http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=204661&hubname=nhl

Crazy Russians.

The topic scared the poop out of me. I thought Semin got kicked out of the country or something. I would have fainted

Heh, would have made that trade of ours look pretty bad if the guy got himself deported, wouldn't it?

I don't know if I ever told you guys this, but I was about to take Semin in the snake draft but I opted out in the last minute and took Comrie instaed. Not that Comrie is so horrible with Ottawa.

Nah, Comrie is solid, I'd love to see Buffalo go after him in the offseason although I'm pretty confident that he'll resign with Ottawa. Seems too good of a fit for the Sens to let him get away.

I couldn't believe Semin fell to me in the mid-second round though, that was a nice little scoop.

you scooped me with that one adam, i ended up with spacek who was injured/average for the rest of the year

You're kidding right. I'm a sabres fan and trust me the last player we need is Mike Comrie. A 1-way centre who is 5"4 and weighs in @ 140 Lbs. He's basically a smaller Derek Roy.
I will give him credit as he has picked his game up in the playoffs this year but when I watched him during the season he just gave the puck away every time he touched. It was like a grenade to him.
The sabres should be worried about resigning Drury and Briere. In that order too.

I agree with that, but unless Briere and Drury get together and decide "we want to be in Buffalo, let's make that happen", they're not both coming back. Maybe neither one, but I don't want to go there.

Hopefully they can get Thomas Vanek locked up long-term, the team will probably have to spend $3.5 mil per season to accomplish that. Chris Drury needs to be the guy the Sabres sign at all costs, he's the biggest reason the team is a winner right now. Briere is a big-time scoring forward, and they don't come along all that often, but a guy who can play the whole game with a heart as big as Drury's has to be kept in the fold.

The way I understand it, the Sabres will have about $17 million to play with in the offseason, and they have to find a way to spread it around between 7 forward positions, 2 defensive positions, and one goaltender.

UFA's - Drury, Briere, Numminen, Mair, Conklin, Zubrus, Michael Ryan
RFA's - Vanek, Roy, Peters, Paille, Paetsch

I don't think Numminen will be brought back, and if he is, it certainly won't be at anything close to his present salary. Paetsch is ready to take his spot in the lineup, and they can probably lock him up for around $800k. Zubrus obviously won't be back, he's a rental.

Briere will probably command a minimum of $6 million per season, more likely $7, which means he'll be going elsewhere. Drury will probably be looking for a minimum of $5 million per season, and that number is climbing higher every single game.

Derek Roy can probably be brought back for a salary comparable to Pominville's, a 3 year deal somewhere in the $1-2 million range. Adam Mair will want a raise and deserves one, but Buffalo can't go any higher than $1 million for him, probably not even that high. Peters will be thrilled if he's brought back at his present salary, but even that's a stretch since the day of the Enforcer is on the wane.

My take:

Out - Briere, Numminen, Peters, Zubrus, Conklin
Staying - Drury, Vanek, Paetsch, Roy, Paille, Mair. ($13-14 million)
2 way deal or out - Ryan

The Sabres will probably be sacrificing some depth in the name of the Salary Cap this offseason, but they'll still have a very good team next season.

That's actually good news. Who needs him to get injured over there playing for a goofy organization.