Archives for July 9, 2007

‘”More special teams and more five-on-five, just getting more minutes,” Stafford said. “The minutes that they played took up a lot of the time there. For me personally, I’m just going to try and take advantage of just getting here and getting settled in and just trying to create.”‘

‘The Sabres and Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks were the two biggest gainers – with sales up 497 per cent and 339 per cent, respectively.’

'Whatever the motivating factor behind the Sabres "no negotiation during the season" policy, it's obviously not working under the current labor agreement. Unless they change this practice they can expect to lose more players in the coming years in the same way they lost Briere and McKee.'

‘In the same way, when Buffalo GM Darcy Regier lost Daniel Briere and Chris Drury to the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers last week, he had no choice but to retain Vanek’s currently overpriced services. Had Regier lost all three, Sabres fans would’ve been justifiably irate, and that franchise is not financially stable enough to risk a revolt among its customers.’

‘The Buffalo Sabres will miss Briere and Drury, but there’s a support system in Buffalo that could very well make the Sabres even stronger when next year’s playoffs roll around.’

'“You’ve got some young players that obviously we are going to look to mature and fill that void,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said over the weekend. “We’ve got some players that have been around, that have a number of years under their belt. We’ve always said that that core group inside the room was a strong core. I said it’s going to be tough to replace, but we’re going to have to ask other young players to step in and fill bigger roles.”'