What I'm going to detail coming up is an overhaul of the center situation, build a solid crew of blue-liners, and finally find that reliable back-up for Miller.

RFAs:
Tim Kennedy - sign for $1M for two years
Patrick Kaleta - sign for $650K for four years
Mark Mancari - sign for $580K for two years and assign in Portland (will not be mentioned again)
Mike Weber - sign for $850K for three seasons

UFAs:
Adam Mair - let him walk
Matt Ellis - let him walk
Raffi Torres - let him walk
Cody McCormick - sign for $575K for two years
Toni Lydman - let him walk
Henrik Tallinder - let him walk
Patrick Lalime - let him walk...far, far away
CAP HIT: $2.655M

After all that, the team looks like this:
Vanek-Roy-Stafford
Ennis-Connolly-Pominville
Hecht-Goose-Grier
????-McCormick-Kaleta
Kennedy
Gerbe

????-Myers
Rivet-Butler
Sekera-Montador
Weber

Miller
????
CAP HIT: $45.143M

UFA SIGNINGS:
First, let's go with the easy decision - sign Johan "Moose" Hedberg (UFA ATL) for $1.5M for two seasons (2009/2010: $1.175M). He's adept at making cold starts and winning, stealing a shoot-out, and performing well on a regular basis. Here's another easy decision - sign Brad Winchester (UFA STL) for $900K for two seasons (2009/2010: $800K). That completes the new, badass fourth line of Winchester-Cormy-Kaleta who can actually play hockey as well as rumble and grind. Next up are a pair of D signings - Kurtis Foster (UFA TBL) for $3M for two seasons (2009/2010: $600K) and Zbynek Michalek (UFA PHX) for $2M for two seasons (2009/2010: $1.5M). Both are more than capable replacements for Tallinder and Lydman, but with age and a smaller price on their sides. And the last signing of my plan is Saku Koivu (UFA ANA) for $3.85M for three seasons (2009/2010: $3.25M). He's an improvement over Roy and maybe even Connolly, is a proven force on the PP, and is a veteran and former teammate of Rivet's.
CAP HIT: $57.023M

TRADE ACQUISITIONS:
I'm sending Tim Connolly ($4.5M), Paul Gaustad ($2.3M), and Drew Stafford ($1.9M) to Dallas for Brad Richards ($7.8M) straight up, which results in a +$200K cap hit. I'm sending Derek Roy ($4M) and Chris Butler ($850K) to the St. Louis Blues for a 2010 3rd round pick and a 2011 2nd round draft pick, which results in a -$4.850M cap hit. I'm sending Kennedy ($1M), Gerbe ($850), and a 2010 3rd round draft pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for Patrick Sharp ($3.9M), which results in a +$2.2M cap hit.
CAP HIT: $54.573M

JUNIOR PROMOTIONS:
I sign Zack Kassian to a $875K, three-year ELC with a $300K bonus per season and then promote him to the Sabres after a tremendous training camp and a long talking-to.
CAP HIT: $55.748M

Vanek-Richards-Kassian
Ennis-Koivu-Pominville
Hecht-Sharp-Grier
Winchester-McCormick-Kaleta

Foster-Myers
Michalek-Montador (Michalek-Rivet)
Weber-Sekera (Weber-Montador)
(Sekera)

Miller
Hedberg

FINAL CAP HIT: $55.748M

*all numbers courtesy of NHL Numbers
**thanks to SF1980 for the Foster idea and Jay for the Winchester idea

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mechaphil

That's pretty kickass. And if the cap goes to 58m you will have saved ownership like 3 million under the cap! Oh they're gonna like you.

The more I think about it the more I am convinced that this team needs a star defense man who can play the left side.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

In your line of thinking, with my plan to pay Foster $3M and the cap supposedly going up to $58M, $6M to maybe Scott Niedermayer is totally possible.

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mechaphil

i like it, im still not 100% confident in richards.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Kassian missed half of his junior year last year. There is no way he will make the team out of camp. He still needs a lot of time to develop at the OHL level. Missing 20 games is a lot for a guy who is that old. Last year prior to even getting suspended he wasn't good enough to make the WJC. He needs to play in the OHL and make a strong push to play in the WJC11 in Buffalo. Second of all, Kassian didn't always even play on the top line in Windsor so i doubt the translation from 2nd line winger OHL to top line winger NHL will be easy. When Kassian does make the jump to the NHL, he will have to start off on the 3rd line and bang his body and get in front of the net, and work his way up. Just like Milan Lucic did.

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Impossible Is Nothing.

The Sabres don't have the money nor the prospects to easily acquire a RW for the top line, and a power forward at that. And yes, Kassian did play on Windsor's top line after they acquired him - you're only thinking of the line juggling that happened in the Memorial Cup (kudos to Bob Boughner for that, btw).

Obviously, Kassian has become a big fish in a small pond in the OHL and the Sabres have a need right now. He fills that need while learning on the fly. I'm not saying it's the best plan, but it's the one that works the easiest for the Sabres.

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mechaphil

His first game he didn't play top line, then after his suspension there was def several games he wasn't on with Hall.

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Impossible Is Nothing.

whao...

He would be most helpful.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

I think there is about a 0.000005% chance that Nieds is playing anywhere but Anaheim in 2010-11.

It's the Ducks or retirement for Niedermayer unless the Sabres signed his brother and somehow got Scott to sign here.

But, I can't see that happening.

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Sabres Hockey: Commitment to Mediocrity

My thoughts on that lineup:

Kassian is nowhere near ready to be a 1st line guy in the NHL in 2010-11. And given his off the ice issue recently, I'd be mildly surprised if the Sabres inked him this summer.

At this stage in their careers, Sharp might be a better center than Saku Koivu.

Kurtis Foster is a RH shot and a train wreck in his own end. He also got a lot of his PP pts this past season because he was playing with guys like Stamkos & St-Louis. They made him look good and not the other way around. He is not a guy that can play top pairing minutes and he would not be a good partner for Myers, IMO.

Hedberg can be an OK backup. But, I think the Sabres will sign a vet that will take a two-way deal and Enroth will get a shot at the backup job out of camp.

I like getting Richards, Koivu, and Sharp to improve the center depth. I just don't know if it's realistic to pull off those two trades and that UFA signing all in one off-season.

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Sabres Hockey: Commitment to Mediocrity

Good thing I was merely playing armchair GM and don't expect any of that to happen, huh?

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mechaphil

True.

While I think this team needs an enema, I can't possibly imagine a team with this many contracts really blowing things up that much and having that much turnover.

And there is a 0% chance that Regier would blow up a team that won the division last year.

My hope for change this off-season:

- Connolly out & harder working and/or more talented center in. Although, I could live with keeping Connolly & Roy if they add a guy like Koivu, Cullen, Sharp, Bolland, etc to add to center depth.

- Regier actually completes a deal for a PP QB Dman (like Kaberle) and that is how they replace one of Tallinder & Lydman. (Although, I'm expecting that they roll the dice on M-A Bergeron......)

- They have one more Grier/Montador type depth signing, most likely up front with so many of their 4th line & extra forwards as FAs

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Sabres Hockey: Commitment to Mediocrity

Why do you think Foster is "...a train wreck in his own end"? I wouldn't put him on the top pair with Myers either, since they're both RH and I see Foster as a 2nd pair d-man anyway. With average teams like Minnesota and TB he's a career -4, so that doesn't have the appearence of a defensive liability.

Does he have a reputation that I'm not aware of? If you base his defensive game off of his time with TB, I could call the rest of that team a train wreck also. I'm curious though to know more about him, so if you have something let us know.

I went and answered my own question. Here's one player review on Foster, and it's the same as others I found...

http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54723/Kurtis_Foster

It says he's a PP specialist with a great shot that makes too many mistakes in his own end, and that his development has been slowed by injuries. He hasn't been physical enough for a guy that's 6-5 220 lbs.

Hmmm...he looked pretty damn good in TB last season. Playing on a one year 600k deal, maybe he had the extra motivation of raising his market value. I still think he's the type of player Buffalo really needs on the PP, and being a -5 on a TB while they were a collective -43 isn't that bad. I'd be willing to think his defensive game will come around after a basically full season, and coaching under Lindy...for no more than 2 mil per.

We kept peters around for one reason...

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http://www.forecaster.ca/thestar/hockey/player.cgi?2137



Foster received only 13:07 ES TOI per game in TB this year.

Throw away the two guys that played less than 10 games in TB, Foster was 7th in ES TOI per game. That was 3rd pairing ES ice time. If TB's coaches could trust him to play even 2nd pairing ES minutes........

His 3:50 per game in PP TOI was fair and away 1st on the team.

Foster is a 3rd pairing PP specialist.

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Sabres Hockey: Commitment to Mediocrity

If Jacques Lemaire couldn't make him more than just a PP specialist, do you think Lindy could work that miracle?

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Sabres Hockey: Commitment to Mediocrity

Oh snap haha

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mechaphil

Well then let's look at it this way...without anyone new we're looking at Butler and Sekera as the 3rd pairing, and the same PP unit. Foster couldn't be worse than those two, and he's a sure upgrade to the PP unit.

Isn't improving the 3rd pairing and certainly the PP worth 1.5-2.0 mil?

Is Foster a PP QB or a PP Shooter from the blueline? Those are two completely different skill sets.

The Sabres have lacked a good PP QB since Campbell left and a good PP shooter since Kotalik left.

If by some miracle they could get Brad Richards and Matt Cullen this off-season, that would add two guys that could QB the PP.

If Foster is a 3rd line PP shooter, you could go with Richards-Myers on the 1st unit and Cullen-Foster on the 2nd.

My guess is that helps the PP a lot.

But, could the Sabres hide Foster & can they deal with 4 RH shots: Myers, Montador, Rivet, & Foster.

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Sabres Hockey: Commitment to Mediocrity