Sabres GM Regier says deals hard to come by
Published: September 03, 2009, 12:30 am
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Darcy Regier says he tried. The Buffalo Sabres general manager made calls this summer, trying to make trades to better his organization or give players a fresh start. But the reception was as cool as those 50-degree August nights, and trades anywhere in the NHL were virtually non-existent.
Folks hoping deals would heat up with training camp approaching next week can stop holding their breath.
What you see is what you get with the Sabres’ roster. Regier doesn’t anticipate any deals before camp starts Sept. 12. There’s nothing in the works. “No, not right now,” Regier said by phone Wednesday. “The conversations over the summer, we’ve talked about players with other organizations, but I think now the teams have taken, to a large extent, [the philosophy of], ‘We’ve got this group, and we’ll go into camp and assess things as we go through training camp.’
“I think it’ll remain fairly tight. I think you’ll see some movement between the start of training camp and the start of the season — either through waivers or the switching of players from
one organization to another in an attempt to either give the organization or the player a fresh start — but generally I think that the available dollars or the ability to find a trade partner, the difficulty of it will continue.”
Regier says money is the main issue holding back deals.
“It just revolves around the actual [salary] cap or internal organizational caps,” he said. “I would say to a large extent the league has oversigned players. The team’s best players are normally not available for trade, and to the extent that underperformers are out there, in a lot of cases they have contracts that teams don’t want to pick up. It’s made it very difficult to find a match.”
One well-known name that’s been on the trading block all summer is Dany Heatley. The disgruntled Ottawa sniper was never on Buffalo’s wish list.
“We didn’t make any inquiries there,” Regier said.
So the Sabres will start the 2009-10 season with nearly all of the same players who missed the playoffs the past two seasons. Regier doesn’t sound concerned. He says this group can qualify for the postseason this time.
“It can,” Regier said. “We’ll get some help from the youth, whether it’s Portland players or draft picks that will contribute to it, but this is still a group that we feel strongly about and look to start with the playoffs.”
The GM expects Drew Stafford to be part of that group soon. The 23-year-old restricted free agent remains unsigned, but Regier anticipates reaching a deal with the forward before next weekend.
“I spoke with his agent [Tuesday], and we continue to work on it,” Regier said. “It’s cordial, amicable. Everyone is trying to work toward getting an agreement done, and we’ll do everything we can to get him signed prior to training camp. That’s certainly the direction we’re working in.”
Regier also is working on a contract agreement with forward Tyler Ennis, one of two first-round picks in the 2008 entry draft. Ennis had 43 goals each of the past two seasons for Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League, and his next team is likely the Sabres’ minor league affiliate in Portland.
“He’ll come to camp and we’ll work on his contract, but the expectation is that he’ll turn pro and not return to junior this year,” Regier said.
It appears a prospect with little intention of being in Portland is forward Mark Mancari, a restricted free agent. The big winger has spent the past four years in the minors and is lobbying the forward-laden Sabres for a chance to play in the NHL somewhere.
“We’ve worked on that, but to no success, and so we’ll continue,” Regier said. “We’d love to have him as part of the organization and have him in training camp, but right now we don’t have a contract.”
The only player who definitely won’t be with the Sabres at the start of camp is Adam Mair. The veteran forward had surgery on his hip and will not return until after the regular season begins Oct. 3.
“It’s something that just got progressively worse over the course of the summer as he trained,” Regier said. “It got to a point where the medical staff determined they needed to go in and have a look, and upon doing that they corrected it. But it looks now that he’ll be out a minimum of six weeks.
“It was in a very mild form, and we were hopeful that he would be able to improve and he’d be able to work through it. But as can happen that wasn’t the case.”
jvogl@buffnews.com
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