[cognito20]

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Those are bad odds on Buffalo. They won't contend for the cup without Briere.

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What makes you say that? Buffalo for the last two seasons has been the deepest team in hockey, the only one that has legitimately, night in and night out, run out FOUR quality lines over that time period. Losing ANY two players, even of the quality of Briere and Drury, is not going to ruin the Sabres. They're not going to win the President's Trophy again, probably, and Ottawa probably has to be favored to win the division over them (although the Sabres have a good chance because of that sieve of a goaltender the Sens have),but they are a top 4 team in the East, and they have a coach in Lindy Ruff who is almost universally acknowledged around the league as one of the very best, and who is not going to let this team forget their little el foldo of last season's playoffs. This should be a breakout season for Ryan Miller, especially since word out of the Sabres camp is that they're going to focus a little more on staying back and playing in their own zone rather than have everything be transition, transition, transition all the time.

All they have to do to win the Cup is get into the tournament, which they're easily going to do, and then actually get HOT at the right time rather than have their WORST streak of luck at that time and survive the Stanley Cup Crapshoot...excuse me, Playoffs. What I think they're planning to do is start out the season with the team they had last year, minus Briere and Drury, and see what happens. Remember, because of those 2 defections, they have something they didn't have the last 2 seasons for the Cup run - a LOT of room under the cap to go pick up a missing piece or two for the Cup run if they find they need it. Personally, I'd love to see them pick up someone like the Kings' Dustin Brown (a native of Ithaca, NY, about 2 and a half hours from Buffalo) before the trade deadline, but the point is they're going to have the money to make a move or two this year. None of the articles out there predicting the decline of the Sabres seem to take that fact into account.

Reports of the Buffalo Sabres' demise have been greatly exaggerated.