scottnc Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 "I didn't feel comfortable at all anymore to be part of an organization that walked away from me." I have to say I lost some respect for him with this comment. I know he wants to make his money which is fine and I don't hold him going elsewhere against him, but there's no reason to dis his old club for walking away from an arbitration award that in most opinions I read was extremely generous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmwolf21 Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 "They never made any offer until I went through arbitration, and right after when they said they walked away, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to be out of there," he said during a teleconference. "I didn't feel comfortable at all anymore to be part of an organization that walked away from me." Sounds like the team figured out early (due to Briere's award, maybe) that the way things were shaping up, there was no way they would be able to bring him back without sacrificing others. While I am not the most ardent Dumont fan out there, I think the team should have been a little more upfront with him and told him that unless the award came in at a reasonable price (read: closer to the Sabres' number) that they couldn't bring him back. (Disclaimer: I am in no way privy to the communications and negotiations process between the Buffalo Sabres, Darcy Regier, Larry Quinn, and Dumont's representation. The above statements are opinions only, and should be used for entertainment purposes. No Sabres were harmed in the production of this post.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 "I didn't feel comfortable at all anymore to be part of an organization that walked away from me." I have to say I lost some respect for him with this comment. I know he wants to make his money which is fine and I don't hold him going elsewhere against him, but there's no reason to dis his old club for walking away from an arbitration award that in most opinions I read was extremely generous. If you include the 1st 1/2 of the quote, it has a different tone. "They never made any offer until I went through arbitration, and right after when they said they walked away, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to be out of there," he said during a teleconference. "I didn't feel comfortable at all anymore to be part of an organization that walked away from me." I'm not glad he's gone, the Sabres are a weaker team without him than with him. But IF the Sabres never made him an offer other than the qualifying offer, then the Sabres DID walk away from him and I can understand why he didn't feel he was an essential component of the team. Around the time the Sabres walked away from the award, Darcy made a comment about not making JP a LT offer at the time so there may be a grain of truth in what JP is saying. (I don't recall the exact comment, maybe that comment is still in WGR's vault.) (Also, having never heard JP's comments on Channel 2 that were interpreted as JP wanting to test the UFA waters next year prior to his arbitration hearing, I don't know whether or if that would have factored into the terms and amount the Sabres were offering him.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PASabreFan Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Do we really have to pillory every Sabre who leaves? Why can't we remember the good guys in a positive light? Let's save the scorn for the real creeps -- like Dominik Hasek. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Do we really have to pillory every Sabre who leaves? Why can't we remember the good guys in a positive light? Let's save the scorn for the real creeps -- like Dominik Hasek. :) Doug Janik went to Maine, so he sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodfella25 Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Sounds like the team figured out early (due to Briere's award, maybe) that the way things were shaping up, there was no way they would be able to bring him back without sacrificing others. While I am not the most ardent Dumont fan out there, I think the team should have been a little more upfront with him and told him that unless the award came in at a reasonable price (read: closer to the Sabres' number) that they couldn't bring him back. (Disclaimer: I am in no way privy to the communications and negotiations process between the Buffalo Sabres, Darcy Regier, Larry Quinn, and Dumont's representation. The above statements are opinions only, and should be used for entertainment purposes. No Sabres were harmed in the production of this post.) Well Dumont took the team to arbitration, so in my opinion the organization doesn't owe him any explaination. I think that kind of comes with the territory if a player is going to choose the arbitration route. O well, I'm sure he'll be solid in Nashville, but I'm not losing any sleep over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmwolf21 Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 I just think its disingenuous of JP to act indignant when the Sabres walked away from what most people agree was a very generous award. Sounds like he used the Mike Grier script on leaving town... PA, I haven't heard all of Dumont's comments, and I agree that we should skewer all players on their way out of town, but whatever happened to the standard humble, appreciative quotes - you know, the "I really enjoyed my time here, I was hoping we could work it out and stay in this great city, we knew the salary cap would affect the roster, it was a business decision, etc." Usually guys who leave on those terms don't get skewered on message boards and talk shows, and don't get booed when they return. I mean why burn bridges in an industry where your job choices are limited? Anyway I'll take the high road, and say thanks for everything while you were here, JP, and good luck in Nashville... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PASabreFan Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 J.P. has been nothing but a humble, modest, model professional athlete in his time here. You can't take one quote (out of context) and pillory him for it. Pillory, not skewer, didn't you get the memo? P.S. I am almost certain J.P. at some point this summer has talked about how much he liked Buffalo and wanted to stay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickshaw Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Poor poor JP. He took the club to arb and they decided the offer was too much. That's business baby! I would have preferred he took the high road and thanked Buffalo for giving him his start in the NHL. Instead, he moans like a spoiled child. I don't respect that either. He'll be easily replaced in my opinion. There will be another youngster who will get 20 goals. Vanek will get more ice. It's all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Do we really have to pillory every Sabre who leaves? Why can't we remember the good guys in a positive light? Let's save the scorn for the real creeps -- like Dominik Hasek. :) What makes Hasek such a creep though? Because he said he will retire a redwing? I don't see much of a difference between how JP left, or Peca, or Hasek. The didn't leave giving the most glowing comments about the organisation and management Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawerchuk Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 I was listening to JP on XM Radio and he said he was disappointed the Sabres rejected the offer and felt like they were not wanting him back. He said some negative thing towards the Sabres after that, but he did say he loved the city and all the people in Buffalo. Sounds typical, but I heard sincerity in his voice on that. Too bad, cause I liked him esp with Briere and Hecht, but 2.9 mil was toooooooo much. He'll be missed but that just means another callup from RaChaCha will do the trick. Good luck in NSH country town JP!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 If you include the 1st 1/2 of the quote, it has a different tone. I'm not glad he's gone, the Sabres are a weaker team without him than with him. But IF the Sabres never made him an offer other than the qualifying offer, then the Sabres DID walk away from him and I can understand why he didn't feel he was an essential component of the team. Around the time the Sabres walked away from the award, Darcy made a comment about not making JP a LT offer at the time so there may be a grain of truth in what JP is saying. (I don't recall the exact comment, maybe that comment is still in WGR's vault.) (Also, having never heard JP's comments on Channel 2 that were interpreted as JP wanting to test the UFA waters next year prior to his arbitration hearing, I don't know whether or if that would have factored into the terms and amount the Sabres were offering him.) It really is hard to know. I think what probably happened was that JP and his agent had a starting number for negotations that was prohibitive - so the two camps were nowhere close to begin with. His agent almost certainly made a case for more than $3million in arbitration so I would have to think that whatever the agent was asking for pre-arbitration was a non-starter for Darcy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frisky Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Perhaps, after Briere's ruling put things into focus, they may have had a list of people that they could have to part with and that ended up being JP. With how things were going early on with all the signings it probably became clear that we couldn't bring everyone back so we cut loose Griere, McKee, and JP. Well, just one more to go now...pretty much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 When JP was on his game, he could score, hit and be a pest. When he wasn't, he disappeared offensively and had a penchant for taking stupid penalties. Overall, a pretty good 2nd line forward that will be missed. Hopefully Pominville can fill the scoring void. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmwolf21 Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 J.P. has been nothing but a humble, modest, model professional athlete in his time here. You can't take one quote (out of context) and pillory him for it. Pillory, not skewer, didn't you get the memo? P.S. I am almost certain J.P. at some point this summer has talked about how much he liked Buffalo and wanted to stay. I don't doubt he made those sorts of comments - but that wouldn't have been a little negotiating through the press, would it? Likewise, I didn't have any problem with him while he was here, but fans aren't going to remember that - they'll see/hear these comments, and the boo-birds will be out when Nashville comes to town. (BTW - I meant to say we shouldn't skewer/pillory each Sabre on the way out of town...small typo changes the whole meaning) Poor poor JP. He took the club to arb and they decided the offer was too much. That's business baby! I would have preferred he took the high road and thanked Buffalo for giving him his start in the NHL. Instead, he moans like a spoiled child. I don't respect that either. He'll be easily replaced in my opinion. There will be another youngster who will get 20 goals. Vanek will get more ice. It's all good. Good post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit151 Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 I've heard a number of the Sabres say how the Sabres management offended them by not offering longer deals last year. McKee and Dumont both tried to make Regier look like the bad guy saying he wouldn't offer them more than a year. I don't like these comments because they almost seem meant for the other Sabre players to hear, and get bitter over. Maybe Dumont and McKee and Grier are hoping guys like Briere, Drury and others will lose respect for Regier and jump ship as soon as they can. But, there is another way to look at it. By signing so many guys to one-year deals, Regier gave them the chance to be men. He gave them the chance to take control of their own destiny by having career years and getting on the radar screen of GM's around the league. I think Regier did them a heck of a favor. A team of virtual unknowns is handed the tools for success and they took advantage. The price for that is that not everyone can come back this year. Wake up dummies!! Regier helped you earn bigger bucks. As you leave town, how about something classy like, "Thank you to the Sabres and the folks of Buffalo for giving me the chance to succeed. It's too bad some GM offered me more, or that the salary cap became an issue, but that's the business side of things and I understand that." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickshaw Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Rabbit, well said. The new NHL hadn't been played yet and I think it was very prudent of Sabre management to see how their team performed under the new system. They played very well and succeeded. Now they have gone out and almost signed the exact same team they finished with, except for a few interchangeable pieces (McKee for Spacek; Dumont most likely by yet another hungry youngster). This to me, is excellent. Bringing back the same team NEVER works completely. Vancouver did it for years with the same top guys and it did not work obviously. The Sabres have lost a couple of key guys but they are replaced, imo. Reiger is an excellent GM like him or not. He got Dumont for nothing (he was a throw in with Gilmour). Reiger got lots of mileage out of him but now it's over. But don't cry. If you go to arb, take the decisions like a man. The Sabres did. They couldn't afford the deal, they chose to walk away. No crying, that's business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SabresForCup Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 JP was mad the Sabres didn't give him an offer before arbitration which is understandable. If you listen to the clip of him on the WGR website, he really praises the Buffalo fans, and you can tell that he liked his time with the Sabres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabre Dance Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 This isn't in regard specifically to Dumont, but in general I always wonder about a player who leaves a team that has (or had) a legitimate shot at a title for some extra money. I know that free enterprise is what it's all about, but when you're talking about an annual salary that's already in the millions, wouldn't you rather get $750,000 less a year and play for the Cup? No matter how much J.P. makes in Nashville, he won't be able to buy a championship. I wonder how much fun he'll have spending the extra money if the Sabres do go all the way this year? I have heard some football players (can't recall names off the top of my head) say that when it comes to salary, they would rather get more money and play for a ratty team than make a few bucks less and get a ring. Think they'll fell that way when they turn 50 and all the extra money has gone for gold-plated dubs? -Ed :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearTheReaper Posted September 2, 2006 Report Share Posted September 2, 2006 "I didn't feel comfortable at all anymore to be part of an organization that walked away from me." I have to say I lost some respect for him with this comment. I know he wants to make his money which is fine and I don't hold him going elsewhere against him, but there's no reason to dis his old club for walking away from an arbitration award that in most opinions I read was extremely generous. Dumont definitly doesn't deserve the amount the arbitrator awarded him,and thats really stupid of him to say such a thing because he would have stayed on the team if not for such a big award atop briere's award.I dont even think dumont was that good,sure he could check well and score,but thats about it.Hes not that quick,hes not a playmaker,he takes stupid penalties he cant kill penalties & and he makes bad mistakes and turnovers.I'm glad we let him go to keep briere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR HOLLIDAY Posted September 3, 2006 Report Share Posted September 3, 2006 Well guys of course he's not gonna be that happy with the Sabre's at this point in time, they did what they though was better for the team and JP did what he thought was better for him and his family........Sometimes things don't work out perfectly, but I can see him being somewhat upset with what went down, its kinda like getting fired......... B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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