Front Office Mayhem

[ricogarion]

I was wondering if the departure of two of the finest hockey players ever to wear the Sabres uniform would have fans calling for their blood? I can understand the resentment felt when our favorites take another offer and leave,but this time I cannot blame the players or hate them.I am turning my full blown anger,resentment and disgust towards the Sabres organization that can allow players to get to the end of their contracts and not even consider letting the same players know they are interested in them.Tom Golisano,Larry Quinn and Darcy "Last Minute" Regier you screwed up and you screwed up big.You kept two of the most exciting players in sabres history off your roster in an act of stupidity that borders on insanity.The whole dark day that was only hurt your fan base and left them dissilusioned and sickened but the way you treated your stars with so little respect.In denying the hockey fans of WNY the best chance at winning by your shabby treatment you have shown again that you do indeed alienate your players but most importantly you alienated your entire fan base.Spin it how ever you must but know one thing your not sugar coating this with your rhetoric,you F'ed up its that simple.

[BuffaloRedleg]

im pissed too, they f'ed this up by not negotiating during the season. However, I only care whether or not we win. I'll judge them after this upcoming season is over.

This isnt the first time I've been pissed and thought management messed up badly, and I was dead wrong last time, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.


One thing nobody has said is that not negotiating during the season goes both ways. If they Sabres lost in the first round, which they almost did by the way they played, we'd be saying F Dury F Briere its a good thing we didnt sign them during the season.

[anEinherjer]

Calling Danny midget bitch Briere one of the finest EVER to wear the blue and gold is a gigantic stretch if you ask me.

He had 2 good years. Sneak Pete Turgeon had more than that, if I remember rightly.

Mayhem? No way. I'd rather see our front office playing it smart, close to the vest and conservative (the only way we'll even still HAVE professional teams 10, 20 years from now).

[ricogarion]

Give me a break,you think the way that THE front office handled this situation leaves me having confidence that they will be able to get it done in the future your wrong.You just lost an integral part of your team and did nothing to try to alter that,nothing!

[21]

I just don't know who to focus the anger on, Golly is #1, but I really think Quinn has more to do with this crap than Regier does. Quinn messed our team up last time he tried to run it, oh look he is doing it again!

[Billeve]

I could care less that Briere is gone, but you cannot let Drury go, they waited to long to sign him. You cannot wait until the 11th hour and hope he will sign your deal.

We lost 2 identity players, they put an identity to the Sabres. Hopefully the Sabres organization can make some face today!

[pmoon6]

Drury and Briere are fine hockey players, but we could not have kept both. I would have liked to see Drury stay.

Still, saying that they were two of the finest is a stretch when you consider how many great players we had in the past.

Drury will be missed, Briere not as much, especially come playoff time.

[ricogarion]

At our most successful time in franchise history (the last two seasons) Danny Briere and Chris Drury were the best players on the Sabres.They provided many great memories and were highly accountable no stretch there.In their four seasons or so they were able to make their mark on Sabres lore,they were huge assets for playing such a short time here.

[pmoon6]

At our most successful time in franchise history (the last two seasons) Danny Briere and Chris Drury were the best players on the Sabres.They provided many great memories and were highly accountable no stretch there.In their four seasons or so they were able to make their mark on Sabres lore,they were huge assets for playing such a short time here.The past two seasons were the most successful because of the entire TEAM, not just one or two players. Were they important, sure.

I would wait until all is said and done before blasting management for ****ing up the team.

[Gilly]

they werent worth what they ended up signing for. only guy in nhl worth 7mil per is crosby, maybe, he sell tickets. you cannot tie up 30% of your cap in 2 guys(approx 15 mil per with a 45 mil cap) there are 15 other guys to pay.

[ricogarion]

This giving mulligans to the management is not going to come from me.I won't forgive this or accept any excuses for the way this FO handled this.You either had no intention of resigning these guys or your too arrogant to think they would leave your wonderful winning organization.Well we saw what happened, unfortunately ,with the Sabres ploy.

[BuffaloJim51]

Both Chris Drury and Daniel Briere conducted themselves admireably and with class both on the ice and off.

They both were a big part of the reason that the Sabres had such a memorable season and gave us reasons to be proud.

The 2006 - 2007 edition of the Sabres did not win the Stanley Cup.
The 2005 - 2006 edition of the Sabres did not win the Stanley Cup, either.

Aside from all the increased scoring, last minute and overtime victories and all the excitment and hipe associated with this year's team, in reality we were probably a lot closer to winning the Stanley Cup in 2006 than we were in 2007.
A lead going into the 3rd period of the 7th game while on the road in Carolina with over half our defensive unit sidelined by injury with an Edmonton team as a Stanley Cup Final opponent, we'll never know.

Where was all this out cry last year when we lost Jay McKee, Mike Grier and JP Dumont ???
I venture to speculate that we would have done better in this past year's playoffs if we still had those three players along with this year's roster.
But then we may never have known what kind of talents we have coming up with the likes of Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Drew Stafford and Daniel Paille.

The fact that we are a small market team with financial constraints sucks and always will. We need to deal with it, keep the faith and enjoy what we have.

Unlike the past, we have solid ownership that is committed to providing a competitive team with an excellent and stable coaching staff.
The defensive system that we will and need to play in 2007 - 2008 will ultimately pay more dividends during the season and into the playoffs than paying Daniel Briere another couple of million to stay here.

I am sad to see this chapter of Sabres hockey come to an end but the world is not coming to an end.
I would be more upset if we had actually won the Stanley Cup either year and then allowed the team to come apart by losing those players.
We did not. So, just like my support for the BILLS, I look forward with hope to another enjoyable, successful season.

And our disappointment aside, we can still conduct ourselves as Sabres and Bills fans with the kind of class and pride that Chris and Daniel did as players.

GO SABRES !!! GO BILLS !!! GO BUFFALO !!!

[ricogarion]

Is being classy how the Sabres handled this scenario? We don't know for sure but not having contact with them till the final hours leaves me wondering.I would not do that to family,friend or clients.You need to let people know where you stand not leave them hanging like a dropped call so they think the worst.Communicate with these guys at least and treat them the way you would want to be treated.

[BuffaloJim51]

Is being classy how the Sabres handled this scenario? We don't know for sure but not having contact with them till the final hours leaves me wondering.I would not do that to family,friend or clients.You need to let people know where you stand not leave them hanging like a dropped call so they think the worst.Communicate with these guys at least and treat them the way you would want to be treated.

I agree with that.
Unfortunately we may never know exactly what happened or how.

My hope was that they were really trying to retain Drury over Briere.
That being said I do not believ that the team handled things or wer as effective as they could have been.