The Buffalo Sabres announced that they traded Steve Bernier to the Vancouver Canucks in return for a couple of draft picks. Bernier was acquired by Buffalo at the trade deadline last year in the Brian Campbell trade. Brian Campbell signed with Chicago on Tuesday and now Steve Bernier has been traded away to Vancover.
The Sabres have been very vocal about having too many forwards and this allows them some flexibility. I'm mildly surprised by the trade although I thought they would try to re-sign Bernier. I'll be interested to see exactly how much he signs for, because that could be the reason he was traded. The second that Gaustad signed his new deal I thought this was a possibility.
I would guess that Darcy Regier is setting himself up for a bigger deal in the next couple of days. The team is still in desperate need of defensive help and now they have a little bit more money to do it. This trade does not mean that Max Afinogenov will not be dealt away because the team still has an abundance of forwards.
After signing Gaustad and trading away Bernier the Sabres still have three restricted free agents left to sign. Daniel Paille is going to get a pretty good pay raise and Clarke MacArthur and Mark Mancari are bot unsigned.