Commentary
Sabres' management on track with summer priorities
MATT KRUEGER Sports Reporter
Buffalo Sabres' managing partner Larry Quinn has set his table for the summer offseason. He's not ordering steaks off the grill, but he's trying to put together a five-star menu on the roster that will have Sabres' fans feasting on a Stanley Cup.

A day after the team finished out of the playoffs following two seasons of advancing to the Eastern Conference finals and last year's Presidents' Trophy campaign, Quinn announced that the team is focused on signing starting goalie Ryan Miller and right winger Jason Pominville to long-term contracts. Miller and Pominville are slated to become free agents in 2009. Quinn has also stated that winger Paul Gaustad, who will become a restricted free agent this summer, is another high priority.

Getting them signed this summer will prevent problems during the season like the Sabres saw the past two years with Chris Drury, Daniel Briere and Brian Campbell. Losing those three players has forced Quinn and the rest of the management team to change its policy on not negotiating during the season.

As much criticism as Quinn has received the past couple of years, and a lot of it was deserved, this time, he's got the right idea. Signing Miller, Pominville and Gaustad to long-term contracts is a necessity. The Sabres need to lock up the young talent and build a core around which management can craft a winner.

Miller, Pominville and Gaustad, combined with Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy, who both signed long-term contracts last summer, have the ability to lead the team to new heights in the coming years.

"With the core group of guys like Ryan and Jason, and Derek and Thomas in there, that's a group that can win every year," Gaustad said during Monday's locker clean-out. "And I'm excited about that."

Miller will easily be the most difficult to sign, since the 27-year-old is looking at a substantial pay raise from the $3.5 million he'll earn next season. He's taken his share of criticism this year for a dip in his stats - his save percentage fell from .911 last year to .906. - but Miller has yet to peak. He's spent just three seasons in the NHL, so we still haven't seen his best. Even in a year when he set a franchise record for starts (76) and faced the second-most shots in the league (2,104), Miller's goals-against average dropped from 2.73 to 2.64.

Miller is the backbone of the team and needs to be signed.

Pominville has quickly become a go-to guy on the ice and in the locker room. The 25-year-old finished second on the team with a career high 80 points and led the Sabres with his plus-16 rating. He'll become a restricted free agent next year, so it should cost as much to sign him to a new deal, unless another team tries to steal him, like Edmonton did with Vanek last summer.

Gaustad, who earned $750,000 in 2007-08, tops the list of this year's free agents, which also includes Teppo Numminen, Dimitri Kalinin, Steve Bernier, Jocelyn Thibault, Daniel Paille, Nolan Pratt and Michael Ryan. The 26-year-old evolved into a formidable center this year and sparked the offense on the high-scoring line with Pominville and Jochen Hecht.

Miller, Pominville and Gaustad are key ingredients, if the Sabres want to dine on championships.