DON'T GET ME STARTED brushes off the vacation yawns and returns to my column.
Naturally, the big news is the departure of Brian Campbell from the Sabres to the San Jose Sharks. He'll skate onto the ice from the Shark Tank and will probably be skating into the playoffs with his new team while the Sabres will be lamenting the latest loss.
While the headline reads "Soupy" canned by Sabres, it's not that he was fired.....but the front office maneuvering was such that for all intents and purposes, no deal was going to get done.
The Sabres players (and the continuing woeful Sabres front office guys)may watch Soupy play in the post-season while Buffalo will be hard pressed to find a replacement for the trigger man on the rush from one end to the other -w ith his famous spinorama moves.
Listening to the talkers, one would think that "Soupy" was way out of line in holding out for a lengthy deal. Let's remember, his agent whistled a 5-year, 5-million dollar deal a few months ago that went nowhere. That's when talks dwindled and the Sabres (again at the last minute) decided on a 3-year deal.
There's no need re-hashing the Briere-Drury-McKee-DuMont- Grier-Biron dealings. What's important to Sabres fans is that the club (under the league's salary cap) continues some hard-ball tactics knowing that the player is going to nix something he feels he's earned. Maybe the brass feels that the blame will be placed on Campbell's can while the suits say "We tried." After all, note how Briere and Drury were maneuvered to become anti-heroes in Buffalo. Bucky Gleason did a great job last weekend describing the details of Drury's exit.
The Sabres could have signed Campbell during last off-season but didn't. He's having a decent year and knows that in July he'll be commanding quite a bit of dough.
So let's get them in line: McKee; Dumont; Briere; Drury; Grier; Pyatt; Conklin; Biron - all are having pretty decent seasons. Buffalo? The Sabres are fighting desperately to get into the playoffs and now will be desperate to find a guy with Campbell's talents - and ice time - to help them reach post-season play.
Another thing that really made me wince was when Tom Golisano (who hasn't faced the general media) appeared on the Sabres broadcast station and almost made me wet when he said that not making the playoffs may mean the Sabres may finish a little in the black - or maybe in the red. No one followed up. When the team is drawing over 760,000 fans to the games....how can that be. Suites see a lot of suits in those boxes; merchandise continues to be pouring out of the Arena; the goodie counters have lines waiting to munch on some of those things....and they "might be in the red?" I wish there was an accounting of how that could happen....but remember, they'll be reluctant to give it to you.
So Campbell is the latest to leave. Ryan Miller? He'll probably be next. Consider that the group of players that will be getting set for free agency will have vivid memories of the sliders; curves; and spitballs thrown at the previous stars and they'll opt out of the Arena faster than you can shout "Off-Sides." What a team Buffalo would have had if the departed were signed when they could have been. The word bungling has been used very often when it comes to looking in the big offices.
Oh well, it will be interesting to see Toni Lydman try to take Campbell's place; or Spacek; or Tallinder; or Kalinin (who'll be an unrestricted free agent and the next one to go.)
Poor Lindy Ruff. He's had to really work overtime coaching this team considering what the front office has done to him. There was that time when the likes of Stafford; MacArthur; Kaleta; and others would have little shot to make the big club but the exodus of stars brings them up to the big club.
And that's what has me waiting for the true figures on what the Sabres made - or lost during the last couple of years while Sabres stars are making their next teams better and the only thing the Sabres have is.....hope on Don't Get Me Started.
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