The last few signings are starting to trickle in but there are a few sparing matches going on for a handful of remaining players. The Buffalo Sabres have only one offer left on the table for Chris Kunitz, Crosby's old NHL running mate. There are a few teams still interested so it is unclear where he will end up, but the rest of the Sabres offers have been accepted and we can get a pretty good look at what the team will look like when training camp opens in September.

 

Goaltending:

The Sabres only made one offer for a goaltender, it was an offer sheet to Thomas McCollum which was quickly matched by the Capitals at $950,000 for one year. There are rumours the Sabres front office is still angry at losing McCollum in last years waiver draft, they moved a pretty good asset for him with the hopes of him splitting time with youngster Petr Mrazek on the farm. "With the way the waiver draft is set up there is no point in trying to have a competative farm team. If we move assets for farm help we are more than likely going to lose them, we learned our lession here and will not make the same mistake." said GM Mitchell.

 

Going into camp it looks like the goaltending is set with Pavelec and Mrazek as a tandem on the pro team and the young Gillies ready to take the reins as the #1 on the farm.

 

Defence:

There was only one Dman brought in for the pro team, Books Orpik has re-signed a new 3 year deal with the Sabres at a reasonable cap hit of $3,200,000 for 3 years. Last season he spent a lot of time on the 1st pairing with Pietrangelo but he is expected to take on a smaller role this season on the 2nd or 3rd pairing, who he ends up with will be determined at the Sabres camp in Sept.

The Defence on the farm needed a lot of players in order to ice a complete team, so quite a few players were brought in through FA to fill these roles. The following are who signed:

Steve Eminger $750,000 1yr

Ryan Parent $500,000 1yr

Jan Hejda $750,000 1yr

Jay Harrison $900,000 1yr

The pairings aren't yet clear as they will be tinkered with during camp.

 

Forwards:

This was by far the biggest question mark going into next year, the main question was who will replace Stamkos production on the pro team? Fans will be disappointed that no big names were persued in FA. "We have to keep a close eye on our payroll because we want to keep our options flexible in the future. For that reason it didn't make sense to throw the bank and someone like Blake Wheeler, who did express interest in returning." Quipped Mitchell. The team didn't sit pat though as they brought in veteran Jason Pominville at $2,950,000 for 2 years for the middle of the line-up. He should provide some timely scoring and bring some leadership to this group. The team is also in negotiations with Chris Kunitz who could play anywhere in the top 9 should he be signed.

The farm team saw a slew of players sign, they currently have 15 forwards which should be enough in case of injury. Those signings were:

Nick Drazenovic $500,000 1yr (Re-signed)

Matt Ellis $500,000 1yr

MA Cliche $500,000 1yr (Re-signed)

Derek Arnold $500,000 1yr

Thomas Raffl $500,000 1yr

Riley Brace $650,000 1yr

Stefan Fournier $500,000 1yr

Colton Orr $500,000 1yr

 

That should help keep the Americans a complete team through the waiver draft.

 

Next up the team will be interviewing coaches for their vacant spot. Have a great summer and we'll see you at camp in September!!