Soo...Roy got his 4m a year, now what?

Well, at least I am right once in awhile. The Sabres and Derek Roy agreed to a contract nearly identical to the one the Panthers gave Nathan Horton. It averages out to 4m per year for 6 years. Nor really a surprise especially since the Dustin Penner fiasco in Edmonton.

So this leaves us with the Sabres and whats next. The only unsigned player of note is Nathan Paetsch who is pending arbitration. It would seem Paetsch is ready for prime time. So that leaves the Sabres with two obvious marketable commodities on defense in Jaro Spacek and Dmitri Kalinin. The Sabres seem to have a large hole at center after Connolly, Roy and Gaustad. Do they swing a deal, do they give Clarke Macarthur and Marek Zagrapan first shot? Could they take a preemptive strike and move a guy like Brian Campbell for a big name center?

My guess is the Sabres use the depth in their system to pick up a veteran centerman who can fill that third line role for the team. I am thinking someone along the lines of a Steve Reinprecht of Phoenix or Jeff Halpern of Dallas. Both games translate well to Buffalo and Lindy Ruff's various styles and both are defensively reliable.

Lets see, maybe a blind squirrel can find an acorn again ;)