The Buffalo Sabres only made one significant signing this UFA period, and for good reason. With the astronomical prices, they opted to address the majority of the holes in the lineup via player swapping. However with millions of cap room left, don't put it past them to make at least one more addition in the next week or two.
With one glaring hole in the lineup, managers Luke Wile and Aaron Uruski decided a player like Rob Blake was worth the money; Blake signed a one year contract worth 5,400,000 for 1 year- Blake also received a 2,700,000 signing bonus. The recent addition solidifies the top 6 defencemen of the Sabres as follows:
Bouwmeester-Blake Hatcher- Weber Ehrhoff- Pratt
Jay Bouwmeester is eagerly awaiting the arrival of his newest counterpart to Buffalo; "Last year was a rough season finishing in dead last. I'm really looking forward to playing with Rob and just trying to soak up all the knowledge he (Blake) has", Bouwmeester said.
In just two weeks, the Sabres managed to fill two spots in their top four defense. Coach Tom Renny is very pleased with the recent additions, "Derrian Hatcher and Rob Blake will provide the necessary Experience and Leadership to help mold Shea and Jay into two of the best defencemen of the future.
If one thing hasnt been clear over the last few weeks, it should be now:
The future is now for the Buffalo Sabres.
-- Edited by Sabres_Luke at 17:41, 2007-08-24
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"With Sid on your team, anything is possible" - Mario lemieux
The extreme poverty of last season's Sabres performance was part of a dynasty in the making. It's nice to see that trades in the offseason signal a Buffalo move to competitiveness and a willingness to sacrifice further suffering in order to compete for the cup right away. San Jose may be the league's dynasty in the making now, but there's no doubt the Sabres have a better chance this coming season of going from the basement to the top of the league.
Congratulations. Look for the Buffalo Sabres to be a Top-4 seed in the East in 2007-08.
i dont know if you guys knew or not but my middle name is dynasty
oh, ... i thought you said it was 'Die Nasty'
No, his parents were just big Joan Collins fans
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"Theres also talk of creating more room at the end of the rink by making the nets more shallow, which would be accomplished by encouraging them to spend all their time listening to pop music and reading Twilight books."
Look for the Buffalo Sabres to be a Top-4 seed in the East in 2007-08.
