Busy offseason in Northeast

Free agency is a week old and there has been a lot of activity among teams from the Northeast Division.

Montreal traded for center Scott Gomez and signed forwards Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri and defensemen Hal Gill and Jaroslav Spacek. The Canadiens had to give up Christopher Higgins to get Gomez and have lost players such as Alex Kovalev and Mike Komisarek and might lose Alex Tanguay and Robert Lang.

Toronto signed Komisarek, traded skilled defenseman Pavel Kubina to get the rugged Garnett Exelby, signed defenseman Francois Beauchemin and checking winger Colton Orr. TSN is also reporting they have signed Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson.

Boston re-signed Mark Recchi and grabbed checking center Steve Begin from Dallas but lost defenseman Steve Montador.

Buffalo signed Montador to replace Spacek.

Ottawa is embroiled in a mess with scoring forward Dany Heatley, but was able to sign Kovalev.

poll by twiigs.com

Comments

[jan]

Sure looks like every team but the Sabres made some interesting moves. Boston, Ottawa, and Montreal may have to shed some players at some point to stay under the cap. Toronto's got some grit the Sabres don't have-- it'll be harder to push them around. Is Darcy gambling that this team is sick of being out of the playoffs for two years in a row and will adjust their attitudes this season?

[Mike K.]

We the fans are to blame...sorry Darcy and the rest of the 3 stooges! We have too much faith in miracles. We fill the stadiums for the Bills and the Sabres so we tell these idiots that we accept mediocre (at best) teams with NO chance in hell at winning anything close to a major sports championship. Keep signing nobodies and believing this team can win against anyone who gives an effort. We need a team of Gaustad's & Mairs so atleast we will be entertained. We have no back up goalie= Miller exhausted by the end of the season when it actually matters. We have NO offense from our Defence. We have NO go to guys to score the important goals. We have NO power play... we have NO chance. Keep up the cheap way out guys, by the time anyone figures it out this team will be sent down to minor league hockey as a farm team for some owner that actually cares about winning...and hockey for that matter!! Please Golisano...sell this team and put us out of our misery.

[Kevin S.]

The previous post was re-posted from July 1st and it proves I was right. No more free agency moves or trades and we lost a team leader. I seriously wonder who is calling the shots? I think Golisano/Quinn are handcuffing him and NOT ALLOWING Darcy to spend without approval and have dictated to him that they will not pay over X amount of dollars for players unless it is beneficial to their bottom line. Businessmen first owners second. Maybe we should change our team name to the Buffalo Fiscal Responsibilities or Maybe the Buffalo Pennypincher's.

[Kevin S.]

Way to go Darcy and the Sabres, you saved 2.5 mill a year, lost a team leader and yet again dumped salary. Getting rid of Spacek is a bigger deal than you guys think, this team is going to be hurting on the power play from it. Guess we don't need shots from the point toughness and leadership. I loved Spacek and admit he was one of the few guys I LIKED watching play last year. Get rid of Campbell and Spacek and replace them with guys who can't score. Thats the Sabres motus operandi, cheap cheap cheap, salary dump and replace with Rivet and Montadour. They Better hope that skinny lanky kid Ennis can come up and provide some scoring punch. I would be willing to bet the Sabre's DON'T MAKE ANY MORE MOVES!! At least none of any significance. This team is ridiculous, it's all about saving pennies. You wonder why we even bother being fans when they pee on us and tell us it's raining all the time. This team that lacks leaders just lost another one, way to go Darcy, you rock dude! <<

[GmR]

At least Burke is attempting to build a team. Darcy is convinced still that Pominville, Roy, and Connelly are 1st line players and that the Sabres are "on the upswing." I predict if the Sabres are below .500 by Xmas this coming year Ruff and Regier get canned.

[Maverick]

Rewriting my blog, as I couldn't post the last one, probably due to length. I like Toronto's summer the best so far. They are building from the goal out. Montreal is a wash. Once Ottowa completes their Heatley deal, plus Kovalev, they are better. Boston is already set. The fans of the other four teams have confidnece that their GMs will follow through and make changes. I have no such confidence in darcey. He's done practically nothing to keep up with the competition. His most recent trades have proved to be ineffective. The leafs will clobber us on our own home ice. This team is bound for last place, zero leadership or guts, starting with the GM.

[CalgarySabre2]

I like what Boston did. They were already a very good team and solidified the base. They did not enter the bidding wars for no reason. Montreal looks like they followed the NYR approach ("If we throw enough money at this, some of it should work.") I don't see any real theme or focus to what they did, except trying to distract their fans from the players that they will be losing. Ottawa is in a mess, because with what they are paying Kovalev they now absolutely HAVE to convince Heatley to depart - and thus far it has not been that smooth. Toronto signed 3 thugs and a goalie. You can really only dress one thug a night and one goalie a night. So they'll win some fights in the regular season, but they still won't make the playoffs. I expect the division at the end of next season to line up the same way it did at the end of this season, give or take a point or two. Sabres still need a back up goalie, unless they want to burn Miller out and miss the playoffs again. Especially since you can expect to add the Olympic games onto Miller's work out regime next season.

[Chris]

Before we get to watch the Sabres play like wusses, we get to watch Dick Mauron elect to punt on 1st & 10 from the Patriot's 30 yard line.

Keep buying up those tickets Buffalo fans.

[Ken Hunter]

Darcy,
How about a little help. Sign the free agents or go outside for some tough guy help, diggers.
We don't need big name, high priced players.

[dwight in philly]

james!.. wow.. do you honestly believe what you wrote?.. the teams that finished ahead and behind the sabres just made themselves better either in a skill level , toughness, or both. philly.. pronger !.. montreal.. faster.. toronto tougher.. who do you think the sabres can honestly climb over to EVEN finish in the top 8? as this team is so contsructed?

[Sabreman]

1999 roster......remeber what a hard working team can do?

Miroslav Satan
Mike Peca
Michal Grosek
Curtis Brown
Dixon Ward
Jason Woolley
Joe Juneau
Brian Holzinger
Alexei Zhitnik
Stu Barnes
Vaclav Varada
Geoff Sanderson
Richard Smehlik
Wayne Primeau
Erik Rasmussen
Chris Taylor
James Patrick
Rhett Warrener
Jay McKee
Rob Ray
Randy Cunneyworth
Paul Kruse
Jean-Luc Grand Pierre
Doug Houda

AND DOM

[James]

Wake me up when Toronto signs a forward of note.

Their 1st line is Blake-Grabovski-Stempniak

Their 2nd line is Ponikarovsky-Stajan-Kulemin.

I bet people around the NE conference are shaking in their skates......

Montreal: They are a one line team. And their defense is waaay softer.

Ottawa: No D, a ticked off Heatley, and Kovalev. Awesome!

Boston: The class of the division, but they are treading water due to cap issues and may have to dump Kessel.

[Beavis]

Who in their right mind thinks the Sabres have a legitimate chance at making the playoffs while having to play in the Northeast Division?

Last season, Boston finished first in the conference, Montreal eighth, Buffalo tenth, Ottawa eleventh and Toronto twelfth.

Based on the moves thus far:
* Boston is just as good as last year. They are clearly the best team in the division.

*Montreal may not have gotten better, but they're not worse either. It might even be addition by subtraction when you consider the head-case Kovalev is gone.

*Buffalo is certainly not a better team. And if they plan on playing the kids this year, you can bet they're likely to take a step back.

*Ottawa is in flux. But if they somehow manage to keep Heatly and make him happy, suddenly Kovalev makes them that much deeper offensively.

*Toronto was a team that played hard night in and night out last year. They didn't have the talent to compete, but they had the attitude. Now take the mentality the Burke is bringing to the team to go along with adding a top-notch international goalie, solid Dmen and SOBs like Orr and Exelby. They might not have the same skill as Buffalo and Ottawa, but they have more jam. I bet they finish second in the division.

Looking at that landscape, the contracts the team is committed to and the cost for many free agents, it's no wonder the Sabres are standing pat.

I just wish they would admit they're rebuilding rather than blowing smoke about this town deserving a winner and building a competitive team and reevaluating the organization.

It seems Darcy is either unable to go out do anything because of Golisano/Quinn or too inept to do anything. Either way, the Sabres are not looking good at this moment and it would take a miracle for them to make it.

[Sabreman]

TRADE.....WHO?

[Sabreman]

Mucs whats up....lol. Another year watching on center ice and wondering why the heck i paid to see them get there rear ends handed to them. And now we wont even be able to compete withthe laffs. PITIFULL

[Tim]

As someone said to me, the Buffalo Sabres, as an organization, are not in the same boat as the other teams. Instead, they're the ones who are to be considered the turtle in this. They have a decent core and, if Darcy can make one or two more moves, they'll be in a position to contend for the division title. They don't need - and cannot afford - the big-name guys these other teams have signed.

And quite frankly, I disagree that these teams upgraded themselves so much. Montreal replaced underachieving big names with different underachieving big names, Toronto once again overpayed for a defenseman and Ottawa is in cap trouble unless they trade away Heatley. And Heatley is better than Kovalev. So they're actually downgrading.

Buffalo may not have gotten better yet, but there is still a ton of time to go. Darcy will pull a trade or two out of his butt and we'll be better for it.

[Muckler]

Regier is a joke. I can't believe they thought this melon-head could replace me.

[Mark]

It seems the stupid season of free agency lasted only a day this year, it is time to buy some grit for the Sabres lineup.

[dwight in philly]

the only logical explanation for the inaction on the part of regier is that he WANTS to get fired. how else do you explain it?, as the competition in the east attempts to get make themselves stronger, regier and co sit behind the "marketplace" or the excuse d'jour of this off-season.. no one is saying to spend like a drunken sailor, but for god-sakes, make a move!.. before the talent pool dries up!.. the sabre organization is rapidly becoming a joke nationally and we as loyal fans have to sit and watch.. its painful..

[Iceman]

Darcy!!!!!!!! hello is there anybody in there. The teams around you are getting better by the day. Seems like there are some pretty good values out there. You might want to get to work or it will be three years in a row with no playoffs

[Sal]

Toronto just built a team that will make the girls on the Sabres team cry and bend over