Just When It Couldn't Get Any Worse for Sabres' fans...this!

Still reeling from the loss of their two captains and the massive contract received by Thomas Vanek Sabres' fans got some news that was even worse. They found out that it appears that Darcy Regier and Larry Quinn are acting like nothing more than two bit con men.

Fans woke up to the Sunday morning Buffalo News to find:

"This isn’t meant to ruin your Sunday breakfast, but the Buffalo Sabres keep digging their hole deeper and deeper. They can no longer blame the media or the Edmonton Oilers or the collective bargaining agreement for their dizzying week of mismanagement loaded with halftruths and spin control.

Now, an agent, Pat Brisson, is stepping forward with enough gumption to say publicly what people suspected all along, that managing partner Larry Quinn wasn’t telling the whole truth last week. Quinn claimed General Manager Darcy Regier called Brisson, who represents Daniel Briere, and never received a return phone call.

“For the record, Darcy Regier did call Pat Brisson in January,” Quinn said Friday. “There was no offer back to us about any kind of discount or anything. So I think we ought to make the record clear on that. If there had been and everybody came together and said, ‘Let’s all chip in,’ we would have tried to figure out a way.”

According to Brisson, the Sabres never called his office at any point during the season. In fact, he hadn’t heard from them since last summer, the day before Briere was awarded a one-year contract worth $5 million. Brisson at the time was pressing the Sabres to sign Briere to a five year deal worth $25 million, which the Sabres rejected."

Nothing like one of the most respected agents in hockey saying your team's leadership is a bunch of phonies and liars. This follows Buffalo News Sabres' writer Bucky Gleason's revelation that the Sabres had an agreement in place on Drury this fall (told you!!!) and failed to act on it.

Here are excerpts from that article.

"Right when you thought the news couldn't get much worse coming from HSBC Arena, we come to find out that Chris Drury actually accepted a contract offer from the Buffalo Sabres that would have kept him around for a tad more than $5 million a year. And what did the Sabres do? Nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch.


Drury agreed to a four-year deal worth $21.5 million last fall. He waited and waited . . . and waited . . . for the Sabres to send the contract to his agent so he could sign the bottom line. Days passed without hearing from the Sabres. Then it was weeks. Still, nothing. Finally, he started having second thoughts. "

The Sabres, of course, deny this. But I have a tough time swallowing that Chris Drury, the classiest Sabre in decades and Steve Brisson, and Danny Briere and Mike Grier have it all wrong and are actually making it up out of spite.

You have to wonder what is next? I would be unhappy, but respect, the sabres decision if they simply had decided to change direction. This, this makes no sense at all. This is a perfectly illustrated scenario for why the Sabres are one of the least respected organizations in hockey.

I must admit I really feel for Lindy Ruff. He just went from the catbird seat to the outhouse in days flat. He sounded at a loss and in shock after losing both of his captains and the vast overpayment of Vanek. He definitely sounded like a guy who would have much rather been someplace else. He deserves far better than this.

The thing that is strange is that Tom Golisano is such a class guy. I find it hard to believe he could tolerate this. The next week could be very interesting. A few weeks ago I decried the Sens firing of John Muckler. Unfortunately, this series of 'decisions' by the tandem of Quinn and Regier could be far more devastating.

I say that it is time for Quinn and Regier to go. This town has suffered enough. The last thing Buffalo needs is two more con men in charge.

Vanek Situation Creates Tense Times in Buffalo

Reports are starting to filter out of Canada and Philadelphia that the Flyers intend to make a sizable offer sheet to Buffalo Sabres restricted free agent Thomas Vanek. Vanek, who led the NHL in plus-minus, led the Sabres in goals with 43 and was named a Second Team NHL All-Star. Now in the big scheme of things, a player with those type of credentials deserves that type of money. Unfortunately, this type of contract concern is gigantic when it comes to a 23 year-old forward who is the cornerstone of the Sabres future. Already saddled with the likely enormous demands of free agent co-captains Danny Briere and Chris Drury the conventional wisdom is that Vanel would get mid-range money for 4 years and then score big as an unrestricted free agent in his next contract.

The reality appears to be that instead of having "affordable" young stars for two contracts team will have to pay top dollar almost immediately. This seems counter intuitive to what people expected from the Salary Cap era. It is quite possible that the Salary Cap era could end up being the death of small markets as opposed to their saving grace.

In my estimation, this has changed the entire dynamic of the Sabres off-season. I believe that Vanek has to be priority one. If they lose him it sets the franchise back years. Sure losing Briere, Drury or both would be awful, but losing Vanek would be devastating, he is that good.

I imagine teams all over will be watching this situation very closely and more offer sheets to other young stars could follow.