J.P. Dumont

[Goodfella25]

Please explain. What was Briere supposed to sign for that would have made Dumont affordable.

 

Oh I'm not saying that somehow Briere maliciously went to arbitration to screw Dumont over. He took it to arbitration and he got a big payday, and so the Sabres had to decide what to do. They knew that if they signed Briere, Dumont was a goner based on what he would be awarded at arbitration. They basically had to decide between the two--so they picked Briere, and one year later he was gone. The rest is history.

[tom webster]

Oh I'm not saying that somehow Briere maliciously went to arbitration to screw Dumont over. He took it to arbitration and he got a big payday, and so the Sabres had to decide what to do. They knew that if they signed Briere, Dumont was a goner based on what he would be awarded at arbitration. They basically had to decide between the two--so they picked Briere, and one year later he was gone. The rest is history.

 

Unless he signed for less then $3 million per, they couldn't have signed JP unless, of course, they told Timmy to wait for his contract until he was cleared to play or correctly picked JP over Ales.

[nfreeman]

[/b]

I think is was more the lack of leadership he showed. The Sabre wanted Danny to be the leader of the franchise and he went for the cash grab. The Sabres were put off by the disloyalty. Consider a couple seasons prior Briere was working his way out of the NHL and the Sabres gave him a second chance in a system that allowed him to flourish. It was during that process that Sabres learned B-Rod was not the man they thought he was and his future with the team woudl not go beyond his contractual obligations. IMO, the Sabre are a better team for it. I look at Ryan Miller who took less than what he would have received on the open market to be a Sabre and a leader. I'll always have more respect for Miller than B-Rod because of that. Sure B-rod was within his rights and the rules. That is not and never was the bigger issue.

 

What is this statement based on? I've never seen a single quote from anyone from the Sabres to this effect. While you may have been put off by the "disloyalty" you perceive, that doesn't mean the Sabres were. And to say the Sabres are better off now without having Briere locked up at $5 million x 5 years than they would be with him is simply to deny reality.

 

Sheer incompetence on management's part is a much more plausible explanation than being put off by any putative disloyalty. And the sooner we as fans call it what it was, the less likely it is to recur.

[deluca67]

So again, the issue changes. It wasn't the money, just the disloyalty.

Glad to see you are on record as saying that Miller took less then he could have gotten. Apparently you and Larry figured out the hometown discount thing exists at about the same time.

One final thing, the fact that Phoenix was ready to run him out of the league less then a half of a season after his breakout year says more about them then him.

I doubt teams were breaking down the GM's doors in Phoenix to acquire B-Rod. If they were they could have gotten much more than a Chris Gratton.

[deluca67]

What is this statement based on? I've never seen a single quote from anyone from the Sabres to this effect. While you may have been put off by the "disloyalty" you perceive, that doesn't mean the Sabres were. And to say the Sabres are better off now without having Briere locked up at $5 million x 5 years than they would be with him is simply to deny reality.

 

Sheer incompetence on management's part is a much more plausible explanation than being put off by any putative disloyalty. And the sooner we as fans call it what it was, the less likely it is to recur.

Isn't it about time everyone put the "incompetent" tag away when it comes to the Sabres management? You don't go to consecutive Conference Finals and win a Presidents' Trophy by being incompetent. As much as I have hated the Sabres off-season to date I can't consider them incompetent.

 

And really, are were going back to the imaginary Bucky $5 X 5 contract? Didn't we laugh that to death months a go. $5million for a 70 point player who gives you nothing in the defensive zone would have damaged the team. Jason Pominville's & Derick Roy's prices would have sky rocketed, all they would have to do is point to B-Rod getting $5 mil for half a game. I'm glad the Sabres have the money to to sign Roy and Pominville (hopefully before the season starts) . I would hate to lose quality two way players due to wasted cap space.

[nfreeman]

Isn't it about time everyone put the "incompetent" tag away when it comes to the Sabres management? You don't go to consecutive Conference Finals and win a Presidents' Trophy by being incompetent. As much as I have hated the Sabres off-season to date I can't consider them incompetent.

 

And really, are were going back to the imaginary Bucky $5 X 5 contract? Didn't we laugh that to death months a go. $5million for a 70 point player who gives you nothing in the defensive zone would have damaged the team. Jason Pominville's & Derick Roy's prices would have sky rocketed, all they would have to do is point to B-Rod getting $5 mil for half a game. I'm glad the Sabres have the money to to sign Roy and Pominville (hopefully before the season starts) . I would hate to lose quality two way players due to wasted cap space.

 

are you seriously denying that the sabres were guilty of gross incompetence in the Drury/Briere/Soupy situations? I don't really care to recite the facts yet again, but certainly the best that can be said about the sabres and those situations is that HOPEFULLY they have learned from their mistakes.

 

are you denying that Briere would've signed for $5 million x 5 years in the summer of 2006? Any later than that, I agree with you that 5x5 is BS, but that summer he would've signed that contract.

 

are you denying that Briere had 58 pts in 48 games in 2005-06 and 95 pts in 81 games in 2006-07?

 

and, I like Pommer and Roy too, but are you denying that they and their multifaceted games led the Sabres into the dumper last year, while Briere AGAIN went to the conf. finals and AGAIN led his team in playoff scoring?

[FogBat]

I'll take this in another direction. I still f-ing hate the senators. Ray "Boom Boom" Emery is an AHL goalie at best who got lucky with a great team in front of him one year. Watching him get sunburned sitting on his stupid hummer crashing butt will forever make me smile. The NHL will sorely miss this a$$hat of biblical proportions.

Well, since you mentioned that, do you think the KHL will regret bringing him over to Russia?

 

Emery might get a quick wake-up call about "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Russian police, from what I understand, aren't the same as the OPP or the RCMP.

[carpandean]

and, I like Pommer and Roy too, but are you denying that they and their multifaceted games led the Sabres into the dumper last year, while Briere AGAIN went to the conf. finals and AGAIN led his team in playoff scoring?

I really hate statements like this. Do you really think that if you swapped Roy and Briere (the Briere-Pommer swap is a little different because we needed another center badly) last year that we'd have made the ECF and Philly would have been on the outside looking in? When Danny went to the ECFs here, we had three (plus a little Timmy) centers capable of playing on a top two line (Drury, Briere, Roy), while last year we had one and a half. Last year, he was on team with at least that many top-line centers and a better/more physical defense. The Sabres lost Briere, Drury and Teppo from their ECF team, while Philly changed half a roster. Sure, Briere helped Philly, but did he actually help more than Derek or Jason helped us? Did they get as much help from the rest of our team as he did from his? Do you think he'll help them more over his contract than Roy will in his six seasons here? I'll take a multifaceted point-per-game player over a one-sided point-per-game player any day, especially when the former is just starting his career and the latter is probably about as good as he will get.

[nfreeman]

I really hate statements like this. Do you really think that if you swapped Roy and Briere (the Briere-Pommer swap is a little different because we needed another center badly) last year that we'd have made the ECF and Philly would have been on the outside looking in? When Danny went to the ECFs here, we had three (plus a little Timmy) centers capable of playing on a top two line (Drury, Briere, Roy), while last year we had one and a half. Last year, he was on team with at least that many top-line centers and a better/more physical defense. The Sabres lost Briere, Drury and Teppo from their ECF team, while Philly changed half a roster. Sure, Briere helped Philly, but did he actually help more than Derek or Jason helped us? Did they get as much help from the rest of our team as he did from his? Do you think he'll help them more over his contract than Roy will in his six seasons here? I'll take a multifaceted point-per-game player over a one-sided point-per-game player any day, especially when the former is just starting his career and the latter is probably about as good as he will get.

 

I will agree that my statement was an oversimplification, but I also think that if we'd had briere last year and not roy, we would've made the playoffs. I like Roy, but I think to date the "Roy as a leader" theme has been far more hype than substance. And yes, he's a better defensive player than Briere, but he's not nearly as clutch or as good a playmaker or a leader.

 

But the larger point is that it didn't need to be one or the other, and it shouldn't have been. The Sabres' management butchered last summer from start to finish (and I'm including Soupy in that assessment). I think/hope last season gave them a wakeup call, and I think historically they have done much more right than wrong and that this offseason so far has been quite promising, so I'm still generally a supporter of management. However, I don't think last summer's catastrophe should be sugarcoated. They royally crapped the bed. They screwed up the Drury situation like bozos, and then, instead of taking a breath and making the best out of a bad situation, they hid under the bed for the next 4 months. They kneecapped a team that should've been in the final 4 every year until we won a cup or 2, and now a lot is going to have to go right for us to get back. That's just the truth.

[Taro T]

I will agree that my statement was an oversimplification, but I also think that if we'd had briere last year and not roy, we would've made the playoffs. I like Roy, but I think to date the "Roy as a leader" theme has been far more hype than substance. And yes, he's a better defensive player than Briere, but he's not nearly as clutch or as good a playmaker or a leader.

 

But the larger point is that it didn't need to be one or the other, and it shouldn't have been. The Sabres' management butchered last summer from start to finish (and I'm including Soupy in that assessment). I think/hope last season gave them a wakeup call, and I think historically they have done much more right than wrong and that this offseason so far has been quite promising, so I'm still generally a supporter of management. However, I don't think last summer's catastrophe should be sugarcoated. They royally crapped the bed. They screwed up the Drury situation like bozos, and then, instead of taking a breath and making the best out of a bad situation, they hid under the bed for the next 4 months. They kneecapped a team that should've been in the final 4 every year until we won a cup or 2, and now a lot is going to have to go right for us to get back. That's just the truth.

Considering that the team only needed to convert 2 L's into W's to get into the playoffs, having Danny in the fold rather than Derek would likely have put them over the threshold. (I still think having Teppo available would have made it a slam dunk, and Chris would have put it there as well, but of players not named Sid or Alex I can't think of a single player I want on the ice in the last 5 minutes when my team is down by a goal more than I'd want Danny.) But if Danny were the only one of the 3 leaders brought back, I think it would have been a very short postseason.

 

Considering the makeup of this team, I prefer having Rivet in the fold over Soupy; though there are several teams where Soupy would probably be the better choice. (When you throw the contracts into the mix (Soupy's potential Sabres deal and Rivet's actual deal) I definitely prefer having Rivet.)

 

I haven't seen a lot of "sugarcoating" of last summer's "accomplishments". The team wanted to keep Drury and Teppo; it didn't happen. I am looking forward to this season.

[Bmwolf21]

Just looking at it from a purely production perspective - Roy had more goals, assists, points, and a +/- that is eons better than Briere:

 

Roy - 78GP; 32G-49A-81PTS; +13; 6 PPG, 17 PPA, 23 PPP; 3 SHG, 2 SHA, 5 SHP

Briere- 79GP; 31G-41A-72PTS; -22; 14PPG, 23 PPA, 37 PPP; 0 SHG, 1 SHA, 1 SHP

 

The only area where Danny was clearly better than Roy was on the PP.

 

I'd much rather have a more-complete player in Roy than a one-dimensional player like Danny (save the occasional PP or the end of the game, down by one) and if you knew how much I hated Roy's game when he first came up, you'd understand how much that statement means.

[deluca67]

are you seriously denying that the sabres were guilty of gross incompetence in the Drury/Briere/Soupy situations? I don't really care to recite the facts yet again, but certainly the best that can be said about the sabres and those situations is that HOPEFULLY they have learned from their mistakes.

 

are you denying that Briere would've signed for $5 million x 5 years in the summer of 2006? Any later than that, I agree with you that 5x5 is BS, but that summer he would've signed that contract.

 

are you denying that Briere had 58 pts in 48 games in 2005-06 and 95 pts in 81 games in 2006-07?

 

and, I like Pommer and Roy too, but are you denying that they and their multifaceted games led the Sabres into the dumper last year, while Briere AGAIN went to the conf. finals and AGAIN led his team in playoff scoring?

1) The only mistake the Sabres made was with Drury. The other two were simply situations in which the Sabres were not going to overpay players. If the Sabres made any mistake with Briere it was not trading him at the deadline. But since they were going for the Cup the decided against what would have been better for the franchise long term.

 

2) Are you talking the summer he went to arbitration? I sure he would have signed a $5 million contract then. The problem is he wasn't worth $5 million a year.

 

3) 1 & 1/2 really good seasons in contract years. The rest of his career, including last season, he was just a very good offensive player with zero defensive skills. $8 million a season for a player for, a 1 dimensional player, with zero upside is one of the worst contracts in the NHL.

 

4) He didn't lead his team in scoring during the Conference Finals. 1 goal 1 assist and a minus 4. I've broken down Briere's playoff numbers time and time again. He loads up on points in the early rounds and is a no show when the teams need him most.

[tom webster]

Again the debate becomes twisted because the facts don't support the argument.

 

The only question should be, would the Sabres have made the playoffs with Briere on the team last year and would signing him to a $5 million deal per year back in January of '07 have prevented them from signing anybody else they presently have on the roster.

 

I challenge anybody to answer anything but yes and no.

[deluca67]

Just looking at it from a purely production perspective - Roy had more goals, assists, points, and a +/- that is eons better than Briere:

 

Roy - 78GP; 32G-49A-81PTS; +13; 6 PPG, 17 PPA, 23 PPP; 3 SHG, 2 SHA, 5 SHP

Briere- 79GP; 31G-41A-72PTS; -22; 14PPG, 23 PPA, 37 PPP; 0 SHG, 1 SHA, 1 SHP

 

The only area where Danny was clearly better than Roy was on the PP.

 

I'd much rather have a more-complete player in Roy than a one-dimensional player like Danny (save the occasional PP or the end of the game, down by one) and if you knew how much I hated Roy's game when he first came up, you'd understand how much that statement means.

The more I look at comparisons of Roy and Briere the more I feel in a few years there will be no comparison at all. Roy is already a better player than B-Rod and barring injury Roy has the potential to leave B-Rod in the dust. If posters are going to hammer on the Sabres for letting Briere go they should also be ready to give accolades to the Sabres for signing the better player to fair and reasonable contract that already looks like a steal.

[deluca67]

Again the debate becomes twisted because the facts don't support the argument.

 

The only question should be, would the Sabres have made the playoffs with Briere on the team last year and would signing him to a $5 million deal per year back in January of '07 have prevented them from signing anybody else they presently have on the roster.

 

I challenge anybody to answer anything but yes and no.

1) You can't assume anything. You can't assume that if Briere was on the team that Roy and Pominville would have had the years they did. You can't assume that adding a 1 dimensional offensive player makes the Sabres a playoff team.

 

2) Grossly overpaying one player does affect future negotiations with other players. I can't imagine Roy settling for the contract he did with Briere in the locker room making $5 mil.

[SabresFan526]

I really don't understand this. How did a thread about J.P. Dumont scoring the game winning goal in Game 3 of the 2005-2006 Eastern Conference Semifinals turn into a pissing match about Daniel Briere?

 

Also, I don't understand how this is a choice between Dumont and Briere. From what I can tell Briere was awarded $5 million in arbitration, Dumont was awarded $2.9 million in arbitration. Briere's salary does not take up a roster spot or salary that could have been used on Dumont because the Sabres already had an excess at forward. The only guys who were given salaries by Sabres management in the same vicinity as Dumont's award were Kotalik, Connolly, and Afinogenov. And the only person on this team right now that has a salary cap number of $2.9 million is Tim Connolly NOT Danny Briere. Even if the Sabres negotiated a long term deal at $4.5 million/year with Briere (which according to the rumors on this page was as high as the Sabres were going during negotiations), that $500K would still not have been enough to keep Dumont around as the Sabres spent to the maximum of the cap and still could not afford Dumont's arbitration award and have enough money to sign Ryan Miller to an extension as he was also an RFA that summer and was signed after Dumont's arbitration hearing. So, everyone needs to just stop saying that Briere prevented us from keeping Dumont. No, Tim Connolly prevented the Sabres from keeping Dumont as he has the exact same cap number that Dumont was awarded in arbitration, the very same $2.9 million. Or, you could say Afinogenov prevented the Sabres from keeping Dumont around as his $3.33 million cap number was more than what Dumont got in arbitration. Briere did not prevent Dumont from getting re-signed, Kotalik, Connolly, or Max prevented Dumont from getting signed.

 

This shouldn't be a pissing match about Danny Briere vs. Roy. It's not even a pissing match about Briere vs. Dumont. Anyone who brings Briere into a conversation about Dumont not getting re-signed is totally off base as his salary level was never going to be close to Dumont's neither before arbitration had he agreed to a long term deal with the Sabres (i.e. $4.5 million/year which the Sabres supposedly offered) or after arbitration. The only comparables to Dumont are Kotalik, Max, and Connolly, and one of them prevented Dumont from getting re-signed NOT Briere.

[That Aud Smell]

he's a nice player. it was a shame he left, but his departure was inevitable given the confluence of circumstances at the time.

 

i get bored real quick with the talk that focuses on retrospectively weighing the team's options at that time (so i haven't read beyond the second post after corp's) and reconstructing history with 20-20 hindsight. the decision to part ways with jp was a good one (and certainly a wholly defensible one) at the time.

 

(next.)

 

EDITS:

 

p.s. this is probably the one terrific play that i can recall pyatt making as a sabre.

 

p.p.s. nice to see a young(er) goose causing the traffic that allowed the floater to flutter on by sugar ray.

[Buffalo Wings]

I really had no intention of starting a "what if" thread in regards to dumont... I was strictly commenting on the awesomeness of that particular youtube clip. That ottawa series was one for the ages, and i've never heard the HSBC as loud as it was that night. Now for my comments on dumont...

It was that night when it hit me that we were watching a special run by that group of hard-nosed, blue-collar players that nobody expected to get past the first round. I watch that youtube clip frequently, in addition to the one with CBC's version of the highlights.

 

Dumont's reaction to the goal was great - like a 13-year-old who just caught a home run ball. I could hear the arena all the way from Albany....

[That Aud Smell]

I really had no intention of starting a "what if" thread in regards to dumont... I was strictly commenting on the awesomeness of that particular youtube clip.

i get it now.

 

it's funny: that moment gets lost in the shuffle a bit because of pommer's goal to seal the deal. dumont's goal was probably a top-25 moment in franchise history, it probably sneaks in there because it was at home and part of that special run.

[tom webster]

1) You can't assume anything. You can't assume that if Briere was on the team that Roy and Pominville would have had the years they did. You can't assume that adding a 1 dimensional offensive player makes the Sabres a playoff team.

 

2) Grossly overpaying one player does affect future negotiations with other players. I can't imagine Roy settling for the contract he did with Briere in the locker room making $5 mil.

 

1) Even if all Briere does for Buffalo is not score a shootout goal for Philadelphia, Buffalo is likely a playoff team and Philly isn't.

 

2) This is just ridiculous. So in your world, Roy thinks he is twice the player Briere is and wouldn't settle for $4 million because Briere is making $5 million but he does settle for $4 million after Briere signs for over $7 million. Interesting.

 

I agree with the others, this has gotten way off track and even though I know I contributed to it, I am bored. Good bye.

[carpandean]

Again the debate becomes twisted because the facts don't support the argument.

 

The only question should be, would the Sabres have made the playoffs with Briere on the team last year and would signing him to a $5 million deal per year back in January of '07 have prevented them from signing anybody else they presently have on the roster.

 

I challenge anybody to answer anything but yes and no.

My last comment before we challenge the Danny Briere 48 page thread:

 

Yes, add him and we would have (likely) made the playoffs. Same would could be said for any top-two-line capable center in the league or even for any solid top-four defensive/physical defenseman or even just Teppo. We were a coin-flip away from the playoffs, so asking if a given player would have gotten us there, doesn't mean much. That's why I asked if adding him would have gotten us to the ECF again, as was implied.

 

Yes, signing Briere at $5 million per year back when he would have taken it would have, at the very least, made it very difficult to sign all the "core" players that we have (and hopefully will with Pommer) and Chris Drury. They didn't want to take the chance that they wouldn't be able to sign one of those players that they wanted more. As you said, it was possible to sign them all if all the star aligned, but one bump in the road and they would have had Danny for 5 years instead of Roy or Pommer.

 

They f**ked up Chris' negotiations and didn't find one or both of the two players described in my first "yes"; those were the big mistakes of last year. They got Rivet this year, which covers one of the two (especially with Teppo in the lineup and Weber in the eighth spot), but unfortunately have, so far, stuck with Timmy for the other. I hope the latter works out better than it did last year.

[deluca67]

1) Even if all Briere does for Buffalo is not score a shootout goal for Philadelphia, Buffalo is likely a playoff team and Philly isn't.

 

2) This is just ridiculous. So in your world, Roy thinks he is twice the player Briere is and wouldn't settle for $4 million because Briere is making $5 million but he does settle for $4 million after Briere signs for over $7 million. Interesting.

 

I agree with the others, this has gotten way off track and even though I know I contributed to it, I am bored. Good bye.

You can't take for granted that everything else stays exactly the same.

 

I would guess Roy knows Briere got overpaid by the Flyers. Roy decided to stay in Buffalo feeling comfortable with the looker room and the state of the franchise. I think both of those change by over paying a player like Briere.

 

All that matters is that the Sabres are in a nice position right now. Contract wise they seem to have everyone slotted nicely. Hopefully Vanek steps up his game some and Pominville gets his extension. Otherwise it should be fun to see how this team looks in training camp.

[nfreeman]

I haven't seen a lot of "sugarcoating" of last summer's "accomplishments". The team wanted to keep Drury and Teppo; it didn't happen. I am looking forward to this season.

 

My "sugarcoating" comment was in response to DeLuca's denial that last summer's "accomplishments" constituted incompetence.

 

1) The only mistake the Sabres made was with Drury. The other two were simply situations in which the Sabres were not going to overpay players. If the Sabres made any mistake with Briere it was not trading him at the deadline. But since they were going for the Cup the decided against what would have been better for the franchise long term.

 

2) Are you talking the summer he went to arbitration? I sure he would have signed a $5 million contract then. The problem is he wasn't worth $5 million a year.

 

3) 1 & 1/2 really good seasons in contract years. The rest of his career, including last season, he was just a very good offensive player with zero defensive skills. $8 million a season for a player for, a 1 dimensional player, with zero upside is one of the worst contracts in the NHL.

 

4) He didn't lead his team in scoring during the Conference Finals. 1 goal 1 assist and a minus 4. I've broken down Briere's playoff numbers time and time again. He loads up on points in the early rounds and is a no show when the teams need him most.

 

1. They turned down Soupy's $5 million x 5 years request in the summer of 2007 and, as LQ admitted, offered him $4.83 million x 6 years in February 2008. By the summer of 2007, they knew what they had in Soupy. They just didn't have their act together enough to make a strong offer and close the deal. Incompetence. As for Briere, the mistake they made with him was not re-signing him as soon as Drury bailed on them. They should have known that the consequences of losing both captains would be catastrophic.

 

2. Yes, the summer he went to arbitration. And as it turned out he was worth well in excess of $5 million per year.

 

3. No one is saying he's worth $8 million per season. The question is whether he was worth $5 million.

 

4. His team was way outclassed in the conf. finals. He still led them in scoring in the playoffs and was hugely productive in the 1st 2 rounds. Philly had no business beating Montreal, but they did, and he was a huge part of it. Meanwhile, the Sabres had an early vacation.

 

Again the debate becomes twisted because the facts don't support the argument.

 

The only question should be, would the Sabres have made the playoffs with Briere on the team last year and would signing him to a $5 million deal per year back in January of '07 have prevented them from signing anybody else they presently have on the roster.

 

I challenge anybody to answer anything but yes and no.

 

While I agree with your general point, I do not agree that he would've signed for $5 million per year in January 2007. That is a theme of Bucky's that I just think is BS. By that time, he was halfway through a 95-point season and 6 months away from UFA. The price had gone up.

 

The more I look at comparisons of Roy and Briere the more I feel in a few years there will be no comparison at all. Roy is already a better player than B-Rod and barring injury Roy has the potential to leave B-Rod in the dust. If posters are going to hammer on the Sabres for letting Briere go they should also be ready to give accolades to the Sabres for signing the better player to fair and reasonable contract that already looks like a steal.

 

It was indeed a good move to lock up Roy. He's a good player. But the larger point, as previously stated, is that it didn't have to be one or the other.

 

Over and out.

[nfreeman]

It was that night when it hit me that we were watching a special run by that group of hard-nosed, blue-collar players that nobody expected to get past the first round. I watch that youtube clip frequently, in addition to the one with CBC's version of the highlights.

 

Dumont's reaction to the goal was great - like a 13-year-old who just caught a home run ball. I could hear the arena all the way from Albany....

 

 

i get it now.

 

it's funny: that moment gets lost in the shuffle a bit because of pommer's goal to seal the deal. dumont's goal was probably a top-25 moment in franchise history, it probably sneaks in there because it was at home and part of that special run.

 

Forgive me for contributing to the Briere pissing contest. The point of this thread was to recall and savor one of the best playoff series wins (and maybe my personal alltime favorite) in Sabres' history. Will anyone ever forget David slaying Goliath?

[deluca67]

My "sugarcoating" comment was in response to DeLuca's denial that last summer's "accomplishments" constituted incompetence.

1. They turned down Soupy's $5 million x 5 years request in the summer of 2007 and, as LQ admitted, offered him $4.83 million x 6 years in February 2008. By the summer of 2007, they knew what they had in Soupy. They just didn't have their act together enough to make a strong offer and close the deal. Incompetence. As for Briere, the mistake they made with him was not re-signing him as soon as Drury bailed on them. They should have known that the consequences of losing both captains would be catastrophic.

 

2. Yes, the summer he went to arbitration. And as it turned out he was worth well in excess of $5 million per year.

 

3. No one is saying he's worth $8 million per season. The question is whether he was worth $5 million.

 

4. His team was way outclassed in the conf. finals. He still led them in scoring in the playoffs and was hugely productive in the 1st 2 rounds. Philly had no business beating Montreal, but they did, and he was a huge part of it. Meanwhile, the Sabres had an early vacation.

While I agree with your general point, I do not agree that he would've signed for $5 million per year in January 2007. That is a theme of Bucky's that I just think is BS. By that time, he was halfway through a 95-point season and 6 months away from UFA. The price had gone up.

It was indeed a good move to lock up Roy. He's a good player. But the larger point, as previously stated, is that it didn't have to be one or the other.

 

Over and out.

 

It's safe to say we will never agree on the value of Briere.

 

As for the rest, I see the Sabres as making only one mistake and that wasn't getting Drury signed, even though Drury does deserve some of the blame. The rest were conscious business decisions. I don't think Briere and Campbell are $5 million players and I'm glad the Sabres aren't overpaying them that money. Time will tell if the Flyers and Hawks ever get a equal return for their investments much like the Sabres with Vanek.