Stoner Posted February 3, 2006 Report Posted February 3, 2006 February 3, 1993 The Sabres trade Dave Andreychuk, Daren Puppa and their first-round draft choice in 1993 (Kenny Jonsson) to Toronto for Grant Fuhr and the Leafs' fifth-round pick in 1995 (Kevin Popp). That night, Fuhr gets the start in goal, but Alexander Mogilny steals the thunder by scoring his 50th goal of the season. The goal at the Aud comes late in regulation time to give the Sabres a 3-2 win over the Hartford Whalers. February 3, 2003 Mark Hamister and Todd Berman run out of time to put together a deal to buy the Sabres. "I still think the Buffalo Sabres are important, but I couldn't pull it off," Hamister said. Tom Golisano says he is willing to resume negotiations.
shrader Posted February 3, 2006 Report Posted February 3, 2006 February 3, 2003Mark Hamister and Todd Berman run out of time to put together a deal to buy the Sabres. "I still think the Buffalo Sabres are important, but I couldn't pull it off," Hamister said. Tom Golisano says he is willing to resume negotiations. This could very easily go down as the greatest event in Sabres history.
jp... Posted February 3, 2006 Report Posted February 3, 2006 I was talking to a beer salesman at the last game and i was wearing my May jersey...he mentioned that the Sabres had the choice to include either Andreychuk or May in the deal and choose Dave... :blink: Now i don't know if that is true or not, but that surprises me... Not complaining though...even though Dave went on to Toronto to score over 50 goals, Mayday wouldn't have happened... It was the first round pick that i always thought was way too much...although we probably would have drafted another Joel Savage anyway...
Stoner Posted February 3, 2006 Author Report Posted February 3, 2006 Interesting observation. It's easy to give Golisano a lot of credit for the team's success, but what has he done that Hamister's group wouldn't have done? IMHO it's way too early to say what kind of owner Golisano is going to be.
shrader Posted February 3, 2006 Report Posted February 3, 2006 Interesting observation. It's easy to give Golisano a lot of credit for the team's success, but what has he done that Hamister's group wouldn't have done? IMHO it's way too early to say what kind of owner Golisano is going to be. The key word was could. Anyway, the Hamister group was nothing but trouble. They didn't have the money and weren't they asking for a large state handout? If they had been given the team, I'm willing to bet that the Sabres would've gone the way of the Destroyers. Hamister's group was a death sentence.
fushetti Posted February 3, 2006 Report Posted February 3, 2006 Interesting observation. It's easy to give Golisano a lot of credit for the team's success, but what has he done that Hamister's group wouldn't have done? IMHO it's way too early to say what kind of owner Golisano is going to be. PA, Golisano transformed an organization with just bad overall culture and has made it a winner. I dunno when the last trip up to a game from Bradford was, but going to a game this year and even in 03-04 as opposed to the games in the late 90's early 2000's have a different feel. Its almost as the Sabres are embracing their fans and making the team more accessible. Example number 1 is the Sabres website. Its far and away better than the crap churned out there in previous regimes. Variable ticket prices is another example. Overall, my point is, PR for the Sabres has been vastly improved.
Stoner Posted February 3, 2006 Author Report Posted February 3, 2006 Well, winning makes a genius of everyone, so I don't have a leg to stand on in questioning Golisano the least bit. I still say it's too early to make statements like you made. Retaining the management and coaching staff and suppressing payroll was hardly the most inspired plan, but who can argue with success? Actually, if Regier was building this team from 2001 on with the "new NHL" in mind, then of course he deserves the lion's share of credit.
shrader Posted February 3, 2006 Report Posted February 3, 2006 Well, winning makes a genius of everyone, so I don't have a leg to stand on in questioning Golisano the least bit. I still say it's too early to make statements like you made. Retaining the management and coaching staff and suppressing payroll was hardly the most inspired plan, but who can argue with success? Actually, if Regier was building this team from 2001 on with the "new NHL" in mind, then of course he deserves the lion's share of credit. There really is no way of backing up what I said, but I strongly believe that this team would not have lasted more than 5 years if Hammister had taken over. Golisano has provided financial stability that the other group could never have done.
PTS Posted February 3, 2006 Report Posted February 3, 2006 The only bad thing about Hamister not getting the team was that I had a job lined up with the Sabres to run their internet department. Now we have to use their horrid website. But I'll take that trade any day of the week because Hamister would have bailed on the team as soon as the first bad financial report came in.
Taro T Posted February 3, 2006 Report Posted February 3, 2006 There really is no way of backing up what I said, but I strongly believe that this team would not have lasted more than 5 years if Hammister had taken over. Golisano has provided financial stability that the other group could never have done. Hamister and Berman were severely underfunded and expected the taxpayers to pick up about $40MM - $47MM. (Golisano's bid called for ~$17MM in public money.) Basically, H&B were looking to buy the team with public money as their bid was (as near as I can tell) for ~$33MM. After H&B withdrew, Berman was quoted "(t)he lack of government assistance has greatly reduced the attractiveness of this investment in keeping with our traditional investment goals." So basically, without the public buying him the team, he didn't want it and couldn't afford it. Hamister was also quoted as basically needing the public to buy his new toy. "I will quietly look for a replacement partner. I will quietly look for a government solution. If I can do that, you might hear from me again." I don't know much about Mark Hamister, but his decision to move the Destroyers out of Buffalo after he couldn't buy the Sabres struck me as fairly petty. (Strictly my opinion.) Tom Golisano has been a solid owner to this point IMHO and I think the Sabres future would have been much less secure had Hamister's bid been chosen. (Can anyone say "New York Islanders"?)
Sabresince70 Posted February 3, 2006 Report Posted February 3, 2006 Having a wierd sense of wanting strange things associated with the sabres, I was actually able to buy a copy of the bankruptcy papers, and some of the papers associated with the sale of the sabres, off of e-bay (the seller was/is a reporter from the area and also put in media notes/guides from the 99 cup run). It is hard to imagine that anyone else could have offered what TG was offering and commit to the sabres the way he did. Certainly the new CBA is in his favor, but that was not a guarantee at that time. He also was purchasing a highly underachieving team that, in all likely hood, would not be playing (strike) one year after he got it. As I've said before, if he chooses to keep payroll low, get more revenue from jersey/color changes (even charge an extra 50 cents for dogs/sodas...whatever) I can't blame him, at least there are still Sabres to root for. Appearently that was something the other guys couldn't do. (I'm not putting them down, I'm just very grateful that he did what he did). My then 8 year old daughter sking me who I was going to root for when there was no more Sabres hit home. I remember looking at her and saying it might have to be whoever Hershey's affiliate is (Avs) since that is what started me on the SAabres. I'm glad I didn't have to decide.)
LabattBlue Posted February 3, 2006 Report Posted February 3, 2006 February 3, 2003 Mark Hamister and Todd Berman run out of time to put together a deal to buy the Sabres. "I still think the Buffalo Sabres are important, but I couldn't pull it off," Hamister said. Tom Golisano says he is willing to resume negotiations. In case anyone is wondering, here is what happened to Hamister's "money man" Todd Berman... http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/Press%20Rele...0chartwell'
Toddkaz Posted February 4, 2006 Report Posted February 4, 2006 that is funny I guess that shows the direction we would of went :blink:
Corp000085 Posted February 4, 2006 Report Posted February 4, 2006 The only bad thing about Hamister not getting the team was that I had a job lined up with the Sabres to run their internet department. Now we have to use their horrid website. But I'll take that trade any day of the week because Hamister would have bailed on the team as soon as the first bad financial report came in. Don't feel too bad. I've only been there two times. the first was to sift through and find the morning skate podcast link, the second was to sift through and find the shootout podcast link
Stoner Posted February 4, 2006 Author Report Posted February 4, 2006 This is an interesting question. What do fans want from the official site anyway? Downloading a PDF of the media guide is nice. Order tickets and merchandise. What else? Maybe way back when, the official site served some need for information for the fan, but as the Internet has matured, fan sites such as this one have made the official site almost irrelevant.
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