With the trade deadline looming, there are multiple reports that defenseman Brian Campbell and his agent Larry Kelley have turned down the Sabres latest contract offer.
TSN is reporting that the deal was a three-year contract, averaging less than 6-million dollars a year. Wednesday, Sabres GM Darcy Regier told reporters he was optimistic that talks would continue.
The Sabres did get good news Thursday...

TORONTO (AP) - The Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs used
to be in the same place - far out of the playoff picture.
Not anymore.
Ales Kotalik scored two goals to help Buffalo win for the 10th
time in 14 games, beating Toronto 5-1 Thursday night and showing
the Leafs what could have been.
"It was a put-up or shut-up situation and we stepped up and
rose to the occasion," Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller explained. "It
doesn't mean we're in the playoffs yet but it means we're in
position to make it now.
Brian Campbell, Jaroslav Spacek and Derek Roy also scored for
the Sabres, who are on a 10-2-2 run and moved into a tie with the
New York Rangers for sixth place in the East.
"We've got to keep winning games," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff
said. "When you're playing games against teams you're right there
with, you're going to have to win the majority of them to stay
ahead of them."
Pavel Kubina scored for the Leafs, who are nine points out of a
playoff spot and seem unlikely to qualify. A month ago, the two
teams were at the same place in the standings but now the Sabres
now are nine points clear of the Leafs.
Ryan Miller stopped 34 shots for Buffalo.
Campbell scored 2:36 into the game with a waist-high slap shot
from the blue line that appeared to catch Vesa Toskala off guard.
The Sabres then took three penalties in a row, but the
fifth-best penalty kill in the league trumped Toronto's power play.
"We created a lot of scoring chances but we just couldn't score
the goals," said Toskala.
Spacek made it 2-0 at the 59-second mark of the second period
with another slapper from the blue line on the power play.
Kubina got Toronto on the board when he teamed up with Tomas
Kaberle for a rare Leafs power-play goal. Kaberle fed his defense
mate a breakaway pass and Kubina, who had sneaked behind Nolan
Pratt, made quick moves that baffled Miller. Kubina tucked the puck
into the open side of the net at 2:48 with Miller sprawled on the
ice and Henrik Tallinder serving a hooking penalty.
Kotalik made it 3-1 at 8:59 when he got a pass from Vanek and
took a wrist shot from the circle to Toskala's right. The puck
struck the side of the goalie's glove and dribbled into the net. It
was Kotalik's first goal in 16 games since Jan. 18.
"I shot a lot of those the last couple of games and they didn't
go in," Kotalik said. His second goal was an empty-netter with 52
seconds left.
Roy made it 4-1 at 14:49 with Buffalo's second power-play goal,
on Vanek's second assist.
Thousands among the announced Air Canada Centre crowd of 19,467
booed as the Leafs left the ice for the second intermission.
"I just don't think we showed enough urgency with the puck,"
Leafs coach Paul Maurice said. "We had a 3-on-1 and went offside
and you can't do that in a game like this."
Notes: Buffalo was 2-for-5 and Toronto was 1-for-5 on power plays
... Leafs C Boyd Devereaux, who injured the medial collateral
ligament in his right knee late in the 3-1 win over Columbus on
Tuesday, will be out for four to six weeks. ... Buffalo RW Drew
Stafford missed a seventh straight game while recovering from a
sprained right ankle, and Buffalo RW Maxim Afinogenov missed a 23rd
consecutive game since suffering a groin injury Jan. 1 ... Leafs RW
Wade Belak and Sabres C Tim Connolly were scratched. ... After a
home game Saturday against Atlanta, Toronto plays in Ottawa on
Monday and flies south for games against Florida, Tampa Bay and
Washington.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)