See, thats where I think you're wrong.
The Sabres weren't dealing from a position of strength. To assume so, you would have to:
A.) Assume that the other goaltenders available were few and far betwee.
B.) Assume that other teams didn't hear about Mika saying trade me, move me to Buffalo, or I'm going to Finland.
In regards to A, here are some of the goalies that are/were rumoed to be on the market within the past week:
- CuJo
- Belfour
- Noronen/Biron
- Mike Morrison
- One of the Bruins goalies
- Aebisher
- Theodore
- Suave
- Roloson
Thats a lot of goalies out on the maket, some of whom are better than Biron. Not to mention the fact that Biron has a hefty salary, and an asking price for him would be pretty big, a lot of teams would choose not to go after him and take a chance on someone else.
With regards to B, Buffalo was more desperate to trade a goalie then any team was to get a goalie from them. It was known Mika's intentions, and Biron had publically said he was hoping to stay in Buffalo, which would also drive down his price.
To say that Buffalo was in a position of strength is to not see reality imo.