Sabres Offseason

I see a lot of changes happening to the Sabres over the offseason. Most of these are due to financial reasons and the salary cap. Daniel Briere will be gone. I am 90% sure that he will be taken away in unrestricted free agency. I have a feeling he will cost around $6.7 million per year, and I have a feeling that the only two teams that he would go to would be either Montreal, his native city, or Philadelphia so he can be on a young team and with his former roommate, Marty Biron. Teppo Numminen will either be gone, retired, or take a significant pay cut to stay on the team. Nathan Paestch is waiting in the wings to take his spot. I think Dainus Zubrus will also be gone, as he just bought a house in Montreal and I think that he will end up there for around $3 million. I expect Thomas Vanek to be back for around $3.8 million per year. I expect Derek Roy to be back for around $1.9 million per year. I expect Adam Mair to be back for around $690,000 per year. I think the Sabres might also resign Ty Conklin for about $550,000 per year. Then comes Chris Drury, who I think will be resigned by the Sabres. Drury is the captain of the team and the heart and soul of the club. He is a true fan favorite. I expect Drury, despite his regular season offensive numbers to be much less than Briere, to still be worth $6 million per year. I believe Drury will be wearing a Sabres "C" though in 2008, and I feel his contract will be 5 year $28-$31 million.
Two guys under contract that I believe are on the hot spot for a trade would be Ales Kotalik and Jaroslav Spacek, as I feel both are overpaid, and hopefully could be traded for young players or draft picks. A trade that I would love would be Ales Kotalik to Vancouver for Jannik Hansen, as I really liked him during the playoffs. I don't think Vancouver would be willing to do that though.