SageAgainstTheMachine Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Dude just lives playoff hockey. 7 goals in 7 games, including today's OT winner. Injuries aside, I still can't stand that the Sabres let him go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Dude just lives playoff hockey. 7 goals in 7 games, including today's OT winner. Injuries aside, I still can't stand that the Sabres let him go. Ralph is cheap! That whole year was hard. So many options to resign... and we chose none. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Ralph is cheap! That whole year was hard. So many options to resign... and we chose none. Didn't we re-sign Vanek that year...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poojer Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 I am not much of a hockey fan. I've always rooted for the sabres but usually dont pay attention until playoff time. That said since moving to philly i pay a bit closer attention, again not til playoff time. Its hard mot rooting for Briere and the flyers...ONLY when and if the Sabres are out. Dude just lives playoff hockey. 7 goals in 7 games, including today's OT winner. Injuries aside, I still can't stand that the Sabres let him go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Didn't we re-sign Vanek that year...? Well kind of..Sabres lost Brieere and Drury first day of free agency.Oilersv signed Vanek to an offer shet a few days later which the Sabres matched, so technically Sabres did not sign him I guess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Well kind of..Sabres lost Brieere and Drury first day of free agency.Oilersv signed Vanek to an offer shet a few days later which the Sabres matched, so technically Sabres did not sign him I guess And, as I recall, the Sabres had pre-determined that they were targeting re-sgingning either Drury or Briere (not both) and then work out a new deal with Vanek, before somebody else made a crazy offer...they banked on Drury (stupid), but waited too long for him to actually sign the contract that he had verbally agreed to. Drury had agreed in January, never signed the contract, and then pulled the rug out from under the ill-prepared Sabres, once the free agency period started...Briere was all over the place, almost crying, saying he wanted to stay in Buffalo, loved being a Sabre...but they had already made up their mind, it was Drury, even though (IMO) Drury's mind was elsewhere before the playoffs even started, that year. By that time, Briere was so pissed, he said, once free agencey started, he was done with the Sabres....he was begging them to make an offer...they didn't... still one of the most inept periods of sports mangagement I can recall in Buffalo...meanwhile, Edmonton, desprate to be relevant, made an offer the Vanek (an up and coming "superstar" type) that the Sabres, from a PR angle, had no choice than to match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 And, as I recall, the Sabres had pre-determined that they were targeting re-sgingning either Drury or Briere (not both) and then work out a new deal with Vanek, before somebody else made a crazy offer...they banked on Drury (stupid), but waited too long for him to actually sign the contract that he had verbally agreed to. Drury had agreed in January, never signed the contract, and then pulled the rug out from under the ill-prepared Sabres, once the free agency period started...Briere was all over the place, almost crying, saying he wanted to stay in Buffalo, loved being a Sabre...but they had already made up their mind, it was Drury, even though (IMO) Drury's mind was elsewhere before the playoffs even started, that year. By that time, Briere was so pissed, he said, once free agencey started, he was done with the Sabres....he was begging them to make an offer...they didn't... still one of the most inept periods of sports mangagement I can recall in Buffalo...meanwhile, Edmonton, desprate to be relevant, made an offer the Vanek (an up and coming "superstar" type) that the Sabres, from a PR angle, had no choice than to match. Post that over on SabreSpace and watch heads explode Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Walked by Briere and the entire Flyers team a few weeks ago. They were here in Pittsburgh for a first round game, and I just happened to be standing next to the hotel entrance when they all came in. Whole team was very nice in passing, including Briere (and even Hartnell, who is enemy #1 in Pittsburgh). That said, I hate those Flyers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Post that over on SabreSpace and watch heads explode Not sure what part they would disagree with. I do remmeber, being very surprised, around early March of that season, Paul Hamilton saying that team co-captain, Chris Drury, "seemed miserable", and was having issues with Lindy Ruff's constant line changing. He (Drury), Hamilton said, thought it was keeping the team from getting in their (or maybe his) offensive groove, and when one guy went down, it meant too much upheavel with all of the lines. Drury "was just tired of it". I was shocked to hear this, particularly from someone in the Buffalo media, because you almost never heard any real meaty behind the scenes stuff with the Sabres. I really had a bad feeling then, that Drury was a waste of time for the Sabres, and they should make Briere their #1 priority. I also thought Drury was pretty bad, particualarly in the playoffs that season...and it pissed me off, after they got bounced by the Rangers, that he was ripping into his teammates for their lack of toughness...I didn't see any of that kind of fire from him on the ice...IMO, he decided he wanted out, sometime betweeen that supposed January verbal agreement, and the begining of the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Not sure what part they would disagree with. I do remmeber, being very surprised, around early March of that season, Paul Hamilton saying that team co-captain, Chris Drury, "seemed miserable", and was having issues with Lindy Ruff's constant line changing. He (Drury), Hamilton said, thought it was keeping the team from getting in their (or maybe his) offensive groove, and when one guy went down, it meant too much upheavel with all of the lines. Drury "was just tired of it". I was shocked to hear this, particularly from someone in the Buffalo media, because you almost never heard any real meaty behind the scenes stuff with the Sabres. I really had a bad feeling then, that Drury was a waste of time for the Sabres, and they should make Briere their #1 priority. I also thought Drury was pretty bad, particualarly in the playoffs that season...and it pissed me off, after they got bounced by the Rangers, that he was ripping into his teammates for their lack of toughness...I didn't see any of that kind of fire from him on the ice...IMO, he decided he wanted out, sometime betweeen that supposed January verbal agreement, and the begining of the playoffs. it has been a good 5 years of debate over there what happened that year. General consensus is this. Drury was the priority..Darcy offered him $5m for 5 years, he accepted, Golisano never approved and contract was never sent. That is why he was pissed..Sabres screwed him and backed out on their word, not the other way around. Danny wanted to stay, would have taken the same deal during the year.. but was never offered to him..he walks as he should have with an $7.5M(ot thereabouts) year contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 (edited) it has been a good 5 years of debate over there what happened that year. General consensus is this. Drury was the priority..Darcy offered him $5m for 5 years, he accepted, Golisano never approved and contract was never sent. That is why he was pissed..Sabres screwed him and backed out on their word, not the other way around. Danny wanted to stay, would have taken the same deal during the year.. but was never offered to him..he walks as he should have with an $7.5M(ot thereabouts) year contract. Honestly, that is the first time I ever heard that version of things. Even so, I got the feeling that Drury, in a way, mentally checked out on the Sabres (for whatever reason) before the playoffs started. I guess we will never know for sure (though your version makes some sense), but given the fact that Briere is still going strong, and Drury did little in New York, and is now retired, tells me that he was already at the "washed up" point in his career, or just lost some of his love of the game. Make no mistake, I don't mean to sound like Drury is a p.o.s, cuz he served us well for the most part...but that whole summer left a sour taste in my mouth...maybe the fact that our front office, still in place, couldn't land their guy has me placing my anger in the wrong place... or not enough places! At the time, when the whole issue of the un-signed contract came up, I remember the question coming up of, "well, if he agreed to a deal, and they never asked him to sign it, whey didin't he push the issue, if he really wanted to stay?" I remember Darcy kind of, "limply" taking the fall for the whole thing, saying something like "maybe I assumed too much", or something along those lines. Now, next topic...did Ralph order Wade to put Johson in over Flutie?......... Edited April 30, 2012 by Buftex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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