Edmonton made the offer, Buffalo matched it. I'm guessing this is where the money saved so far was meant to go. He's a young guy and apparently the Sabres weren't going to let him go for any price.

Had the Sabres not matched, Edmonton would have owed them 4 first round picks. It's a massive contract for sure, but that's free agency for you... The Oilers had Nylander stolen out from under them and it seems they've missed on Vanek as well.

Sabres retain Vanek by matching Oilers' $50 million offer

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- The Buffalo Sabres, still stunned at the loss of co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere to free agency, made sure Friday that high-scoring youngster Thomas Vanek would not also be getting away.

The Sabres matched the Edmonton Oilers' seven-year, $50 million offer to the second-year player Friday, announcing their move at a news conference shortly after Vanek's agent went public with news of the Oilers' offer sheet.

Buffalo general manager Darcy Regier said the Sabres were unhappy with the Oilers' approach, especially since the Sabres had warned Edmonton officials not to make the offer.

"It was always going to be a match situation, and they were well aware of it last night that we were going to match," Regier said. "I suppose you have to assume they thought we were bluffing. ... What this amounted to was an exercise in futility."

And an expensive one at that, with Vanek scheduled to make $10 million next season, including a $5 million signing bonus. He'll make $8 million in 2008-09, including a $3 million bonus, and then $6.4 million in each of the final five years of the deal.

Vanek was paid $942,000 last season