Tweet
The bottom line is, Sabres should reward loyal fans
The Sabres need to take their policy against negotiating in-season, encase it in concrete and dump it in Lake Erie.
Owner Tom Golisano says the only way the Buffalo Sabres can max out on the salary cap and break even on next season’s bottom line would be by advancing to the second round of the playoffs. OK. And the problem is?
The Sabres have been to two straight Eastern Conference finals. In ’06 they were 20 minutes away from playing for the Stanley Cup. The franchise has wallowed, organizationally speaking, in all the media attention heralding its foresight in building a team ideally suited to the liberated, post-lockout NHL.
And now the owner’s fretting making the playoffs and surviving the first challenge? What’s the new battle cry over there, “One Team, One Round”?
This is no time for Golisano and the rest of the front office to scream “Retreat!” If anything, this is when the suits upstairs should start playing, in hockey lingo, a little out of character, show some gumption, reward Sabres boosters for their fanatical loyalty, finish the darn job. And if it costs the franchise a little more money than desired, if it has the front office squirming over the risks, well, it has only itself to blame.
The Sabres have been losers when it comes to dabbling in the player stock market. They keep shorting their own, and the value of those players continues to climb, which has the franchise scrambling to cover its manpower losses, or potential manpower losses. Whatever it would cost the team to retain Chris Drury, rest assured that, loosely speaking, the price is more today than it was yesterday. Ditto Daniel Briere. Ditto Thomas Vanek, who as a restricted Group 2 free agent can entertain outside offer sheets, the compensation of draft choices hardly a deterrent to the talent-starved when it comes to a 43-goal scorer all of 23.
Vanek’s uncertain status gums up the whole works and pretty much kills any opportunity the Sabres have to deal exclusively with Drury and Briere. Offer sheets to Group 2 free agents can be issued as of June 25. The Sabres have their cocaptains to themselves until July 1, the day the unrestricted free-agent money hits the fan. They must be prepared to meet any attempts to lure Vanek away, which could, just guessing, amount to something like $14 million over four years. That’s over $2 million more than what he counted against the books last season, which is why either Drury or Briere is most certainly a goner.
The Sabres have been to two straight Eastern Conference finals. In ’06 they were 20 minutes away from playing for the Stanley Cup. The franchise has wallowed, organizationally speaking, in all the media attention heralding its foresight in building a team ideally suited to the liberated, post-lockout NHL.
And now the owner’s fretting making the playoffs and surviving the first challenge? What’s the new battle cry over there, “One Team, One Round”?
This is no time for Golisano and the rest of the front office to scream “Retreat!” If anything, this is when the suits upstairs should start playing, in hockey lingo, a little out of character, show some gumption, reward Sabres boosters for their fanatical loyalty, finish the darn job. And if it costs the franchise a little more money than desired, if it has the front office squirming over the risks, well, it has only itself to blame.
The Sabres have been losers when it comes to dabbling in the player stock market. They keep shorting their own, and the value of those players continues to climb, which has the franchise scrambling to cover its manpower losses, or potential manpower losses. Whatever it would cost the team to retain Chris Drury, rest assured that, loosely speaking, the price is more today than it was yesterday. Ditto Daniel Briere. Ditto Thomas Vanek, who as a restricted Group 2 free agent can entertain outside offer sheets, the compensation of draft choices hardly a deterrent to the talent-starved when it comes to a 43-goal scorer all of 23.
Vanek’s uncertain status gums up the whole works and pretty much kills any opportunity the Sabres have to deal exclusively with Drury and Briere. Offer sheets to Group 2 free agents can be issued as of June 25. The Sabres have their cocaptains to themselves until July 1, the day the unrestricted free-agent money hits the fan. They must be prepared to meet any attempts to lure Vanek away, which could, just guessing, amount to something like $14 million over four years. That’s over $2 million more than what he counted against the books last season, which is why either Drury or Briere is most certainly a goner.
Comment