Niedermeyer comes to Buffalo

The Sabres, still searching for more grit after a first-round playoff exit, have signed forward Rob Niedermayer.

TSN.ca reports the deal is for one year, $1 million. He is coming off an identical contract with New Jersey.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound center spent last season with the Devils, recording 10 goals and 12 assists in 71 games. The 16-year veteran, who is the younger brother of future Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Niedermayer, has played 1,082 regular-season games for Florida, Calgary, Anaheim and New Jersey. He has 181 goals, 269 assists and 882 penalty minutes. (Sabres Edge)

In short: I’m very cool with the signing. Yes, it took me about two minutes to figure out which Niedermayer we were getting. I think there’s like two of them or something. Anyways, I was actually big on the Sabres trying to add some Stanley Cup winning experience at the trade deadline. Hell, I was even advocating for the team to trade for Rod Brind’Amour.

You always hear from the press that the Sabres lack maturity and mental toughness. Now there are three ways you can go about fixing those problems:

1) You can grow up (Um, seems like the core took a pass on that one).

2) You can do a roster overhaul (Yeah, Darcy ain’t doing that).

3) You can bring in guys to make other players accountable (Ding, ding, ding).

The Sabres needed more than just Craig Rivet and Mike Grier to provide leadership. It’s not a knock against those guys, but maybe having a player with the ring will help the locker room grow up. It’s also a bonus that he’s coming from two franchises that know a thing or two about winning multiple cups. I mean, this isn’t a player from the 2004 Tampa Bay squad that caught lightning in a bottle.

If I had a dollar for every time an expert, coach or former player mentioned the need for a team to get more SCF experience, I’d be a rich man. Too many times over the years the Sabres have coasted through a part of the season (or in last year’s playoffs), where having a legit leader might have been beneficial to reel the guys in.

As for what he brings to the ice, well, he’s definitely an upgrade over what Adam Mair or Matt Ellis would bring to the table. However, how much more grit do the Sabres really need? I know the city of Buffalo and its fan base would support and love a team filled with blue-collar guys that could score 10-15 goals a year.

However, you need more than just a bunch of those guys to contend for a championship. I can’t help but harp on the fact that the Sabres seem to have an abundance of 3rd and 4th line guys. I’ve said all along that two of the top six forwards on this team (Hecht and Stafford) should be playing on the third line on most NHL teams. Now, if you want to try and sell me on Gerbe or Ennis making the jump, well, I need more than just a 10 game stretch of games to believe that.

Again, I’m not trashing the signing, but there needs to be that signing/breakup of the top six forwards for me to really applaud Regier. The core of this team is what needs to change, not the 3rd and 4th lines. Anything else in my view is just a tweak and I have lived through too many offseasons where the tweaking of the guard was the norm and not the changing of it.