Painful

I have avoided writing this one. Partially out of denial, partially because it is so easy to pile on. But... well, now is the time.

This Sabres team is broken. Not broken in the sense that there are poor players or coaching. I am talking broken in the spiritual sense. I had not, I admit, seen this coming. sure all of the signs were there, especially the ones in neon lights (see Briere and Drury leaving). I thought that Miller, Gaustad, Campbell would pick up the slack. I truly did. What I have seen is an unemotional team going through the motions on most nights. I acknowledge they picked it up big time in the past two games against the Bruins and Leafs, but no one was home to score those clutch goals that They-who-shall-not-be-named used to score.

Who is to blame? Yes it starts with Regier. He was wrong, pure and simple. There is still time to right the ship but the fix is going to be expensive in the way of prospects. There are players to be had, players that can fill the Drury/Briere roles but they are going to cost Buffalo some of their exquisite depth and prized prospects.

Lindy doesn't get off easy here either. For the first time ever Lindy seems at a loss. I think part of it is a sense of betrayal. I know if I had signed a new 3 year deal at less than market value and then had my veteran leaders stripped I would feel betrayed too. I can't help but sense that it has seeped into his thinking and the room as a whole.

Tom Golisano gets a bite of the apple too. He has done tons of good while here in Buffalo, but anyone who listened to the fans and read the news knew that bringing one of those two back was critical to the perception of this team, if nothing else. Now this team must win in order to draw. Losing Briere and Drury destroyed any grace period this town was willing to give. Tom, as a business man, you should have known better than that.

The players. The players have been downright awful. What shakes me is this unwillingness to take ownership of the team. Instead of grasping the leadership role they have played hot-potato with it. It may have something to do with the fact that being the captain of this team is akin to a death sentence. Ruff's rotating captaincy has been criticized. i think it is more of a result of a locker room waiting for the other guy. A true team would DEMAND and push forward a captain. Yet, they sit back and let the opportunity sail by. This leads me to believe that the role needs to be filled from the outside. I don't know who that guy is, but he better be found and brought in soon.

Peca Wants Buffalo But......

According to the Buffalo News article today Buffalo doesn't want him. Don Meehan says he called Darcy to indicate Peca's desire to play in Buffalo. He said Regier indicated to him that they weren't interested and were going to keep the team building in-house. Oddly, Regier denies speaking to Meehan about Peca (here we go again?).

On the surface it seems like a good move for the Sabres. Peca would definitely help fill the hole left by Chris Drury. This could simply be a situation were Regier feels that Peca is done and just isn't good enough. If that is the case, so be it. If he still can play I think it would be a great move to help heal some of the wounds incurred in recent weeks by the Sabres' (mis?)-management.

Interestingly, yesterday in a post on the Billszone Sabres' message board poster Coach Sal (via poster Dr. Lecter). Coach Sal states that Regier is still upset with Peca and wouldn't sign him unless there was an apology for statements and treat of Regier by Peca during the dispute many years ago. Apparently money isn't a problem. Furthermore, he reports a sit-down with Sabres management over coffee. Whether or not Peca apologized is not clear.

So that raises the question. Is this a case where Peca isn't good enough or one where Regier is holding grudge? I hope it isn't the latter. Personal feelings need to exorcised from Sabres' negotiations and the right thing needs to be done. Hopefully any decision to sign or not sign Peca is a true hockey decision. The Sabres and their fans deserve that.

I Go to Disney World for 1 Week....

and all hell breaks loose in Buffalo! It must have been the mouse! I think it is fair to say this is one of the worst weeks in Sabres' history. About the only two things that even compare are Tim Horton's car accident and the entire Rigas/Bankruptcy saga. I am still digesting everything but my first impression is:

Darcy Regier is looking like an idiot.

More to follow..

Darcy Regier's the one man to blame for Sabres' potential losses of Briere and Drury...

Less than a day until one of the most exciting times of the hockey world's year.

Tomorrow, on July 1st 2007, promises to be an even better showing of the unrestricted free-agent party than its 2006 version.

Big names like Chris Drury, Daniel Briere, Scott Gomez, Sheldon Souray, Ryan Smyth, Paul Kariya, Peter Forsberg, Scott Hannan, Roman Hamrlik and last but maybe the least, Alexei Yashin, are the creme of this year's unrestricted free-agent class and nearly all seem to be ready to sign with new teams.

And in less than 24 hours, the Sabres may have to face reality and possibly lose both Chris Drury and Daniel Briere.

Drury and Briere held the C for this year's version of the Buffalo Sabres, and both had career years with Drury setting a high in points (69) and goals (37).
Meanwhile, Briere surpassed his fantastic but short 2005-2006 season and his previous "career year " of 2003-2004 by scoring 95 points, 32 of them being goals and 65 helpers.

You could argue their offensive success was due to the fact that the team has so much depth and so many quality forwards available to them on their sides, or that both were looking to cash big at tomorrow's much anticipated event.

Chris Drury was for the most part of the 2006-2007 season expected by media and fans alike to be the one Darcy Regier "chooses" in the two-man Sabre saga.
That same saga that captured almost everyone's focus during the year rendered guys like Scott Gomez, Paul Kariya and Sheldon Souray seem like second-rate.

However, reports near the end of the season and heading into the playoffs became stronger and stronger and indicated that Darcy Regier may even have a tough time keeping one of the two, that both could command up to $7 million should they hit the open market.

As the playoffs wore on, Chris Drury made it easy for Regier to make his choice, putting up 8 goals and a total of 13 points in 16 contests while his counterpart in the two-man battle, Daniel Briere, put up more points than he did but felt unpolished in many ways.
He felt unpolished when it came to leadership and didn't lead his team when it needed it the most, especially in the Ottawa series, when he looked totally lost on the ice and made me think on more than a few occasions "Where the heck is Daniel Briere?"

His offensive game was also lacking the same zip it had in the regular season, and managed only 3 goals, and that might have been the factor to this blogger's disappointment in him.

The 12 assists number is also very deceiving; at a glance, you first think: "gee that's good" but if you seriously watched the games, then you realized that most of them meant nothing and only a few really were game-breakers.

Briere had a good series against the Rangers, but completely faded away against Ottawa, while Chris Drury stood tall till the end, and this might lift up more than a few lids...like a true captain.
I said it before, I think Briere had leadership issues in the playoffs, or UFA status was clouding his mind or whatever, something didn't click and down Buffalo went in 5 against the Senators.
And if rumours are true, that a Briere-Drury lockeroom fight occurred over a few harsh words spoken by Briere in the lockeroom, then so long, happy trails!

It truly is sad to think that the Sabres might lose both of them and get nothing back, nothing at all, imagine how the team will play next year potentially without its two captains and two of its top scorers?

Not very good I assume.

But anyhow, I'm sure Darcy Regier now regrets not signing Briere to that 5-year $25 million contract he wanted last year, and having the same offer rejected by him this year.

Chris Drury?

I'm not so sure about his status right now, but I assume he would likely be willing to take a "hometown" discount and remain with the same team that traded Steven Reinprecht and Rhett Warrener to get him (which at this point seems pathetically shallow on the Flames' side).
There's pretty strong speculation that he will part ways from Buffalo and sign with a California-based team, rumoured to be the Los Angeles Kings.
All this while Briere would look for greener pastures in the towns of Philadelphia, with buddy Martin Biron, or in Montreal, where the media is already building the barrier that would keep him out and raise my blood pressure.

As I said in the beginning, tomorrow should be a very interesting and most certainly eventful day, and Buffalo Sabres fans should prepare for major disappointment and lament their close to certain losses of the beloved Chris Drury and the 95-point man in Daniel Briere.

The loss of a captain, a leader and of such a complete player that is Drury, may wind up hurting the Sabres real bad, on and off the ice.
I'm sure Derek Roy can carry the load once Briere is gone, and he may even end up doing better than the latter.

And to end this prequel to tomorrow's live-blog event, I blame Darcy Regier for keeping this until the last minute and not bending his ways of not negotiating contracts in the regular season and here's the fatal result: losing Daniel Briere and/or Chris Drury.

Until tomorrow...

Check out this full "per team" list of 2007's NHL free agents.

--BBR

Briere and Drury Appear To Be Gone WIth The Wind

In a move that seems shocking to even the most pessimistic Sabres fan it appears Darcy Regier is prepared to let Danny Briere and Chris Drury go without a fight. Agents for both players report little or no contact in the way of negotiations with the Sabres' general manager. With each passing day it appears less and less likely the Sabres will be able to retain either of their co-captains. Also, Danbius Zubrus' agent reports no contact at all with the Sabres in regards to a new contract.

This is not a unique situation as in that Regier doesn't seem to like to make token offers to players just to stay in the game. He does have a tendency to work late and come in with the last/best offer in many of his negotiations. He has utilized similar tactics in situations involving Mike Peca, Jay Mckee, Mike Grier and numerous prospects. It has mnet with, at best, mixed results.

My hope is that Regier goes to the players and at least requests a chance to match the best offer they receive. Unfortunately, the message that the tactic sends probably isn't one that leads a player to have faith in the progression of the team. When you factor in the captaincy of each player it is probably deemed more as insulting.

If Regier has simply turned the page and intends to move forward without the co-captains I wish he would just come out and say so and then move forward in restructuring this team. He and Ruff alluded to that when they signed their new deals. Unfortunately, Chris Drury seems like a cog that would be needed in a more defensive, tight checking style of game.

At any rate, Regier's inaction, at the least, has Sabres' fans on edge and the pessimists running rampant. My simple request of Darcy is this: do something!

Ruff and Regier Back For More

Sorry I haven't posted. It has been a crazy ole time here in Buffalo. Anyway. General Manager Darcy Regier agreed to a two-year deal and Head Coach agreed to a three-year deal with an option year to return to the Sabres. Interestingly, both acknowledged they took under market-value deals to return. On face value this would seem to indicate a significant comfort level with the current Sabres organization. Hopefully this will translate into a willingness by owner Tom Golisano to pay top dollar to keep the franchise competitive.

Ruff and Regier Agree to New Deals

Multiple news outlets in Buffalo and Canada are reporting that the Sabres have reached agreements on newcontracts with General Manager Darcy Regier and Head Coach Lindy Ruff. More news to follow as details become clearer.

Prospect Note:

- The Sabres signed Defense prospect Marc-Andre Gragnani on the last day prior to the deadline for signing 2005 draftees. Gragnani, who was drafted 87th overall that year is thought of as a highly skilled offensive defenseman with very good powerplay skills. The Sabres declined to sign Branislav Fabry and Phillipe Gogulla who were also at their signing deadline.

Regier Goes All In.

Buffalo Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier is a cautious man.
For his supporters this penchant for caution is his greatest asset. His detractors cite it as his greatest weakness. Whatever your view may be on Darcy Regier he is a man unafraid to go against the conventional wisdom, a dangerous proposition in professional sports management in the days of ESPN and the Internet. As you may recall Regier decided to hold on to Goaltender Martin Biron last year at the deadline only to see Biron be unnecessary for the playoff run and the Sabres victimized by an astonishing rash of defenseman injuries that may have cost them the Stanley Cup.

Taking the expected criticism in stride, Regier cautiously moved about his business in the off season and allowed veteran team leaders like Mike Grier, J.P. Dumont and Jay Mckee to leave and again deciding against trading Biron, instead electing to keep his young core together. It appears to have paid off as at the time of this writing the Sabres have the second best record in the league and have the highest scoring team.

One would think that a General Manager in that position could rest comfortably approaching the trade deadline. Not Darcy Regier. Another incredible spate of injuries has put eight regular players in the press box including team co-captain Chris Drury. Though youngsters from the Rochester Americans like Drew Stafford, Clarke Macarthur and Patrick Kaleta have filled the void admirably it appears that Regier realized that caution was the risky move this year and he decided to play some big cards in order to make the run. In fact the Sabres, due to injury call ups, found themselves actually over the cap on deadline day morning.

On deadline day morning Regier gained some much needed cap room by dealing perennial fan favorite Biron to the hated rival Philadelphia Flyers for what appears to be the first pick in the second round of the draft. He followed this move up by acquiring fallen Goaltender prospect Ty Conklin from Columbus Blue Jackets and defenseman Mikko Lehtonen from Nashville for 5th and 4th round picks respectively. The cleared cap room set the table for Regier's biggest move. He packaged Buffalo's #1 pick in the 2007 Entry Draft and young centerman Jiri Novotny to the Washington Capitals for gifted, yet sometimes enigmatic, forward Danius Zubrus and minor league defenseman Timmo Helbling.

To say such a deadline move is out of character for Regier wouldn't be totally true, he did get Joe Juneau and Donald Audette for the cup run in 1999, rare would probably be the correct term. It is just very unusual to see Regier-led Buffalo team not have a back up plan if Miller goes down with an injury. For Regier working without that safety net must be disconcerting, almost akin to trying to not breathe, but it seems a testament to his belief in this team. He will have all of the front line players back for the cup run and has supplemented them with another very good offensive weapon. He has also given the team some defensive depth for the cup run. One can argue he has built the best team in hockey. But.... one freak bounce, one collision, one Ryan Miller injury could shatter it all. He threw out a Jack in Martin Biron. Darcy Regier has laid it all on the table. He is banking it all on the fact that in Danius Zubrus he drew an Ace.