(I thought the ending of Super Troopers was a good metaphor for Sabres fans who don’t have to take any crap anymore about their team)
The 2015 offseason has only been officially underway for a few days, but already there’s been plenty for Buffalo Sabres fans to celebrate. The major headlines, of course, have been the drafting and signing of Jack Eichel and the trade acquisition of Ryan O’Reilly, with an extension for the latter soon to come.
There’s also reason to celebrate the end of one of the darkest moments in Sabres history.
For a good seven years, no Buffalo News column or WGR segment about the Sabres could not be completed without a reference to July 1, 2007. Letting Daniel Briere and Chris Drury walk out the door on the first day of free agency without compensation was the scarlet letter that Darcy Regier had to wear on his chest for the rest of his time in Buffalo (he stuck it out another six years!). It was also the defining moment for Larry Quinn as managing partner and de facto president of the team. We later let that man run the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation and become a member of the Buffalo Public Schools’ board of education (derp).
While many people saw the departure of Briere and Drury as ripping out the heart and soul of the 2007 Presidents Trophy winners, a more accurate narrative was that the Sabres lost their top two centers and never really replaced them. Briere was averaging over a point per game with the Sabres when he left (he never matched that output again, btw). Drury had back-to-back 30-goal seasons for the Sabres in 06 and 07 (he also never matched that output again after leaving).
It’s not so much that the Sabres missed Briere and Drury specifically, it’s that they never found point-producing centers to take their place. Derek Roy had a couple of nice statistical seasons in the two years following Briere and Drury’s departure (81 points in 2008), but the Sabres haven’t had a center crack 70 points since Roy’s 70 in 2009.
Regier’s biggest failure as Sabres’ GM (besides the Leino signing and not getting any help at the 2006 trade deadline) was never adding a productive top-line center to his roster after July 1, 2007. I don’t know exactly what Regier did between draft day and the trade deadline each year, but he was content to trot out a declining and often injured Roy and the likes of Tim Connolly or Nathan Gerbe as his top-line centers. That would be like the Bills rolling with EJ Manuel or Matt Cassel as the starting QB of a potential playoff team (oops).
So, the lament for years was that the Sabres never recovered from Briere and Drury leaving. It was the go-to narrative for every hack writer and sports anchor or the guy at the end of the bar who’s been drinking Bud Light for the past four hours and keeps getting up to play “Back in Black” on the jukebox.
Kiss it goodbye, Sabres fans. It’s all over now.
The Briere and Drury narrative officially died on July 1 at around 5 p.m. That’s when the Sabres introduced Eichel to the media for the first time at the First Niagara Center after he signed his entry level contract, ensuring he’s be spending 2015-16 in Buffalo and not at Boston University, as many crazy people tried to convince themselves would happen. The fact that Eichel’s signing took place on July 1 was not lost on me.
I was hoping the Sabres would announce a new deal for O’Reilly on July 1 as well. That didn’t happen, but it’s coming soon. Imagine the symbolism, though: the Sabres announce deals for their new top-two centers who will hopefully be here and productive for years to come eight years to the day after both their top-line pivots walked out the door.
In reality, the end of the post-Drury/Briere era came around 7:30 p.m. on June 25, when the Sabres went up to the podium at the draft in Sunrise, FL to announce the pick of Eichel, followed by old friend Gary Bettman announcing the trade for O’Reilly to the audience. Boom.
In one instant, all the frustration over Drury and Briere leaving, the young core not rising to the next level, Tim Connolly not being the same after the Peter Schaefer hit, back-to-back first round exits, the disastrous 2011 offseason, the lockout, Grigorenko being inserted into the lineup too early, Darcy and Lindy still hanging around, Pat LaFontaine being hired and then resigning, tanking, tanking again, nearly being overtaken by Arizona for last place, and placing second in the lottery two years in a row, etc… was all gone.
The insufferable tank or no tank debate is finally over as well. You have my permission to pour a beer over the head of those who thought the tank was the wrong way to go or chastised the Sabres for being “immoral” (Yes, those people exist. Some are employed by a local newspaper. These are people who are probably incapable of having fun). There’s little question now that the Sabres were right to go to the bottom of the draft two years in a row and they’ve been rewarded handsomely.
Friday night was the happiest I’ve been over anything Sabres related since Pominville’s goal in Ottawa. It had been a long nine years since May 13, 2006, but it was the first time since that night that I couldn’t stop smiling and saying “Can you believe it?” over and over again while enjoying some beers and getting giddy about what could come next.
It’s amazing to think how much has changed in that time. The night of the Pominville goal, I celebrated by getting in the car with some friends of mine and driving up to Boston Pizza on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, since we were all under 21 and none of us had a fake ID (It was a memorable night, as the bar at Boston Pizza was packed with dozens of other 19 or 20-year-old Buffalonians doing the same thing. Roars went up from the crowd every time the flatscreen TVs in the place showed TSN SportCentre’s highlight of Pominville going around Alfredsson and cutting in front).
Last Friday, I celebrated by having some beers in my house while my wife and son took naps in the other room. In the time it took the Sabres to find two top-line centers to replace Briere and Drury, I graduated from college, moved out of my parents’ house, started a full-time job, left to go take a different full-time job, moved in with a woman, got engaged to that woman, married that woman, and had a kid with her. No rush or anything (Bills still haven’t made the playoffs in that time….).
June and July 2015 officially marks the return of the Sabres as a potential contender for the ultimate prize (that elusive Stanley Cup). The Sabres couldn’t be taken seriously as a Cup contender in the late 2000s or early 2010s without an (don’t cringe) elite (Flacco?) top-line center. They had to go to the bottom and swing a big trade to get their two guys, but I think they’ve found them. No, they’re not a contender for the Cup Finals this year (or next year, probably) and it’s still probably too early to start talking about them as a playoff team, but, finally, you can see the pieces in place for a potential Cup team. Hopefully, they can get there before my son starts grade school.
Also, anyone who wants to bring up Drury/Briere as a thing that still haunts the Sabres deserves a punch in the stomach. It’s over. Get off the message boards and get to development camp next week. You’ll get your first glimpse in a long time of what a blue chip offensive talent looks like in a Sabres uniform. Time to get excited. The fun times are back.
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