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Sabres prez: Regier will be back as GM

Darcy Regier

Buffalo Sabres general manager Darcy Regier speaks during an NHL hockey news conference, Wednesday, April 3, 2013, in Buffalo, N.Y. Regier announced the Sabres have traded captain Jason Pominville and a fourth-round pick in 2014 to the Minnesota Wild for prospects Johan Larsson and Matt Hackett plus a first-round draft pick in 2013 and a second-round draft pick in 2014. (AP Photo/The Buffalo News, John Hickey) TV OUT; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT; BATAVIA DAILY NEWS OUT; DUNKIRK OBSERVER OUT; JAMESTOWN POST-JOURNAL OUT; LOCKPORT UNION-SUN JOURNAL OUT; NIAGARA GAZETTE OUT; OLEAN TIMES-HERALD OUT; SALAMANCA PRESS OUT; TONAWANDA NEWS OUT

AP

Darcy’s back.

That was the story out of Buffalo on Monday as GM Darcy Regier and president Ted Black addressed the media, with Black confirming Regier would be back for his 17th year on the job.

Regier, the Sabres GM since Jun. 1997, was thought to be on thin ice after disastrous back-to-back campaigns.

The Sabres haven’t been to the playoffs since 2010 and a number of Regier’s high-profile acquisitions have failed to pan out.

In fact, it could be said things have gotten progressively worse as Regier’s tenure has gone on.

This season marked a series of lows for the Buffalo organization:

-- Longtime head coach Lindy Ruff was fired

-- Steve Ott ripped the fans

-- Captain Jason Pominville was traded

-- Former Vezina-winning goalie Ryan Miller was visibly frustrated throughout the year

But, for lack of a betterm term, Regier now has a chance to clean up his own mess.

He’ll head into the 2013 NHL Entry Draft armed with two first- and second-round picks, and also has the opportunity to either extend the contract of interim head coach Ron Rolston -- or go in another direction.

On Monday, Regier said he will meet with Rolston soon to evaluate the season and decide what direction the Sabres want to take behind the bench.

Rolston finished the year with a pretty decent record (15-11-5) and said he’d like the opportunity to come back and build on what he started.

“I think we’ve made progress,” Rolston told the Buffalo News. “I’m not happy that we’re not in the playoffs. We needed to do a better job there, but we made some progress I think as a team. We played better down the stretch in terms of the success that we’ve had.”