Regarding Kabby

Due to a variety of reasons, Tomas Kaberle’s time in Boston was widely expected to come to an abrupt end sooner or later. After being passed over for selection by the Czech Republic ahead of the World Championships – a tournament in which they claimed the bronze medal, defeating the United States 6-3 in the third-placed game – the rumours began to swirl that the Bruins wouldn’t be extending the veteran blueliner’s contract and instead would let him go into the free agency market on July 1^st. Whether these reports were true or not is uncertain, but the Boston management evidently tried one more roll of the dice, dropping their asking price from a centre capable of playing on the Bruins’ third line to a second-round pick and then, when General Manager Byers came calling, a pair of third-round picks. For a defenseman of Kaberle’s calibre, he evidently thought this a fair price to pay, and so relinquished the final picks of the third rounds – those originally belonging to Anaheim and Atlanta – to pick up what was described as “negotiating rights to [Kaberle’s] contract”. The move brings some stability to Buffalo’s defensive line as well as a voice of experience that doesn’t belong to Denis Gauthier. The earliest indication is that the Czech blueliner will instantly become one of the Sabres’ top two defensemen, slotting in alongside Cam Barker in even strength and probably seeing some time in powerplay or short-handed situations. He had thirty-four points during the regular season to help Boston into the playoffs for the second consecutive year, but in their first-round 4-2 defeat to the Pittsburgh Penguins he was held pointless with a minus-8 rating.

On the continuing subject of the ITC Draft, another clutch of picks have been made. Five more defensemen were drafted – James LaPointe to Carolina; Lukas Vorel to Toronto; Mo Fu to Columbus; Ilkka Heiskanen to Washington and Wayne Peca to Dallas – along with Pelle Ottosson (to Colorado), Alexei Metlyuk (to Nashville), Igor Nikishov (to Detroit) and Jonas Linhart (to Boston).

Cammalleri, Daley make Team Canada

While they were far from the only ones to be selected for their national teams, Mike Cammalleri and Trevor Daley were the only Sabres to represent one of North America’s teams as eleven of their team-mates declined to participate; Daley joins a defense lead by New Jersey’s Dion Phaneuf, whereas the Camel will be fighting for a place on the forward-loaded top lines. Others of note joining them at the World Championships are team captain Marian Hossa – who will also captain the Slovakian national side – and the Czech Republic’s recently-resigned right winger Martin Havlat; Denis Ezhov (Russia), Jochen Hecht (Germany) and Vladimir Sobotka (Czech Republic) round off those selected from the full team. Of more concern for the respective managers are the amount of Sabres who chose not to play – Rick Nash and Cam Barker both turned down the chance to play with Team Canada, Vesa Toskala did likewise with Finland and the Americans were hit hardest by the news that Ryan Miller, Keith Ballard and Sid Sorensen had all said “No”; Miller was the biggest blow, as he would have brought experience to a goaltending group lacking in it – none of Phillipe Sauve, Brian Boucher and Jeff Frazee have spent any significant time as a starter, and Frazee spent last season in the AHL with the Louisville Panthers.

However, the silver lining was sizable as, in the wake of Michal Grosek’s release, both Barker and restricted free agent Jay McClement accepted their respective offers. McClement, who spent the whole of last season unsigned when Buffalo chose not to extend his contract at the end of 2009/2010, will make $8.8 million over the next four years, whereas Barker will earn $13 million over the same time period. This follows from the resigning of Havlat, Ballard and Daley, leaving only Toskala and Mathieu Dandenault out of contract when free agency begins; Toskala and his agent have been in negotiations with the Sabres for some time, but Dandenault is not expected to brought back.

Nilsson Bolts The Sunshine State, Sabres Rejoin Top Ten

For the second time in the space of just eight picks, the Buffalo Sabres visited the trading floor with one of their fellow basement dwellers – after switching picks with Columbus, General Manager Jay Byers then sent centre Carl Soderberg along with Ottawa’s second-round draft pick, #52 overall, to the Florida Panthers in exchange for talented winger Robert Nilsson. The twenty-six-year-old was already part of a big trade in December 2010, when Florida gave the Columbus Blue Jackets two first-round picks in the 2011 draft, and a first-round and fourth-round pick in the 2012 draft in exchange for his services; he was coming off a pair of fifty-point seasons with the Blue Jackets, and finished the 2010/2011 season with 59 points split between the two teams. However, his salary and his attitude earned him few friends among the Panthers, least of all Philip Ricketts – with the Panthers sitting at $54 million and with players like German Kournikov, Martin Biron and Alex Bourret all out of contract after the season, removing Nilsson’s $2 million salary from the team was seen as a welcome move, albeit with only limited effects as Soderberg’s contract guarantees him $1.1 million for the next two years. The addition of Soderberg to the Panthers is expected to improve the hitting and defensive effort provided by their forwards, first and foremost, and he’s expected to anchor the second or third line in Florida.

Of more interest to us is the improvement Nilsson will provide to the Sabres offense. Like Soderberg, Nilsson’s expected place is to be on the second or third line depending on how the management chooses to handle Sid Sorensen; despite being a three-year veteran of the league at the tender age of 21, it’s not believed that Sorensen has finished developing and so Nilsson may well see both second-line and powerplay minutes in his stead. Of course, Sorensen is operating a good rate of point production, with a 63-point career year in 2009/2010 and a junior season where he amassed 156 points in 75 games for the Oshawa Generals, and is only expected to get better – this may mean Buffalo have a position battle on their hands already. On the subject of the ITC Draft, a further three picks have been made since Leon Fooland became a Sabre; Nashville picked up a second rookie defenseman to go with Ladislav Strnad in Jean-Michel Taillefer, Phoenix also opted for a blueline prospect with Simon Mulder and Chicago chose versatile winger Jason Mason.

But no sooner had this trade gone through than news of another emerged. The New York Islanders had been looking to move down and acquire more picks in the first or second round from their position at #10, and despite attention from Vancouver, it was Buffalo who came out on top, although there will surely be rumblings that they overpaid – for the tenth overall pick, GM Byers gave up picks #22, #30 and #34, which could either be a smart gamble or a big mistake – given the range of players who could conceivably have been picked at #10, the latter is though to be more likely. Candidates for the pick include forwards Gordie Coleman and Pelle Ottosson and defenseman Ilkka Heiskanen, but the Sabres have still not addressed their need at goaltender and so may elect for Andy Green instead.

To Better Know A Draft Pick

Three names were floating around the Buffalo war room, even before Vancouver chose not to go against the Central Scouting Bureau by picking Robin Fernsworth, the man the CSB deemed the top of the class, and even the picking of Ladislav Strnad by Nashville did little to dampen the good mood. The choice, it seemed, came down to a simple question of offense vs. defense – was the better pick fourth-ranked winger Dmitry Mozgunov of Amur Habarovsk, or hard-hitting defenseman Leon Fooland of the Kelowna Rockets – and yet it seemed nobody could reach a consensus about who the right choice was. Redline Report had Fooland ranked five places higher than the CBS at #16 with Mozgunov stationary at #4, but had little but good things to say about either; they did mention that Fooland’s WHL points were mediocre, eight goals and sixteen assists in 74 games, but also that he could easily grow into the mould of a franchise defenseman with time and patience. Mozgunov had one glaring criticism similar to the one meted out to Enver Lisin before the 2004 Draft, in that unless he had the puck or was at the head of an offensive drive, he was disinterested in the play around him; while Lisin was judged to only have one dimension, Mozgunov at least has two. Sports Illustrated, on the other hand, had Mazgunov as the one donning the blue and gold based heavily on Buffalo’s need for a right winger – Marian Hossa, in addition to being 32, has just one year left on his contract while Martin Havlat will become a restricted free agent if he and the team cannot agree to terms. It was also widely known that the fourth pick was rivalling Rick Nash as the most desired thing on the Sabres roster, with at least four teams interested in moving up; to actually trade it was not considered a smart move unless the reward was of exceptional quality.

Columbus provided that quality.

So eager were the Blue Jackets to move up in the wake of New York’s selection – they chose Rich Castellanos, ranked #42 – that they gave up their own pick, just one spot below Buffalo’s, as well as Atlanta’s first-rounder to land the fourth overall pick; faced with a win/win situation, the deal was quickly accepted and Dmitry Mozgunov became a Blue Jacket, leaving Leon Fooland as the obvious choice for the fifth overall selection. As a primarily-defensive defenseman, it is hoped that Fooland will be able to bring some balance back to the Buffalo blueline corps – offensive defenseman have proliferated since Cam Barker’s arrival – and help lessen the burden on the goaltenders. While free agency may cause problems, with Trevor Daley, Keith Ballard and Barker all out of contract this year, it might also be the opportunity Fooland needs to break into the squad, particularly if Denis Gauthier does leave. Also keeping a keen eye on the draft are prospects Jonas Isberg and Vladimir Sobotka, who both spent the season in Rochester playing with the Americans – Isberg’s chances of cracking the full roster took a hit with the drafting of Fooland, but Sobotka – who lead the Americans in scoring with 81 points – believes he has a shot. Speaking with a Czech newspaper, the winger said “Sure, it will be tough, Buffalo are a good team who are just in some trouble. But I’ve played in the NHL, I know the score and I think I can make it this time.”

The seventeen-year-old Canadian is thought to be one of the top defenseman in this year’s draft class, along with Nashville’s Strnad and Ilkka Heiskanen; all three have been categorised as physical defensemen, in contrast to Jean-Francois Lavoie’s “stay-at-home” and Lukas Vorel’s “offensive” monikers, and at first glance there appears to be little difference between their respective games. However, one of Buffalo’s senior scouts – who was assigned to scout a six-man shortlist as early as February – explained the differences lay in the intangible qualities the three bring. Strnad’s biggest unique skill is his booming slapshot which will undoubtedly lead to him spending some time on the powerplay if (and when, in all likelihood) he breaks into the league, whereas Heiskanen is already a fantastic skater and possibly the most NHL-ready of the three (and arguably all of the prospects on offer). Fooland’s attraction lay in his fists, as he was happy to play the role of enforcer with Kelowna, dealing out hits and checks but being prepared to drop the gloves when it was needed- that said, his 6’4, 226-pound frame was enough to deter plenty of would-be pugilists, albeit not enough to stop him racking up 110 minutes in the penalty box over the 74-game season.

Buffalo still has the twenty-second and thirtieth overall selections in the first round – from Ottawa and Atlanta respectively – along with five second-round picks.

Leaving The Season The Way They Entered

The ITC regular season drew to a blessed close with two consecutive games for the Buffalo Sabres, first losing 3-1 to the rock-bottom New York Islanders in the Nassau Coliseum then tying the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-2 on home ice. The woeful finish capped off a record-breaking twenty-five game winless streak for the beleaguered Sabres, and the one point gained from the Maple Leafs was the only one for some time. This leaves Buffalo 27^th in the league overall – 13^th in the Eastern Conference – with a total of just 53 points for the whole season; the 249 goals conceded is the fourth-worst total in the league, behind Carolina’s 265, Edmonton’s 257 and the 251 shared by Toronto, Nashville and Florida, while the 172 goals scored is also in the bottom ten.

Rick Nash returned to the line-up after being sidelined with his wrist injury for the Islanders game, and despite scoring Buffalo’s only goal – his 22^nd of the campaign – he was one of the many Sabres to take penalties, and it was his call for roughing that resulting in Marco Sturm doubling New York’s lead to 2-0 early in the third period; Sturm had opened the scoring already with under a minute to go in the first period, with what was his 200^th career goal. But just as the Buffalo fans felt like they could mount a comeback, Vyacheslav Truhnov killed their hopes with his sixth goal less than thirty seconds after, and with the Sabres offense firing blanks, goaltender Samuel Belanger had little to do to add another win to his total; at the other end of the rink, Vesa Toskala faced seventeen shots but allowed three goals on them to deliver a hit to his save percentage. Sturm took the first star honours, Truhnov the second and Greg Watson, who assisted on both of Sturm’s goals and brought his total to twenty helpers, was the third star.

After the sparsely-populated Coliseum – only six thousand five hundred fans turned up for the game – Buffalo returned home in front of a packed house for an always-intense game against dogged rivals Toronto. Regardless of the Leafs’ statistical superiority, it was Mike Cammalleri who drew first blood, netting his 24^th goal to keep the team lead off an exquisite pass from Trevor Daley in the second minute, and would later provide an assist for Nash on a powerplay goal. By that time, unfortunately, the Maple Leafs had regrouped and scored twice in the first period – Derek Roy scoring his 18^th and Jukka Poutanen chipped in with a go-ahead goal (also his first this year) – and thus the valiant effort only left Buffalo with one point for a 2-2 tie. Toskala weathered a late barrage of shots in overtime to emerge with 27 saves, while Mikael Tellqvist saved nineteen; Toskala also was nominated as the first star for his heroics, with Cammalleri second and Derek Roy third. The AHL game was more eventful, as the Rochester Americans came out 7-6 winners over the St. John’s Maple Leafs that saw St Johns’ Shawn Weller score a hat-trick and still come out on the losing side.

With the fourth overall pick in the upcoming draft and another pick later, the Sabres have a lot of options in terms of players. The top-ranked player by the CSB, Robin Fernsworth, is unsurprisingly one of those on the list, but aside from him the Buffalo management is keeping their cards close to their chest. The fact is that since the team has holes everywhere, there’s not really a bad pick to be made. However, an inside source claims that the man they have their eye most closely on is Canadian all-round forward Rene Arsenault of the Red Deer Rebels, who is someone able to chip in all over the ice and thus would provide some welcome insurance. The 22^nd overall pick, the one formerly belonging to the Ottawa Senators, is being shopped around but it’s not really expected to be moving anywhere.

The Sabres - A Sinking Ship Or A Rising Submarine?

It's the 3rd of April, 2011, and the ITC regular season is drawing to an end. The playoff picture is almost completely set, with the sixteen teams who will compete for hockey's ultimate prize locked in and the battle lines being drawn; yet, despite being part of this privileged group last year, the Buffalo Sabres are nowhere to be seen until you cast your eyes down. And down...and down some more. Sitting in 27th place overall, on an eight-game losing streak, the Sabres make for sorry viewing - how, you might ask, can a team with luminaries such as Rick Nash, Marian Hossa, Ryan Miller and Cam Barker have fallen so hard?

The answer, if you listen to newly-appointed General Manager Jay Byers, is simple. "While I don't want to blame everything on the management before," he said in an NHL press conference, "they did make some questionable moves. The Lundqvist/Toskala trade, for instance? Not something I would have done." The trade alluded to was orchestrated by Byers' predecessor, Quinn Mulligan, seeing Henrik Lundqvist, Daniel Briere and a 3rd-round pick in 2011 head to San Jose in exchange for Vesa Toskala, Kyle Rossiter, Erik Fehr and a 2nd-round pick in 2011. It was viewed as a solution to the Sabres' goaltending logjam, with both Miller and Lundqvist vying for starting minutes, but Briere's inclusion was a tough one to take for Sabres fans. Byers continued "Don't get me wrong, I understand the reasoning behind the move, but in my opinion, the wrong goaltender left."

His remarks drew criticism from some, but Miller himself insisted he wasn't offended - "I know what [Jay] meant to say, even if I don't agree with him, so I'm not bothered." There was one man who opened fire on his new boss, although it wasn't exactly without provocation - what was almost Byers' first act was to demote Denis Gauthier from his position as captain and hand the "C" to top goalscorer Marian Hossa. In reply, Gauthier said "It's a ****ing pointless decision, there's only two ****ing games to go and it's a retarded way to start. Well ****ing done, boss." Whether this will prompt any further ramifications is yet to be seen. The question is, what does Byers have to work with?

To start with, a lot of picks. Various trades have left Buffalo with two first-round picks (their own, currently sitting at #4 in the draft order) and that of the Ottawa Senators (at #23), along with five second-round picks (their own, Ottawa's, San Jose's, Toronto's and Anaheim's), and it is believed that Byers is looking to shift some of these ahead of the draft in order to move up; the expected package is Ottawa's first-round pick and Toronto or San Jose's second-round for a middling first-round pick. Vancouver is being touted as a potential target, as they have four picks in this year's first round including their own, currently at #15 overall.

The Sabres are also in a position of power ahead of free agency, with approximately $5.5 million of cap space to play around with. While some players are looking at big paydays - Trevor Daley, in particular, will be looking to markedly increase his $600,000 salary - others may be moved before the draft. Mathieu Dandenault is not believed to have a future in Buffalo, while Martin Havlat and Vesa Toskala could also leave depending on how contract negotiations go; the latter's situation is made more interesting by the presence of goaltenders Andy Green and Daniel Ekroth, both of whom are likely first-round picks (Green has a CSB ranking of 6, Ekroth's is 13), as well as the number of goaltenders whose contracts expire after this season. Most will be resigned, but the Sabres will be hoping talks break down for someone.

Are the Sabres a ship or a submarine? It's too early to tell in truth. There is too much talent on the team to keep tanking - assuming they can keep both Cam Barker and Keith Ballard, they will retain the core of a dangerous defense - while the sky appears to be the limit for Sid Sorensen (even if his numbers did take a hit from last year's career best 63 points). And, of course, the draft will likely be a source of celebration for Buffalo's hockeyistas even if Byers can't pull off any trading magic beforehand. The future's bright...the present is a question everyone will have a different perspective on.