Sabres Sign Three

The Sabres made one of their key restricted free agent signing announcements on Wednesday, as Dan Paille offically signed a multi-year deal with the team. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but if a wager had to be made, it's likely a 2-year deal, worth roughly $2 million a season, when compared to teammates in the same bracket.

The former first-round pick of 2002 for the Sabres played in 77 games last season, scoring 19 goals and 16 assists, with potential for a little bit more. If the team had a little more quality around Paille, he would likely be a 50-point producer in the NHL. He should be able to make the jump to 40+ points this season, which could make him a bit of a sleeper.

The team also announced that Clarke MacArthur and Mike Mancari each signed their qualifying offers for 1-year deals on Wednesday. MacArthur, the more likely of the two to make the line-up this season, played in 37 games last season, registering 15 points. His involvement doesn't seem to be guaranteed (yet), so his salary won't count against the cap full-time (yet).

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Thomas Vanek	Craig Rivet	Ryan Miller
Derek Roy	Jaroslav Spacek	Patrick Lalime
Maxim Afinogenov	Toni Lydman
Tim Connolly	Henrik Tallinder
Ales Kotalik	Nathan Paetsch
Jochen Hecht
Drew Stafford
Dan Paille
Paul Gaustad
Jason Pominville
Dan Paille
Adam Mair

Since the last update on July 1st, the team sent Steve Bernier to Vancouver and acquired Craig Rivet from San Jose, with picks going in the opposite direction of the players. If the prediction of Paille's salary is correct, the team now has 18 players signed on (see above) at a rate of $48.1 million. The team still has plenty of space to maneuvre for something else, but it will likely use it's open spots for players within the organization.