Oh now WHO do you believe?

By Chris

Well this is certainly shocking.

From the Buffalo News this morning:

Chris Drury, now a Ranger, says he had agreed to a Sabres pact last fall, Team management failed to follow up

The Buffalo Sabres had co-captain Chris Drury locked up for four more years. Then they drove him away with their inaction.

Drury and the Sabres agreed on terms of a new contract last fall, but the team suddenly went silent and never formally presented the offer. The co-captain, after weeks of uncertainty, had his agent withdraw the deal and started thinking about a new organization, an industry source with knowledge of the negotiations has told The Buffalo News.

The result of the incomplete talks was Drury signing with the New York Rangers and Sabres fans bemoaning what has become of their team.

Drury and the Sabres decided early last season to meet in Boston, where Drury’s agent, Mark Witkin, is based. They discussed an extension for the pending free agent, the source said. The Sabres started the talks with a four-year, $20 million offer. Drury’s camp countered with $23 million over four years. The parties agreed to meet in the middle, the source said, on a four-year deal worth $21.5 million.

Then nothing happened.

Drury waited for the Sabres to present the contract, but they didn’t bring it up again. Drury withdrew the deal after a couple of weeks, the source said, because it was “bad business” not to officially finish the talks.

The Sabres on Monday, at their post-mortem news conference to address Sunday’s loss of Drury and fellow co-captain Daniel Briere, acknowledged having contract talks with Drury
in the fall.

Bucky Gleason's statement at the press conference yesterday of " With all due respect, is it possible I know something that you don't?" now rings pretty clear.


For a complete transcript of yesterday's Press Conference with Darcy Regier, Larry Quinn, and the media, click here.