Captains abandon Buffalo

Briere to Flyers; Drury to Rangers

The Sabres' reign in the East might be over.

The New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers raided Buffalo of its two leaders on the first day of NHL free agency Sunday.

First, Sabres co-captain Daniel Briere signed a whopping eight-year, $52 million deal with the Flyers. Then the Rangers piled on, signing the other co-captain, Chris Drury, to a five-year, $35.25 million contract.

Perhaps, it's no coincidence the Flyers and Rangers targeted Buffalo, a team that had reached and lost the Eastern Conference finals in each the past two years.

Clearly, the balance of power has shifted away from the President's Trophy-winning Sabres to their big-market rivals in the East.

Drury is noted for his leadership and versatility, a talented scorer who also proved to be one of the Sabres' top penalty killers. He scored career highs with 37 goals and 69 points last season.

Briere was the top scorer available in free agency after finishing 10th in the NHL in scoring with 95 points (32 goals, 63 assists).

"Danny had many offers and lots of interest out there," Briere's agent, Pat Brisson, said in an e-mail to the AP. "He is thrilled with the results."

The Sabres, who won a league-leading 105 games over the past two seasons, won't be bereft of talent, still having a star goalie in Ryan Miller and dynamic forwards Thomas Vanek and Maxim Afinogenov.

But they'll have a difficult time making up for the loss Drury and Briere, both of whom played big roles in helping the franchise rebound after declaring bankruptcy in January 2003.

"I have some kind of mixed feeling," Rangers general manager Glen Sather said of the Sabres. "I am happy we got an opportunity to get involved with these players. From Buffalo's perspective, I'm sure they're not happy these two guys left but that's the nature of the beast.

"I know it was a difficult day for Darcy [Sabres GM Darcy Regier]. You just have to face the facts that sometimes you can't keep everyone, and at some point it's probably going to happen to us. This organization has come a long way and this is our opportunity."

Briere's deal came two days after he broke off negotiations with Buffalo, turning down the team's five-year, $25 million offer.

His contract is heavily front-loaded -- slated to make $10 million next season, double what he made last year. He'll then make $8 million in the next two years and $7 million during the 2010-13 seasons.

Drury will earn $7.1 million each of the next two seasons.