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Who will the Sabres trade to get under the salary cap?

Philadelphia Flyers v Buffalo Sabres - Game Six

BUFFALO, NY - APRIL 24: Nathan Gerbe #42 (left facing) of the Buffalo Sabres celebrates with teammates after scoring Bufffalo’s fourth goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at HSBC Arena at HSBC Arena on April 24, 2011 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

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Remember when the Buffalo Sabres were one of the “have-nots” in the world of professional hockey? Only four short summers ago, the Sabres organization was trying to justify the exodus of Daniel Briere and Chris Drury. Even though they were coming off two consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances and their first ever President’s Trophy, they were faced with the reality that they simply couldn’t afford two of their best veterans. In the four seasons since Drury and Briere left town, the Sabres haven’t won a single playoff series.

Oh, how things can change in a hurry. Since Terry Pegula took over earlier this year, the Sabres have morphed from a team that watches their good players leave, to a team that acquires other teams’ good players. With the change in philosophy and budget, come a completely different set of problems. Sabres GM Darcy Regier summed up the exceptional offseason quite nicely to Sean Fitz-Gerald of the National Post:

“…it’s so distinctly different than what we’ve done in the past. We’ve had decent resources in the past. Now we have extraordinary resources.”

Different resources have brought about different offseason problems. In the past, the team would have to deal with players who left on their own accord. Nowadays, GM Regier must figure out which player(s) the team can live without as they shed salary to get under the cap. According to the incomparable capgeek.com, the Sabres payroll is sitting at $67.9 million, while the salary cap for next season is only $64.3 million. It doesn’t take a math major to see that GM Regier still has some work to do before the season starts in October.

Conventional wisdom said that the Sabres would simply bury a contract or two in Rochester for the season to get the payroll under the salary cap. Would Shaone Morrison’s $2+ million contract cost him a spot in the NHL? Would Ales Kotalik get moved? Would it be fiscally responsible to waive Brad Boyes’ $4 million contract? These were the types of questions that Regier was expected to answer.

Now comes word that Regier isn’t looking at his roster for players to waive—he’s looking for players who he could trade.
Sabres blog Die By The Blade has already started speculating which players could be on the trading block:

“The first has to be Shaone Morrisonn who had a less than spectacular season with the Sabres last year. Morrisonn had one goal and four assists in 62 games with the Sabres and has one year left at a rate of $2.075 million left on his contract. In his career, Morrisonn has only had one single digit point season when he played a full slate of games and that was last season. Morrisonn has the potential to score 10-15 points and only a handful of goals each season.

While this notion will seem ridiculous, another player that could be moved to clear some cap space could be Jason Pominville and his $5.3 million contract. Pominville does have a modified no-trade clause, which gives Pominville eight teams that he can’t be traded to, which could make moving him slightly difficult. Pominville was an iron man for the Sabres, playing in every game for four seasons for the Sabres until two different injuries sidelined him this season. Pominville played in a total of 73 games this past season and had 22 goals and 30 assists during the season, his lowest point total since the 2005-06 season.”


No matter which player(s) the Sabres trade, it’s important to remember that they won’t be taking much salary back. Since they’re about $3.6 million over the salary cap, even if they traded away Kotalik and Morrisonn, the Sabres would only be able to take back $1.5 million in salary. So even though a trade is better than burying contracts in the AHL, Sabres fans shouldn’t get excited about any potential returns. Think less about “difference makers” and more about prospects and draft picks.

Either way, it’s better than giving someone the Wade Redden treatment.