Sabres being proactive in re-signing pending UFAs

Tim Graham of The Buffalo News reports that Buffalo Sabres GM Darcy Regier has initiated talks with defensemen Brian Campbell and Dmitri Kalinin and forward Jochen Hecht in regards to contract extensions.

While the Sabres’ policy has always been not to negotiate with soon-to-be unrestricted free agents during the season, the departures of forwards Daniel Briere and Chris Drury during this past off-season has made the club re-think their rules. That is why Regier has already held “some very general conversations” with the agents for Campbell, Kalinin, and Hecht.

“I don’t have any hard-and-fixed rules with respect to that,” Regier said. “That’s something we’ll look at and work through as we proceed here.”

“I don’t want to put a deadline on it, but the preference would be to do them sooner rather than later.”

And that would be just fine with Campbell, who says that he would be willing to give up free agency in order to stay with the Sabres.

“Would I like something to get done? Yeah. I like it here. But I can’t worry about that too much right now.”

As the Sabres’ top scoring defenseman and an All-Star starter, Campbell would be an attractive commodity should he become a UFA.

Campbell is set to earn $1.75 million this season, Kalinin will make $2.25 million, and Hecht $2.35 million. All are expected to receive significant raises whether they re-up with the Sabres or sign with another team.