While reading Katemc's recent fanpost "The bidding starts now," I saw how different our opinions are on the acquirement of Brad Richards.  Personally even after Stafford's signing, I still think we have room to sign our needed RFAs and acquire the only #1 center in UFA, Brad Richards.  Maybe hfboards.com has rubbed off on me, but I posted below is what my roster would look like with the inclusion of a 7 year/ $49 million dollar deal to Brad Richards and a 2 million dollar cap increase for next season:

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR

FORWARDS

Thomas Vanek ($7.142m) / Brad Richards ($7.000m) / Jason Pominville ($5.300m) 

Tyler Ennis ($0.875m) / Derek Roy ($4.000m) / Drew Stafford ($4.000m) 

Nathan Gerbe ($1.250m) / Jochen Hecht ($3.525m) / Brad Boyes ($4.000m) 

Cody McCormick ($0.700m) / Paul Gaustad ($2.300m) / Patrick Kaleta ($0.907m) 

/ / Mike Grier ($1.000m) 

DEFENSEMEN

Tyler Myers ($1.300m) / Chris Butler ($1.000m) 

Jordan Leopold ($3.000m) / Marc-Andre Gragnani ($0.750m) 

Andrej Sekera ($2.000m) / Mike Weber ($1.250m) 

/ Shaone Morrisonn ($2.075m) 

GOALTENDERS

Ryan Miller ($6.250m) / Jhonas Enroth ($0.900m) 

BUYOUTS: Tim Kennedy ($0.166m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)

(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)

SALARY CAP: $61,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $60,692,024; BONUSES: $425,000

CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $707,976

This off-season includes the re-signing of RFAs Butler, Sekera, Grags, and Gerbe, and UFAs Grier and McCormick.  While the RFA numbers may seem low, I do not see how any of them would receive big pay days due to them being on their second contract or because they have very little or inconsistent NHL experience.  This was hastily done, so I really have not put a lot of thought into the lengths of all these deals, yet I would imagine if Grier is signed at all it would be a 1 year deal.  The others could be multi-year deals and one-way contracts so to basically give the defensemen guaranteed money.

The biggest problem with these deals would include the small cap space we would have left available (~$700,000) and the lack of getting a stud defenseman in the off-season.  I think if we do go "big" this off-season, it will have to be either for a stay at home stud D-man or for a big money forward; we do not have the space for both.  To me though, just looking at those first three lines is just sick....they look SO good.

Anyways, I wanted to know what everyone here thinks about the acquisition of Brad Richards and if you would support or not support the action.  Below is a poll where you can vote on some different ideas of ways our Sabres can get better this off-season.