Rangers new beasts of the east?
Sabres' rule is threatened
With most of the big NHL free agents signed, the top mark has to go to the New York Rangers, who now seem poised to wrest the Eastern Conference crown from the Buffalo Sabres, who were big losers this summer.
New York was definitely the belle of the ball, picking up centres Scott Gomez from the New Jersey Devils and Chris Drury from the Sabres, substantially improving themselves up the middle. Gomez and Drury will provide great support to an already potent front line that includes Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan, Sean Avery, Martin Straka and the newly re-signed Petr Prucha.
The pick-ups allowed the Rangers to part with slick forward Michael Nylander.
The 27-year-old Gomez, who won two Stanley Cups with the Devils, received a seven-year pact from the Rangers, worth $51.5 million. The 5’11”, 200-lb Alaskan played in 72 games last season, recording 13 goals and 47 assists.
Meanwhile, the 5’10” 200-lb. Drury signed a five-year deal for $35.25 million. As co-captain of the Sabres last season, the 30-year-old had 37 goals and 32 assists in 77 games. He also has drank from Lord Stanley’s mug, as a member of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2000-2001 season.
Some observers will point out that the Rangers didn’t address a glaring need for some punch on defense but the off-season is still young and they might still make another move to get someone – Montreal’s Sheldon Souray is still out there – to give them back-end scoring.
Still, the defense does its main job well, stop goals, as the Rangers had the second best goals against in the conference behind New Jersey. Of course, that had a lot to do with sophomore sensation Henrik Lundqvist, who was among the league leaders in goaltending in almost every category.
Sabres slip-sliding?
The Sabres were clearly the big losers in the free agent sweepstakes as, along with Drury, they lost their other co-captain and sparkplug, Daniel Briere.
Briere, who led the Sabres with 95 points last season, was scooped up by the Philadelphia Flyers. The diminutive (5’9”, 175-lbs.) but speedy and talented centre led the Sabres in scoring in last year’s playoff run that saw them reach the conference final. In doing so, he established a Sabres playoff record for assists, with 12.
While the loss of both Drury and Briere is huge, it’s not a given that the Sabres will surrender top spot in the conference. Buffalo is built mostly on the team concept and coach Lindy Ruff has done a remarkable job in making the Sabres one of the hardest working, most tenacious teams in the league, regardless of who the players are.
The Sabres avoided losing their top goal scorer last Friday (July 6), when they matched an offer sheet for seven years and $50 million the Edmonton Oilers had made to Thomas Vanek. Vanek remains part of an impressive young and peaking forward corps that includes Jason Pominville and Maxim Afinogenov.
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