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New York, NY • United States • 2013 Years Old • Male
Let me clear something up.

Now that Brooks Orpik has signed with Pittsburgh, some Sabres fans have looked back to Andrew Orpik's comments to the Buffalo News a few days ago and shaken their heads, comments they thought all but assured Buffalo was a likely destination for the d-man:

"Buffalo is a place he'd definitely want to come," Brooks' brother Andrew told the Buffalo News. "He grew up here, and he's got a special bond with the place."

It is true that the two live together in Amherst this summer, and what better source to give a glimpse into Brooks' head than his own brother?

But I've got a bit of a scoop to share with you all.

I personally talked to Andrew at the Sabres Development Camp at Niagara University on Monday - the day before July 1st.

"What do you think of your brothers' chances signing with Buffalo?" I asked him.

He replied: "I really don't know. It's possible, it's definitely possible. But you never know. He could get 100 offers, and there's no way to say what those offers will be."

A little different tune, eh?

Still, I took him as cautiously optimistic that Brooks would sign with the hometown team: "I hope he does (sign with Buffalo). But he'll have to look at all of his options and it's his decision."

Let's put this to rest once and for all. It's clear Andrew wanted Brooks to play with Buffalo, it's also evident Buffalo never really put a serious offer together for him, for whatever reason. Perhaps the UFA contracts being handed out on 7/1 turned them off.

There's also the rumor that Brooks did not want the pressure of playing in front of his hometown. You can take it or leave it, I don't know what to make of it.

But no matter how you look at it, what's done is done, so let's all move on.

At least we still have Andrew.
Filed Under:   andrew   brooks   buffalo   sabres   scoop   pittsburgh   orpik  
July 3, 2008 12:18 PM ET | Delete
Another good blog. I thought the Darcy quote on buffalonews.com was quite interesting where he said "we had some talks, I don't expect them to continue going forward." My initial reaction was Orpik wants too much money, let him go Sabres, that's fine. Now that I see the deal he signed with the Pens, I am perplexed as to what could have possibly been said to turn Darcy so off.
July 3, 2008 12:49 PM ET | Delete
I'm thinking the agent told Darcy that they were looking for "Fair Market Value" for Brooks, and of course the way the contracts were being handed out on 7/1, that could mean $4-$5 million, definitely out of the Sabres' range. In fairness, I agree with that; Brooks is good, but not 4-5 million good, right now anyway. Brooks probably got those kinds of offers from teams, but he eventually elected to stay in Pitt and gave them Pens a discount to do so. That's my best guess. Either way, it's a business, that's how things go. Sabres need to keep their eyes open now for a d-man, probably through trade. Any way they could get Liles still from the Avs...what would it take to get him?
July 3, 2008 12:56 PM ET | Delete
I think Liles and Sakic are about the only two players the Avs would not ever move. They might listen if Buffalo offered Miller, but that's about it. The Avs are at the other end of the spectrum from Buffalo as far as home grown talent. They have several players, but other than Stastny and Liles, none of them are likely to be superstars. I think ticket sales (which have been hurting since the lockout) would take a huge hit if they dealt Liles for anything other than a blatantly one-sided deal. Jordan Leopold can move the puck and play the PP, but he's injured more than he's healthy.
July 3, 2008 12:59 PM ET | Delete
^ Add Stastny to the un-tradeable list. The Avs are hurting in the speed and goalscoring departments right now. An area where the Sabres too have LOTS of depth. I just hope the Avs aren't foolish enough to take Max, lol.
July 3, 2008 1:26 PM ET | Delete
The Middle Finger and Commadore 64 contracts are just ludacris and shows how desperate those teams are right now! You have to give Darcy credit for not overpaying anyone like that. With 3 months till the start of the season there's lots of time to put together a trade for a D-man. Hey maybe Tree (45) will still be available!
July 3, 2008 2:52 PM ET | Delete
CL, sounds like we could be potential trading partners, anyhow though, Liles or not. Let's keep an eye on it....but you're right, for the Avs sake, I hope they don't take Max either. That being said, you never know, he could have a breakout year being in his contract year! I'm starting to think Buffalo may hold on to him and give him one last chance.
July 3, 2008 3:09 PM ET | Delete
Colorado has Tyler Arnasson and Marek Svatos. Both young and have proven to be fully capable of scoring in dozens then disappearing for months at a time.. The only sure thing with them (and Max) is their constant worthlessness on defense. I tremble to think about adding max to a line with those dudes, lol. I'd like to see Mike Ryan come to the Avs too, he's been high on my list ever since season before last when everyone went down, he got called up and was huge, though he has done very little since.
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