The Buffalo Sabres were active on the transaction wire again yesterday, but Monday’s trade was a significantly bigger splash than Sunday’s signing of enforcer John Scott. General manager Darcy Regier sent oft-criticized center Derek Roy to the Dallas Stars in exchange for fellow center Steve Ott and depth defenseman Adam Pardy.

Not surprisingly, Roy’s departure sparked a Twitter celebration among local bloggers and Sabres fans. We combed through the slew of tweets that hailed “the end of Roy,” but chose to leave out the relentless Chippewa jokes, whether those are merited or not.

It’s easy to forget that Roy was a +37 in ‘06-‘07 and a point-per-game scorer in ‘07-‘08. As the Buffalo News’ Bucky Gleason noted above, it may have been Roy’s criticism of Sabres’ head coach Lindy Ruff at the close of last season that signaled his death knell with the club. 

Buffalo may not be done crafting its roster for the 2012-13 season. Disgruntled Anaheim winger Bobby Ryan appears to be Regier’s next target, and while the loathed Philadelphia Flyers remain the favorite to land Ryan according to Gleason, Ryan has actually said he’d be willing to accept a trade to the Sabres.

Unfortunately for the Sabres, the 25-year-old power forward won’t come cheaply, as Buffalo youngsters Tyler Ennis and Marcus Foligno were two names floated around as possible return in a Ryan deal. Ennis (22 years old) and Foligno (20 years old) are viewed as building blocks for the Sabres’ franchise, but neither player has the 40-goal potential of Ryan, who’s tallied more than 30 goals in each of his four full seasons.

Should the Sabres part with one of two fan favorites to acquire the true sniper they’ve coveted? Will they be pressed to outbid Philadelphia, the city very close to where Ryan played his youth hockey? 

(Header photo courtesy of Flickr / pointnshoot).