Roy & Paetsch sign Q.O.

[phSabres84]

Sabres.com reports the pair signing their QO's

 

Article

[bob_sauve28]

Sabres.com reports the pair signing their QO's

 

Article

Good!

[frisky]

I think they should have tried to sign the younger players like these to longer term contracts. But they are fitting in their scheme of signing players from 1-3 years for some reason.

[Taro T]

I think they should have tried to sign the younger players like these to longer term contracts. But they are fitting in their scheme of signing players from 1-3 years for some reason.

There's no urgency with either guy as neither one can go UFA next year.

 

I agree it would be good to get these guys to sign long term deals, but it's much more important to get Danny and Henrik back in the fold long term.

[Kristian]

There's no urgency with either guy as neither one can go UFA next year.

 

I agree it would be good to get these guys to sign long term deals, but it's much more important to get Danny and Henrik back in the fold long term.

 

You're right, however I still would've liked to see Regier take a chance on a young player once in a while. Just the fact that neither player is a UFA in the near future, it doesn't mean that Roy for example, can't end up pricing himself out of Buffalo if he has a career year next season, restricted or unrestricted.

 

Long term contracts, while generally a little more expensive, can also be seen as a means to keep costs down.

[Taro T]

You're right, however I still would've liked to see Regier take a chance on a young player once in a while. Just the fact that neither player is a UFA in the near future, it doesn't mean that Roy for example, can't end up pricing himself out of Buffalo if he has a career year next season, restricted or unrestricted.

 

Long term contracts, while generally a little more expensive, can also be seen as a means to keep costs down.

I think the negotiations with these 2 guys simply ran out of time. All qualifying offers expire at 5:00PM today. Both players probably feel (legitimately) that their level of play this season (Roy full time in the NHL, and Paetsch most likely at minimum being the 1st D-man call up) will translate into bigger salaries than whatever the Sabres were offering at this time on multiyear deals.

 

They also probably were concerned that by not signing their QO's, and knowing that the Sabres aren't going to spend $44MM, and seeing the $'s already committed, and guessing at what will be committed after the arbitration hearings are done, that they would actually get offers lower than their QO's. If that were to occur, the players would have 3 options: sign whatever is offered, hold out and hope the offer goes up before December or else they can't play at all this year, or play in Europe. Signing the QO looks like a pretty good decision on the parts of Derek and Nathan given the circumstances.

 

I agree with you that LT deals can be a tool to keep costs down, and would like to have seen the Sabres ink Roy (and depending on the terms, Paetsch as well) to LT deals, but it only works in keeping salaries down if the players go along with it. It appears that whatever the Sabres felt they could afford to commit long term wasn't what these 2 were looking for.

 

The Sabres aren't alone in only getting young guys to sign 1 year deals. There have been several 1 year signings around the league.

[BetweenThePipes00]

We have to remember that it is not the Sabres decision alone not to do long-term deals. The salary cap looks like it will go up every year ... if I was a player like Roy, thinking I am ready to break out after upping my production in the playoffs, why would I sign a long-term deal? I would say no thanks, let me have a good year and even if I am not unrestricted, I'll get a bigger piece of the pie in arbitration.

The lack of long term deals is not just a function of the Sabres plan, it is also having a lot of good young guys whose agents do not want them locked into deals that could short-change them in a year.