The Sabres, the Trade Deadline, and Free Agency

The Sabres have eleven players with contracts slated to expire at the end of this season. Since all the fans, and sportswriters in the area also carry the title of “Assistant GM” I figured I’d give my spin on this upcoming offseason.

Maxim Afinogenov, Tim Connolly, Jaroslav Spacek, Ales Kotalik, Teppo Numminen, Drew Stafford, Clarke MacArthur, Andrej Sekera, Patrick Kaleta, Matt Ellis, and Andrew Peters are the eleven players where the action will be happening.

Teppo Numminen, for the sake of your life, please retire. You’ve been in the league for 20 years, and started with the Winnipeg Jets. If that doesn’t make you old enough, you had heart valve surgery to correct a murmur.  What else do you have to prove?

Moving into the trade category, Tim Connolly and Maxim Afinogenov are the largest candidates for trade. Max is a massive underachiever this season. He’s 2+10 for 12 points and a minus 14. Darcy Regier is asking a first round pick to open up cap space, but no one has bitten, because the asking price may be too high.

Tim Connolly is the other person fans want moved. Connolly is a “prodigy” with the puck, and always seems to make something happen on the ice. The only problem is, Connolly has had a rough injury ride, that’s resulted in him missing 58 percent of his games since the lockout. The Buffalo organization can’t afford his 3.5 million dollar price tag for less than half of a season.

Jaroslav Spacek, Ales Kotalik, Drew Stafford, Andrej Sekera, Clarke MacArthur and Patrick Kaleta will probably be at the heart of the re-signing efforts. Depending on how much Spacek and Kotalik want (currently making 3.3 million and 2.5 million respectively) will probably tell the story of the rest of the players. Watch for Stafford, MacArthur and Sekera to get big raises. Kaleta will get re-signed, but probably with a smaller salary than the aforementioned players.

Which leaves Ellis and Peters. I’m abstaining from what I think will happen to Matt Ellis, he hasn’t been around here very long, and is a career fourth line energy player. He’s made a name here and could move for profit here shortly.

Andrew Peters has a Love-Hate relationship with Buffalo. We, the fans love him. He loves us, this city, the game of hockey, his wife, and his dog Oggie, even though she has “expensive taste” in the shoes she chews. The only problem is his stick hates to score. I just don’t know if there’s space for his comparatively meager contract in this salary-cap era.

Of course this is all my speculation and I’m not Darcy Regier, but if handled with care, Buffalo’s future is still bright. With the holes filled in by the up-and-coming AHL stars, this team will be a force to reckon with for years to come.