Offseason - Buffalo Sabres

On offense, the Sabres were able to resign Mike Richards, Alex Steen, Max Talbot, Brad Richards and Pascal Dupuis to long term contract extensions.

After trading for Dustin Brown, we were able to sign him to a 4-year contract extension.  He rejected our first offer so we did not want to take any chances by offering him an average of 5.6M$ over 4 years and a no trade clause.  The contract is also front loaded so it will hurt us the first year of the contract with a cap hit of 6.7M$ but it will be at 4.48M$ for the final year of the deal.  Brandon Prust has also agreed on a  4-year contract extension at a little under 1.5M$ per season.  It is a little bit more expensive that what we were planning to pay, but we really like him and are happy to have him back for another 4 years.

With Jordan Staal, Jordan Eberle, Brayden Schenn, Cody Eakin and Rich Clune already under contract for next year, the Sabres do not seem to have an open roster spot for 2014-15 but Clune will most likely lose his roster spot to a younger guy coming up from the AHL next year.

 On defense, the Sabres were able to resign Barret Jackman and Niklas Hjalmarsson to 3-year and 4 year contract extensions.  Both guys have been signed to front loaded contracts.  The guy we really wanted back is obviously Hjalmarsson but we are glad that we were able to resign Jackman as well.  He will help us a lot this year, and at 32 years old, has still a few years left in the tank.  Next year, Doughty, Faulk, Hjalmarsson, Diaz and Johnson are under contracts and should be back with the team.  Jackman is also under contract for next year, but if one of the young guys steps up this year and makes the pro roster next year, he might be the odd man out next offseason.

The goaltending situation is also pretty much set for a few years.  Kari Lehtonen has agreed to a 4-year contract extension so he will be our starting goaltender for the next few years.  There are a few promising goaltenders in the pipeline but they might not be able to compete for the starting job for at least the next couple of years.  This year, Tomas Vokoun will be the backup to Lehtonen.

Our payroll is at 68.47M$ for next year, so if the salary cap does not go up for 2014-15, the team will have some important decisions to make next offseason.

Coaching Staff:

Michel Terrien and Jon Cooper have been signed to 4-year and 1-year contracts.  After winning the division in 2012-13, the Sabres were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Toronto Maple Leafs so there is no doubt that Terrien will have a lot of pressure from the start.  He understands that he will need to get better results and go at least further than the first round.  Cooper will be in charge of the Americans.  After winning the title in 2012-13, the Americans will try to do their best to defend their title and win it for a second year in a row.