Briere named captain

[Bay Side]

Briere named captain
www.SabreFans.com
Daniel Briere has been named team captain for the month of February. Briere is second in goal scoring on the team with 16 (2 behind Miro Satan), his 21 assists rank him second behind Chris Drury in that category while Briere's 33 points lead the team in overall scoring. Since his acquisition late last season, Briere has been one of the Sabres more consistent and potent forwards. Jochen Hecht and Dmitri Kalinin were named as the alternate captains. Hecht has battled through another injury riddled season to emerge as a physical and fairly well rounded winger. Hecht clicked especially well with Briere and J.P. Dumont. Kalinin started slowly this year but has steadily progressed to one of the more reliable defensemen on the team, he is often paired with Alexi Zhitnik. The duo has played very well for the Sabres and are clearly the top two defensemen on the roster.

[Wally]

I thought he would be.

[Mehser]

With the way the team is playing now, not letting JP have any level of captaincy is crap. He should be, at very least, an alternate.

[Forum21]

Originally posted by Mehser
With the way the team is playing now, not letting JP have any level of captaincy is crap. He should be, at very least, an alternate.

I agree that it seems strange JP did not at least get an A.

[fweber73]

Originally posted by jj@jj.com
I agree that it seems strange JP did not at least get an A.

Let's hope he's not a baby about it and continues to play well.

[RJ11]

I'm sure JP will be wearing the "A" sometime this month. I don't mean this literally, but when the hell is the last time Hecht stayed healthy for a whole month?

[Thumper]

It'll be nice to see Briere with the C. But I thought that if the team played with a certain level of success during one players tenure as Captain, that player would retain the C.

I'd say the way this team has played under Dumont means you shouldn't change a good thing.

Maybe the plan is next year the players will make the decision on who they think was the best leader after experiencing the Satan's, Dumont's, Briere's, Drury's, etc. with the C.

Those capable of leading are all getting a kick at the can.

[PUCKER]

Good for him! :angel2:

[unklechucky]

If its not broke why fix it?

[thegame]

I love this move. I'm not sure about Tree as an Assistant though. We'll see.

[LALAFONTAINE]

They are interviewing Briere after tonite's game. He called tonite's game embarrassing and refused to make excuses. I'm liking it!

[Napalm]

It was embarrassing. What more could he say?

[LALAFONTAINE]

He was offered the excuse of "You were off from playing for a long time, did that have an effect?" from a reporter.

Briere could have used that, but he said, on the contrary, other teams have had a long rest and beaten us. He changed it to being a reason for winning.

The big reason Dixon Ward was such a great interview was that he was honest.

It'll be interesting to see how we respond to Briere's leadership.

[Thumper]

That's a good thing to hear from Briere.

BUT, we see how the team responds to Dumont with the C, and it was in a good way.

I'm not sure about Ruff changing that. It's too soon to tell.

[LALAFONTAINE]

I thought Dumont should have kept it too, but Briere has been the most vocal of the bunch. Robitaille made the point about Briere having something to prove because he's been released, let go, given up on so many times, so that may inspire him to great leadership. Whether the good interview gets transfered to play shall be seen.

At the end of the season, we will have 7 guys who were captains and became leaders to the extent of their abilities. I don't see a Dumont or Briere suddenly stopping being a leader when the C is off their jerseys. However, the C on their jerseys seems to be inspiring leadership. I think this was a really good move for the long term.

Who should be the captain for March? I would not mind seeing McKee get it, to see if he can recover his old self.