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This is really bad news for some Sabres fans, and others are happy to hear this news. Brian Campbell said today that he will no longer negotiate his contract during the season because it wasn't fair to him or the team to have the distraction of contract negotiations. The Brian Campbell contract negotiations have been a point of discussion for Sabres fans everywhere. Some people (myself included) think Brian Campbell is an outstanding player and needs to be paid while others think he is overrated and not worth the money.
As Sabres fans we have played this game before (Chris Drury and Daniel Briere) and we were not happy with the end result. Will this situation end the same way those negotiations did? I think the answer to that is yes. I never thought it would get to this point with Campbell but he appears to be out the door. If the Sabres continue to slide in the standings they will probably try to move Campbell at the deadline to get something in return. We will never know what type of offers were on the table but we have heard that Campbell wants $5 million per season, that seems like a reasonable ammount of money for a player of Campbell's stature.
Brian Campbell was highly touted coming out of Ottawa of the OHL but struggled to find his way in the early part of his NHL career. During the lockout in 2004-2005 he played for Jokerit in Finland and really found his game, scoring 12 goals and 13 assists in 44 games. Campbell's offensive success carried over to the NHL and he netted a career high 12 goals in 2005-2006. Although Campbell excelled in the offensive zone he was criticized for his poor defensive play and his minus 14 rating. Last season was a breakout season for Campbell who improved considerably with a plus 28 rating and his first ever all star game appearance.
The question I have for you is how much is Brian Campbell worth to the Buffalo Sabres? How much should he paid to stay here in Buffalo? Is this the end of Brian Campbell as a Sabre?