BillsSabresB.C.T. Fan
09-07-2007, 12:08 PM
In the bewildering aftermath of co-captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury bolting the Buffalo Sabres, the front office proclaimed it had learned a lesson about dealing with players entering unrestricted free agency.
The Sabres have three players who could hit the open market after this season, and General Manager Darcy Regier said it would be a summer priority to work on re-signing defensemen Brian Campbell and Dmitri Kalinin and forward Jochen Hecht.
The Sabres on Thursday will report to HSBC Arena for training camp. While it doesn’t appear there will be any extensions to announce before then, there are indications the club is ready to be more proactive than it has been.
Regier said he has had “some very general conversations” with the players’ respective agents. He added there was “no real timeline” to get extensions signed.
Campbell, for one, would rather not be heading into the final season of his contract.
“It’s a little unsettling, but we’ll see what happens,” Campbell said after an informal workout in the Amherst Pepsi Center. “I’m just waiting to see what’s going on. You can do things at any time, so we’ll see what happens.
“Would I like something to get done? Yeah. I like it here. But I can’t worry about that too much right now.”
Campbell would be coveted if he were to hit the market next summer. The team’s top scoring defenseman and All-Star starter will make $1.75 million this season. Kalinin will make $2.25 million, while Hecht will earn $2.35 million.
“I just have to keep playing hard and keep trying to win hockey games,” Campbell said.
The Sabres have plenty of time to hammer out contract extensions with Campbell, Kalinin and Hecht. While they’ve had a policy against in-season negotiations in the past, Regier suggested the front office might revisit that strategy.
“I don’t have any hard-and-fixed rules with respect to that,” Regier said. “That’s something we’ll look at and work through as we proceed here.
“I don’t want to put a deadline on it, but the preference would be to do them sooner rather than later.”
Teams at any time can negotiate contract extensions with players entering the final year of a multi-year deal. Teams must wait until Jan. 1 to negotiate with players on one-year deals, as was the case with Briere last season.
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/sabresnhl/story/156918.html
The Sabres have three players who could hit the open market after this season, and General Manager Darcy Regier said it would be a summer priority to work on re-signing defensemen Brian Campbell and Dmitri Kalinin and forward Jochen Hecht.
The Sabres on Thursday will report to HSBC Arena for training camp. While it doesn’t appear there will be any extensions to announce before then, there are indications the club is ready to be more proactive than it has been.
Regier said he has had “some very general conversations” with the players’ respective agents. He added there was “no real timeline” to get extensions signed.
Campbell, for one, would rather not be heading into the final season of his contract.
“It’s a little unsettling, but we’ll see what happens,” Campbell said after an informal workout in the Amherst Pepsi Center. “I’m just waiting to see what’s going on. You can do things at any time, so we’ll see what happens.
“Would I like something to get done? Yeah. I like it here. But I can’t worry about that too much right now.”
Campbell would be coveted if he were to hit the market next summer. The team’s top scoring defenseman and All-Star starter will make $1.75 million this season. Kalinin will make $2.25 million, while Hecht will earn $2.35 million.
“I just have to keep playing hard and keep trying to win hockey games,” Campbell said.
The Sabres have plenty of time to hammer out contract extensions with Campbell, Kalinin and Hecht. While they’ve had a policy against in-season negotiations in the past, Regier suggested the front office might revisit that strategy.
“I don’t have any hard-and-fixed rules with respect to that,” Regier said. “That’s something we’ll look at and work through as we proceed here.
“I don’t want to put a deadline on it, but the preference would be to do them sooner rather than later.”
Teams at any time can negotiate contract extensions with players entering the final year of a multi-year deal. Teams must wait until Jan. 1 to negotiate with players on one-year deals, as was the case with Briere last season.
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/sabresnhl/story/156918.html