Briere's message to Sabres fans

It's painful thinking of Briere in a Flyers sweater. And Drury in a Rangers one.

Briere ends his 4-year career with the Sabres. It seems like it's been longer. It's not that it hasnt been fun, but more simply that Briere (in addition to being so much better than Gratton) immediately became, and remained to the end, a Sabres player through and through, and an adopted Buffalonian of the highest caliber.

"Tell the fans that I was sincere when I said I wanted to stay in Buffalo," Briere said. "That was my priority when the season was over, but at the same time, with any job or anything you do in life, with any employer, you want to feel wanted.

"What I feel bad about is losing my teammates, losing my coaching staff and I feel bad being on another team now after spending some great years playing for those fans in Buffalo."

Briere joined the Sabres in March 2003 from the Coyotes in exchange for Chris Gratton, a deal that will go down as one of the greatest in club history.

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