Drury, Roy, and Trading Stafford
Posted 7:48 PM ET | Comments 27
You'd be hard pressed to find a Sabres fan who wasn't enamored with Chris Drury during his tenure, and I'm no different. Sure he left on bad terms, as he did with the Rangers but looking back I give him a ton of credit for bringing the Sabres back to legitimacy and teaching the young guys (Pominville, Roy, Vanek, Gaustad) what it takes to win.
Many of you recall his playoff heroics, specifically his game tying goal with 7 seconds left agains the Rangers as your fondest Drury memory. Myself however, I think the Chris Neil cheapshot to Chris's in head 07' was the moment I will remember the most. Why? Well the Sabres have been labeled as a soft team for a long time, and have often been criticized for not defending their own...particularly Miller at times. But the moment Neil took out the Sabres captain Drew Stafford turned around and went right after the Ottawa goon. Soon after a brawl erupted. That shows you how much Drury meant to that team, and how his team first attitude was rubbing off on the younger Sabres. He was an invaluable piece to the post lockout Sabres and his influence is still felt on this team with the guys who played along side him. It was an unfortunate incident, but one that will leave an indelible mark in my mind. Best of luck in your future endeavors Chris...and thanks for sticking it to the Rangers on the way out the door!
I'm tired of always defending Derek Roy, it's not like the guy is claiming to be a #1 center, that just happens to be his role here. But here are a few more numbers that should keep the Roy bashers at bay for at least the time it takes to read this blog. In his last full season in 2009-2010 Derek Roy recorded 69pts. That was one more than Toews, tied with Getzlaf, and one point less than Lecavalier, Datsyuk, Plekanec, and Staal. Here are their salary comparisons:
Roy 4$mil cap hit
Staal 8.25$mil
Lecavalier 7.727$mil
Datsyuk 6.7$mil
Toews 6.3$mil
Getzlaf 5.325$mil
Plekanec 5$mil
Now I'm not saying that Roy is as good of an all around player as a few of these guys, especially since Staal, Lecavalier, Datsyuk, Toews, and Getzlaf all have their name on the cup. However his production is not so far off during the regular season, and given his cap hit he is a fantastic value for the Sabres. Given the choice I would prefer a Toews or Datsyuk over Roy for sure, but my point is that Roy isn't chopped liver, and for his price he's pretty darn good. Remember Tim Connolly is making 4.75$mil to be the #1 Center in Toronto...feel better now?
Also I just wrote a piece on Hockeytracker.net (where I am the Sabres columnist) about some unorthodox trades Buffalo could make to get under the cap, including moving Drew Stafford. Take a look here: http://www.hockeytracker....d-to-flames-and.html#more
Thanks for reading, and follow me on twitter @SabreHess
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Many of you recall his playoff heroics, specifically his game tying goal with 7 seconds left agains the Rangers as your fondest Drury memory. Myself however, I think the Chris Neil cheapshot to Chris's in head 07' was the moment I will remember the most. Why? Well the Sabres have been labeled as a soft team for a long time, and have often been criticized for not defending their own...particularly Miller at times. But the moment Neil took out the Sabres captain Drew Stafford turned around and went right after the Ottawa goon. Soon after a brawl erupted. That shows you how much Drury meant to that team, and how his team first attitude was rubbing off on the younger Sabres. He was an invaluable piece to the post lockout Sabres and his influence is still felt on this team with the guys who played along side him. It was an unfortunate incident, but one that will leave an indelible mark in my mind. Best of luck in your future endeavors Chris...and thanks for sticking it to the Rangers on the way out the door!
I'm tired of always defending Derek Roy, it's not like the guy is claiming to be a #1 center, that just happens to be his role here. But here are a few more numbers that should keep the Roy bashers at bay for at least the time it takes to read this blog. In his last full season in 2009-2010 Derek Roy recorded 69pts. That was one more than Toews, tied with Getzlaf, and one point less than Lecavalier, Datsyuk, Plekanec, and Staal. Here are their salary comparisons:
Roy 4$mil cap hit
Staal 8.25$mil
Lecavalier 7.727$mil
Datsyuk 6.7$mil
Toews 6.3$mil
Getzlaf 5.325$mil
Plekanec 5$mil
Now I'm not saying that Roy is as good of an all around player as a few of these guys, especially since Staal, Lecavalier, Datsyuk, Toews, and Getzlaf all have their name on the cup. However his production is not so far off during the regular season, and given his cap hit he is a fantastic value for the Sabres. Given the choice I would prefer a Toews or Datsyuk over Roy for sure, but my point is that Roy isn't chopped liver, and for his price he's pretty darn good. Remember Tim Connolly is making 4.75$mil to be the #1 Center in Toronto...feel better now?
Also I just wrote a piece on Hockeytracker.net (where I am the Sabres columnist) about some unorthodox trades Buffalo could make to get under the cap, including moving Drew Stafford. Take a look here: http://www.hockeytracker....d-to-flames-and.html#more
Thanks for reading, and follow me on twitter @SabreHess
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01 Sabres add Leino, re-up McCormick....Ehrhoff Thoughts
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22 Enroth and the Value of Eastern Conf. Backups
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05 Why Leino is a boom or bust move
08 FA Forwards for 3.5 to 4.5 million, what do you get?
22 Enroth and the Value of Eastern Conf. Backups
26 Northeast Division Defenseman
28 My 5 Riskiest Moves of this Off-Season...So Far
Nice read. My only thing.... Drury never wanted to leave Buf. We had a verbal, backed out, and got burned. Plus, he went on record and said that he always wanted to play for NYR (from Conn. I can see that). I have no ill will towards capt. Clutch
I am not and never have been a Roy basher. I'm also not in favor of trading Stafford. Otherwise, nice blog.
No offense but who wants to play in Buffalo? It's almost as going to Long Island and playing.
Could go to the rangers and fail like everyother player
@Sippyd-The Roy stuff wasn't aimed at any one person, just in general it seems there are more people wanting to ship Roy out of town like he's got leprosy than people who support him. Which seems odd when you look at the value he provides.
Or you could go to Buffalo and never know what it feels like to win a championship EVER!!!
Oh, I know that. Our pk suffered when Connolly was injured in Philly. Roy will fill that gap too. But then you are on the get rid of Stafford bandwagon which is the same as the "trade Roy while his value is high" bandwagon. Darcy could have traded Stafford many times over and said so himself.
Now we have this troll crap here having nothing to do with the blog.
For the record I'm not 100% on the trade Stafford bandwagon, I was just looking for other ways the Sabres could get below the cap besides the obvious spare part guys. All in all I would keep Staff but would sour on him quickly if he regressed this year. There's too much talent around him now to go back to 15-20 goals.
Imo Roy has the best contract in hockey can drive you nuts but you still keep him
I think injuries had a lot to do with his "regression". Everyone headhunted him. Now Robyn can take care of that. If I'm in a series with Boston, I want him and his hat tricks on my team.
Good luck in trying to throw that piece of crap Kotalik in a deal, no one would take him 1/2 price off waivers. We had to give you RR
Welcome back. I think Darcy saying that he is looking to make trades to get under the cap was just posturing. Throw the idea out there and see if anyone bites. If not, see who impresses at the beginning of camp and send a couple contracts to Rochester.
So Kotalik was the trade and Regehr was the throw in? Exhale dude. I think you've held that hit in long enough.
so flames acquired Stafford
Roy is a good contract, but not the best in hockey. Frans Nielsen for $500,000 has to be the best contract in hockey.
Stat wise, Roy is almost twice as good as Nielsen.
My Drury memory.... I was at the ECF Game #5 against Ottawa (the Campbell got smoked by Alfie for the OT win game).Drury took a puck to the face.... came back.He took a puck to the inside of his leg while on the PK.... almost couldn't get up, could hardly skate, was in obvious pain and guess what he did next.... he got in fron of another shot
.... he barely made it back to the bench..... and came back. Bruised, battered, face a hot mess with teeth missing
and stitches. That is heart. courage. putting the team before you. the desire to win. Good luck DRUUUUUUUUURYYYYYY!
^^ To bad that didn't get you a cup. hahaha
Adwolf.... shut the hell up. God man you are so annoying and seem to be forever stuck in a 2nd grade mentality
Who is the adwolf jackass anyway? What a 2-year old.
Just wonder where edwinsagai thought that Drury never wanted to leave Buffalo. I never read that or heard that. I have always heard him state he wanted to play for the team he grew up favoring...the rangers! Don't think he planned on staying not when he was a FA and Rangers offered way to much. It WAS Briere who wanted to stay and would take less
@Skeezix-I thought the same thing, all Drury wanted was to play for the Rags and even if the $$ was equal to Buffalo he would have left town to play for the Rangers. Also Adwolf has a lot of nerve talking about the Sabres being losers, his team went 54 years between cups, the Sabres are still a decade and a half away from that mark. And no team exemplified idiotic free agent spending pre-lockout more than the Rangers.