The bad luck Sabres: having its owner hauled away in cuffs and accused of massive fraud is just the latest indignity in a chain of misfortune for this seemingly jinxed franchise - Buffalo Sabres

Hockey Digest, Dec, 2002 by Chuck O'Donnell

BUFFALO NATIVES HAVE IT TOUGH. Everyone likes to take cheap shots at them and their city. If they have to hear one more snow joke, they're all going to go Rob Ray on someone.

Another raw nerve for Buffalo natives is their sports teams, especially the Bills--but also the Sabres by proximity. There are probably still some comedians using the Bills' four straight Super Bowl losses as fodder for their act. It still is kind of funny--unless you live in Buffalo.

So when John Rigas, the owner of the Sabres, got led off in handcuffs by federal marshals this summer, and the league had to assume ownership, and then talk of a new owner buying and moving the team circulated hot and heavy, Buffalo natives could only shrug their slumping shoulders and ask: What's next?

Welcome to West New York, home of the bad luck Sabres. You know, the only team with a new arena--complete with the trick crashing scoreboard. The recent string of rotten luck goes on and on. Remember Brett Hull and that controversial goal he scored against Buffalo to give Dallas the Stanley Cup in 1999? Or how about the next season when John LeClair's goal turned out to be a turning point in the Buffalo's playoff series with Philadelphia, despite the fact that replays showed that it clearly went in through the side of the net. The Sabres got hosed again in that series when a quick whistle cost them a goal. Then the next year, they were eliminated on a goal from--of all people--Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis.

How did it feel for Sabres diehards to watch Dominik Hasek, the best goalie in Buffalo history, win a Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings last year? And, how did it feel watching former captain/holdout Michael Peca lead the Islanders to the playoffs for the first time since 1994 while the Sabres stayed home for the first time since 1996?

So besides arming yourself with four-leaf clovers, horseshoes, and rabbit's feet, what do you do if you're one of Buffalo's players? Team leaders Stu Barnes and Rhett Warrener say there's only one thing you can do: Play hard.

"Earlier in the summer when it all started out, I think the guys were worried about it more than they are now, Warrener says of the Rigas family woes. "I though about it a few times before I got my contract, but that was it for me. The players realize we have to focus on winning games."

Adds Barnes: "As players, we just approach it as there's nothing anyone of us can do about it except be prepared when it comes time to play. There's been commitment to keep the team here in Buffalo. This is a great city to play in. It's a pleasure to live here. It's a great sports town, the fans are great. So as players, the best thing for us to do is make sure we're prepared when it comes time to play hockey and win as many games as we can.

"Every team deals with different things that happen, whether it's player movement or something like that. What we're looking at first and foremost is improving on last year. Missing the playoffs--we're all very disappointed to have that happen. It's the first time that's happened here in a long time ... Hopefully we can improve. Not hopefully, we have to improve and make the playoffs and who knows what can happen."

Getting to the playoffs? Whoa, first things first. The Sabres face a tangled legal web that may take months or years to sort out. Much of what happens next depends on the fate of owner-by-title-only Rigas and his cable company, Adelphia. Rigas and two of his sons were arrested on July 24, accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from Adelphia, the sixth biggest cable company in the nation. Federal authorities said the Rigas family used the company as its "private piggy bank."

Here's where it gets like a legal word problem: The Sabres have a $160 million debt to Adelphia. The Sabres' estimated worth is only at about $100 million. So while NHL commissioner Gary Bettman tries to find suitors to buy the Sabres--and he says there's at least five parties that seem interested, although at press time no concrete offers have been made as yet--this debt hangs over the team. It remains to be seen if anyone will buy a team with that much baggage.

Erie County executive Joel Giambra has suggested that the Sabres may have to do the unthinkable and declare bankruptcy in order to rid themselves of the debt. Bettman, however, issued a quick response, saying the team won't do that.

The buy-and-move option is also complicated by the fact that there are over 20 years left on the team's lease on HSBC Arena.

This all creates other, far-reaching problems. Jim Kelley, the Sabres beat writer for The Buffalo News, says that few changes have been made to the team that missed the playoffs last year since the team obviously can't take on much more salary. In fact, the trades of Slava Kozlov and Erik Rasmussen seem like salary dumps. And with rumors the team will be bought and moved, "fans are taking a wait and see approach to the team," Kelly says. "It remains to be seen if there are enough people and jobs in this area to sustain the team at this point. The attendance has fallen off. The season ticket base is down to 6,800.