Sabres are open for business
Impending free-agents Steve Ott, Cody McCormick and Henrik Tallinder could be talked about, too. What the Vanek trade showed is that the Sabres are open for business, but Regier said it’s “too early” to know what value they’ll have in the coming months.
“Teams, I think they’re dealing with a very heavy October schedule, which is a little bit unusual that we’re getting because of the Olympics,” he said. “There are quite a few injuries around the league, so in some cases they’re waiting for players to get back, get healthy and get back before they start to assess what their needs are. But I would also say that there’s probably more conversations now than there have been in the past.”
Regier’s focus is on getting younger and relying on his scouting staff to find the next-generation versions of Vanek, Pominville, Regehr and others. It’s very different from the task of building and retooling a playoff team.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/Vanek+trade+signals+that+Sabres+open+business+rebuild/9091346/story.html