HockeyRhetoric

It’s interesting; this off-season has been built up for months. Not looming, as it perhaps had been in past years, but refreshingly open and promising. The idea of the Sabres organization changing their identity from a risk standpoint is very exciting to me. I think the position we’re most likely to see any meaningful evidence of this change is not with how the Sabres address the forwards but rather the defense. » Read the rest of this entry «

How many times have you heard someone say something like the Sabres are infatuated with too many of their players? The connotations of a statement like that make it a pretty serious accusation when you think about it. Are the Sabres really misjudging what’s most valuable to their competitive and financial success?

I’m curious about these things. » Read the rest of this entry «

I advocated for the Sabres to walk away from either Lydman or Tallinder or both if the players were unwilling to sign a contract with a term of just one or two years. I expected that both would insist upon longer deals considering the point they’ve each reached in their careers and so I expected, as many others did, that both would sign elsewhere. Honestly, I’m glad because I don’t think either player is talented enough to build a championship team around and that’s essentially what a team like the Sabres would be admitting if they re-signed a player like Lydman or Tallinder, both past the age of thirty, to a three or four year contract. » Read the rest of this entry «

Players become unrestricted free agents at a very young age under the current CBA. That means they have an opportunity to hit the free market, essentially maximizing their potential salary, quicker than in the years prior to the lock-out. Organizations must financially plan accordingly which can be tricky in the salary cap era. » Read the rest of this entry «

The period with which teams are able to sign unrestricted free agents begins July 1st. ESPN put together a pretty good list of the marquee players (forwards , defensemen , goaltenders ) that are soon to become unrestricted free agents.

As for the Sabres, they have about 10.526 million dollars in cap space to work with on their 2009-2010 payroll (according to nhlnumbers.com ). Pat Kaleta, Drew Stafford, Clark MacArthur, Mark Mancari and Andrej Sekera are restricted free agents. If history is any indication, the Sabres will be offering contracts to all of them. In addition, the Sabres have to decide whether or not they want to consider resigning Jaroslav Spacek, Andrew Peters, or Chris Ellis. All of which are unrestricted and free to sign with another team in a couple of days. » Read the rest of this entry «