Buffalo Sabres roster still needs new touches

When it comes to Buffalo Sabres forward lines, you probably didn’t think Monday morning about Sam Lafferty between Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Beck Malenstyn on Oct. 3 in Prague against the New Jersey Devils. Or Lindy Ruff’s official return to KeyBank Center, announced Monday for Oct. 10 against Los Angeles.

But brace yourself. The first thing to take away from the start of NHL free agency on Monday is that the Sabres have a completely revamped fourth line.

Kyle Okposo was traded to Florida at the trade deadline in March, and Zemgus Girgensons, Tyson Jost and Eric Robinson were all traded and found new homes Monday. Girgensons went to Tampa Bay while Jost and Robinson went to Carolina.

The addition of local player Dennis Gilbert on defense is also interesting, as he’s not afraid to poke his nose in where opponents don’t want him to. Earthiness is in. Ruff will love it. Opposing teams won’t.

“We have a lot of skill. We have a lot of talent,” general manager Kevyn Adams said late Monday afternoon at KeyBank Center. “We had to round out the group. We had to get tougher, have a little more presence to go get teams and roll (the lines) over and over and become a tougher team to play against.”

Okay, I heard your whistles ringing as I watched the first day of development camp at LECOM Harborcenter. And your groans were audible.

At one point in the press conference, Adams might have raised some eyebrows when he said, “Players who quickly tell me, ‘I’m not sure I want to be a Sabre,’ for whatever reason, and then move on. I don’t even think about it for a second.”

Does that mean he’s going to go out of his way to go after big names whenever they say “no” without any resistance? No, Adams later said he wants players to understand the city and what it’s like to be a member of the Sabres.

And he gave us the proper truth serum when he said, “We’ve got to hold up our end of the bargain and win more hockey games. Become a playoff team where we are year after year. We’re on that path now. That’s where we have to take a step. We have to do it this year.”

Amen to that. And it’s worth noting that he definitely said, “There’s no definitive stop to what we’re trying to do,” when asked about the future of the commercial market.

Several teams will have to reevaluate their salary cap following Monday’s frenzy and will likely return to the league in need of salary cap relief. Adams must be ready to act.

Jason Zucker is an interesting player and $5 million is a lot of money, but it’s only for one year. He has five 20-goal seasons and 52 playoff games under his belt, but he’s also 32 years old. Is he the big signing on offense? He shouldn’t be.

The Sabres spent Monday preparing their fourth line like they were a team trying to prepare for another playoff run, not a team simply trying to end the longest playoff drought in NHL history. There are big fish to fry at the start of the stupid season, also known as NHL free agency, and there are small potatoes, too, and that’s exactly what the Sabres appear to be doing.

Eight years ago, Okposo’s $42 million contract was the talk of the league on free-agent day. Giving Taylor Hall a one-year, $8 million deal was the talk of the town in 2020. Terry Pegula probably still has nightmares about the six years he spent with Ville Leino and especially the 10 years and $40 million he gave Christian Ehrhoff in 2011 and bought out three years later. (Incidentally, Ehrhoff’s annual buyout cheque of $857,143 will be paid this week when the NHL season gets underway again.)

It should be noted, however, that fourth lines count in the playoffs. Former Sabres player Daniel Paille was one of the best in history along with Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton when Boston won the Stanley Cup in 2011.

Look at the Florida team that won the Stanley Cup last week: You had the interchangeable elements of Okposo, Ryan Lomberg, Kevin Stenlund and Nick Cousins. Stenlund (Utah) and Lomberg (Calgary) each got two years and $4 million on Monday, as the Panthers’ weeklong Stanley Cup party ended with their departures, along with the big losses of Brandon Montour (Seattle) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Toronto).

You can complain all you want, but the reality is this: The Sabres don’t sign big names in free agency. Players don’t sign to play for a losing organization. The reason this team exists right now (sorry, couldn’t resist) is simply to make the first round of the playoffs.

You don’t have a chance to win the Stanley Cup until you make the playoffs, and 2011 is a distant year in hockey jargon. The offseason is far from over. Adams and Ruff have shown the grit and determination this group desperately needs.

Adams insisted that better “internal” performances will make the difference this year. The organization is also counting on improved coaching. The general manager needs to continue working on this team. He still has plenty of money to spend.

Adams said this weekend that the offseason was incomplete. For now, that’s his current grade, too.