[SBRforum Staff]

Sabres Sharp In Buffalo

By: SBR Staff

The Buffalo Sabres finished third in the Eastern Conference with 110 points last season, then embarked on a solid playoff run that has fans in Western New York optimistic about their team’s Stanley Cup chances in 2006/07.

With training camp fast approaching, the Sabres took care of their final piece of offseason business last week.

Starting goaltender Ryan Miller, who went 30-14-3 with a 2.60 GAA and a .914 save percentage in last year’s breakout campaign, was signed to a three-year, $8 million contract on Friday. Miller was also solid in last year’s playoffs, going 11-7 with a 2.56 GAA and a .908 save percentage. And now the team has him locked up for three years.

That’s good news for everyone invested in the Sabres’ success, except of course for their backup goaltender. Martin Biron went 21-8-3 for Buffalo last season, with a 2.88 GAA and a .905 save percentage, and won a franchise record 13 consecutive starts when Miller went down with an injury. With stats like that, a goalie wants to be a starter.

But barring a Miller injury or big-time slump, Biron has been reduced to the role of big-money backup for Buffalo. With openings for goaltenders in places like Detroit, St. Louis, Florida, Vancouver, and Toronto at points in the summer, Biron’s camp assumed he would be dealt to a place where he could be the No. 1 guy. However, that deal never materialized, and the team insists they won’t trade him prior to the start of this season.

Luckily for the Sabres, though, Biron is a solid citizen who isn’t one to create a distraction - which, along with giving the team leverage in talks with Miller, could be a big reason why he’s still in Buffalo. Still, with such a capable backup at the end of the bench, any stumble by Miller is bound to create yet another goalie controversy in a city that has been plagued with them for the past few years. A midseason deal is possible.

Miller’s signing pushed the Sabres close to the league’s salary cap, and a Buffalo Sabres squad with a high payroll is not a regular sight in the NHL. But with so many of their own free agents to ink, the Sabres had no choice but to boost the payroll. It’s not like they could just let a key player walk away for nothing instead of bringing him back.

Well, actually, they could do that - and they did. Winger J.P. Dumont became an unrestricted free agent after the Sabres walked away from his arbitration award (one-year, $2.9 million). Dumont subsequently signed with the Nashville Predators, and the Sabres spread those millions of dollars in savings across the rest of their roster instead.

Other departures from last year’s Sabres team include defenseman Jay McKee, who signed with the St. Louis Blues, forward Mike Grier, who signed with the San Jose Sharks, and forward Taylor Pyatt, who was traded to the Vancouver Canucks. As well, forward Tim Connolly is still experiencing post-concussion symptoms and might not be ready to start the year on time. Connolly suffered his latest head injury in the playoffs.

The most notable addition to Buffalo’s roster was defenseman Jaroslav Spacek, who is expected to take McKee’s minutes on the blueline. The Sabres will round out their Top 6 on defense with Brian Campbell, Henrik Tallinder, Dmitri Kalinin, Teppo Numminen, and Toni Lydman, with someone from the farm acting as the team’s seventh defenseman.

Up front the departure of Dumont takes a few goals out of the lineup, but the team is hoping that the continued development of Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, and Derek Roy will more than make up for his loss. Maxim Afinogenov, Chris Drury, Jochen Hecht, and Ales Kotalik are still in town as well, and Daniel Briere will be counted on to lead the way on offense; Briere picked up 58 points in just 48 regular season games last year.

The Sabres defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in six games in the opening round of last year’s playoffs, then played the role of giant killer in knocking out the Ottawa Senators in just five games in the second round. Buffalo eventually fell in seven games to the eventual champion Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals, but expected momentum and a deep roster has them pegged as a solid Cup contender in 2006/07.

[scottyy11]

thanks good post i'm a sabres fan and think they should of traded Biron you cant afford to have a pricey back with the cap and Buffalo being a small market team. I think they make the playoffs but not sure they get to far as they will have alot more pressure on them now that more is expected.

[bigboydan]

Buffalo always seems to be a competitive team, and with the new salary cap being in place there only going to improve.