37
37 is the number of playoff goals that Danny Briere has now scored since leaving the Buffalo Sabres. Six of them even came against the Sabres in the 2011 first round playoff series between the two teams. The Sabres as a team have a total of 33 playoff goals in just two series ever since Briere left. I know this because every time Danny Briere scores a playoff goal, there is a massive contingent that reminds of this fact.
There are two sides of this debate. There are a group of fans that love to remind us of this every time it happens because they are still bitter over the situation when he left town. Then, there is the other group that can’t stand hearing about it because after five years they don’t care anymore. You can count me in the latter group.
Joe Pinzone of Buffalo Wins has a good post about why he’s annoyed at all of the people that harp on him over being angry over the situation. He has a good argument about why we should be annoyed over this situation that finishes off with this point:
That’s why I tweet a snarky comment every time Briere scores a playoff goal. I think everyone should remember what it’s like to have a real player in this town. That’s what we should want for our team and players.
There is a inherent problem with this though. There is a breaking point after some point that people have to move on and start placing blame on the current situation. Sabres management bungled the situation badly and they still haven’t recovered properly. But Danny Briere was only part of the problem. The Sabres lost Chris Drury in that offseason and thought that Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek were going to be the solutions. Obviously, that was an incorrect conclusion and the team is still trying to rebuild from those moves. Yes, the Sabres would probably be better off with Briere in the lineup, but I don’t think that he solves all of this team’s problems.
After five years, I’m ready to move on and blame everyone else.