The Sabres' caravan was set to head to Mississauga, Ont., to meet with premier unrestricted free agent Brad Richards, but the team decided doing so could force them to miss out on their No. 1 target, forward Ville Leino.
"I initiated conversations with Pat Morris, who represents Brad," Regier said in HSBC Arena. "We had plans to go up to Mississauga to meet with him. As the day progressed and even with the number of clubs that were in line to speak with Newport Sports, we really got into a time pressure situation where we had to make a decision. We felt very strongly about Ville, and we felt that it was important to make sure we didn’t allow a quality player like him to slip by us."
---John Vogl
