Sabres match Oilers Offer

by David Oleksy on Jul 6, 2007 5:11 PM EDT

The news has been reported throughout the day that the Buffalo Sabres have matched the $50 million offer thrown at Thomas Vanek by the Edmonton Oilers. The deal is for seven years which means that Vanek will be a Sabre for a long time. If you want to read the entire article it's at the Buffalo News website here. The article also has links to the press conference that was held by Darcy Regier.

The Sabres brass of Darcy Regier and Larry Quinn appeared to be extremely upset that the Oilers offered Vanek an offer sheet but they have to be extremely upset with the price tag. I thought they would be able to sign Vanek for about $5 million per but it will be a little bit over $7 million. Larry Quinn went as far as to say they would be after the Oilers in the future by saying "they would be totally comfortable with signing an Oiler to an offer sheet". It appears that teh resentment stems from the fact they told Oilers GM Kevin Lowe that they were going to match so any attempt to sign Vanek would be futile, and he did it anyway. A few links to follow for more on this story.

Kevin at BfloBlogHad his take on the Vanek Situation

From Tom L. at Sabre Rattling

I could understand if a contending team who was one last piece away wanted to place an offer sheet, as their 1st rounders would be in the 25-30 range and it could bring them a cup or even two if it was the right player. But Lowe doing it is just out of a combination of desperation and frustration from swinging and missing on every free agent they talked to.

I have to agree with Tom on this it was definitely a move of desperation by the Oilers. They are mad that Michael Nylander basically screwed them over and they decided to screw over the Sabres. Stay tuned to see if the Oilers will try to go after Zach Parise now or if they will stand pat.

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The Oilers called Regier's bluff

and they lost... You never know what is just negotiating and what is for real. I think Edmonton tabled an offer that they thought Buffalo couldn't or wouldn't match. Clearly, Regier was not bluffing.

Also I must say... the Sabres were out of line telling other teams "not" to make an offer. Vanek was a restricted free agent and teams are allowed if not encouraged to make him an offer, those are the rules. I would imagine to players association would be slightly annoyed if clubs were agreeing between each other not to make big offers to players. That's collusion.

by JasonB on Jul 6, 2007 5:24 PM EDT reply actions

Good job Oilers!

Oilers are doing the right thing by upping the price for teams RFA's. Good move by Lowe here.

by ofhdhdy on Jul 6, 2007 6:30 PM EDT reply actions

Agree

And like BGNJason mentioned, I don't like the Sabres' tactic of attempting to head off an Oiler offer sheet. So what if the Sabres were going to match? They should never have contacted the Oilers and try to talk them out of it - it's meddlesome to the player's right to negotiate a contract on his own accord. I also believe that the players' union should have something to say about this.

But I am pleased that Darcy matched. There would have been Hell to pay if he didn't.

SB Nation's Bills blogger at www.buffalorumblings.com

by Brian Galliford on Jul 6, 2007 7:06 PM EDT up reply actions