"I'm obviously happy to get him, I was exploring all avenues in getting a defenseman that can help us. It's been about 75 days of getting to intimately know his agent, talking to him and texting every day. It started in early July and we got to a point where we were comfortable here.

"He's a skill defenseman, obviously a big body. We know he's not a crasher and banger and that's not what we signed him for. But he's got some range, he's got a long reach. It does take some space to get by him."

Tim Murray, GM of the Buffalo Sabres on signing Cody Franson. More from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News.