Sabres news and notes

It's is kind of a dead time of the year in the hockey world, the draft takes place in June and free agency starts on July 1.  By the time late July roles around there isn't much to talk about but the Buffalo Sabres still have a little bit of work to do.  Jason Pominville is still on the list, another defenseman and some depth for the Portland Pirates.  We've already learned that Dennis Persson is staying in Sweden for another season and now it appears that Gogulla will be staying in Germany.  This makes it even more important for the Sabres to add some depth to their AHL affiliate.  The Sabres appear close to solving a couple of these problems.

• It appears that the Sabres will add defensive depth by adding a familiar face to the crowd, there are reports that the Sabres and 40 year-old defenseman Teppo Numminen are close to reaching a deal.  It is definitely a risk for the Sabres to sign Numminen because of his health risk but he adds another veteran guy to the blue-line.  It also will help alleviate the perception that there is bad blood between him and the team.
• There are also reports that the Sabres have signed Mathieu Darche to a one-year two way contract that would allow him to play in Portland to start the season.  Darche has spent most of his career in the minor leagues but he played 73 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning last season.  In 73 games Darche scored seven goals to go along with 15 assists.  He has played in only 101 games in his career and he has eight goals and 16 assists.
• There is plenty of Ryan Miller talk over at the Sabres Website.  They have a press conference and an exclusive interview both posted right now.  The main topic was about Ryan buying into the franchise and that he probably could have made more money somewhere else.  The biggest part of the signing is not about Miller it's about perception of of the fans and media.