Sabres Edge

We'll have plenty more on Ryan Miller's signing in Saturday's paper but here's a sampling of some comments made today by the key principals:

Miller

On needing a way to find more rest: "As a goaltender, it's tough to [play] every night and get charged up. The whole gameday is a process for me. It's not just about going and playing the game. Going through that preparation 76 times was a new experience for me."

"We had two short summers, a lot of games and a lot of hype. It turned out that got us off on the wrong foot last year. We're going to have more time to prepare this time."

On having a more qualified backup in Patrick Lalime: "I'm excited about that. I've heard he's a great person.. I'm always excited to meet people like that in hockey and just another aspect of the team that can help us."

GM Darcy Regier

On getting a deal done in less than three weeks: "It's very nice. Everyone on the organization side thought it was very important and obviously Ryan thought it was important as well. ... It was really the focus from ownership. Tom [Golisano] talked about it. Larry [Quinn] talked about it. I think it's a huge commitment on the part of Tom in particular. Ultimately these decisions, because of the financial magnitude, you have to give a lot of credit to the ownership."

On the size of the deal being one of the biggest for a goalie: "In a lot of cases, it's not always about statistics, it's about supply and demand in the marketplace. It came down to this is a goaltender we believe in, this is a goaltender who's only going to get better and this is a goaltender who ultimately we think we can win a championship with. ... The marketplace is the marketplace. you have to acknowledge it, respect it and make your decisions inside of it."

On Miller's desire to not have his contract situation linger to the trade deadline, a la Brian Campbell: "He talked to us in terms of what he didn't want to do. He didn't want to become a rental player or a short-term player or go to a team on a one-year basis to try to win a
championship. He wants to do that here."

Agent Mike Liut

On Miller's willingness to get a deal done: "The core of the team are guys he's gone up with. There were just lots of reason to stay. It was not hard to accomplish. He wasn't looking to make any statements by going for the biggest deal. This is where he wanted to be. When a player feels that way, usually that means you know it would get it done."

On Miller being able to avoid the in-season distraction: "They didn't want it to linger and frankly I agree with that. With a player of Ryan's stature, it shouldn't linger. He should not be in that spot. The natural tendency is for people to check out at some point because they know deep down there's not going to be a next year in a place. Once they get out on the ice, guys can put that aside some of the time ... Part of you says you're playing for the cause but you know it's going to end and you don't know where it's going. He'll be able to stay away from all that."

On Miller handling a huge workload: Once you get over 65 [games], you have to be careful because you can get into a diminishing return situation. Even with better travel now with charters, the mental aspect of the game is something you have to nurture during the year. You can't get so physically and mentally exhausted that the game is becoming perfunctory again with no emotion anymore.

"It's managing your time, practicing for less time. You just can't go to the whip every day for 187 days and it's not possible. But he really likes to be prepared. Drilling is important and he's very analytical about it. Missing practice is not the answer for him either. They're just going to have to work together to find a common balance."

---Mike Harrington