Posted 1:58 AM ET | Comments 14

Filed Under:   Sabres   Buffalo   letter   management   let's   go   buffalo  

July 2, 2007 6:39 AM ET | Delete
I love the positive attitude but of the current FA's who do you think is going to allow us to be a stanley cup contender? I think the only way this team now gets better for THIS upcoming season is via trade. Overall we may look back at today and be better off because we did not overpay for anyone but in the short term could suffer a bad year next season if something is not done immediately!

July 2, 2007 7:35 AM ET | Delete
dont feel bad remember when everyone thought the sens were done when we lost Chara,Havlet,Smolenski etc lasst year anything can happen this may bring your team closer and make them play better

July 2, 2007 7:47 AM ET | Delete
the sky is falling, the sky is falling. HA! We didn't win the cup with them.......

July 2, 2007 8:28 AM ET | Delete
You know... on saturday, i wasn't really that concerned with losing Briere and Drury. I was very logical about it all. But to see them sign with Philly and New York makes me sick.

July 2, 2007 9:07 AM ET | Delete
The two clowns could not even score a power play goal!!! Even when they had a 5 on 3 powerplay they could not even keep the puck in the opponents end!!! They are worth that kind of money??? I think somebody should call a cop!!! Somebody got robbed here and its not the Sabres

July 2, 2007 9:35 AM ET | Delete
Thats what happens on ufa day in all sports they all all money hungry

July 2, 2007 9:54 AM ET | Delete
Its good to try to keep positive, but our window has just come crashing down. What scares me the most is the ramifications this has for the rest of the team. Within 3 years, none of the core that brought us to these 2 ECF's will be around anymore. Its obvious. If Darcy won't lock up his captains (mind you, 2 years ago when he should have), then I doubt it will happen with the rest of our team. HE SIMPLY WON'T DO IT! And gee, we still have Vanek to sign. SIGN HIM NOW!!! The market is just going up and up, its not going to get any easier. This drives me crazy! What a waste, a shame and a travesty to the loyal fans of Buffalo.

July 2, 2007 10:49 AM ET | Delete
I agree with you CupCrazy'07, its a sign of things to come. The Sabres can't compete with the huge salaries that players can get. The affect is three-fold. We lose our players, we can't bring anyone new into the organization and it totally will jack-up the chemstry. Losing the Captains hurts, but I think the biggest tragedy is that the NHL lost an entire season to correct this problem. BUT instead of fixing it, Gary Bettman and the NHLPA have made it worse. I bet the cap reaches $70million-plus by the time the CBA expires, and the game endures another lockout; one it might not be able to recover from.

July 2, 2007 2:24 PM ET | Delete
The cap is tied into league revenues. If the cap reaches $70million then that means the league is making a ton of money (thus no lockout). The whole purpose of the lockout was to give small market teams cost certainty and the ability to compete for FA. That was accomplished with the lockout. Now the players only get a portion (55%?) of the league revenues and the big market teams are limited in the amounts they can spend. If the league revenues go down so does the cap. But still small market teams are complaining. Here's an idea: SPEND TO THE CAP. But the league can't force a team like Buffalo to spend to the cap. If they did, maybe we would have been talking about how Buffalo re-signed Drury and Briere instead of the continued whining of Saber fans and small market teams. Go cry to the Buffalo ownership, they are the ones not spending the money.

July 2, 2007 7:35 PM ET | Delete
If I remember we did spend to the cap - but so far philly has spent over 60 million for next year and the cap is 50! The frontloaded contracts with long term deals are where the big market teams win - they have cash to blow on bonuses and such. Philly, the rangers and the teams from the big markets will in the end bring the league to the same pre-lockout point of Haves and havenots. We will end up in another stoppage and this time I do not see them coming back

July 2, 2007 8:14 PM ET | Delete
I was expecting and even called Briere to leave to go to Philly. Drury was a shocker though, especially to the Rangers. Buffalo can do a lot this year but we need centers. I would sign Selanne AND if we had some money left, Peter Forsberg. I would go nuts if we got both of them if not one of them. We can trade all we want, but I rather sign these guys now and not worry about trading for that position.... if Rieger is actually intelligent and not lazy he will sign one of them at least.

July 2, 2007 8:18 PM ET | Delete
I also agree about the cap and lockout issue, the Rangers are a prime example of a team that is ruining the NHL right now.... but they don't give a damn about anything other than themselves, not the game of hockey as a whole.

July 3, 2007 12:34 AM ET | Delete

July 3, 2007 12:41 AM ET | Delete
wow, thanks all for the comments. good stuff. i cant reply to all of you, but i agree with a lot of your sentiment(s). especially that the cap is ruining the nhl! anyway ty again for the comments..let's see what the Sabres do in the coming days