Pominvile Gives the Sabres Until Friday
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 10:28 pm by Mike
Jason Pominville has recently decided that he will discontinue his negotiations towards a contract extension with the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, the day before the season officially begins with first day of training camp. Pominville, who scored 80 points in 82 last season, will become a Registricted Free Agent on July 1, 2009.
After seeing how difficult it was for Brian Campbell to negotiate with the Sabres while playing last season, it really comes as no surprise that Pominville has chosen to cease talks until the end of the season. I’m also not upset by the decision as it will allow Pominville to focus on his play and dedication to the team, and not be distracted by the negotiations, as Campbell clearly was last season.
Although there is always a concern that the Sabres management will screw up another player signing, I don’t think that is going to be a problem in this case for a number of reasons.
- The Sabres will have another chance to extend Pominville’s contract again after the season ends. Even if they go to the Stanley Cup Finals, they should have at least three weeks to work towards a contract.
- Pominville will only become an RFA. That means that the Sabres have the first chance at signing him, but other teams may sign him to an offer sheet after July 1st and he has been given a qualifying offer. The Sabres would then have the chance to match the offer sheet or receive draft picks in compensation. Most likely Sabres would get four first round picks in return. So even if the Sabres opted to let him go, which I would advise against, they would at least get something out of the deal.
- If no team signs Pominville to an offer sheet and he rejects the Sabres’ qualifying offer, he can take the team to an arbitration hearing. The arbiters would then award a one or two year deal based on comprable player salaries. In Pominville’s case, they would probably award him a one year deal.
So, don’t get too worried yet. I think it’s going to be hard for the Sabres to blow this one. I believe that the Sabres consider Pommers to be one of the core players on the team and are committed to signing him. Since there had been no real rush, management had been going about the negotiation process at the standard slow pace. If they want to be really smart though, they’ll get him signed in the next two days.