Sports, Ink

   March 11, 1999 -- The Buffalo Sabres tried and tried, but they just couldn't get Matthew Barnaby going again. So on this date, they sent him packing.

   Barnaby went to Pittsburgh for Stu Barnes. Here's the way Jim Kelley of The News expressed himself about the deal:

   There will be a tendency around town today to want to say "goodbye" and "good riddance" to Matthew Barnaby. You won't read it here.

   The trade that sent Barnaby to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Stu Barnes Thursday night does have a lot of good attached to it.The Buffalo Sabres get a good forward, a player who can play center or left wing. A player who can make a difference on the power play. A player who scored 30 goals last year and may score 30 or more again this year.

   Just as important, the Sabres also get some addition by subtraction. In moving Barnaby, they get rid of a long smoldering problem in their locker room. Any way you look at it, Barnaby's seemingly life-long attachment to former coach Ted Nolan, his less than warm feelings for Dominik Hasek, and his propensity for drawing attention to himself -- good or bad -- were problems in the inner sanctum. Problems that didn't sit well with management, the coaches and especially his now-former teammates.

   But the Sabres also lose. They lose a player who at one time was the biggest part of an emotional spark that made them a fun team to watch and a tough team to play against.

   To be sure, that's not their fault. Barnaby long ago stopped being the Matthew Barnaby that made a difference in hockey games. People talk a lot about who quit on this team over the years. Barnaby will have that finger of blame pointing his way.

   But his leaving and Barnes' coming doesn't solve the problems here. It doesn't fill the emotional gap that seems to widen almost every day. It is not an overstatement to say that the Sabres are a nearly motionless team, that there are far too few players here that seem to care enough to step up and make a difference.

--- Budd Bailey