Hockey Trade Rumors

Darcy Regier has dialed up his GM counterparts this week with his Buffalo Sabres squad collecting only three wins in 10 games to begin the season.

But there are no magic pills lying out there right now in what appears to be a soft trade market.

“I’ve talked to some GMs the last few days,” Regier told ESPN.com Wednesday afternoon. “It’s a pretty quiet market right now. A number of teams have very small things they want to do, quite honestly, with the hope that whether it’s with their players or our players, they’re going to get them on track because of their previous history of them being a lot better. That kind of leaves it where we’re saying, ‘Let’s touch base again later in the week or later on.’ Teams sitting in positions similar to us are hoping to turn it around with the group that they have and then in the event they don’t, looking at the trade market. But as you said, it’s pretty soft right now.”

And so while Regier works the phones, he’s hoping the answer comes from within the roster he assembled. The 3-6-1 Sabres, who began the season 2-0, host the rival Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night in what amounts to a must-win event just a quarter into this shortened season.

It starts with playing a little defense. The Sabres are dead last in the NHL in goals against, allowing an average of 3.70 a game.

“We have to focus our efforts on the defending side, more on stopping goals than scoring goals, and that’s from the goaltending position on out,” said Regier. “It’s a team effort. It hasn’t always been the same reasons but they’re linked. The good thing is that, that’s something Lindy’s good at, fixing the defensive side of the game. That’s work we have to do and that’s how we’re going to get better.”

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/21919/hot-in-buffalo-and-we-aint-talking-wings