Sabres Need to Make the Right Moves to Move Back into Contention

In June 2006, the Sabres felt that they were cheatd. They felt as though a chance to win sports' most prestigious trophy had been stolen from them.

In June 2006, Buffalo faced the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Carolina Hurricanes, in the Eastern Conference final. Buffalo went into battle without Tim Connolly (who had been their best performer in the postseason), Henrik Tallinder (their best all-around defenseman), Teppo Numminen (the most experienced player on the young roster), and Dmitri Kalinin (another top 4 defenseman). They took the series to seven games with the likes of Doug Janik, Rory Fitzpatrick, and Jeff Jillson on the blue line. Buffalo looked like they would hold their own, when on the morning of game 7 it was announced that Jay Mckee (who led the league in blocked shots) would be unable to play due to a staph infection. The Sabres, despite playing 4 defensemen who had spent the majority of the season in Rochester (including Nathan Paetsch, playing just the 2nd game of his NHL career), were able to play with, and even lead, the 'Canes. They eventually lost, however, in the 3rd period.

Fast forward to fall of 2006. Buffalo is out to prove that they deserved that Cup. Well everyone knows what happened. The Sabres stromed through the regular season and won the President's Trophy. Come playoff time, however, the Sabres seemed to expect their talent to carry them, and lacked the hunger seen the previous year. Buffalo was embarressed by Ottawa in the conference finals.

That summer, poor management seemingly led to the departure of both Daniel Briere and Chris Drury, the co-captains of the team. Additionally, an offer by Edmonton to restricted free agent Thomas Vanek forced the Sabres to invest arounf $50 million in the young scorer.

This past season, Buffalo had, without question, enough talent to make the playoffs. However, they seemed to mourn the loss of Briere and Drury all season, rather than to make a new identity for themselves. Despite finishing with a respectable 33 goals, Thomas Vanek struggled horrible through the first 49 games, posting only 13. Maxim Afinogenov, who had scored 61 points in 56 games the previous year, finished with an abysmal 28 points in the same number of games. Jocelyn Thibault looked lost in many games, and his unreliability as a backup forced Miller to start 30 straight games before Thibault played the final, meaningless game of the season. Team leader Brian Campbell was dealt at the trade deadline for young and unproven Steve Bernier.

So now the Sabres face the task of climbing back into contention. It all has to start with a good offseason. The Sabres must first finally put the Drury and Briere era behind them. For the Campbell trade to have any value to them, they must take advantage of the first round pick they received from San Jose, as well as their own first round pick. Most importantly, however, they need to make smart trades. The players in question are as follows:

Maxim Afinogenov- Dynamic skater with good hands. With him, its a gamble. Will you get the point a game player of two years ago, who drove fear into his opponents? Or will you get the invisible forward who constantly turned the puck over, and who was barely noticable whenever he took the ice?

Verdict - trade him and take what you can get, hope to find a team willing to take a chance on him.

Ales Kotalik- Big, sometimes physical winger who has a rocket of a slapshot. Capitalizes on one-timers from top of the circles, especially on powerplay. Has provided pretty consistent 20-25 goal scoring when he's stayed healthy, and seasons he hasn't he's still thrown in 15 goals. Sometimes seems lazy. Won't give you much more than the 23 goals he had this year, but shouldn't be expected to. Expectations are often too high.

Verdict - keep him. He can score, and the Sabres struggled in that department at times.

Tim Connolly- Quick, playmaking center with excellent hands and moves.During the 05-06 season, this guy showed just how talented he was. He has a terrific wrist shot, but almost never shoots. He'll make mindblowing passes and moves when he's healthy. Unfortunately, he rarely is. His career high in goals: 16.

Verdict - trade him. This is the hardest decision to make. Possibly the most talented player in Buffalo, but he can't stay healthy. Not worth risking for yet another season.

Jocelyn Thibault - Former starter, expected to be a strong backup, but proved very unreliable, and as such, unable to spell Miller in the home stretch.

Verdict - trade trade trade. Take anything. If you can't get anything, cut him.

The Sabres have yet to improve their team at the trade deadline in the post-lockout era. Apart from this offseason, they should set a goal to get truly better at the deadline. If they make smart moves and lock up their free agents, they have enough talent to shake off this previous disappointing year and contend once more for Lord Stanley's Cup.