Strange Sabre Day: Bernier Out, Rivet In

July 4, 2008   ·   Brian Sanborn   ·   Jump to comments

It was early afternoon here on the West Coast, and I return from lunch and I look to see if there is any activity that has taken place in the NHL, and I find a shocker:

Steve Bernier has been traded to the Vancouver Canucks for a 2009 3rd round pick and a 2010 2nd round pick.

My first thought was: What?! What is with the Sabres and trading young power forwards to Vancouver (Taylor Pyatt was dealt to Van-City as well). What in the world are the Sabres doing here?  Bernier was acquired as part of the Brian Campbell $elloff, and  he was supposed to be a guy who would grow and develop into a good power forward which this team really needs, correct? What is Darcy Regier smoking?

After several minutes and the rage calmed down I started to wonder: Was this trade executed because Darcy knew that Bernier did not want to stay in Buffalo, or do the Sabres have something else up their sleeve? After all, if the Sabres just let Vancouver sign Bernier to an offer sheet, wouldnt the compensation be HIGHER then just trading him now?

Another head-scratcher by Sabres management, which is something I have grown used to over the years.

A couple of hours later, it appears that the dealing of Bernier was somewhat explained.

The Sabres got some much needed defensive help in veteran defenceman Craig Rivet. Rivet, 33, had 5 goals and 30 assists for the Sharks last season, and brings some much needed size and grit which is sorely lacking in Buffalo. The cost for Rivet? One 2nd round pick in 2009 and another 2nd rounder in 2010.

So now to ‘officially’ wrap up the Brian Campbell trade for the Sabres, here is what they ended up acquiring for Campbell:

D Craig Rivet

1st Round Pick in 2008 (C Tyler Ennis)

2009 3rd round pick

Would have it been better just to keep Campbell? I say no, because the price would have been double that of Rivet (not a bad contract at $3.5 per for 3 years, considering the in$ane contracts given to other marginal defencemen this week at the same or higher price), plus Regier drafted a promising young C in Ennis. And who knows what next year’s pick can bring back the Sabres.

Overall: I would have really liked to keep Bernier, but the Rivet need was greater as the Sabres have plenty of forwards. Ill give the Sabres a C+ for the day.