It seems weird to be doing a retrospective on Daniel Briere’s Sabres career now considering that he hasn’t played for Buffalo in eight years (EIGHT YEARS!?!?!). That’s a longer amount of time than the time Briere actually spent with the Sabres. I had almost forgotten that his career was still carrying on. Briere finished his career this season unceremoniously in Colorado of all places. The Avs missed the playoffs, which deprived of us of seeing Briere one last time in the place where he seemed to shine the most – the postseason.
You remember the postseason, right, Buffalo sports fan? The Sabres haven’t been there since losing to Briere’s Flyers in seven games in 2011 (the Bills haven’t been there since Briere was 22 and playing in Phoenix). The last time the Sabres won a playoff series, it was 2007, right before the now-infamous departure of both Briere and Chris Drury to free agency. It was in the postseason where Briere did some of his most memorable work and fans fell in love with the little guy from Gatineau, Quebec.
With most of the Sabres talk in August 2015 about the actual excitement and positive outlook of the team going forward and a possible return to the postseason soon, Briere’s retirement gives us a decent excuse to look back in time, a time when the Sabres were actually good and not just selling fans on a future where they’re supposed to be good.
The 2005-06 Sabres season was (arguably) the greatest thrill ride we’ve been on as Buffalo sports fans. At least, that’s me speaking for my generation. I was four when the ’90 Bills steamrolled through the AFC to Super Bowl XXV, and I imagine that was the most memorable season most Buffalo sports fans have experienced. For fans around my age (late 20s, early 30s), there’s almost a bit of reverence we have when we speak about the 2005-06 Sabres season. That’s the team and the season that takes the cake for us. Go to a bar in Western New York and casually mention that team and I swear you’ll be in a hour-long conversation reminiscing about the great moments from that playoff run. I can’t see friend of the blog @MattyRenn for more than a half an hour before this happens.
What made 05-06 such a magical run, in addition to the many memorable postseason moments, was the fact that it came out of nowhere. The Sabres as a franchise were nearly dead in this town just three years earlier as John and Tim Rigas were dragged off to prison and the hockey team was being run by Gary Bettman and Co. When Mark Hamister’s bid to buy the team went belly up, the Sabres basically had one foot in Portland, OR and one still here in Buffalo. B. Thomas Golisano (I always liked irreverently referring to him as B. Thomas) kept the team firmly in town for good by purchasing the team in March 2003. That same month, the Sabres swung a deal at the trade deadline sending Chris Gratton and a fourth round pick to Phoenix for Briere and a third round pick (which was used on Andrej Sekera). It remains one of the most lopsided trades in Buffalo sports history.
In one month, the Sabres had a new owner to ensure their long-term future in Western New York and one of the players who would lead the resurgence of the team. Ironically, it was Briere’s departure that signaled the end of the good times with B. Thomas as team owner. More on that later.
Even after Briere and Drury (who arrived in the summer of 2003) began leading the makeover of the team, there was still little expected of them when the league returned from one of its many needless lockouts in 2005. I remember reading several publications which picked the Sabres to finish dead last in the Eastern Conference. I figured them to be a team that could compete for eighth place, but no better than that. The Sabres were actually a bit of an afterthought for me as they were way down the list of priorities for someone who was a sophomore in college and much more focused on getting drunk every weekend and trying to hook up.
That all changed quickly when that Sabres team started winning and winning and winning some more. The Sabres were off to a mediocre start (7-8 in their first 14 games with home attendance rarely breaking 13,000) before the team won 19 of their next 24 games. Suddenly, the team was a phenomenon and the arena was filled to capacity every night. Briere was a huge reason for the turnaround. Though he only played in 48 regular season games that year because of an injury, he tallied 25 goals and 33 assists. His 58 points were fourth most on the team. (Remember who led that team in points? It was Max Afinogenov with 73, including 51 assists).
It was in the postseason that Briere soon moved into legendary, man-crush status. It only took one playoff game. He buried the double-overtime winner in a memorable Game 1 against Philadelphia that sent the Sabres off and running to a 4-2 series win over the Flyers. I personally have a foggy recollection of that game because of too many Screwdrivers in a friend’s dorm room, but I do remember my yelling post-goal celebration got me written up by St. Bonaventure’s RAs, who refused to accept that a Sabres playoff win was a good reason for lots of screaming and a room full of booze.
Briere ended up collecting 19 points in the 18 playoff games the Sabres played in 2006. His most important was probably the overtime winner that fluttered behind Cam Ward and into the net to conclude Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Carolina. The power play goal forced Game 7 and (unfortunately) was the last game the Sabres played inside HSBC Arena during the 2006 playoffs thanks to the horrifying third period in Raleigh two nights later that still haunts the author of this column.
The Sabres may not have made the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006, but they gave us the kind of memories we can gush about for years to come. Since Buffalo sports can often be so disappointing and soul-sucking, it’s important to keep in mind the reasons why we waste our time following these teams year after year. The chance to experience a season like the 2006 Sabres is why we do this.
The 2006 Sabres were not a one-year wonder either. They followed it up with the best regular season in team history. The 2007 Sabres led the league with 53 wins and 113 points. It’s the only time the team has ever claimed the President’s Trophy. This was a team that tallied 308 goals on the year and had five 20-goal scorers before February. They had four players top 30 goals and six score more than 20. It was Briere that led the way with a team-high 95 points and 63 assists.
Unfortunately, the 2007 postseason did not produce quite the same thrills as 2006. The Sabres were expected to make it out of the Eastern Conference and played like a team that struggled with those expectations. Though they dispatched the eighth-seeded (and Ted Nolan coached) Islanders in five games in the opening round, they struggled to fend off the Rangers in the second round, nearly finding themselves facing elimination at Madison Square Garden before Drury saved the day with his legendary tying goal setting the stage for Afinognov’s overtime winner in Game 5. The Sabres won Game 6 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals against rival Ottawa.
One of Briere’s best moments in Buffalo happened in this Ottawa series, but it’s forgotten because of the results of the game and series. With the Sabres trailing by a goal and staring a 2-0 series deficit in the face in Game 2 in Buffalo, it was Briere who was in the right place at the right time to slide a loose puck past Ray Emery to tie the game with 5.8 seconds left and send Western New York into a frenzy. If the Sabres had managed to win that game in overtime and go on to win that series, Briere’s goal would like be held in the same lofty regard as Drury’s Game 5 goal against the Rangers one round earlier. Alas, things did not turn out well for the Blue and Gold and would only get worse once the offseason began on July 1, 2007.
So much has been written and said about Briere and Drury leaving Buffalo on the same summer afternoon eight years ago that I really don’t need to go into the details again, but the franchise is still trying to correct the mistakes of the failed contract negotiations with those two. The seeds for Briere’s departure were planted after the Carolina series in 2006. Golisano, Larry Quinn and Co. low balled Briere, who was seeking a five-year, $25 million deal. Briere and the Sabres went to arbitration instead, which soured the relationship between the two sides. Briere was awarded a $5 million contract for 2007, which the Sabres incredibly thought about walking away from. After exploring sign and trade options, the Sabres finally agreed to the arbitrator’s deal weeks after it was awarded.
When the 2007 offseason rolled around, what contract offer did the Sabres present to Briere? Five years, $25 million. Just about a year too late there, boys.
Incompetence has become a staple of both Buffalo sports and Western New York politics over the years and this certainly was a shining example of that. It’s no coincidence that Larry Quinn was involved, as he has now teamed up with tag-team partner Carl Paladino to help destroy Buffalo’s Public Schools (hey we elected them both; way to go us). Mismanagement from the Sabres’ front office helped botch what should have been a good half decade of winning hockey down at 1 Seymour H. Knox Plaza. Instead, the run ended way too quickly considering the talent on those 06 and 07 teams.
You can justify letting Drury leave because of his age at the time. It’s especially easy to do in hindsight since his production slipped greatly in New York as he battled injuries and father time. The same can’t be said for Briere. He was just 29 when he bolted Buffalo for Philadelphia and was coming off a 95-point season, best on a loaded team. The Sabres should have made his signing a priority. They should have had him locked up before the 2007 season. Whether it was Golisano’s refusal to pay anything but the bare minimum or Quinn’s massive ego (probably Quinn’s massive ego), management totally pissed away Buffalo’s chance a creating a mini hockey dynasty. At the very least, they should have kept some of the core components that helped produce the best two-year stretch of hockey Buffalo had ever seen.
It’s been eight years since Briere last wore a blue and gold sweater and the Sabres are now finally getting around to correcting the errors of 2007. The Sabres haven’t won a playoff series since 2007, in large part because they never found the productive centers to replace Briere and Drury in the top six. Derek Roy had some nice years, but the Sabres were still missing what they had in 2006 and 2007. Now the 2015 Sabres have Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, and Ryan O’Reilly to man the center position for years to come. In time, it might mean a return to the kind of hockey we saw here nearly a decade ago.
Briere retires without winning a Stanley Cup. He got to the Finals once, with the 2010 Flyers. They, of course, lost in six games to the Blackhawks on an overtime goal by Skybar’s best customer, Patrick Kane (yeah sure you have no skin in the game, Mark Croce). Though 2010 was Briere’s closest shot at a ring (he had 30 points in 23 playoff games), I’d like to think his best chance at the Cup came here in Buffalo. Those were probably the two best teams he played on. After beating Ottawa in the 2006 Eastern Conference Semifinals, they had everything set up to win the Cup before their defensemen started falling apart like several Mr. Potato Heads. If they could have shown up for Games 1 and 3 of the 2007 Ottawa series, maybe that would have been the year.
What I do know is that Briere’s run in Buffalo ended far too soon. He should have been centering Buffalo’s top scoring line into the 2010s. At least part of their 06-07 core should have been held together. Bad management (as it often does in Buffalo) prevented that from happening. As Danny hangs up his skates for good, let’s hope the days of feeble ownership and second-rate management are gone for good as well in Buffalo.
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