Briere rejects Sabres’ offer

I think what drives me nuts about this are the comments from seemingly ill-informed people such as “Buffalo was cheap last year thats why they are paying this year” and “Buffalo’s cheap ways are coming back to bite them in the slug!!!”

Point 1: In case you’ve forgotten, the NHL has a salary cap. Each team is not allowed to go over a predefined league limit for player payroll, meaning that you’ve got a lot of players to keep happy with only a finite amount of money. The Sabres just barely did that last year, managing to stay under the $44 million cap only with such actions as walking away from JP Dumont’s $2.9 million arbitration award, trading Marty Biron at the deadline to dump his $2 million salary, and demoting Drew Stafford to the minors for the final two games of the regular season. Can someone explain to me how spending every red penny on players that the league allows you to spend is considered “cheap”?

Point 2: This year, the Sabres are trying to resign Drury and perhaps Zubrus (although the latter is unlikely at this point), and will have to match whatever offer sheets come in for RFAs Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy. Plus, I’m sure they’d like to pick up a gritty winger or two. So… starting the negotiations by offering a guy what he wanted the prior year, knowing that you have a heap of other players to keep happy with a limited amount of spending ability, is being cheap?

Point 3: The salary cap is rising too quickly, from $39 million two years ago to $50.3 million this year. (Side note: I sure wish my own salary would increase by nearly a third over a two-year span.) The Sabres are attempting to keep up with this tidal wave of rising payroll while having revenue that is among the lowest in the league: average ticket prices are in the mid-$30 range, necessary because sellouts weren’t nearly as prevalent before last year, and because the economy in Buffalo is terrible.

But I suppose it’s just easier to assume the Sabres are just cheap. So forget everything I just said and cling to that mantra like a dog with a new chewtoy.

Flashback to May 19th, 2007: As the Ottawa Senators celebrated a series-clinching overtime goal right beneath me, my emotions got the best of me and I bitterly exclaimed: “Don’t worry Ottawa, you’ll blow it in the finals.”

I told you so.

Congrats to the Ducks on being the first California team, and the first team on the West Coast in over 80 years (no, Colorado doesn’t count) to win the Stanley Cup. The Ducks didn’t just win, they consistently manhandled the Sens. Ottawa won a lot of games in the playoffs by playing a physical style, but when they ran into a team that plays even more physical, they couldn’t hang. Ray Emery fell back down to earth and proved he’s a below-average goaltender who seems to let in at least one soft goal per game, and the rest of the Sens did nothing to shed their image as chokers. They were so rattled that they turned over the puck like it was a hot potato and resorted to a barrage of cheap shots, including Chris Neil’s attempt to behead Andy McDonald in Game 3 (which, mysteriously, went unpunished) and Daniel Alfredsson’s shooting of the puck at Scott Niedermayer in Game 4 as the period ended in a humiliating display of poor sportsmanship.

Can you tell I don’t like Ottawa very much? Heh.

This video is the sort of thing I’ll watch years from now when I’m having a bad day, and it will cheer me up instantly.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
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Buffalo (1) vs. New York Rangers (6)
Buffalo swept the season series with the Rangers, but the Rangers were a vastly different team when they last played on Dec. 1st. Many took the Islanders lightly, but they played the Sabres much tougher than most people expected – and the Sabres still won in five. The Rangers will offer more of a challenge, but the Sabres are up to it after acknowledging that they need to play better. The Rangers took advantage of an easy first-round matchup with the overrated Thrashers and wiped them out in four straight, but the train stops here. Sean Avery will not be able to throw Buffalo off its game as easily as he did with Kovalchuk, Hossa, and Kozlov, and the Rangers’ D is slow and exploitable. Sabres in 6.

New Jersey (2) vs. Ottawa (4)
Ottawa easily beat a young and shell-shocked Pittsburgh team, while New Jersey struggled a bit against the one-line Lightning. But now, the Devils and Senators enter a matchup in which the opposition has just as much depth and experience. As a Sabres fan, I hope these two teams beat the hell out of each other. Martin Brodeur will not be able to get away with mediocre play as he did in the first three games against Tampa. Ottawa in 7.

WESTERN CONFERENCE
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Detroit (1) vs. San Jose (5)
Don’t look at the rankings here – the only reason Detroit finished a mere six points ahead of San Jose was because of the easy-pickings division they play in. Although Detroit overwhelmed Calgary, it took them six games to do so – and San Jose is far, far better than Calgary. San Jose beat Nashville in five games despite going only 2 for 30 on the powerplay, and if they get it on track in this series, Detroit is done. San Jose in 6.

Anaheim (2) vs. Vancouver (3)
Anaheim won the season series 3-1 and held Vancouver to an average of 2 goals per game. In its previous series against Dallas, Vancouver scored a mere 13 goals in 7 games – only eight of which came in the final six games. These are not auspicious numbers for the Canucks. Marty Turco was stellar in the first round, but let’s face it, the Canucks are extremely mediocre offensively – and now they get to face Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. Does Roberto Luongo have four shutouts in him? He might need to for the Canucks to have a chance. Anaheim in 5.