And the Sabres piss away their past into the winds of the future

Dont laugh — he's cheaper, at least.

Photo by Kyle Simourd. (License: Creative Commons Attribution)

Briere rejects Sabres' offer as time ticks away

The Sabres seem to be content with going from nearly missing the Stanley Cup to another struggling season.

One year ago this time, they were coming off a heartbreaking loss in the Eastern Conference Finals to the soon-to-be-champion Carolina Hurricanes. It was heartbreaking because they, and most of their fans, felt that they could have won that series (and they almost did, anyway, going into the 3rd period of Game 7 with a 1-goal lead), had it not been for the endless injuries that decimated their blueliners.

This year, they are coming off a similar fate in terms of when they lost. They were never really in the series this time, though, against the Ottawa Senators. Unlike 2006, though, the Sabres didnt lose because they ran out of healthy players, they lost because somewhere between the first game of the season, when they put themselves in first place, until the last game, when they won the President's Cup for the best team in the regular season, they ran out of steam. The team had its share of surprising stars, exemplified by their presence at the NHL All-Star Game. In 2006, they were a rag-tag group of gritty players. By 2007, they had become an exciting group of youngsters and speedsters.

They only thing they were missing this past year was consistency. Consistency in goaltending, scoring and defense. They were praised for their depth and for the fact that they had four legitimate lines. But when it came down to gut-check time in the playoffs, it seemed that they were simply worn out. The star players were being stopped by the Sens' relentless defensive play, and Daniel Alfredsson played out of his mind, basically single-handedly beating Buffalo's hopes.

All the while, the face of the Sabres was contained in the small figure of its co-captain, Daniel Briere. Briere didnt have the game-changing moments in the playoffs that his partner in captain-hood, Chris Drury, had, but his hustle, his friendly demeanor and his dedication to the team, the town, the game and the fans seemed a perfect fit for the Sabres' future.

But the Sabres are historically bad at recognizing intangibles. And this trait now seems to have transcended the recent ownership shift.

Daniel Briere landed in Southern California on Thursday afternoon. That's bad news for Buffalo Sabres fans. The club's scoring king was to meet co-captain Chris Drury, who lives in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and discuss their intentions.

The NHL free agency period begins at noon Sunday, and contracts for both centers are up. As two of the more coveted unrestricted free agents, they're bound to field several lucrative offers.

But the main reason Briere jetted to the coast wasn't to talk shop with Drury. Briere journeyed there to be with his agent, Pat Brisson, so they can evaluate each offer together.

One offer they apparently didn't need to talk over was the one Buffalo just made. Brisson rejected the five-year offer believed to be worth about $25 million. Briere wanted a similar long-term deal last summer, but the Sabres weren't interested. Instead, he went to arbitration and was awarded a one-year contract for $5 million.

Although the All-Star Game MVP claimed he hasn't given up on re-signing with the Sabres, his decision to man a war room of sorts with Brisson doesn't bode well.

"It's exciting," Briere said of free agency. "I've never been through it before. If it gets there, I just want to be around where it's going to happen and where my agent's going to be so we can deal with it directly and not over the phone, relaying messages. I want to be there when the offers come in."

Briere on Thursday confirmed the Sabres, after nearly six weeks of indifference, had finally extended an offer. Minutes later, he learned Brisson had rejected it.

The Sabres almost went wire-to-wire in the 06-07 season. Losing the heart and soul of their team would mean not only that they would need to find replacements for the points gathered by Briere, Drury and Vanek, but also that they need to find different people to wear the C and the A, and different people to generate the kind of momentum needed in today's NHL.

Keeping all 3 would be a difficult taks, but losing Briere so quickly is unforgivable. Its impact would be felt by the negotiations with Drury as well, and it's not likely that the Sabres will find the kind of productive leadership in a different group of skaters.

They went from almost-there in 2006 to right there in 2007, but they couldnt cash in. @!$%# happens in the playoffs, just ask the Canucks or the Red Wings. And @!$%# happened to the Sabres in the 2007 playoffs. They now have a choice — they can acknowledge that this team was the kind of team that wins championships, or they can simply limp again into another season hoping to strike gold right off the bat. Well, they did strike gold in the beginnings of this past season, with this team, with these leaders and these scorers. And with the youth of this team, it's much more reasonable to look for gold in the same mine, at least one more time, instead of pissing it all away again.

But, in Buffalo, we're sort of used to that. It looks like they're going to start with a fresh team again, new lines and new relationships. So, instead of hoping that a similar group of players will make magic again, we have to hope that another, different group of players will find something similar. The Sabres have four of a kind in their hand, and instead of asking for one more card, an insurance kicker to make sure that they last through the fortune of someone else's lucky draw, they are choosing to draw three new cards, choosing to start over.

Buffalo has done a lot of complaining about the casino in Niagara. Unfortunately, they dont seem to have learned anything from it.

Back To Top

	Sabres' front office blundered in its contract negotiations...	CNET News.com	Sun Jul 1	0
	Report: C Briere turns down offer from Sabres	Yahoo! Sports	Fri Jun 29	0
	Briere breaks off talks with Sabres	rochesterdandc.com	Fri Jun 29	1
	Briere declines Sabres' offer	Tsn.ca	Thu Jun 28	2
	Briere's message to Sabres fans	buffalonews.typepad.com	Mon Jul 2	0