Deal or no deal

It's trading deadline time in the National Hockey League, and the drama is building here in Buffalo. Most of it centers around a talented young defenseman named Brian Campbell, who has played in the NHL All-Star Game for the last couple of years and has moves on the ice not seen in these parts since Phil Housley.

Campbell is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and he is probably going to be a rich man when he signs that next contract. Campbell probably will earn close to $6 million per year over the course of a multiyear contract. Not bad.

But the usual dance goes on in the meantime, and that's where things get interesting.

There are two usual options in this situation. The Sabres could try to deal Campbell in the next two days, trying to extract a high draft choice and a good prospect for him from a Stanley Cup contender. The idea is that if Buffalo is convinced it can't sign Campbell, it's better to get something for him if he isn't going to be re-signed by July. A great many players have left the Sabres in the past two years this way, including Chris Drury, Daniel Briere, Jay McKee and Mike Grier. Those losses have turned a top team into one in the middle of the pack, and they have caused problems with the fan base.

The other option is to hold on to Campbell. That would give the team four extra months to sign him, and they would get to keep him for the stretch run and possibly for the playoffs. Campbell has said he wouldn't mind staying a Sabre. Of course, everyone has said that, and they more or less all walked away.

This is a tough enough decision under most circumstances. This isn't a veteran who might have one last hurrah left in him for a contender (Mats Sundin of Toronto comes to mind). This is someone who could be a top defenseman for years.

Meanwhile, the Sabres' on-ice performance hasn't done team management any favors in terms of decision-making. It is lingering around the dividing line between the playoff teams and the non-playoff teams. And that brings us to the point that needs to come up right now.

The Sabres are clearly a better team with Campbell in the lineup than with Campbell in San Jose's lineup after a trade. It looks like it is possible that the Sabres are a playoff team with Campbell, and not a playoff team without him. Which brings us to, naturally money.

If the Sabres do make the playoffs, they are guaranteed at least two playoff games and might get three even if they lose in the first round. The going rate for income at playoff time is said to be around $1 million per game, although that may be a little high for Buffalo as compared to, say, Philadelphia or New York. Still, that's $2-3 million sitting on the table.

And the Sabres could be matched against the Southeast Division winner with a sixth-place Eastern Conference finish, a matchup that looks like it could be won right now. A trip to the second round could be worth another $2-3 million, bringing the total to $4-6 million. That could pay Campbell's contract for a year.

Summing up, then, the Sabres could do nothing for now, thus improving their chances of earning millions of dollars in the postseason and buying some more time to talk contract with Campbell. They also increase their chances of having him walk away for nothing, which would be another public relations disaster.

But what if Campbell isn't the difference? What if the team isn't a Stanley Cup playoff team with him on the roster? Conversely, what if it is a playoff team even without him?

The Sabres front office has to make the best possible guess about those questions, and it has fewer than two days to do it. General manager Darcy Regier and company will earn their salaries during that time.

Bad memories

I didn't see Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers get his throat cut when it happened tonight. I was eating dinner. But I saw the incident on replay later, and it brought back some bad memories.

On March 22, 1989, the St. Louis Blues were playing the Buffalo Sabres in Memorial Auditorium. Steve Tuttle of the Blues went hard toward the net while being checked by Uwe Krupp, when Tuttle's skate came up and cut the throat of Sabres' goalie Clint Malarchuk. I was working for the Sabres at that point in the public relations department, and I was up in the press box on the far side of center ice.

I can't say I was sure what happened immediately. I knew Malarchuk had been hurt as he staggered right off the ice toward the dressing room. I didn't really know how badly he was hurt until I saw the replay on television moments later. A stream of blood came out of Malarchuk's neck; one viewing was enough to keep it in my mind to this day.

Malarchuk received immediate medical care on the six-inch cut; doctors headed to the locker room and eventually ordered him to the hospital. From there, the rest of us weren't sure what was going on. Information was scarce. My most vivid memory came when Clint's brother called Memorial Auditorium from Calgary. The call was sent up to the press box, and I answered it. He was pretty frantic, wondering what had happened. And I was helpless. I eventually transferred the call to the locker room, but I have no idea if he got any information that way.

I heard all sorts of stories in the next 24 hours, how a local couple had stayed up all night praying for him, how people in the stands had become sick watching the play develop. We also heard that Malarchuk was going to be fine, thanks to the speedy medical work of trainer Jim Pizzutelli and doctors. The goalie certainly could have bled to death had he not received prompt, good medical attention. By the way, the master TV tape of the game was erased by the Sabres.

Malarchuk, one of the great characters in Sabre history, was interviewed on television the next day. Staying in character, he told one TV station that he had asked for a zipper on the scarline so that he could store his pencils. Malarchuk also showed the toll of the incident when he nearly broke down in describing the play.

My biggest emotional moment came two days later, as I recall. Malarchuk was out of the hospital, and was going to stop in Memorial Auditorium to pick up a few things. I asked John Gurtler, public relations director of the team, what he thought about introducing Clint to the crowd during the game. Gurtler realized the fans had been through quite a few days emotionally, and it might help everyone to have Clint take a bow and show he was better.

Malarchuk needed a little convincing, but he stood by the Zamboni entrance when he was ready to go. When there was a stoppage in play, I got on the public address system and said something like, "We thought you'd like to say hello to someone tonight. By the Zamboni entrance, please welcome Clint Malarchuk." I barely got the words out.

"The next thing we knew, there was just a huge wave of emotion and the crowd was rising," said Gurtler, who got the Zamboni doors open so that everyone could get a better view. Everyone in the building roared. Opposing players pounded their sticks on the ice in the classic hockey style. When the ovation stopped, Malarchuk said "Wow" to Gurtler and left the building.

Malarchuk was back in uniform within a couple of weeks and continued his NHL career. Let's hope Zednik's story has a similar happy ending.

Yikes

My former high school classmate, Becky Harbison, had some comments about seeing excerpts on the Rob Ray book in The Buffalo News. And she even let me comment on the comments.

So I did.

Thank you, Becky. Head to http://clarencegrad72.blogspot.com/. And it was nice to see another Clarence Class of '72 member, Jim Donnelly, at today's book signing. Jim had a heck of an outside jumper in his day, even when he had a broken leg back then. He just swung the cast forward, leaning back, and stuck another jumper.