SABRES: Team packs up for the summer earlier than expected

By John Wawrow
Associated Press

April 08, 2008 12:41 am

— BUFFALO — If this season was a test to determine whether the Buffalo Sabres could remain competitive after losing their two leaders to free agency last summer, defenseman Henrik Tallinder could only conclude that the team failed.
“I think that’s realistic,” Tallinder said Monday, assessing a year in which the Sabres — minus co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere — made the dramatic fall from winning the regular-season title to missing the playoffs altogether.
“I mean, we lost our two best players. That’s a tough loss,” Tallinder said as he and his teammates cleaned out their lockers a day after the NHL’s regular-season ended. “I think we’re still good enough of a team to be in the playoffs. But we just didn’t do it.”
As to what was missing?
“Maturity, leadership, yeah, all those things that usually come with guys that have been around for a while,” he said.
It will be an unusually long offseason for a once-proud Sabres team that was considered the NHL’s model of success coming out of the lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season. With Drury and Briere the previous two years, Buffalo combined to win a league-best 105 games and was both times eliminated in the Eastern Conference finals.
Without them, the Sabres (39-31-12) finished 10th in the East and became only the third team since the NHL’s expansion era began in 1967-68 to miss the playoffs a year after finishing first in the regular-season standings
“We’re all pretty miserable,” goalie Ryan Miller said. “For a team that’s had a lot of success, to miss the playoffs, we’re embarrassed. But it should serve as good motivation.”
The Sabres cupboard is not bare. The team’s stocked with a talented core of up-and-coming young players, including Miller and high-scoring forwards Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville and Derek Roy.
Sabres management, criticized for being slow in its attempts to re-sign Drury and Briere, is already taking steps to ensure this group stays together.
Managing partner Larry Quinn told The Associated Press on Sunday that the team has already made the decision to approach Miller and Pominville in an attempt to sign both to long-term deals this offseason before they’re eligible for free agency in 2009.
Miller described that as an encouraging step, and he’s open to hearing the team’s offer once negotiations can begin in July.
“I feel comfortable here, I like it here a lot, and to have the confidence from management, from my coaching staff means a lot to me,” said Miller, who appeared in a franchise-record 76 games this season.
Buffalo’s downfall was a result of the team lacking the chemistry and resilient identity that carried it through its two previous seasons.
After not blowing a two-goal lead once last year, the Sabres did that six times this season, including a pair of back-to-back home games two weeks ago. They also went 14-18 in games decided by one goal, as opposed to a 25-16 record in such outings a year ago.
And Buffalo’s season was particularly undone by a 10-game midseason skid (0-5-5).
“It was disappointing to everybody,” said Sabres owner Tom Golisano, who declined to take any further questions following the team photo on Monday.
The Sabres finished fourth in the league with 255 goals, but that’s not an accurate reflection of what proved to be a very inconsistent attack. Buffalo scored 69 goals — more than a quarter of its output — in 10 victories, all decided by four or more goals.
Their offense otherwise struggled, lacking the three-line scoring depth it enjoyed with Drury and Briere centering the top two lines.
The defense, by comparison, gave up 242 goals — the same number it allowed last season.
The Sabres return with most of their core intact. Defensemen Dmitri Kalinin and Teppo Numminen, who missed all but one game this season after having open-heart surgery, are the only regulars eligible for unrestricted free agency.
Buffalo also retains the rights to — but must still re-sign — three key forwards: Paul Gaustad, Daniel Paille and Steve Bernier, who was acquired as part of a trade that sent All-Star defenseman Brian Campbell to San Jose in February.
The Sabres’ relative youth gave defenseman Toni Lydman hope looking ahead to next year.
“One more year under our belt doesn’t hurt,” Lydman said. “Who knows? Maybe we need to experience this to get better in the long run.”

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