Darcy Regier speaks this afternoon. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald

Darcy Regier: Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek could still be with Sabres come training camp

BUFFALO – With each passing day, general manager Darcy Regier acknowledged, it becomes more likely starting goalie Ryan Miller and slick winger Thomas Vanek will be on the Sabres when training camp convenes in September.

Regier has said both stars, whose contracts expire after next season, could be dealt from the rebuilding Sabres. He said he’s had some “discussions regarding both those players” with other teams.

“The nature of this business, as you move through July, lineups get more and more settled, there’s less movement,” Regier said this afternoon inside the First Niagara Center during the second intermission of the team’s annual prospect scrimmage. “Then training camp starts and things begin to change again at that point.”

Regier said he last spoke to the players’ agents around the draft.

More from Regier:

– He said Henrik Tallinder’s reacquisition from New Jersey on Sunday “was an opportunity for us to bring back a defenseman that we were very familiar with.”

“He was someone who was obviously very good defensively, can move the puck and is experienced,” he said. “We think knowing what we know about him he’ll fit in very well with our corps and the young guys coming.”

Tallinder, who teamed with struggling defenseman Tyler Myers all of 2009-10, his last season here, wasn’t brought back simply for Myers’ benefit.

“We didn’t go into this reacquiring ‘Hank,’ as he’s known, specifically for Tyler, but I think it can and could help,” Regier said.

– Regier said the Sabres decided to buy out winger Nathan Gerbe just a couple of days before they waived him last Wednesday.

“But in speaking with his agent over the course of the season, he was concerned about the opportunity he was getting here,” he said. “We looked at the opportunity we were going to be able to provide him and didn’t think it was going to be suitable for him.

“We actually looked at the possibility of sending him to the minors just because of the number of forwards we had, and if we had done that, I don’t think it would have been beneficial for him or for us as an organization.”

– The Sabres, who’ve only signed AHL players so far, are pursuing NHL free agents “just lightly right now,” Regier said.

“We’ve got a lot of forwards,” he said. “We’ve got decisions to make positionally and otherwise. We’ve dabbled in it, but not in any real depth.”

– Regier said Chadd Cassidy, who took over Rochester on an interim basis for Ron Rolston on Feb. 20, is the Americans’ new permanent coach.

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