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Buffalo, NY • United States • 23 Years Old • Male



The Boston Bruins signed Marc Savard to a seven year extension worth just over 28 million. There are many reasons why this is an amazing deal for Boston.

First off, Savard is 32. They signed him through the 2016-2017 season, when Savard will then be 39 years old. The contract is front-loaded, meaning that Savard will 25.5 million over the first four years. The amount will then decrease for the remainder of the extension.

However, the cap hit will remain the same througout the contract. Even though it is front-loaded, the cap hit will be around 4.2 million each year.

Savard is a 80-90 point center, and the Bruins signed him for about 4 million. That is a steal, and a huge signing for Boston. Now they can continue to build around him over the next few years.

Savard is a very classy guy for this signing. He likes Boston. He wants to play there. He agreed to make the team better by not signing for the money.

Very nice deal.

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A few years ago, Buffalo was unable to accomplish this feat. After winning the president's trophy, Buffalo decided to let players walk.

General Manager Darcy Regier was unable to sign Daniel Briere, Chris Drury, or Brian Campbell. With the loss of all three of these player, Buffalo has not made the playoffs since.

Now, I understand that it may have been difficult to keep all three of the players. One by one, the city of Buffalo saw these players get signed by different teams.

The frustration level continued to rise during that offseason.....what a dark and miserable summer that was.

Briere, Drury, and Campbell may not have performed very well since leaving Buffalo, but when they were all on the Sabres, the team clicked. The team had over 50 wins and over 300 goals.



I don't understand how you can let those players go after two seasons that took them to the Eastern Conference Finals.

What Regier should have done was what Boston did with Savard. It would have even been acceptable to keep Briere or Drury. Those were both two captains who were capable of leading the team. Some may even consider Campbell as a captain.

Not only did losing those three hurt. Buffalo then had to overpay for Thomas Vanek. There was no way Regier could let him go as well. Now Vanek is making 7 million...and he certainly is not worth that much.

I love the Buffalo Sabres and I think Vanek is a great player, but he is not worth that much money.

All of this started because the team was unable to sit down and sign Drury and/or Briere.

The Savard deal makes Buffalo look dumb for not being able to sign those players.

Maybe Regier (and the rest of Buffalo) underestimated the loss of the Briere, Campbell, and Drury.
Maybe he thought his team was still good enough to make the playoffs.
Either way, hopefully Buffalo learned it's lesson.

I give props to Boston for signing Savard to an amazing deal.

Kevin "Fear the Grier" Freiheit
Filed Under:   Buffalo   Regier   Briere   Drury   Savard   Boston  
December 4, 2009 5:27 PM ET | Delete
Totally agree. They should have signed Campbell and either Briere (my choice) or Drury. Matching for Vanek was idiotic. I'm just glad Burke let Penner go. If he matches, what would the Ducks have had to pay Getzlaf and Perry?
December 4, 2009 5:33 PM ET | Delete
Problem is...Briere wanted to stay and Drury didn't, the Sabres wanted the one that wanted to go. The one that wanted to stay they didn't want, now i'm sure all the crap that happened in between didn't help either. Once again the Sabres miss the boat, the hell with Campbell he isn't worth half the cash he's making.
December 4, 2009 5:38 PM ET | Delete
can't believe you brought this one up...again...for the 13-thousandth time driere has been brought up...forget it...move on...sheeeesh
December 4, 2009 5:41 PM ET | Delete
as for campbell?...he joins driere as former buffalo players who excelled in the sabres system but ultimately are the most over-paid players in the league (at least 3 of the top 5)...get over the 06/7 season...it was an abberation
December 4, 2009 5:46 PM ET | Delete
I agree, the savard deal made a lot of teams jealous and look bad.
December 4, 2009 5:47 PM ET | Delete
Drury, along with Gomez, is one of the most overpaid players in the NHL. Get over it. Campbell, would round out that top three as overpaid. He isn't even a top pairing dman in Chicago. You guys saved valuable cap space and for the time being will need a slow rebuild. Myers is looking great btw.
December 4, 2009 5:52 PM ET | Delete
thx for the sanity, blarney...not much left in mtl these days, eh?
December 4, 2009 5:57 PM ET | Delete
I really like the way Plekanecs and Cammaleri have been playing, but outside of them it has been a bleak season.Just checked the standings a min. ago, you guys are leading the division and have two games on boston. You may likely make the playoffs this year.
December 4, 2009 5:59 PM ET | Delete
they've been playing real well...a detroit-style, puck-control game...the d is sound, forwards are back-checking and not cheating on the break-out...they're rolling four lines again...have been able to overcome injuries...have yet to get mired in a devastating slump...and then there's miller
December 4, 2009 9:09 PM ET | Delete
Interesting point. Drury could have signed this savard deal for $4 mill/yr but instead got $7 mill. Dumb move by him.....
December 4, 2009 9:27 PM ET | Delete
You can have Drury back if it makes you feel any better... Just send us Gerbe back (or even a water bottle)
December 5, 2009 12:30 AM ET | Delete
sadly i dont miss any of those guys briere cant stay healthy and drury and campbell r overpaid i would b more worried that your paying hecht 3 mill and connolly 4.5 they still need a top 6 foward on this team id like to get sharp from chi very good for a good price
December 5, 2009 11:30 AM ET | Delete
if they had kept any of those bums they wouldnt have the room to sign roy, vanek and pommer. hell id take any of the buffalo dmen over campbell at his price. the whole D combined makes as much as him. no way drury and briere were gonna take 4 mill a piece when they knew they were gonna get 7plus. i think if they wanna contend they gotta add another top 6 forward and 3-4 dman who can play the PP. i think they should be looking to the wild for a trade, nolan and zidlicky for macarthur?
December 5, 2009 4:52 PM ET | Delete
go leafs ur right i think if zidlicky came to the east he would be a beast nolan would b a third liner at best tho
December 5, 2009 7:51 PM ET | Delete
yea nolan would prolly be 3rd liner but i think hed fit well with the sabres and hopefully teach stafford how to be a power forward
December 5, 2009 10:43 PM ET | Delete
another point go leafs i would like cole or whitney from the canes too
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