Briere Envy

[Marvelo]

Seeing Danny rip through the Eastern Conference playoffs this year is really tough. He should have been locked up and ours for the long haul. Buffalo's management is just terrible and that's what keeps us down.

 

Maybe in a year or two other teams will have Ennis Envy.

[Tarrytown]

Seeing Danny rip through the Eastern Conference playoffs this year is really tough. He should have been locked up and ours for the long haul. Buffalo's management is just terrible and that's what keeps us down.

 

Maybe in a year or two other teams will have Ennis Envy.

 

 

living in philly at the moment...wishing the city was into this flyers team...they aren't as much as i thought they'd be...

 

two thoughts on briere...he deserves this, i am happy for him..and the coach...has turned this team around from john stevens...i can't hate the guy...he can coach...

 

goes to show you - that the sabres are just standing still...the organizational leadership is lacking...

[LabattBlue]

I've been consistent since the day it happened. LQ, DR & OSP blew it. They put all their eggs in the Drury basket and he in turn told them to ###### off. Intangibles my ######. Briere was the most skilled forward on the team prior to leaving and he'd be the most skilled forward on the team, if he came back tomorrow.

[tom webster]

I've been consistent since the day it happened. LQ, DR & OSP blew it. They put all their eggs in the Drury basket and he in turn told them to ###### off. Intangibles my ######. Briere was the most skilled forward on the team prior to leaving and he'd be the most skilled forward on the team, if he came back tomorrow.

 

Actually, if the front office was pro-active, Briere would be the second most skilled forward on the team. Patrick Kane would have been the first but of course Darcy talked himself out of that one. Paralysis by over analysis!

[ParkMeadow]

Actually, if the front office was pro-active, Briere would be the second most skilled forward on the team. Patrick Kane would have been the first but of course Darcy talked himself out of that one. Paralysis by over analysis!

 

Sorry if I'm out of touch, but would you enlighten me as to how the Sabres could have had Patrick Kane?

[LabattBlue]

Actually, if the front office was pro-active, Briere would be the second most skilled forward on the team. Patrick Kane would have been the first but of course Darcy talked himself out of that one. Paralysis by over analysis!

Refresh my memory?

[Kristian]

Actually, if the front office was pro-active, Briere would be the second most skilled forward on the team. Patrick Kane would have been the first but of course Darcy talked himself out of that one. Paralysis by over analysis!

 

If that had happened, I wonder if Kane would be the best two-way forward in the game by now?

[tom webster]

Refresh my memory?

 

 

Kane wasn't a slam dunk pick and Chicago was looking to move it. In a surprisingly rare moment of candor, Reiger admitted to talking to Chicago but in rationalizing not pulling the trigger, he surmised that Kane wouldn't handle the pressure of playing in his hometown.

 

The parking attendant tells me that Briere's agent, who at the time was Kane's agent and may still be, tried to broker the deal which would have included Roy and Vanek. At the time, his thinking was that the Sabres would have Drury, Briere and Kane. Of course, we know how that worked out.

[BuffalOhio]

Yeah, I feel good for Danny, but I sure wish he was still on the Sabres. Little man is playing great!

[nfreeman]

Kane wasn't a slam dunk pick and Chicago was looking to move it. In a surprisingly rare moment of candor, Reiger admitted to talking to Chicago but in rationalizing not pulling the trigger, he surmised that Kane wouldn't handle the pressure of playing in his hometown.

 

The parking attendant tells me that Briere's agent, who at the time was Kane's agent and may still be, tried to broker the deal which would have included Roy and Vanek. At the time, his thinking was that the Sabres would have Drury, Briere and Kane. Of course, we know how that worked out.

This seems pretty far-fetched, but still -- that woulda been really sweet.

 

As for the OP's point -- right on. Briere is flawed, but he was well worth the $5MM x 5 years contract he wanted. The Sabres (and we'll probably never know exactly whose call this was) decided to keep Roy and TC instead of Briere. That can only be described as a terrible decision. Briere's been a money player for 5 solid years. It's not a coincidence that his teams have made the conf. finals 4 out of 5 years -- and that he's one of the highest scoring players in the NHL over that period. Meanwhile guys like Roy, TC and Pommer light the lamp once every 30 or so playoff games.

 

I wonder if DeLuca still thinks Roy is better than Briere?

[SwampD]

Can we stop hearing the argument now about how nobody has gone on to do anything since they left Ruff's system? This is his second trip to the ECFs and it's looking like he is going to the SCFs. Maybe it was he that got us that far and not Ruff.

[CallawaySabres]

Briere is the ONE player that left Buffalo who I will be pulling for to win the Cup. Oh, what could have been.....

[jasondawe]

While he hasn't seen cup-finals ice, playing in 4 of the past 5 conference finals is telling.

[deluca67]

This seems pretty far-fetched, but still -- that woulda been really sweet.

 

As for the OP's point -- right on. Briere is flawed, but he was well worth the $5MM x 5 years contract he wanted. The Sabres (and we'll probably never know exactly whose call this was) decided to keep Roy and TC instead of Briere. That can only be described as a terrible decision. Briere's been a money player for 5 solid years. It's not a coincidence that his teams have made the conf. finals 4 out of 5 years -- and that he's one of the highest scoring players in the NHL over that period. Meanwhile guys like Roy, TC and Pommer light the lamp once every 30 or so playoff games.

I wonder if DeLuca still thinks Roy is better than Briere?

He was in the regular season. The only fair way to answer that is to see what Roy could do surrounded by Richards, Carter, Gagne, Pronger and Hartnell.

 

Briere is having a nice playoffs and is skating harder than he has in a long time. Let's not lose sight of the Flyers being 6-0 since the return of Simon Gagne who I believe has a 6 game goal scoring streak at the moment.

[nfreeman]

He was in the regular season. The only fair way to answer that is to see what Roy could do surrounded by Richards, Carter, Gagne, Pronger and Hartnell.

 

Briere is having a nice playoffs and is skating harder than he has in a long time. Let's not lose sight of the Flyers being 6-0 since the return of Simon Gagne who I believe has a 6 game goal scoring streak at the moment.

 

Briere has a nice playoffs EVERY year, whereas Roy disappears in crunch time (regular season and playoffs). That's the point.

[Stoner]

I went hunting for some objective information on the Briere/Drury fiasco, in the news links archives on this site. I found this interesting item from early June, but the link is now dead:

 

Sportsnet.ca reports: 'The rumour is that both Regier and Ruff are taking their time in contract talks to see what direction the organization is headed and to test the waters regarding what's available outside of HSBC Arena and that's held up everything including contract negotiations with players.'

[BuffaloFan32]

Briere has a nice playoffs EVERY year, whereas Roy disappears in crunch time (regular season and playoffs). That's the point.

 

Well said

[Marvelo]

I went hunting for some objective information on the Briere/Drury fiasco, in the news links archives on this site. I found this interesting item from early June, but the link is now dead:

 

Sportsnet.ca reports: 'The rumour is that both Regier and Ruff are taking their time in contract talks to see what direction the organization is headed and to test the waters regarding what's available outside of HSBC Arena and that's held up everything including contract negotiations with players.'

 

If the rumor is/was true, it seems to say that either Regier and Ruff made a huge mistake or it was Golisano who tied their hands. As always, the big guys will never be truly investigated (The Buffalo News doing investigations?) and of course, they never investigate themselves. Heads should have rolled because of the way that was handled.

I suspect it was Golisano. :wallbash:

[wjag]

What the Sabres miss from Briere's game is the assists. It's a given that he can score goals, but his passing and assists are truly missed.

[inkman]

The Sabres (and we'll probably never know exactly whose call this was) decided to keep Roy and TC instead of Briere.

Let's nor rewrite history. They were annoyed with Briere after the arbitration process. At that point they decided to part ways with him. They put all their eggs into the Drury basket and ###### that up as bad as humanly possible.

 

Roy and conolly were not an integral part of that process.

[nfreeman]

Let's nor rewrite history. They were annoyed with Briere after the arbitration process. At that point they decided to part ways with him. They put all their eggs into the Drury basket and ###### that up as bad as humanly possible.

 

Roy and conolly were not an integral part of that process.

 

Well, it's all speculation (including, I must point out, your theory about them being annoyed with Briere due to arbitration), but I do think their thinking about whether they needed Briere was informed by the presence of TC and Roy -- 2 other skilled centers who were younger and cheaper (and, admittedly, better on the backcheck).

[SwampD]

For all future inquiries, please refer to this thread.

 

Thank you,

The Manegment

[carpandean]

I can admit that watching Danny produce in the playoffs definitely makes me wonder about my analysis at the time. He is still a defensive liability and has even had several goals against directly attributed to his bad play or coverage in this playoffs (they replayed it over and over.) So, on that, my opinion has not changed. However, I am very willing to admit that he knows how to step it up offensively, especially in the playoffs, which is something that this team sorely lacks.

 

The other half of the problem with looking at that thread is that, in several ways, it seems that Derek Roy has regressed since the 2007-08 season. I've pointed out many times before, but in the second half of that season, he was the third most productive player in the NHL behind only Ovechkin and Malkin. He was doing that while being responsible defensively, including heavy PK time, too. Maybe, being the most consistent player on the team in most respects that season inflated an already swollen ego, which has led to his regression over the past couple of seasons; maybe, the rules and play changes have affected his game; or, maybe, it was just a fluke. However, it did look like he would turn into a better all-round player with slightly less offense and a lot better defense.

 

Actually, if you search back, you will find that my opinion has always been that Derek wasn't really the replacement for Danny, Timmy was. He was the more gifted playmaker with slicker moves; at least, based on the short periods when he was healthy. Derek was, to a degree, more the replacement for Drury; a defensively responsible, but still offensively capable player. Obviously, in light of recent performances, it does seem that, at the very least, having Roy/Briere would have been better than Roy/Connolly. Of course, then we'd all be complaining about having the top two centers under 5'10".

[blugold43]

Seeing Danny rip through the Eastern Conference playoffs this year is really tough. He should have been locked up and ours for the long haul. Buffalo's management is just terrible and that's what keeps us down.

 

Maybe in a year or two other teams will have Ennis Envy.

i thought the one guy we could not afford to lose from the 06 team was briere...it makes me sick he's getting it done in philly of all places.

[North Buffalo]

If I had to coose btw drury briere and connolly I still would have chosen briere. Tc had health concerns back then, drury, even a blind man could see he wanted to go to NYC, so really it was a choice of tc vs briere but caught in the moment regier drank the potential koolaide of tc. Bottom line sabres still need a center with tc's body and skills, just not his chin and heart