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.