Entry Draft provides chance for Sabres to
prepare for 2007-08 season

by Ralph Schwarz
Niagara Frontier Publications, June 21, 2007

Four days before the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, the Philadelphia Flyers dipped into free agent market by signing the former Nashville Predators Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell to multi-year contracts.

Although the Flyers management continues to throw money at free agents in the same way it did under former General Manager Bob Clarke, one has to admire the shrewdness of their current GM, Paul Holmgren.

Instead of waiting for the free agent season to start on July 1, Holmgren capitalized on a totally legal loophole by trading for the rights of two potential unrestricted free agents. Once Flyers property – albeit with contracts expiring June 30 – the Philadelphia GM wasted no time and signed them to multi-million contracts.

While signing Hartnell, a versatile forward but certainly no superstar, to a six-year, $25.2 million deal makes you scratch your head, they definitely upgraded their blueline by inking Timonen, arguably one of the most underrated defensemen in the league, to a six-year, $37.8 million contract, a deal that also set the salary benchmark for other free-agent defenseman.

Though the two signings bump the Flyers salary cap for 2007-08 up close to $42.5 million, it still leaves Philly with enough room to go after Buffalo Sabres forwards Daniel Briere and Chris Drury. Hey, some Flyers even believe that the team might sign both Briere and Drury and – hear, hear – trade for Tampa Bay’s Vinny Lecavalier – although it’s hard to imaging the Lightning would part with its franchise player.

Nevertheless, Philadelphia has still enough money left to go after Briere, come July 1. But unlike other years and despite talk coming out of Buffalo, the Sabres are prepared to keep their highly-coveted free agents in the Queen City.

Yes, Western New York hockey fans can still dream about another run for the Stanley Cup with both Briere and Drury wearing blue and gold after last Thursday’s Buffalo News quoted Sabres Managing Partner Larry Quinn saying that “the budget that we’re going to spend next year is more than the budget we spent this year.”

That’s good news, at least for now.

And who knows: The Sabres might be setting the table for the free-agent showdown this weekend at the Entry Draft in Columbus.

Considering that the Sabres won’t be able to select a player until the second round, where they hold the 31st and 59th draft picks, one might speculate whether GM Darcy Regier will orchestrate a trade – either to move up in the draft order or to create some room under the salary cap. Frequently-mentioned names of likely trade bait include forward Ales Kotalik and defensemen Jaroslav Spacek and Dimitri Kalinin.

But what about a good trading partner? Gone are trigger-happy Islanders GM Mike Milbury, who was never shy to use the phone on the draft table during the first round, and reliable Columbus GM Doug MacLean, who frequently traded players, prospects and picks with the Buffalo Sabres.

Of the current GMs, Edmonton’s Kevin Lowe and Vancouver’s David Nonis have trade history with the Sabres. Maybe they will be willing to do another trade?

Of course, Regier and his staff could surprise everybody and do nothing at the draft. A 31st pick can still get you a top prospect; it just may take a little bit more time for that prospect to develop into an everyday NHL player.

In 2001, the Sabres used their 32nd pick to draft Derek Roy and their 55th pick to select Jason Pominville; defenseman Nathan Paetsch was the 202nd pick in 2003, while forward Paul Gaustad was selected as 220th pick in 2000. And don’t forget the 1997 Entry Draft, when Buffalo picked Henrik Tallinder (48 overall), Maxim Afinogenov (69th) and Brian Campbell (156th). They took their time to develop into fulltime NHLers, but they all now play a vital part in the Buffalo lineup.

As in past years, the Sabres could use a stay-at-home defenseman and a big physical winger with a scoring touch. And who knows, they might just be available when it’s time for Buffalo to make its selection.

Ralph Schwarz is the former sports editor at Niagara Frontier Publications.