wheels off the bandwagon so fast, good team, good players. Just got outplayed enough to lose 4 games.
It is funny to listen to some people hack down some of the teams best players because they weren’t the ones constantly putting the puck in the net…
anyways it was sweet being in Ottawa as a Sabs fan during such an important game…city was definitely intense afterwards, thought they won Mr Stanley or something
there will be pics to come…
[quote=“RobHimself,post:5839,topic:25170"”]
Breiere lacks integrity
[/quote]
If that was true, he wouldn’t have been given the C.
He, like nearly all pros, is trying to get paid while he can.
It sucks to think of it that way, but every one of us would do the same thing in his shoes.
[quote=“JDMR2,post:5830,topic:25170"”]
(Hopefully) Welcome back Thomas Vanek
[/quote]
If he goes anywhere, I’d be very suprised.
I see us inking him long term.
it was the diving that madem e say the integrity part. Again not taking anything away from him i just hate his faults more that i like his abilities.
[quote=“SI01,post:5843,topic:25170"”]
If he goes anywhere, I’d be very suprised.
I see us inking him long term.
[/quote]
i really fucking hope so much of this team stays together, but who knows. the problem that is darcy regier is how he works, and i would imagine will continue to work. darcy doesnt start off offering people huge money, he sticks with the “offer them the baseline salary increase from last year and see where it goes.” for a LOT of players, its a big disrespect to not reward a successful season. granted not every player is going to make 5-6 million a season, but to just throw out the standard raise to each player is not going to sit well with everyone.
if we play that game with vanek, hes gone. if he is NOT signed by july 1st, kiss him goodbye unfortunately
briere…goes both ways with me. sure he lead our team in points in reg season and playoffs and he is our captain for a reason. however, the STUPID penalties he takes for not taking the extra stride is unacceptable of someone in a leadership role. and as far as briere not looking for long term with the team, during last seasons contract talks, briere was asking 5 mil a season for 5 years, regier was offering 4.5 mill for 5 years. for a guy who claims he wants a long term deal with THIS team, for him to not resign over half a mill is fucking rediculous. i lost my respect for him when i heard that from my friend who is regiers assistant.
i dunno. i really dont fucking see why two guys who claim they want nothing more than to keep this team intact cant take a paycut to play on a team that is obviously a cup contender every season they play. im obviously not rich, but i mean shit…whats the REAL difference between say 3 and 5 million a season, when in BUFFALO half a million a year buys you a MANSION, sends your kids to private school, gets you your wife and her mother a new lexus, and still have chump change to join a country club.
which all leads right back into my hatred of overpaid athletes…its all so fucking stupid and there is NO SENSE OF LOYALTY in any sport what-so-fucking-ever (except for brett favre, that guy is always a class act in my book). i can see teppo taking a paycut to come back next year. actually, i could see about half the team taking a paycut to keep the core together. but i don’t see briere accepting any less than his hefty 5 million a year to come back. drury is due for a raise, but if theres one guy who could make a fucking fortune and MIGHT refuse it, i see it as him, but only the basis of a one year deal to give this team one more shot at a cup run, and then take his huge bank contract the season following.
i just don’t know…
Personally, I feel briere is a great player. Its a shame his size is such a downfall, I think the sabres being as small as they are already, I have no problem seeing him go.
Drury is a must keep, that game 5 in the playoffs proved he would die for this team. Diving in front of the puck, screening the goalie, doing everything in his power to win. If he didn’t get injured, he would have won us that game, and in regulation. I know he would.
Numminen, I would love for him to stay, but if he doesn’t im very confident Paetsch can pick up his slack and we would see no drop off from teppo leaving.
Vanek, is a must keep, he’s going to want good money, but with briere gone, we should have enough cap left to keep Roy, Vanek and Drury.
Zubrus… PLEASE RESIGN FOR 15 YEARS!
roy isnt even that great of a player. he’s on again / off again. yeah he played the PK, but our PK got shredded for the most part.
im wondering where vanek went in the playoffs after his 4-5 good games… he just sort of disappeared. it was like… when max was slouching, vanek was playing well, then they sory of flip flopped.
drury did have a great last game, he played overall better than briere in my opinion. connolly - - ?? he looked like he was playing hard but overall i dont think he was a factor at all.
i hate to knock on lindy, but i thought his coaching was horrid in the last few games. you have max, who was one of our best players on the ice… stuck on the 2nd PP unit. he averaged about 20 seconds of playing time on every PP. he DID score 2 clutch PP goals, (of course both were 5 on 3’s), but the guy never had a chance on the regular PP unit.
then we have the defensemen situation. kalinen dresses and plays 7 mins one game… then 4 mins… then TWO MINUTES?? come on, thats ridiculous. spacek plays 10 mins. the rest of the guys are putting in 26-28-30 mins plus. maybe our defense was just shot at the end of the game and that factored into alfredsson coming through untouched. a few more minute breaks add up to a lot in a game that gets stretched into OT…
i most definitely don’t see Briere re-signing with us. Like it was said, he will request way too much money that we don’t have. Drury on the other hand, I don’t see him being a greedy guy. Sure he’ll prolly want more than what he makes now, but i can’t see him being like Briere. I’ve watched Drury since he first skated in the NHL, as I was and still am sort of an Avs fan, and he definitely mean’s a lot more to us than Briere. Drury will do everything. He’s amazing at faceoff’s, he kills penalties, and as we saw in the last game, he’ll put his body on the line for us. I don’t want him to leave. I’d be shocked if he did.
I agree. Drury we keep (at least I hope), but I don’t hold much hope for Briere signing another contract with us. I do think we are going to add some depth to our defense with the extra cap room and hopefully pick up some players that can contribute positively to our horrible power play. Preferably guys that won’t get pushed around so much along the boards.
Now, Sabres are the ones facing tough offseason questions
One or the other would be fine…
The lines we have it seems they need the following…
Playmaker, Goal Scorer, Grit in the corners
Briere, Pominville, Hecht
Connolly, Drury, Zubrus
Afinagenov, Vanek, Roy
Exception 4th line
Mair, Gaustad, kotalik
Losing Briere could result in lines like
Stafford may not be a direct replacement but i still feel next season he is a 30 goal, 40 assist guy.
Preditcted stats next year. with the predicted lines just losing briere 
Vanek 45-50 goals 40-45 assists - 85-95 pts
Maxim 35 goals 55-60 assists - 90 - 95pts
Roy 25 Goals 35-40 assists - 60-65 pts
Drury 35 Goals, 40 assists - 75 pts
Kotalik 25 goals, 35 assists - 60pts
Zubrus 25 goals, 45 assists - 70pts
Connolly 20 goals 50-55 assist - 70-75pts
Pominville 30-35 goals 30-35 assists - 60-70pts
Hecht 27-35 goals 25-30 assists 58-65pts
267 goals on the low end to 285 goals on just the first three lines. being that 80% of the sabres scoring was the first three lines…
they could be a 333 to 350 goal scoring team… They are just gonna get better. And be much better defensively too.
Tallinder and lydman found their groove
Campbell and spacek
Kalinin and Paetsch
And no briere to suck ass in the corners.
I think another broken Record next year 55 - 57 WINS!! thats 110 -114 pts already. Lets just hope for no injuries!!!
Yes 5 30 goal scorers… and every player on the 3 lines would have 20+ goals… I don’t see briere being that missed…
Sry im a dreamer… But i think we’ll be much much better
Did anyone catch briere’s interview on wgr this afternoon? Seems what has been said in a couple prior posts about briere may not be true.
[quote=“JDMR2,post:5830,topic:25170"”]
Fine Tuning:
Goodbye Briere, hello 5 million in extra cap room
Welcome back Chris Drury (can anyone say FRANCHISE PLAYER)
Welcome back Danius Zubrus (hopefully)
GOOD FUCKING BYE KALININ, welcome to being a starter Nathan Paetsch
(Hopefully) Welcome back Thomas Vanek
Goodbye Teppo Numinen (although he played real well last night…maybe they will ditch out spacek and keep numinnen for another season)…either way Hello extra 3 million of cap room
BRING IN JASON FUCKING BLAKE WHO IS BEGGING TO COME TO BUFFALO
Hello Stanley Cup '08
[/quote]
i love you
seriously though :tup: x1239847123984728317423
sounds perfect
[quote=“fiend540,post:5851,topic:25170"”]
Did anyone catch briere’s interview on wgr this afternoon? Seems what has been said in a couple prior posts about briere may not be true.
[/quote]
^ Didn’t catch it, but was it something along the lines of his wanting to keep the team together, and going to management and saying how he told them to do what ever they could to keep the current team?
Because if it was, he did the same thing last year, then went to arbitration and got a salary judgement so high we had to cut his best buddy JP Dumont.
I would not miss Briere too much for next year if connolly plays all year and stafford comes up as a full timer.
Briere had pts. in the playoffs which is what he is paid to do…However taking stupid penalties is not his role and not the role of the C.
Drury is a fucking warrior…That guy would die for anyone on his team. Shit he was interviewed after the game with blood gushing from his face and he just sat there calm and answered every question honestly and with integrity.
Sign Drury, Sign Zubes, and let Teppo decide what he wants to do. Let Kalinin go and maybe let Spacek go and I think we will be solid solid for next year.
I think Ottawa wins the East next Year
Buffalo and Pittsburgh for 2 & 3 and Tampa Bay 4th.
The rest i dont care about 
[quote=“badazzss,post:5847,topic:25170"”]
connolly - - ?? he looked like he was playing hard but overall i dont think he was a factor at all.
[/quote]
Cut him a break man, he missed the whole damn season…
[quote=“JayS,post:5853,topic:25170"”]
^ Didn’t catch it, but was it something along the lines of his wanting to keep the team together, and going to management and saying how he told them to do what ever they could to keep the current team?
Because if it was, he did the same thing last year, then went to arbitration and got a salary judgement so high we had to cut his best buddy JP Dumont.
[/quote]
I didn’t catch it either, but this is from a TSN article. Sounds kind of encouraging. Who knows what’s going to happen.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=208456&hubname=nhl
“My first, my probably biggest wish right now would be to be a part of this team,” Briere said. “The Sabres, if they’re interested, they’re going to have the first chance. They’re going to have the best chance. And if that doesn’t work out, then we’ll start looking at different options.” Briere, coming off a career season, said he’d be willing to sign for less than what he might be worth on the open market to stay in Buffalo.
“I like it here. We like the community. We’ve made it our home, even in the off-season,” he said. “Yeah, that’s worth some money to stay here. But I’m just looking for it to be fair.”
Maybe 6 million for 4 years would seem fair to him?
[quote=“Pass McGrass,post:5856,topic:25170"”]
I didn’t catch it either, but this is from a TSN article. Sounds kind of encouraging. Who knows what’s going to happen.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=208456&hubname=nhl
Maybe 6 million for 4 years would seem fair to him?
[/quote]
He did say the same stuff last year, my biggest problem is if keeping him means losing drury i will be saying buh bye. He will be where they are willing to pay him the most in the least amount of time. I dont see him staying.
It’s one or the other, and I’d also rather have Drury, but you can’t ignore the fact that Danny B. had 95 points during the regular season and 15 pts in what was considered a “bad” playoff performance for him.
Idk, I don’t think he’s worth 6 million/year, but he’s lucking out with his contract ending this year. If there were any elite players on the market, ie Lecavieler, Alfredsson, etc, Briere wouldn’t get anything more than 5 per year.
As clutch as Drury is, he’s also not worth anything more than 5 a year. Guys like Sakic, Lemieux, Lidstrom, THEY are/were worth 6 million plus, but not Drury. He’s just not THAT good.
[quote=“Pass McGrass,post:5858,topic:25170"”]
If there were any elite players on the market, ie Lecavieler, Alfredsson, etc, Briere wouldn’t get anything more than 5 per year.
[/quote]
Lecavalier is one thing, but I don’t consider Alfredsson elite compared to Briere.
Last year, no. This year, hell yes. He was unstoppable throughout the entire post season this year. Briere, while he had a decent output, was held quiet through most of the games.
You wouldn’t take Alfredsson over Briere on a straight up trade? I would.