With the end of July in sight, Shea Weber and Rick Nash taken care of, and #DoanWatch entering its 95th week with no signs of stopping, we’ve officially entered the dog days of summer, when hockey news becomes as sparse and valuable as an oasis in the desert. Fans around the league, including those in Buffalo, are clamoring for anything to happen, just to have some hockey talk in their lives.
For Buffalo Sabres fans, however, no news may be good news, as GM Darcy Regier has historically played his cards closer to his chest than other GMs around the league.
While he will sometimes answer questions when asked directly, many of Regier’s offseason transactions have seemingly come out of nowhere. Here are some examples of Regier’s moves over the past two seasons that Sabres fans never saw coming:
– Traded Derek Roy for Steve Ott and Adam Pardy
– Invited mostly defensemen to visit Buffalo pre-draft, then selected two European centers in the first round.
– Traded Zack Kassian and Marc-Andre Gragnani for Cody Hodgson and Alexander Sulzer
– Traded for the rights to Christian Ehrhoff from the NY Islanders
– Went to Calgary (along with Terry Pegula) to convince Robyn Regehr to waive his no-trade clause and come to Buffalo
– Trade a second round pick for Brad Boyes
Much free agent news regarding the Sabres has come out after the fact (like their $100 million contracts they apparently offered to both Zach Parise and Ryan Suter) so the fact that we aren’t hearing any news regarding Shane Doan, Bobby Ryan, or any other player shouldn’t be surprising. What will be surprising is that when a trade or signing is announced, it may not involve the player(s) you think it will.
Patience will likely be a virtue this summer, Sabres fans.