There are a lot of things that come along with joining a new organization. Finding a house.

Searching for schools for the kids. Meeting new teammates. Getting in the coach's good graces.

Truth is, Toni Lydman would rather not be bothered with all that. The laid-back,

unrestricted free agent-to-be is quite comfortable in Buffalo. He has little desire to start

over so a new deal with the Sabres would be fine with him.

"It would save a lot of hassle," he said with a laugh. "That's a big thing."

One of the bigger things for the Sabres this offseason is deciding what to do with Lydman

and Henrik Tallinder. The defensemen headline the team's free-agent list. General Manager

Darcy Regier said the Sabres would love to keep them — but added a caveat.

"At the right price," Regier said. "That's the hard part."

Lydman just finished a four-year deal that averaged $2.875 million, while Tallinder closed

a four-year contract with an annual salary cap hit of $2.56 million. Lydman is 32 years old

and Tallinder is 31. It's safe to assume similar deals are in their future.

It's not safe to assume those dollars will come from Buffalo.

"I've been here so long, whatever Buffalo has to say, I'm ready to listen," Tallinder said.

"We'll see what they want to do. If everything works out good, I might be back. Who knows? I

don't even know yet."

Tallinder, selected by the Sabres in the second round of the 1997 draft, has been a regular

in Buffalo since 2002-03. Lydman has patrolled the blue line since being acquired from Calgary

in August 2005. Based on the evidence, it's likely at least one of their long stays is over,

if not both.

The Sabres plan to search for a power-play defenseman this summer, and they feel they have

two minor leaguers who may be ready to make the jump to the NHL. Mike Weber, 22, and

Marc-Andre Gragnani, 23, just finished their third seasons in the American Hockey League.

Gragnani scored 12 goals and added 31 assists in 66 games to finish 11th in points among AHL

defensemen. Weber added five goals and 21 points in 80 games. The Sabres' time line seems to

fit promoting them while letting the higher-priced veterans leave.

"We have a group of, I think, very good young defensemen coming," Regier said.

Lydman and Tallinder, however, showed their value to the organization this season.

Lydman was the blue-line anchor in the playoffs, playing a team-high 26:14 per game while

blocking the most shots (13). His 126 hits during the regular season were second only to

forward Patrick Kaleta's 148.

"To me it's more "why fix it if it's not broken?' kind of mentality," Lydman said.

"Sometimes the grass isn't greener on the other side; it just might be different. Like I said,

the group of guys here is awesome, so I wouldn't mind staying at all."

Tallinder's biggest contribution didn't show up on the score sheet — unless folks

were looking at Tyler Myers' stats. He was Myers' partner from Day One and helped the rookie

to a Calder Trophy-caliber season. Myers also boosted the stock of Tallinder, who rebounded

from a couple of rough seasons to post a plus-13 rating.

"I know what I could do out there," Tallinder said. "I just needed to get my head screwed

on the right way. I think it was a more mental thing than physical or anything like that. I

felt way more comfortable with myself as a person and as a player. If you have a good balance

in your life and in your profession, then you're going to succeed. I managed to balance myself

pretty good this season.

"[Myers] brought a lot of enthusiasm. You want to keep up with the guy. ... I'm just happy

to be able to play with him. We'll see, maybe more years."

Lydman and Tallinder have seen Jaroslav Spacek and Brian Campbell give way to fresh faces.

Although the players would be happy to stay, they know a new-team hassle could await.

"Every year there's some changes," Lydman said. "Over here they've been patient, and I

think that's been a good approach to have their own prospects and draft picks grow into

players. Some of the guys have grown into stars in the league, and that's a good recipe."