Inside The Penalty Box 07.21.08: Sabres, Miller Agree To Extension

Posted by Neil Borenstein on 07.21.2008

Buffalo Sabres general manager Darcy Regier strayed from his losing players for nothing approach of the past few years and inked goaltender Ryan Miller to a five-year extension a year before he would be eligible for free agency. In this week’s Inside The Penalty Box, Neil Borenstein discusses the move, in addition to the league opening in Europe next season and the next Winter Classic in Chicago.

So, who's pumped for the drop of the puck on the 2008-09 National Hockey League season – in Stockholm, Sweden and Prague, Czech Republic?

The schedule for next season was released on Thursday and the campaign opens on October 4 and 5 in two overseas affairs. Over in Sweden, native Daniel Alfredsson will lead the Ottawa Senators against the team that disposed of them in a sweep during the Conference Quarterfinals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. In Prague, the Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka-less New York Rangers will battle the completely re-vamped Tampa Bay Lightning, who are looking to come out strong next season after finishing dead last in the league last year.

Considering the fact that the new Russian Continental Hockey League (CHL) is beginning to make its global presence known, I don't think it does anything but help the NHL to get a couple of game over in other countries. As long as it's not overdone, the NHL isn't doing anything other leagues in North America aren't doing. And it helps to continue to attract international audiences to what is still the best league for professional ice hockey.

Unfortunately, the NHL got screwed a little bit this summer with relation to the Rangers vs. Lightning series of games.

Sidney Crosby

One of the stars of last year's AMP Energy Winter Classic in Buffalo

Whereas the game in Stockholm still has a star from the country in Alfredsson, the league was really banking on Jagr and Straka, two Czech natives, to sell the games in Prague. But the NHL plans these things well in advance and could not have predicted the changes the Rangers have gone through this offseason. Still, Prague and Stockholm are in store for some pretty good looking games to begin the 2008-09 campaign.

One day previous to the league releasing next year's schedule came the announcement on the 2009 installment of the NHL Winter Classic. The heavily-favored Yankee Stadium lost out to another popular baseball stadium. The Chicago Blackhawks will host the Detroit Red Wings in a January 1 affair to be held at Wrigley Field, home of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs since 1916. I still think it would have been better to have the New York Rangers host somebody (maybe the Boston Bruins???) in the final event to ever be held at the current Yankee Stadium. But Wrigley was another find choice. And even though Chicago has been criticized as not being a hockey town, people will show up in droves to catch this game, especially with the opponents being the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

Some people will say Montreal would have been a great place considering it's the team's 100th anniversary. But Montreal is already getting the All Star Game and the 2009 Entry Draft. The team has enough opportunities to celebrate its centennial – it doesn't need another.

I only worry that the NHL might be overdoing this whole outdoor game concept. The Heritage Classic from 2003 in Edmonton between the Oilers and Canadiens was a very special event. Last year's AMP Energy Winter Classic at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo between the Sabres and Penguins was also a great spectacle. But, the outdoor game idea is going to become stale if the NHL insists on holding one every year. Right now, it's still a nice concept and I'm sure the one being held at Wrigley Field will attract a lot of fans and go off very well. But in 2010, I think the NHL should think about skipping one – even if rumors point to the new Yankee Stadium as a potential host.

Photo Credit: Sidney Crosby – proicehockey.about.com

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A Change of Pace In BuffaloMiller Staying With Sabres On Five-Year Extension

Photo Credit: sharkspage.comRyan Miller remains with the Buffalo Sabres through 2014 on a five-year, $31.25 million contract extension.

The Buffalo Sabres are renowned for their front office snafus in recent years. Management has allowed players like J.P. Dumont, Chris Drury and Daniel Briere to walk away as free agents and dealt Brian Campbell near the deadline last season when a long-term extension for very reasonable money could have been agreed to earlier. The only move general manager Darcy Regier made that showed some semblance of commitment to keeping part of the team intact was when he matched the $50 million, seven-year offer sheet tendered by the Edmonton Oilers last summer. And I'm sure that move was made to avoid riots at the HSBC Arena.

This summer, Regier has taken a forward thinking approach in a nice change of pace. Instead of allowing starting goaltender Ryan Miller to enter free agency next summer, he inked the 28-year old to a five-year extension that will have him in a Sabres sweater through the 2013-14 season. The new deal kicks in for the 2009-10 season and totals $31.25 million – an average of $6.25 million per season. Miller earns $3.5 million next year in the final season of his current deal.

Now, I don't view Miller as a $6.25 million goaltender, by any means. He is not an elite netminder like Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo and Henrik Lundqvist.

Chris Drury & Daniel Briere

Left Buffalo as free agents last offseason

Miller allows a lot of goals and needs a great offense in front of him to offset that. However, I completely understand the necessity of this move. Even if he isn't in the top tier of NHL goalies, Miller is still the Sabres' franchise player at the position. Plus, he's a great leader for the organization and should be in a comfortable position of not having to play 70 or more games with Patrick Lalime as his backup for at least the next two years.

This was also a crucial move for Sabres management. As previously mentioned, the deal was unique for Regier because he actually used some sense. Several players left the Sabres for big money contracts when they would have been willing to accept significantly less a year or so earlier had Regier stepped up to the plate. Campbell was one of those players. So, instead of allowing Miller to walk into next summer eligible for free agency, where who knows how much money teams would toss at him, Regier locked him up early without having to contend with offers from other organizations. He still overpaid, but probably not by as much as he would need to a year from now.

And it's important that he learned from his mistakes. The Sabres were definitely affected by their losses over the last few years. Just two years ago, the Sabres won 53 games en route to the team's first-ever President's Trophy and fell three wins shy of representing the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals. In 2005-06, they were only one win away from reaching the Cup Finals. But this past season, sans Drury and Briere, the Sabres finished short of 40 wins and four points behind the eighth seed Boston Bruins for 10th place in the East. Now without Campbell as well due to last season's, this team couldn't afford to continue the trend of losing all its star players. Eventually, the team needed to ensure some of Buffalo's cornerstones remained in Buffalo. Otherwise, who knows how much further this team would fall and how much more it would take for Sabres fans to organize a public hanging of Regier?

Photo Credit: Chris Drury & Daniel Briere – daylife.com

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Until next week, you have just been Inside The Penalty Box!

~ Neil Borenstein