissons.

If the Sabres look to Europe, Tomas Hertl is a guy that the Sabres might be looking at for help up the middle.

Although, it will be interesting to see if the Sabres do focus on the center position early or not. 8 of the top 12 North American skaters in the NHL Central Scouting's final rankings are defensemen. The European rankings are more even where the top 18 skaters are split evenly amongst forwards and defensemen.

The other question becomes if/when do the Sabres take a goalie. This draft has a couple of goalies with some late-first round chatter in Malcolm Subban (the younger brother of Montreal Canadiens D PK Subban) and Andrei Vasilevski who backstopped Russia to World Jr Championship Silver earlier this year.

Personally, Gaunce and Faksa are the two guys that I'm starting to hope for at 12.......

Ruff vs The Roster

TBN's Sabres Edge blog and Puck Daddy both have posts about Ruff calling out his core players and Derek Roy making comments on locker clean out day that taking shots like that in the media isn't productive.

Paul Hamilton was on WGR this morning and talked about how he's hearing that the players are tiring of Ruff dressing them down both in private and in the media. With Terry Pegula and Ted Black being strongly behind both Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff, it will be interesting to see what players get moved off the roster this summer.

Now IF the decision is to keep Regier and Ruff and move some "core players" this summer, here is how I see things going down.

I will not be surprised if they are not back next year:

Derek Roy is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him $5.5M but only count $4M against the cap. That deal would appear to be more attractive to a big budget team that cares more about cap space than actual  salary.

Thomas Vanek has been one of Ruff's whipping boy and the former 40 goal scorer likely will have some quality trade value despite his cap hit of over $7M.

UFAs Jochen Hecht and Brad Boyes are unlikely to be re-signed. Hecht because of the concussion issues he had this season and Boyes because he was entirely ineffective this season.

Guys that I would like to see move, but probably won't:

Drew Stafford was part of the hot line at the end of the season with Tyler Ennis and Marcus Foligno and I think that will buy him another year in the Blue & Gold. That will be a mistake as he's a guy with penchant for picking up his play only in a contract year and he has three more seasons left on his current deal.

Ryan Miller is another piece of the core that didn't have a great year. Like Vanek, he has a big cap hit, but could have some sizable trade value. I'd move Miller this summer, but I doubt it happens.

I wouldn't shed a tear if Robyn Regehr and/or Jordan Leopold gets moved this off season as they are both entering their contract years. The Sabres have a lot of depth on defense and getting some more young blood on the blueline won't be a bad thing.

What the Sabres need to add:

It's like a broken record, but this team needs more character, more size, more grit, and more skill.

What I'd really like to see happen is that the team creates a new core around Tyler Ennis, Tyler Myers, Cody Hodgson, Marcus Foligno, and some new under-25 blood.

Zach Parise is the lone UFA that I would like to see on the Sabres go after. I'd much rather see them focus on the trade market to add some more guys like Cody Hodgson to the mix on the NHL roster.

Feel free to root for a Sabres loss

With the Sabres getting eliminated from playoff contention last night thanks to their 2-1 loss in Philly and the Capitals defeating the Panthers, tomorrow's game in Boston means very little.

Usually, I can't root for the Sabres to lose. But, this is one game where I think I can get myself there as the loss could mean the Sabres drafting 3 slots sooner than if they win.

Now, to get a jump on the postmortem of the season, here is my list of reasons why the Sabres missed the playoffs:

1 - The injury situation was brutal. I'm not one that thinks that injuries are an excuse when they were as big of a factor as they were with the Sabres this season.

2 - The Sabres didn't leave themselves with enough cap flexibility to deal with the injuries.

3 - The Sabres didn't get the right depth players in Rochester, especially the right kind of depth veterans, to deal with the injury situation.

4 - The Sabres only got good, complete seasons from a few players. Pominville and Ehrhoff are the only two core veteran players that had solid seasons to me.

5 - Ville Leino may have been the worst UFA signing in the entire NHL as he only has 25 points. This is the guy that the Sabres felt the need to drop out of the Brad Richards derby to sign?

6 - Vanek, Stafford, and Roy all failed to elevate their games after being named Alternate Captains.

7 - Ryan Miller wasn't good enough early and Jhonas Enroth wasn't good enough from December onward.

But, there were some bright spots this year:

1 - Marcus Foligno going Beast Mode late in the year.

2 - The two trade deadline deals look pretty good right now.

3 - Alexander Sulzer was pretty good playing with Ehrhoff. He might be the only Sabres UFA-to-be that I'd want them to re-sign today.

4 - Tyler Ennis at center looked good down the stretch.

5 - Miller after the All-Star Break was worth his big contract.

6 - Pominville was solid with the C on his jersey.

7 - Ehrhoff was a solid UFA signing.

It's going to be interesting to see how the off season unfolds..........

Are you not entertained?

The Buffalo Sabres are in the sports-entertainment business.

Regardless of whether the Sabres sneak into the playoffs or not, how many people can say that they haven't been entertained by the Sabres recently?

Sure, their performances against the Leafs the past two games haven't been pretty. But, they still have a half-way decent shot at making the playoffs after the team was left for dead a couple of months ago.

Marcus Foligno rising from the scrum after Jordan Leopold tied this up last night was epic. The fact that the rookie was in the head of Leafs veteran defenseman Mike Komisarek in that game was great. His big hits and fight in the first period may not have gotten his teammates going, but the crowd loved it.

Derek Roy is a whipping boy of many a Sabres fan, myself included. But, he came up huge with the OT game winner last night.

Alexander Sulzer was an afterthought in the Kassian/Hodgson trade and he's been really valuable since getting into the lineup.

Ryan Miller gave up 5 goals last night. But, he also made some huge saves to keep the Sabres in the game.

Regardless of how things play out on Thursday and Saturday, I've been entertained lately. And I hope that the Sabres can continue entertaining me for a few more weeks, at a minimum.

Sabres get big win. Now they have to finish the deal.

After the Sabres took the Capitals will on Tuesday night, they put themselves in the driver's seat to make the playoffs. Today, the odds are up to 68.1% that the Sabres make the playoffs. The Sabres have the best record in the NHL over the past 10 games.

But, now they have to finish the deal.

Up next is a Pittsburgh Penguins team that has the second best record in the NHL over the past 10 games. Then the Sabres have a home & home with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Given that the Leafs have been eliminated from playoff contention, it will be interesting to see if they pack it in or if they play hard and try and spoil the Sabres' party. Then they close out the regular season with road games in Philadelphia and Boston against two teams that could be resting guys to prepare for the playoffs.

So, the Sabres have to keep their focus and complete the epic comeback from 10 points out of a playoff spot in mid-February to making the playoffs. While the team is rolling, it won't be easy.

Christian Ehrhoff is on the shelf with a knee injury suffered early in the Capitals game.

The Sabres have used a ton of energy to get to this spot.

The schedule isn't the easiest to close out the season.

But, after they have come back this far, they have to finish the job.

Monster Game Night

Robyn Regehr says it's an understatement to say tonight's Sabres-Capitals game is a big one.

The stats back it up as the Sabres have a tad under 40% chance of making the playoffs right now. The odds good up north of 60% if they win tonight and drop below 20% if they lose.

That is a huge swing either way and it spells out the fact that neither the Sabres nor the Capitals will get eliminated from playoff competition if they lose tonight. But, it will make their job a lot harder, especially if the game doesn't go to OT and the loser comes out of tonight's game with nothing.

The fact that the Winnipeg Jets couldn't complete the comeback last night as they hosted the Ottawa Senators makes tonight's game even more important as the Senators lead the Sabres and Capitals by 4 points. Given that the Jets have been much better at home, I was a bit surprised to see that result when I watched the highlights this morning. But, it's not like the Sabres have gotten a ton of help on the out of town scoreboard the past few days.

So, tonight they have to help themselves.

Other stuff:

- Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo's Puck Daddy blog has an interesting look at Ryan Miller's role in the Sabres climb back into playoff contention.

- Travis Turnbull has been returned to Buffalo and it looks like Patrick Kaleta will replace him on the 4th line with McCormick and Boyes.

- I find it interesting that NBC has dropped the April 7th Sabres vs Bruins game. That could be a game that the Sabres need to win to make the playoffs.

Oh no, CoHo is hot

Cody Hodgson was without a point in his first 10 games as a Sabre.

He now has 2 goals and 2 assists in his last two games as a Sabre.

With the Sabres having 8 games left and the team needing to get 2 more points than the Washington Capitals over those final 8 games, it's nice to see Hodgson starting to contribute offensively.

The next week is going to be really interesting. Tonight, the Sabres are in NY to play the Rangers. Tomorrow night, they host the Minnesota Wild that are pretty much playing out the string as they are 13 points out of 8th place in the West. Tuesday is the big show down against the Capitals in DC. And a week from tonight they host arguably the hottest team in the NHL in the Pittsburgh Penguins.

To get six or more points in this four game stretch, the Sabres are going to need everyone on the roster, except for maybe Jhonas Enroth, to pull their weight. And then some.

But, this team is playing well with only 2 regulation losses in their last 16 games played.

Are you ready to believe?

4 points in 3 games

So, the Sabres did a pretty good job in the three games with Tyler Myers in the press box for hitting Scott Gomez from behind.

And he returns just in time to face........Scott Gomez and the Habs, of course!

It should make for an interesting plot line tonight.

Some random takes from the past few games:

- the SOL to Colorado suffered.

- not getting Miller the SO win versus Florida suffered just slightly less.

- the blowout win against the Lightning was awesome to watch.

- Thank goodness Hodgson finally got on the scoresheet with a couple of assists against Tampa Bay.

- The Foligno-Ennis-Stafford line is en fuego.

- Foligno just might end up being a better pro than Zack Kassian.

- Why couldn't Detroit have helped the Sabres out on Monday night?

- Hopefully the Flyers can win tomorrow night.

- Next Tuesday's Sabres-Capitals games is going to be HUGE!

The Test

In case you missed it, Tyler Myers was suspended 3 games yesterday for his hit from behind on Scott Gomez.

While much of Sabres Nation is complaining of the continuation of the Wheel of Justice under Brendan Shanahan where similar looking plays get very different punishments, I'm past that. I'm on to wondering what effect the suspension will have as the Sabres enter their last 12 games of the regular season 4 points behind the Washington Capitals for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Tonight the Sabres host the Colorado Avalanche that are currently in a four-way tie for 8th in the Western Conference with San Jose, Calgary, and LA. Colorado is currently listed in 11th place as they have the fewest games remaining among the four teams.

So, you know that the Avs are viewing this as a "must win" game, just like the Sabres are.

The Test is what will the Sabres' response be to missing Tyler Myers? Will they respond in the lackluster fashion that they did when the injury bug hit earlier in the year? Or, will it be a similar response as Ryan Miller had after his post-trade deadline rant against the deal that sent Paul Gaustad to Nashville?

If this team doesn't respond to the loss of Myers with inspired play and they go into a fetal position and see their chance at making the playoffs fade away, it should be another signal to management that the core of the team needs to be reshaped.

If they view this as just another bump in the road and they push through to make the playoffs, then maybe they'll remain committed to this core.

I can never root against the Sabres winning games and making the playoffs. But, this season has been an unusual one where losing has had the potential of being a cloud with a silver lining.

Two teams to watch out West


San Jose and LA are in a dog fight for a playoff spot. Both teams are deep at the center position. The same can be said of Colorado, as well.

If Calgary is the team that makes the playoffs out of that group, it will be interesting to see what changes the Sharks and Kings, and to a lesser extent the Avalanche, make this off season.

There have been rumors that LA GM Dean Lombardi could be let go if the Kings fail to make the playoffs. If a new GM comes in, you could see major changes on the roster.

The Sharks jettisoned Dany Heatley last summer after flaming out early in the playoffs. Could they move Patrick Marleau or Joe Thornton if they miss the playoffs entirely this year?

Colorado's issues will likely be about the salary cap as they have a ton of free agents this summer with 8 pending RFAs and 6 pending UFAs on their roster. 4th line center Cody McLeod (UFA) is a guy that might interest the Sabres, as would RFA centers Ryan O'Reilly and Matt Duchene. Although, it's doubtful that Darcy Regier would sign either of those two to a RFA Offer Sheet, nor is Colorado likely to shop either guy right now.

But, if players like Erik Johnson and O'Reilly get larger raises than the Avalanche expect, it will be interesting to see if they shop Paul Stastny to save money. There are a lot of questions of how close to the cap the Avs will get next year as they were around $15 million under the cap this year. Nobody seems to know what the Avs budget will be next year. That could really be a game changer.

He's ALIVE!!!!!!!!

So, Thomas Vanek isn't dead after all. And neither is the Sabres PP that went 2 for 7 and had the last two goals for the Sabres including Pominville's OT GWG.

The Sabres also took advantage of a tired Hurricanes team that was in the back end of back-to-back games in the form of outshooting the Canes by a 42 to 24 margin.

Now it's onto Boston that has the advantage of having Wednesday off after beating Toronto on Tuesday night.

Staring at the standings & the out of town scores


Good News: The Sabres are two points behind Winnipeg for 8th place. Although, since the Jets own the tiebreaker over the Sabres, they are really 3 points out of a playoff spot with 15 games to play for each team.

Bad News: The Sabres are tied at 70 points with the Capitals and Washington has a game in hand. So, not only do they need to jump over the Jets, they need to pass the Capitals as well.

Praying for a two point game: Tampa Bay (68 pts) and Washington (70 pts) play in Washington tonight. So, the best case scenario is Tampa Bay winning in regulation. But, the Sabres are really hoping that they don't go to OT and both teams get at least a point.

Other games of note: 

Winnipeg @ Vancouver - Go Canucks!

Florida @ Philly - Go Flyers!

NYR @ Ottawa - Go Rangers!

Missed opportunity

The Sabres had a chance to pull into a tie with the Winnipeg Jets last night.

But, the Jets outplayed the Sabres last night and now the Sabres are 4 points out with 16 games to play. It was far from a "must win" game and the Sabres still have a chance to make the playoffs. But, that was a huge loss and it never really felt like the Sabres were going to win.

Where does the team go from here?

The Vanek, Roy, Pominville line is slumping right now. Horribly. And while Lindy Ruff usually changes lines at a drop of a hat, he keeps throwing VRP over the boards hoping that they will figure things out. Personally, I'm ready to see Hodgson and Roy flipped and have Roy between Ennis and Stafford and have Hodgson with Vanek and Pominville. Or, just put Vanek on the 4th line for a game or two and have Boyes up with Roy and Pominville.

On defense, I hope that Robyn Regehr heals up. Quick. He was a turnstile on one of the goals last night and the lower body injury that kept him out of the Vancouver game had to have been a factor. If it wasn't, we could be seeing the LH version of the Craig Rivet drop off happening in front of our eyes all over again.

Another issue was that Ryan Miller's rebound control was less than stellar. The question is when can they fit Jhonas Enroth in over the foreseeable future? Can they play him versus Carolina tomorrow night? Do you wait until Monday versus Montreal or next Wednesday versus Colorado? Personally, if you can't play him tomorrow night versus the Canes, then you can't play him the rest of the season and Miller needs to get a lot of rest on non-game days.

All that being said, going 3-1-1 over the 5 game road trip is really good. It was the first time in the team's history that they won 3 straight road games in the Pacific timezone. And all three were in regulation, so no asterisks required for that record.

And the glimmer of hope moving forward is that Winnipeg has 9 of their remaining 15 games on the road and they are 11-17-4 away from home so far this season.

82 saves

Ryan Miller had 43 saves on Wednesday night in the Sabres 2-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks. On Thursday night, he made 39 saves in a 1-0 win over the San Jose Sharks. Two days. 82 saves. Two wins. Two shutouts.

So, I guess Miller's dismay at his best buddy Paul Gaustad getting traded hasn't affected his play on the ice negatively.

And for all those Sabres fans that were dreaming of a top 5 draft pick, don't look now, but the Sabres playoff chances are looking a heck of a lot better now than they did a month ago.

Starting with the Sabres game on January 24th, Miller is 10-2-3 with a 1.62 GAA and .946 Save%. He is in a zone like he was a few years ago when he won the Vezina Trophy.

The team is struggling to consistently score goals as they have scored more than two goals in only 5 out of the 16 games since January 24th. But, it seems like they are back to the Hasek Formula where a couple of goals and strong goaltending wins them more games than they lose.

Notes:

Robyn Regehr could miss some time after picking up an injury in the second period last night. If he's out, it would appear that Alexander Sulzer will be making his Sabres debut against his former team tomorrow night.

Cody Hodgson hasn't registered a point for the Sabres in two games, but he's a +2 and has looked pretty good. Although, all the travel and the back-to-back games did show a bit last night in San Jose. But, you'd have to think that he'll have plenty of jump when the Sabres take on the Canucks tomorrow night.

Phase 2 of the Sabres remodeling

While some fans want to blow up the Buffalo Sabres and pretty much start from scratch, I don't see the Sabres going down that path. And while I'd love to see the Sabres use the 4 picks that they have in the first two rounds of June's draft, I'm expecting that they could use those picks in trades to upgrade the NHL roster during the off-season.

With that in mind, here are some things to watch for.

Sabres Needs:

The Sabres need to bulk up the NHL roster. It shouldn't be too surprising that the Sabres have one of the smallest lineups in the NHL today. That will likely be helped with Marcus Foligno and Brayden McNabb being in Buffalo next season. But, the Sabres not only need to get bigger, but they could use to get tougher. The good thing is that the top three players in the NHL this season in major penalties are UFAs this summer in Ottawa C Zenon Konopka, Boston LW Shawn Thornton, and NY Rangers LW Brandon Prust. Ottawa defenseman Matt Carkner is a 6th/7th defenseman type that would bring some toughness to the Sabres back end for a reasonable price on the UFA market.

The Sabres need to upgrade over Derek Roy with regards to the other top 6 center to go with Cody Hodgson moving forward. Derek Roy is entering the final year of his contract and is slated to be an UFA in 2013. It will be interesting to see if his $4 million price tag and expiring contract will be highly marketable this off season for a team that may have budget constraints and a better, and higher priced, center. Another option to consider would be shopping Thomas Vanek to a team that has depth at center and needs help on the wing. Kind of like the Kassian for Hodgson deal, just on the veteran front. With all the attention that Rick Nash was getting, one would think that plenty of teams would be interested in Vanek.

The Sabres need to replace Paul Gaustad on the PK and at the faceoff dot. One UFA-to-be that could potentially bring a lot of what Gaustad did is LA Kings center Jarret Stoll, although he doesn't get huge PK minutes in LA. Colorado center Jay McClement is 2nd in the NHL in SH TOI per game and he could be a cheap UFA pick up.

The Sabres would do well to add to their young core of 25 and under NHLers.

Teams to watch:

Colorado Avalanche - Colorado has both depth at center with Paul Stastny, Matt Duchene, and Ryan O'Reilly and they have a very interesting cap situation with 8 RFAs (including Duchene & O'Reilly) and 6 UFAs to deal with this summer. If Colorado has cap or budget issues after getting their RFAs re-signed, they could shop Stastny who counts $6.6 million per year against the cap. He isn't the ideal center to target, but he could be available this summer.

Florida Panthers - I mentioned them running up to the trade deadline and nothing changes here. They still have a ton of center prospects, including Nick Bjugstad. This could potentially be a team that might want a guy like Thomas Vanek if he were on the market and Bjugstad would be a great addition to the Sabres.

San Jose Sharks - The Sharks were reportedly interested in Rick Nash, likely because they traded away high scoring winger Dany Heatley to the Minnesota Wild in the offseason. Logan Couture is likely untouchable. But, Joe Pavelski is a guy that would be a great addition to the Sabres as a compliment to Cody Hodgson.

LA Kings - The Kings are interesting as they would appear to be a team that could be in the midst of a culture change with the addition of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter since the end of last season. Center Anze Kopitar and captain and  heavy hitting RW Dustin Brown are two guys that would look good in Buffalo. The question is whether Vanek as the centerpiece of a package could get Kopitar and what the Kings would want for Brown [if he's made available].

Philadelphia Flyers - The Flyers were able to get two of the better young centers in hockey over the summer when they traded Richards to LA and Carter to Columbus in Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn. Couturier is a the type of young center that I'd love the Sabres to get their hands on. It would be interesting to see if the Sabres had the assets to offer Philadelphia to get him.

Washington Capitals - The Capitals are another team that could go through a culture change if they miss the playoffs with a roster that was expected to challenge for the Stanley Cup this season and had their coach fired when things weren't going well. I doubt Nicklas Backstrom would be available. But, you never know.....

Pittsburgh Penguins - I am going to leave the best for last. A year from now, the Penguins could have a real dilemma on the hands as Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal are both slated to become UFAs on 7/1/2013. Crosby's issues with concussions over the past year have to have the Penguins wondering what to do with Crosby and whether they need to do whatever it takes to retain Staal. Although, if Crosby recovers from his concussion over the summer and he has a strong, and injury-free 2012-13 campaign, they could re-sign Crosby to a deal that makes it hard to re-sign Staal. Whatever happens, the whole NHL will be watching.

Toughness for Skill

People that want Old School Hockey probably aren't too happy with what Darcy Regier did yesterday. The Sabres traded away two big forwards in UFA-to-be Paul Gaustad and Power forward-to-be Zack Kassian and got back a 2012 1st round pick and 22 yo skilled center Cody Hodgson.

Hodgson was the 2nd best prospect in The Hockey News' 2009 Future Watch rankings, he's 2nd in the NHL is goals and 5th in points amongst rookies this season, and folks in Vancouver are pretty distressed that he's been traded away.

I really liked Zack Kassian as a potential Milan Lucic. But, I'm really excited about this deal. The Sabres need for top 6 centers has been well documented here and elsewhere. Hodgson was a player that I always liked, but thought was pretty much an untouchable. There was a mention on TSN's TradeCentre show yesterday that there are GMs out there that will be upset that Hodgson moved as they were told that he was untouchable. The fact that Regier was able to acquire a young top 6 center that was previously untouchable is awesome.

There is some risk with the deal. Hodgson butted heads with the Canucks over a back injury that cost him most of the 2009-10 season and over a lack of playing time this season as he was behind Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler on the Canucks depth chart. There is also the risk that Kassian does develop into a dominant power forward that can hit, fight, and score like Lucic, Todd Bertuzzi, Cam Nealy, and other prototypical power forwards.

But, the Hodgson deal could free Regier up to move Derek Roy in the summer to further move along with the remaking of the leadership core of the Sabres.

The other move that removed size and grit from the Sabres lineup was trading Paul Gaustad and a 2013 4th round pick to Nashville for their 2012 1st round pick. That deal gives the Sabres two picks in the first round (Nashville and their own) and two picks in the second round (Calgary and their own). With four picks in the top 60, the Sabres have options. And things could get better as if the draft were held today, the Sabres would own the 6th, 26th, 36th, and 41st picks in the draft. The Sabres picks may improve if the team falls off the rest of the season. The Nashville pick will improve if they get knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. So, thongs could get even better. With that many picks, the Sabres will have options if they want to try and trade up from the 6th pick, if they want to trade up fromn the 26th pick, or if they want to move a pick or picks in deals for NHL talent.

In the past, the Sabres had financial reasons to not sell when they were in a similiar place at the trade deadline. I'm glad that they didn't have that pressure this year and I'm glad that they pulled off the deals that they did. This gives Regier a ton of options this off-season. It will be very fun to watch what happens heading into next season.

Rumors are flying fast and furious

With Columbus shipping Jeff Carter to LA for D Jack Johnson and a conditional 1st round pick, the trade deadline rumor mill is spinning out of control.

LA is a team that most insiders expect to make more moves and the Sabres are getting mentioned as a team that is talking to the Kings about their captain, RW Dustin Brown.

TSN's Darren Dreger was on WGR this morning and he said that the Kings are looking for a young defenseman and secondary scoring in return for Brown.

The big question is whether that young defenseman that LA wants is a young NHLer like Andrej Sekera, an AHL/NHL guy like Brayden McNabb or TJ Brennan, or a prospect like Mark Pysyk whom the Sabres took in the 1st round of the 2010 draft.

As far as secondary scoring goes, do they want Drew Stafford [this report says that LA is interested in Stafford and Sabres captain Jason Pominville] or someone younger and cheaper like Tyler Ennis or Nathan Gerbe?

I think most Sabres fans would give up Stafford and Brennan and not even think twice. I might even give up Stafford and Pysyk without much thought. I'm much more wary of giving up Ennis or Gerbe as the secondary scoring part of the deal. And there is no way I give up Pominville in a deal for Brown.

The only deal with LA that I would part with Pominville in would be if LA's #1 center Anze Kopitar is headed to the Sabres. I'd give up Vanek or Pominville to get Kopitar.

That gets us to the major issue with the roster: the center position.

There are a lot of people that are talking about dealing Paul Gaustad and Derek Roy. Gaustad is an obvious trade option with his pending UFA status. Roy is a guy that a lot of people view as addition by subtraction. Personally, I'd target either young NHL/AHL centers with upside or C prospects that can be expected to arrive in the NHL in the next 2 or 3 years.

I talked about the Florida Panthers and their depth at the center position. I'd love to get Nick Bjugstad on the Sabres. Roy to Florida for Bjugstad and a 2nd would be a dream scenario for me. Well, other than Regier figuring out a way to pry Mikael Granlund out of Minnesota.....

Then I'd try and get either Riley Sheahan or Calle Jarnkrok out of Detroit for Gaustad and we're cooking with gas.

Sure, the Sabres center position would still be a mess in 2012-13, but you'd have the off season to address that. One wild card could be Sabres 2011 1st round pick Joel Armia. If he leaves Finland a year earlier than expected and makes the Sabres next season, he could make a guy like Pominville more available than ever.

All in all, there are a lot of options for the Sabres right now. And I hope that there is something positive to talk about after the deadline comes and goes on Monday. I don't know what I'll do if Regier stands pat at the deadline and no moves are made.......

Trying to guess what the Sabres will do

While I was driving to work today, I listened to the Ted Black interview on WGR.

I liked the fact that Ted said that the Sabres are no longer in a position that they have a financial incentive to sneak into 8th place. I liked that he said that they will make moves based on the long term and not just with this season in mind.

But, Ted never said that the team will be sellers at the deadline.

With the rumor that the Sabres are trying to re-sign Paul Gaustad, it makes me wonder what Darcy Regier is thinking. Although, given the Sabres lack of center depth, the fact that this year's UFA crop of centers is worse than last year's puddle deep center class of UFAs, and I can kind of understand why Regier would want to keep Gaustad (and even Derek Roy).

Add in that Brad Boyes & Jochen Hecht are injured and the Sabres may HOLD at the deadline.

That would be par for the course with Regier. But, it would be frustrating as heck.

I don't expect Regier to blow the whole thing up and ship out Miller, Roy, Stafford, Gaustad, Leopold, Regehr, and Vanek.

I'm starting to get to the point that I expect Regier and Ruff to get 2012-13 and 2013-14 and if there aren't solid results by that point, then Pegula and Black will make changes. While I would prefer not to wait that long, I'd rather have that scenario than have Golisano back as the Sabres owner.

1st anniversary of Pegula Day

A year ago, Sabres nation was alive with hope as Terry Pegula was introduced as the new owner of the Buffalo Sabres.

Today, not so much.

The team is in 12th place in the Eastern Conference and 25th overall in the NHL after spending in Free Agency and having been at the cap for all intents and purposes.

With last night's win the team is within six points of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The trade deadline is five days away.

Given Darcy Regier's past record, I am expecting that the Sabres will stand pat, not sell off guys like Paul Gaustad for futures, and that by keeping the team together for the rest of this season that won't end in the Sabres raising Lord Stanley's beer mug over their heads, they will actually be stepping away from the Cup.

At the end of the day, one team wins and 29 teams don't. I believe that the odds of winning the Cup in 2013 and beyond will increase if the Sabres trade away guys and add draft picks or other players.

That is what would give me hope for the Sabres future a year after Pegula Day.

Who Darcy should be calling

Pierre LeBrun is hearing that Darcy Regier is calling other GMs and may make some major moves before the trade deadline.

Here are a couple of teams that Regier should be talking to:

Florida Panthers

The Panthers are currently in first place in the Southeast division. But, they are on a three game slide, are struggling offensively, and have Winnipeg and Washington breathing down their necks.

Florida is also hurting at the blueline as Jason Garrison (LBI) and Dmitry Kulikov (knee surgery) were 2nd & 3rd in TOI this season and are out currently.

The reason that Regier should be calling them up is that they have a lot of top end prospects, especially at the center position. While I don't think there is any chance that the Sabres could get 2010 3rd overall pick C Jonathan Huberdeau, perhaps big University of Minnesota C Nick Bjugstad could be had for the right trade package.

I'd ask what Florida would give up for guys like Roy, Stafford, and Leopold.

LA Kings

With LA GM Dean Lombardi potentially having his job on the line, LA head coach Darryl Sutter calling out his #1 center and his team captain, and the Kings are dead last in the NHL in goals for this season.

The Kings prospect pipeline isn't as stocked as Florida's. But, they do have some interesting players.

One intriguing prospect is Regina Pats center Jordan Weal who is currently 4th in the WHL in scoring with 34 goals and 94 points in 59 games this season. Weal, at 5'10" 171 lbs, isn't the big monster center that many fans want. But, he could turn out to be the type of offensive wizard that could put up numbers in the NHL.

Another intriguing Kings prospect is Ottawa 67s RW Tyler Toffoli who leads the OHL in scoring with 45 goals and 88 points in 54 games played this season.

And if Lombardi is willing to part with Kopitar, I wonder if the Sabres would be able to come up with a package to do it. It would likely have to be something like Vanek & Roy for Kopitar. But, that is worth giving up for a legit #1 center.

But, I'm expecting Regier to have another meh deadline day and the team won't get the type of makeover it NEEDS. But, I have hope that I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Thank you, Mr. Black

So, a week or two ago, I filled out the survey from the Sabres about their broadcasts.

I love RJ, can live without Harry Neale, I like Rob Ray between the benches, don't really like Kevin Sylvester as a play by play guy, I'm OK with Danny Gare as a color guy, and think the addition of Brian Duff has been solid.

I also hope that Mark Jeanneret, Rick's son, is NOT the person that replaces RJ as the voice of the Sabres. I don't want Sylvester getting the job, either.

I filled in the comments that I hope that the rumor of a black based alternate jersey was not true. Thankfully, Ted Black wrote that he expected that Terry would strangle him if he proposed something like that.

I think it is really cool that someone as busy as Ted Black is writing emails to fans and that they are real emails and not just boilerplate, copy & paste jobs that lots of people in his position put out there.

The next big thing for the broadcasts will be replacing RJ one day. Hopefully that won't be for a while!

The NHL trade deadline sell off has begun

I could talk about last night's epic meltdown by the Sabres. But, I'd rather not.

With Montreal, Tampa Bay, and Dallas making "seller" type trades in the past 24 hours, I really hope that the Sabres are getting ready to get maximum return for guys like Paul Gaustad, Brad Boyes, and Jochen Hecht (if he gets healthy).

I also would love to see the Sabres hunt around for some deals that would mix things up to try and build the team for the next 3 to 5 years.

For instance, the LA Kings are desperate for offense. Would they part with picks/prospects/young NHLers for guys like Roy & Stafford.

Unfortunately, they moved a couple guys I really liked in Brayden Schenn & Wayne Simmonds in the Mike Richards trade last summer.

One intriguing player is Ottawa 67s C/RW Tyler Toffoli. Regina Pats C Jordan Weal is on the small side, but he's an offensive dynamo.

Basically, I want Darcy and the Sabres to SELL, SELL, SELL!!!!!!!

Fun while it lasted

The 5-0-1 hot streak was fun.

But, with back-to-back losses where they scored one goal each game, the Sabres are back in 14th place in the East (well, tied for 13th with Tampa Bay is more like it....) and currently are sitting 4th in the pre-lottery draft order.

Sure, they are only 8 pts out of 8th in the East and they have a game in hand over the Leafs.

But, this team isn't making the playoffs regardless of what moves they make between now and the trade deadline.

Now is the time to sell the UFAs-to-be, perhaps move core guys that need to go for chemistry/leadership reasons [Roy & Stafford, I'm writing about you two], and get some young guys some NHL playing time down the stretch.

One season backward to move forward the next two seasons.

That's what I HOPE the Sabres do.

Bucky, Bucky, Bucky


Bucky Gleason says that the odds are against the Sabres landing Columbus captain/LW Rick Nash.

To that I say, Thank Goodness.

Nash is a really good LW. His stats and contract are in the Thomas Vanek neighborhood.

The last thing the Sabres need to do is give up a premium package in a trade for another Thomas Vanek. Now if Rick Nash were a center that could play with Vanek and Pominville, I'd be coming up with all the crazy trade package ideas that I could think of.

But, Nash doesn't make sense for the Sabres right now as a $7M+ LW is not going to make this team better.

And I definitely don't want the Sabres trying to get his teammate Jeff Carter. While he's a center, his issues are some of the issues that cause me to want the Sabres to deal away Roy & Stafford.

Sell, Darcy, sell

Mike Harrington has a piece in today's Buffalo News that talks about how the Sabres approach to the trade deadline could change depending on what happens over the next two weeks and seven games.

Personally, that shouldn't change a single thing.

I don't care what happens over the next two weeks. It won't change two important things:

#1 - The Sabres are NOT making the playoffs in 2011-12. The Sabres are not only 8 points out of 8th place in the East. But, they have to jump over a half-dozen teams or so to do it. There is no way that this team can do that regardless of what they do at the trade deadling.

#2 - This team still has flaws when it comes to leadership and character. I don't value Bucky Gleason's opinion pieces very often, but that is about the only part of this column that I agreed with. Derek Roy and Drew Stafford are just two of the flaws with the Sabres. If Regier can move them for players that can help the Sabres over the next 3 to 4 years, then he has to do it.

I hope that Regier moves the UFAs-to-be for whatever he can get and look to move "core guys" that are a part of the problem and not part of the solution for players that can help get this team where everyone wants it to be over the near term.

Some random thoughts from the Sabres weekend:

- That comeback versus Dallas was awesome.

- The regression to the January version of the Sabres against Tampa Bay was less than awesome.

- Watching the Amerks destroy the Texas Stars on Friday night was awesome.

- Luke Adam pouting after getting sent down to Rochester on Saturday was less than awesome.

- I hope Ryan Miller's recent run of solid play is what he can bring to the Sabres for the rest of his time here. I want to believe in Miller. But, he's still too up and down for my liking.

A team we can believe in

I don't know if it was getting their manhood questioned after the poor response to Lucic running Miller.

I don't know if it was a "Win one for the Gipper" moment with Ruff upstairs with 3 broken ribs from the practice accident with Jordan Leopold.

I don't know if the team secretly hates Thomas Vanek and are winning without them. [note: that's sarcasm, folks]

Perhaps it was as simple as having their top 6 defensemen healthy, their goalie playing well, and Boston not dealing well with the Sabres getting some homecooking on the goal that was wiped out because Miller barely got touched.

All I know is that the Sabres team that defeated the big, bad Boston Bruins on Wednesday night is the type of team that Sabres fans want to root for.

My biggest question about the current team is about the character, leadership, and heart of the team. Wednesday night showed that they can play the way that they need to on occasion. The recent 4-0-1 stretch shows that they are a far more talented team than a team that is in DFL in the Easter Conference like they were not too long ago.

What needs to happen to get THAT team to show up to the rink far more often than the sad sack team we saw in December and January?

Do they need to swap out a few players?

Do they need a new coach?

I like the way that this team is going right now. But, I don't trust that keeping the status quo will get this team to show up enough. But, I'm just a keyboard warrior......

Injury bug bites Ruff

The Buffalo News

You know the injury situation is getting ridiculous when your head coach is getting hurt at practice.

Yesterday, the Sabres entered that area when Jordan Leopold fell in a chase drill, wiped out Lindy, and Lindy ended up day-to-day with 3 broken ribs.

That's just wrong.

Standings-watch ahead of the trade deadline

NHL Standings

The Sabres are 13th in the East and trail 8th place Ottawa by 11 pts with the Sabres having 30 games left to play.

The Sabres are 25th in the league overall if you are more concerned about draft positioning than making the playoffs this year.

And if you are in #failfornail mode, there is next to no way that the Sabres "catch" Columbus for the worst record as Columbus has only 34 pts to the Sabres 50 pts. I can't see the Bluejackets getting 17 more points in the last 30 games.

But, with the Oilers sitting in 29th and having 47 pts, it is possible that if the Sabres recent 2-0-1 stretch is a mirage and they play like they did in January for a large portion of the remainder of the season, then it is entirely possible that the Sabres could end up in the 2nd slot heading into the Draft Lottery.

I can't root for that scenario. But, getting one of Yakupov or Grigorenko would be a nice consolation prize for a horrible season.

Boos & Cheers

Cheers:

The Sabres won back-to-back (sort of) games!

Tyler Ennis looked pretty good at center.

Goose had a 3 point game.

Leino's dirty dangle.

Miller only giving up one goal and that was a rebound of a breakaway save.

Boos:

Vanek down with an UBI. I don't want to say the C word, but.....

The Habs whining to the media about a Gaustad chirp.

Only scoring two goals before the Kaleta empty netter.

Up Next:

The Sabres host the Rangers who lost to the Devils in a shootout last night. With Marty Biron getting the start for the Rangers last night, I would expect Henrik Lundqvist in goal for the blueshirts.

Get ready for another 2-1 game.......

Will Ennis be the Sabres solution at center?

Tyler Ennis is back tonight and he will be playing center. While the pessimists think that Ruff will shuffle him back to the wing before the first period is over, I have a little bit of hope that the move back to his "natural position" will help solve the Sabres issue at center.

Heck, he can't be that much worse than Boyes or Hecht at center........

Ryan Miller talked to the media and reacted to Ted Black saying that the management team wants to win and isn't tied to any "core players". I think the answers were pretty much what I would expect. I did like that Miller added that he never hears about deals that Regier is going to make until they are made official and everyone learns about them at the same time.

The Hosers ponder what to do with Luke Adam. To me, it's either put him back at center (I would prefer to put him back between Vanek & Pominville for a few games) and play him or they need to send him to Rochester where he can get serious ice time.

And while Bucky Gleason thinks that Jason Pominville is out of touch, I think the opposite is true. If Pominville threw teammates under the bus, then he'd get called out as a bad leader. Although, Pominville could have gone the comedy route and told Luke Adam that he'd trade him for anyone else at All-Star Weekend.

To trade or not to trade, that is the question

Ted Black hints that the Sabres are not beholden to their core players.

Jason Pominville follows Ryan Miller's lead and says that he wouldn't trade anyone in the Sabres room for anyone at the All-Star Weekend.

Now, I doubt that Pominville was being completely truthful when answering Luke Adam's question that he knew would be made public. If you were a close friend of Jason's and had a private conversation over a few pops, I'm sure he'd love to swap out a few of his teammates for a few All-Stars.

Here are some of the moves I'd like that would work cap-wise:

Jonathan Quick ($1.8M cap hit) for Ryan Miller ($6.25M)

Logan Couture ($1.24M) for Derek Roy ($4M)

Claude Giroux ($3.75M) over Jochen Hecht ($3.525M)

Erik Karlsson ($1.3M) over Andrej Sekera ($2.75M)

Tyler Seguin ($3.55M) over Brad Boyes ($4M)

I could go on, but I'm depressed now.

Back to reality and the first question is will the Sabres make moves before the deadline beyond merely shipping out some (or all) of the UFAs-to-be for picks and/or prospects?

Regier has reportedly been talking to GMs. But, who knows if that means that he pulls the trigger before the deadline or if we hear that the off season is a better time to maximize trade assets.

The other question is if they make moves, will it be the reported "top 6 for top 6" type moves or will they accept that they need a sizable change on the team and instead move "core guys" for picks/prospects/NHL-ready young players in an attempt to bottom out and rebound as quickly as possible?

I hope they go the rebuild/retool route. But, I fear that they will go the "top 6 for top 6" route thinking that they are closer to winning the Cup than they really are.

The next 8 months will be really interesting.

Did the Sabres win the Cup?

Kevin Sylvester's reaction to Nathan Gerbe's shootout game winner made me wonder if they had won the Cup and not just their first road game in what felt like forever.

Props to Miller and the Sabres defense.

Props to Gerbe for the sweet assist on the Leopold goal and the SO winner.

I love Thomas Vanek, but he needs the All-Star break to get his mojo back. 1 goal and 1 assist for the month of January is not good enough.

I'm not buying that Pegula is going to announce a huge move (like firing Regier or Ruff) over the break. If he does make an announcement, my guess is that it has something to do with the internet rumors that Pegula is buying the hockey arena in Elmira and that he's adding another layer to his hockey empire that includes the Sabres and Amerks already.

PK Subban is not coming to the Sabres. But, I would like to see Subban and Myers as a defense pairing in Buffalo for years to come.

Schopp & Bulldog were talking about whether NHL games are boring. For me, Sabres games have been boring with the team struggling offensively. But, most NHL games are more entertaining. Just look at the Habs destroying the Red Wings last night. And if you look around the league on Tuesday, there were a lot of close games and games with more scoring than the Sabres-Devils tilt.

I think the responses to WGR's discussion are slanted because the Sabres are so bad offensively and boring right now.

But, the NHL could use some opening up of the offensive game. The tough part is that coaches focus on defense as it's easier to coach a conservative game that limits defensive mistakes than telling players to play a wide open style.

The NHL needs owners that will force coaches to play a more wide open game. But, that won't happen.

Last place in the Eastern Conference

That's right, kids. The Buffalo Sabres are currently last in the Eastern Conference and if the season ended today, they would have roughly a 14% chance of obtaining the first overall pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

The good news is that Christian Ehrhoff and Robyn Regehr are back for tonight's game in NJ versus the Devils.

The bad news is that neither Terry Pegula nor Darcy Regier have done anything to try and right the ship.

Honestly, if getting all of their top 7 defensemen healthy and only missing Ennis and Gaustad among their top 12 forwards doesn't change things, it's unlikely that anything will outside of a coaching change or a trade that shakes the team out of their current funk.

But, will Pegula or Regier have the sense of urgency to do something soon?

There is a random internet "rumor" that Pegula is planning on making a major move over the All-Star Break that starts tomorrow for the Sabres.

Personally, I'll believe it when I see it.

I need to start blogging again

Maybe my internet silence is a part of the reason that the Sabres have fallen off the face of the Earth and lost 12 straight on the road.

I know that the Sabres are currently in the bottom 5 of the NHL today. But, I don't want to get into the discussion of the top end draft picks in 2012 (Nail Yakupov vs Mikhail Grigorenko for example).

I know this team is playing horrible.

But, this is a team that has the talent to go on a run.

And in the end, I expect that they will be good enough to miss the playoffs, but only draft around 10th.

Maybe I should stop blogging and hope for the team to stink the rest of the year and get the infusion of talent that only a top 2 or 3 draft pick can provide.

I just can't get myself there yet.