4. Add someone solid on the blueline
At the end of the day, the Sabres defensive corps failed out. There were too many holes in the young, developing players who weren't quite there yet and veterans like Steve Montador and Shaone Morrisonn just didn't come through when we needed them to. I've already sent Morrisonn down to the minors, and Montador is a free agent who I'm not looking at resigning unless there's some inside information about an injury being responsible for his tanking the latter third of the year through the playoffs. I want one more veteran to go with Myers, Jordan Leopold and three of the youngsters.
A lot of people are talking about Kevin Bieksa of the Vancouver Canucks being the hot commodity of this year's off season. He's a solid player and this playoff became clutch. Last season he made 3.75 Million. If not for his playoff, I'd look at him getting somewhere between 4.25 and 4.5, but his stock is rising and he could be a 5 Million a year player or higher (ie Brian Campbell's ridiculous contract in Chicago). If the price is that high (or higher) I'm not a horse in that race.
I may, however, be interested in taking a look at another Canuck in Christian Ehrhoff. In Ehrhoff, you're getting a guy who can quarterback your powerplay and put in a lot of quality minutes. The guy put away 50 points last year and was a plus-19 through the regular season (he's plus-74 for his career) and has 12 points through the playoffs. Last year, he made 3.1 and with a very good season and a decent playoff, he goes over 4 million and if the Canucks win the cup, he could be up near 5. But, again, I think that Bieksa is going to get a lot more attention than Ehrhoff and that may keep his price down a little bit more.
Other options (ie slightly less expensive) may be the Hurricane's Joni Pitkanen, the Ranger's Steve Eminger or the Flames Anton Babchuk.There are also a couple of bold moves to be made. If Shea Weber is sitting there without a solidified contract, I take a long look at how many draft picks and how much money it will cost to win the RFA steal of a lifetime. There are also teams like the Flyers who need cap relief and have a lot of ducks to get in a row, and assuming they land Ilya Bryzgalov (and seeing how the functioned without him against Buffalo), maybe Chris Pronger becomes available. With either Pronger or Weber, it completely changes the way that you build your team and the Sabres have one of the top defensive corps in the league.
5. Remember how I wasn't going to go after the #1 Center this year?Forget that for a moment. While I'm not making the #1 center a priority this year, I'm not going to ignore a ringing phone or not think about what I might do. I'm looking at my four young defenders and guys like Nathan Gerbe and Tyler Ennis and wondering what one or two of them look like paired up with a pick. Or how a nice low two years of Derek Roy may look awfully attractive to a cash strapped team.
Throw away the 'former Buffalo Sabres Captain' baggage, and Danny Briere could be there for Roy. Or send our first round pick and Gerbe or Ennis to the Blackhawks for Patrick Sharp. Superstars like Jason Spezza could be on the market, with a relatively reasonable long term contract, say Spezza for Ennis and the first and second, or Gerbe, one of the defenders and the first or second. If Thomas Vanek can not take a step back with another star working with him, how potent does a top line of Vanek/Spezza/Stafford sound with a Second line of (Gerbe/Ennis)/Roy/Pominville?
In summary, my Sabres could look very different than the team that's here now, if the right opportunity opens up, but that's not what I'm looking to do this year. I'd rather keep my team solid, keep some money in my back pocket and be able to make a move either next year or kill it at the trade deadline. If July 5th gets here, and we've added Ehrhoff, Fleischmann or Drury and a long term contract for Myers, I'm okay with what we're doing. If we make a big move and bring in a Weber, a Pronger, a Briere, a Spezza or even take a run at a guy like Brad Richards... I'm on board, because at least they're making good on their desire to grab the brass ring and hoist Lord Stanley's Cup at Niagara Square.
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