4. (tie) Chris Drury and Daniel Briere skip town/allowed to leave as unrestricted free agents -- July 1, 2007

In what was seemingly the area's biggest "he-said-he-said-he-said-he-said" not involving the waterfront or an international bridge, the Sabres players, front office, Buffalo media and fans combined on a year-long contractual headache culminating in a 34-minute-or-so period that punched almost all involved in the throat.

The Chris Drury/Daniel Briere era of Sabres hockey provided Buffalo sports fans with something impossible to manufacture: innocence and euphoria. Their departure took the story in the all-too-familiar direction -- pain, misery, woe, dire straits, bickering, yadda yadda yadda. Worse, Buffalo felt the pain the of a jilted lover, as the two chose new jerseys reviled in the Queen City.

For our part, I remember coming into work on Sunday night because Briere had signed with Philadelphia. By the time the members of The Howard Simon Show had assembled in studio for a late night show, reports were surfacing that Drury was a Ranger.

How could the management let these two vital cogs skip town? Didn't they know there was a period of time before free agency to sign important players? And how could these two leave Buffalo for New York and Philadelphia? Didn't they care about the city as much as they said they had?

Both players were nice hockey players before they came to town, but Buffalo made Briere and Drury the stars they are now, especially No. 48. Both were cast-offs, as we've mentioned in other moments in this series. Briere was a mercurial player who never shook the reputation of "talented player who stays on the ice too long and doesn't play defense," while Drury's reputation as post-season hero wasn't enough to convince Calgary he was part of the answer after just one full season in Alberta.

So they came here, put lightning in a bottle and shook it around a bit. There's no way to capture that magic in simple words when dealing with such a negative story, but suffice it to say the Sabres were really good, and it was mostly these two who deserved the credit, along with Lindy Ruff and his coaching staff, who set up that whole "Danny, you go on one side of the net, Chris, you on the other. It's the power play, so pass it back and forth until one of you scores. It'll be cool."

Take a lot at their points-per-game before-and-after their time in Buffalo:

Daniel Briere -
with Phoenix: 258 gms, 70 goals, 76 assists, -19 (.566)
with Buffalo: 226 gms, 92 goals, 138 assists, +14 (1.02)
with Philadelphia: 138 gms, 54 goals, 64 assists, -32 (.855)

Chris Drury-
w/ Colorado and Calgary: 394 gms, 108 goals, 167 assists, +15 (.698)
with Buffalo: 234 gms, 85 goals, 104 assists, -2 (.808)
with NY Rangers: 194 gms, 52 goals, 76 assists, -17 (.660)

We haven't even mentioned the money. These guys, according to many including themselves, could've been had for a lot less a lot earlier than July 1. Instead, New York and Philadelphia paid a lot of green for the co-captains. Drury got five years and $35.25 million from the Rangers, while Briere received eight years and $52 million from the Flyers.

Not bad for guys who were worth about $5 million-per just a few months beforehand. You know the drill from then-on-in: a lot of bickering in Western New York. Larry Quinn, Darcy Regier and Tom Golisano were vilified. Television news broadcasters started showing up to hockey press conferences, asking awesome questions like, "What do you say to those fans who spent money on Drury and Briere jerseys?"

To his credit, Regier uttered a pretty funny response, pausing before saying, "Sorry?"

Whoever's fault it really was, it stunk, and shaped the Sabres for years, as Buffalo had no choice but to match Edmonton's massive offer sheet to restricted free agent Thomas Vanek. Whatever happens in the next few years, it'll be hard to forget how good it was, and how badly it was fouled up.

Email: nick@wgr550.com