Marty, Max, and Kotalik

From the former Sabre watch:

- Marty Biron
This one actually surprises and saddens me at the same time. Marty has no bigger fan than me, well maybe outside of Philly. If he wasn't going to be asking for 3-4 million per year, I'd say sign him, sign him, sign him! But, Marty is a starting goalie with playoff experience so he is going to command a starter's pay. At least that is what it looked like a few weeks ago.

It is July 12, and not only does Marty not have a job, there do not seem to be many teams with the immediate need for a starting goaltender. The three teams that sprung to mind were Colorado (who signed Craig Anderson), Toronto (who is committed to Toskala w/ Gustavsson in the bullpen), and Dallas (who just locked up Alex Auld). Many say LA was a target spot, but they seem to be set on letting Jonathan Quick learn by doing.

So this leaves Marty with a few options: 1) Go to a team who may be willing to allow him to split time with the designated starter (eh hem, Buffalo), 2) Go be a back-up somewhere, or 3) Stay in shape and go into the season unemployed and wait for a top team's starter to go down (or alienate the entire team, a la Ray Emery). Either way, it doesn't look like Marty is going to be getting his 5-6 million per year starter money that he thought Philly was going to give him and it is a shame because Marty is one of the few ex-Sabres I really want to see land on his feet and succeed somehwere else. Keep positive Marty!

- Max Afinogenov
Last time I heard, the only interest in him was an "e3" rating on Eklund's site. My guess is that he is KHL-bound.

- Al Kotalik
Signed with the Rangers for 3 years at 3 million per. The funny thing is that TSN mistakenly reported the contract at 3 years 3 million total, which would have been an absolute steal and Glenn Sather would have been a genius.

I wish Al still word the blue and gold. Great slap shot, great in shootouts (which the Sabres now know are very important), and good point man on the PP. He did have issues turning the puck over and has had some injury issues. Either way, I wish Al the best and if he was still a UFA in August or Sept, I would have been hoping for him to be signed at the money the NYR gave him.