Teams need to fix issues before next season

by Spector

Updated: April 8, 2008, 3:04 PM EST 19 comments

Both clubs will now have a longer than expected off-season to address the problem areas that led to their decline in 2007-08.

For the Sabres, last year's Presidents' Trophy winners and a two-time Eastern Conference finalist, the fall from grace was significant.

The loss of Daniel Briere and Chris Drury last summer to unrestricted free agency hurt the Sabres, leaving a gaping hole of veteran leadership and skill that they were unable to fill.

Endless speculation over the contract status of defenseman Brian Campbell, who was dealt at the trade deadline to San Jose, certainly didn't help the situation, providing an unnecessary distraction to a struggling team.

Younger stars like Tomas Vanek and Maxim Afinogenov were expected to step up their respective games but unfortunately both struggled this season.

Vanek, whom the Sabres re-signed last summer by matching a whopping seven-year, $7.1 million per season offer sheet from the Edmonton Oilers, saw his production drop to 61 points from last season's career best 84-point performance.

Afinogenov, who had only 28 points in 55 games this season compared to 61 points in the same number of games a season ago, has only a year at $3.5 million left on his contract and is starting to get mentioned in trade rumors by the local media.

Injuries also took their toll as Afinogenov, Jaroslav Spacek, Tim Connolly, Drew Stafford and Teppo Numminen missed significant time, the latter due to season-ending heart surgery last fall.

It wasn't all bad for the Sabres this season as Jason Pominville and Derek Roy had their best seasons to date, and youngsters Mike Weber and Daniel Paille look promising.

On paper the Sabres have the talent to bounce back next season, but one has to wonder if the team's inability to retain their top veterans in recent years is having a negative effect on morale.

Since the summer of 2006, the Sabres lost Briere, Drury, Campbell, Jay McKee, J.P. Dumont and Mike Grier, almost all of them to the UFA market, and as Campbell recently said, all of them wanted to stay but the team simply refused to pay them.

To lose so many talented and experienced veterans to free agency doesn't exactly send the right message about the front office's willingness to maintain a winning franchise.

Having dealt away Campbell, the Sabres aren't expected to re-sign impending UFAs Numminen and Dmitri Kalinin. Speculation over the future of their 2009 UFAs — Connolly, Afinogenov, Spacek, Ales Kotalik and Ryan Miller — will probably ramp up this summer.

Earlier this season, a Detroit newspaper suggested the possibility of Miller departing the Sabres next summer as an unrestricted free agent. Miller said he wasn't thinking about his UFA status, but the longer it takes the Sabres to get him under contract, the louder his name will be in the rumor mill.

Roberto Luongo's outstanding goaltending this season wasn't enough to put the Canucks in the playoff hunt. (Claus Andersen / Getty Images)

As for the Canucks, the lack of offensive production that got them bounced in the second round of late year's playoffs cost them a playoff berth this season. Yes, injuries did take their toll on the Canucks but despite that, for most of this season they held onto a playoff berth before collapsing down the stretch.

Defensively, the Canucks are among the best teams in the NHL. The Canucks gave up the seventh-fewest goals in the league, thanks to Roberto Luongo's outstanding goaltending and the depth of their injury-ravaged blueline corps.

Offensively, however, it's another story as the Canucks were 20th overall in goals-scored, the bulk of which came from the Sedin twins, team captain Markus Naslund and up-and-coming center Ryan Kesler.

Given that lack of scoring depth, it was easy for rival clubs to key on the Sedins and Naslund, knowing that if those three were shut down the Canucks could be beaten.

Bolstering the offensive depth will be GM Dave Nonis' top priority this summer, which he'll likely try to find via this summer's unrestricted free agent market.

It's expected that Nonis won't re-sign Naslund, an unrestricted free agent whose offensive production has been in decline, freeing up $6 million. Brendan Morrison is another who might go unsigned if a suitable replacement can be found. Long-time Canuck Trevor Linden is expected to retire.

The Canucks presently have around $36 million committed to 13 players for next season, and if as expected the salary cap increases to $56 million, that will free up considerable cap space to pursue a couple of free agent scorers.

Nonis could also dip into his defensive depth by shopping a blueliner for a scoring forward, although Willie Mitchell, Mattias Ohlund and Sami Salo probably wouldn't be shopped due to their movement clauses.

If he's shut out at the UFA window and unable to trade for a scorer, Nonis could always go the offer sheet route where forwards like Anaheim's Corey Perry and Philadelphia's Jeff Carter might be available.

Nonis probably wouldn't try to sign away Perry from his former boss and current Ducks GM Brian Burke, but it certainly makes for intriguing gossip.

The Canucks desperately need offensive depth if they're to bounce back next season, and Nonis' job could depend on how he addresses that need this summer.