Buffalo Sabres Picked Apart

The National Hockey League's free agency signing period is only twenty four hours old, and the Buffalo Sabres are already being picked apart. The first to go was the Sabres' Co-captain Daniel follow by the Sabres' other Co-Captain Chris Drury.

The Buffalo Sabres' are coming off their best regular season in franchise history. They ended the 82 game season with 53 wins, a franchise record. They were the winners of the President's trophy, which is awarded to the team with the best overall record at the end of the regular season. This distinction ensures home ice advantage throughout the playoffs. The Sabres also scored a league high 308 goals, 20 more than the next closest team.

Even with all of this, the Sabres were still unable to make it past the conference finals.

For the second season in a row, the Sabres were eliminated from the playoffs in the Eastern Conference Finals. This past season they lost 4 games to 1 to the Ottawa Senators after a lack luster performance in the series. In the 2005-2006 season they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, the Carolina Hurricanes.

With the loss of both of their co-Captains, Drury and Briere, and the potential to lose some of their other unrestricted free agents such as Teppo Numminen and Dainius Zubris, they may have last their chance to finally win a Stanley cup. ESPN.com

Drury and Briere are both seasoned veterans who provided the Sabres with strong leadership. Their loss will be felt both on and off the ice. Combined, they accounted for sixty nine of the Sabres' 308 goals and had a total of 164 points between them. Their loss may be more impactful in the locker room. Drury and Briere provide the overall young Buffalo team with guidance and leadership.

Briere is a nine year veteran who was one of the top free agents on the market this season. He refused the Sabres' offer of a 5 year $25 million contract, feeling he could get a better deal on the open market. He did. Briere signed an 8 year, $52 million offer from the Philadelphia Flyers. The contract that Briere signed is heavily front-loaded. Briere will make $10 million next season, which is two times the amount he made last year. He is scheduled to make $8 million the next two years and $7 million the following three seasons. The contract drops off drastically in the last two seasons of the deal with Briere making only $3 million and then $2 million in the last year of the eight deal. Espn.com news services

Drury, an eight year veteran, signed a 5 year $32.25 million contract with the New York Rangers. Drury will earn $7.1 million the next two seasons. Drury had a career high 69 points last season which included 37 goals. Associated Press/ESPN.com

Sources:
ESPN.com News Services. Briere agrees to eight-year deal with Philadelphia. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2922605. Retrieved July 1, 2007.

Associated Press/ESPN.com. Drury, Gomez agree to deals with Rangers. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2922738. Retrieved July 1, 2007.

ESPN.com. Potential unrestricted free agents list. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2910524. Retrieved July 1, 2007.