'The Sabres have a few options with Briere, none of which look overly appealing. They can walk away from the arbitration ruling and send Briere directly into unrestricted free agency. They can swallow the $5 million and risk him becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer, which is like duct-taping a water-main break. They can trade him knowing they'll get either a lesser player or a similar contract in return.'