Also in this column: why the Flyers still suck
This moment may have seemed inevitable, but it still is an emotional sting when a beloved Sabre cuts his ties with the blue and gold.
In this case, it's Daniel Briere who has traded in his slug uniform for 52 million dollars and a chance to play for one of the league's worse teams for 8 years (well, I guess the Flyers could get better, but I'm guessing not and I'll explain this more later).
It seems the Sabres low-balled Briere with the 5-year 25 million dollar deal they offered him earlier in the week. The unfortunate irony here is that if they had offered that to him last year he would still be a Sabre and not in the "Screw you Darcy Regier" Club with Marty Biron. This is not to say that Reiger has done a bad job, because he actually has been one of the best, if not the best GM in the league. He built and helped develop this awesome President's Cup winning roster. But when we look back his body of work in a few years, his downfall may prove to be summed up with the mention of one faithful day. That day being today, July 1, 2007.
Of course, today could be the doomsday in Buffalo, but there is still hope. For starters, the Sabres are still a young, supremely talented squad with a clutch Star goalie (ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Ryan Miller), and one of the best coaches in the game (take a bow Lindy Ruff, Bryan Murray wishes he had the skills you do). And as of now (5 pm on Sunday), there's still a chance that Captain Clutch himself will still resign with Buffalo. Rampant speculation is that Drury will sign with a west coast team, but I'm still holding out hope that Drury wants to be the guy to bring the Cup to Buffalo. He still hasn't rejected Buffalo's secretive offer to him and maybe if he sees plans to turn City Hall into a giant Stanley Cup replica then that will be the clincher to stay.
And of course, this could all be moot before I'm even done typing this column. So what does Buffalo do if they lose their second captain?
They can always pursue Ryan Smyth. He's a guy with enough heart, skill and ambition to became our newest Chris Drury. Seeing Smyth in a Swords uniform would be the closest thing to erasing the pain of losing two of the most revered hockey players this area has seen in a while. It would almost be like having Daniel Craig replace Pierce Bronson as James Bond. Sure, it seems like the wrong move but in the end, things could get better, the Casino Royale version of the Sabres may even trump the old,loved Goldeneye version of the Sabres (and I'm not going into any Sean Connery version of the Sabres, there's just no need for it).
Still, signing Smyth probably is as likely as getting Drury to resign. In this case, there's not much Buffalo can or should attempt to do in free agency. They could still go after a tough, rugged defensemen (they need some grit in the playoffs) and maybe try to add a player with good size and skill (Zubrus would be a logical choice to stay with the Sabres). And the only other thing to do is pray, pray that their young talent will take it to the next level and the 2007-08 Sabres will be that team that appears worse than the past few years, even struggle a bit, but they put it together in the postseason and some how win a title (you know the type, right 2006 St. Louis Cardinals?).
Before I end this, I wanted to finish my above thoughts and the Philadelphia Flyers. They'll certainly be better next year but when has signing a way several key players from a great team ever won a championship? Ever? Not that I can recall. Stealing away two players from a hated rival may seem like a surefire way to weaken the enemy and create a buzz around your franchise, but I don;t see the aging tandem of Briere and Biron putting the Flyers past the Sabres. In fact, it reminds me a lot of the Bills grabbing Bledsoe and Milloy away from the Patriots. That worked out as well Gobots. Wait, you don't remember Gobots? They were a cheap rip-off of the Transformers. And that's all the Flyers will be, a cheap rip-off of the Sabres.
Now, I just hope I won't be biting my tongue when Gobots the movie comes out next summer.
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