Its been a while since I posted anything about our sabres team. Sometimes when things are so bad, its better not to say anything.
Now that the first move of the off season is official and only requires the formalities of the draft to occur, it seems reasonable to look at what other moves should be made.
Like the Bills, the Sabres don't necessarily need to worry about Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa or Boston, but they certainly should not stay away from making bids on the same opportunities that may be available on the market to those teams. Consider these options:
1) the media has Tavares heading for Montreal or Toronto or even to the Rangers. Why not Buffalo? Tavares is familiar with the area, it is close to Toronto and he knows how his uncle was treated very well here. Tavares is not someone who wants the pressure of the limelight that Toronto, Montreal or New York can bring, so Buffalo might work for him. If I were Botterill, I would make a call to Snow and put this offer on the table: Tavares, Bellows, and the Islander 2018 #11 pick for O'Reilly, Lehner, Gerginson, Beaulieu and Buffalo's 1st pick in 2019.....all on the condition that Tavares signs a contract with Buffalo......as the draft approaches, someone will send the Islanders a pick to negotiate with Tavares, and so why wouldn't Buffalo send them a 3rd round pick ahead of time to at least present a sign and trade offer.....this would be a pre-emptive strike, but also a huge step up. Toronto would have to offer Kadri, or Nylander or Marner with Gardner and Montreal would have to start with Pacioretty or Drouin to get Tavares....otherwise we wait for free agency and hope.
2) Assuming that #1 comes together, with the Islander #11 pick, offer that and our 2nd round pick in 2018, our pick from San Jose and Scandella and Reinhart for Karlson and Ottawa's #4 pick in 2018. With the #4 pick, hope to choose Brady Tkachuk. At the very least, we put in an offer that the leafs and other teams will find it difficult to match or beat.
3) If #1 and #2 work great, if they don't then we should consider trading O'Reilly, Begosian and our first round pick next year and second round pick this year for Montreal's first pick this year, Pacioretty, and Weber.
What is important here, is that we need to be active, shaking the trees and surrounding these young players with proven veteran leaders. Whether it is Tavares, Karlsson, Weber or Pacioretty, we need to show people we our committed.
The line up starts to look like this if you can make #1 and #2 work and this is before free agency starts:
Moulson?/Bailey/Nylander/Smith) Tavares Okposso
Rodrigues Eichel Pominville/O'Reagan
Tkachuk Mittlestadt Bellows ( a young 3rd line like Roy, Vanek & Afiigenov were)
Nolan Larsson Baptiste/Wilson/Pouloit (if we bring him back to form a shut down line)
Defense
Karlsson Dahlen
Ristolainen McCabe
Guhle Nelson
Begosian Pilut/Antipin (maybe not Antipin unless he goes to minors for seasoning)
Falk (if we bring him back and we should)
Gorges (if we bring him back as a 7th or 8th defenseman or to help in Rochester)
In free agency, if we don't get Tavares and move O'Reilly, we should consider Paul Statsny on a 2 year contract. Perhaps if we don't move Begosian in another deal, we look at Jason Spezza as well in a trade offer straight up for SPezza, if we cant get a veteran like Statsny ith his talent and faceoff ability here to replace O'Reilly.
If we deal Reinhardt, then we should also make a pitch for JVR out of Toronto and if we cant get Statsny, we should not dismiss Bozak either as a third line option. Then there is Evander Kane is he someone we want back or not?
If we get Pacioretty, we should look at Lar Eller, who played well with Pacioretty before, but has been a good 3rd line center, and these two could fit with Pomiville nicely.
Alternatively, I would also look at bringing back free agents Roy and Vanek to play with Pominville on a 4th line, or to double shift Eichel with Vanek and Pomiville and then with Rodriges and O'Reagan if we don't get some of the other top free agents......they will cost little, but have one more chance to bring glory to this team.
Other UFA options:
Back-up goalies: Chad Johnson, Aaron Dell (best choice), Carter Hutton (back-up), or someone like Ben Scrivens and maybe even take a flyer on Jonathan Bernier
Back-Up defensemen: Jack Johnson might be an interesting pick-up who just may want a change in scenery and be willing to come and play in Buffalo as a 2nd pairing defenseman on a decent deal; Calvin Dehan as a penalty kill shutdown 5th defenseman....an upgrade over Gorges and Falk, but cost would be a factor; Ian Cole more mobile, but older is another possibility for the 6th or 7th position
Forwards: Besides, Statsny, Eller, Roy, Vanek, Pouloit, Wolski, a couple of forwards to help the 4th line might be of interest, especially for the penalty kill or for shut down purposes late in the game: Komorov, Letetsu, Riley Nash
I would also look at Canadian Olympic Players like Ben Scrivens as a back-up goalie, Mat Robinson, who has incredible skating speed and passing abilities and despite his age he has an excellent accurate shot and would be a great 6th/7th defenseman, and Wojtek Wolski, who has great speed and talent as well.....some of these are stop gap measures, but what these guys and the other free agents I have listed have is a commitment to win and in a competition for Olympic spots, these Olympic players showed incredible desire to get a spot over 200 other guys and they then tried like heck to win a medal.
- RicoMartin
http://www.hockeybuzz.com...read_id=152302&forum_id=1 
