When the Toronto Maple Leafs signed left winger Max Pacioretty in the fall, he had come to training camp on a professional tryout. There were no guarantees, and there was certainly no small mountain of money (relatively speaking) awaiting him. He was 35 years old when he signed a one-year contract with Toronto worth $873,770, and he turned 36 in November. But there was no assurance he’d be anything but a spare part on a deep Stanley Cup playoff-bound team.
However, and to his credit, Pacioretty gutted things out, overcame in-season injuries, healthy scratches and Toronto’s salary cap constraints, and managed to turn into one heck of a playoff contributor for the Maple Leafs. posting four assists and five points in five games. And despite sitting on the sidelines for the Leafs’ first two games against the Ottawa Senators in the first round, Pacioretty made the most of his opportunities once he got back in the lineup, scoring the series-winning goal against the Sens, them having a two-point night against the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the second round.
Why are we telling you this on THN.com’s Buffalo Sabres site? Here’s why: where are the inspirational stories of Sabres veterans signed on the cheap who turned into difference-makers down the stretch this season? Hard to think of one, right? Sure, winger Jason Zucker turned out to be a solid signing, but he was hardly a bargain-basement player like Pacioretty, given his salary of $5-million this season. No, we’re talking about veterans with a proven track record, who the Sabres plucked off the open market to be meaningful contributors without earning more than $1-million.
To ask the question is to answer it: there was no player comparable to Pacioretty for Buffalo this season. And that’s another indictment of Sabres management. In a salary cap world, you need to find cheap talent to augment the players who occupy the top spots on your salary pyramid.
That’s the challenge that will await Sabres GM Kevyn Adams this off-season. Given that Buffalo’s salary cap situation won’t allow Adams to go out and splurge on each and every free-agent player he targets, Adams has to find bargain-basement veterans who know how to win and who believe in the Sabres’ game-plan to get back into the post-season for the first time in a decade-and-a-half.
Without those type of high-value, low-cost assets, the Sabres are going to struggle again. Because watching Pacioretty succeed in what could be his final season in hockey’s top league is a lesson in patience by an NHL team, and a lesson in savvy talent-acquisition.
You have to be happy to see a gutsy player like Pacioretty thrive, and if you’re a Leafs fan, you have to be overjoyed that Buds management took a chance on him. It has paid off in spades, and it ought to make Sabres fans jealous.
Until such time as Buffalo brass makes those type of deals, the Sabres will almost assuredly continue to be on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. So the challenge is obvious for Adams this off-season — identify some proven vets this summer, and convince them to sign on the cheap.
And failure to do so will be a harbinger of disappointments to come.
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