Song remains the same
NEW YORK -- So, among the many enjoyable endeavors of the evening following the Sabres game, I went and caught a show at Charlie Parker's Birdland. Now here's that jazz about the departure of the co-captains.
I know the e-mails will be coming. Let the past go, they'll say.
I'd love to. I'd love to be planning playoff trips and wondering which clubs, museums, bars, music halls and cities I'll be visiting next month. I'd love to be sitting down with my co-workers and hammering out ideas for the playoff preview section. I'd love to be wondering if the team I cover has a real shot at delivering that first championship to Buffalo.
Instead, I'm left to examine why the Sabres are the 10th-best team in the Eastern Conference. It's because their best players are gone, and they didn't have to be. And the biggest thing: No one has replaced them yet.
That's why they're the 10th-best team in the conference. No one has stepped into the void filled by the departures of Drury and Briere. Say what you want about their contracts, numbers and health -- it's irrelevant. All those things would be different if the Sabres had stepped up and kept them.
Another thing that would be different? I would be planning playoff trips and preview sections.
---John Vogl
