GARY BETTMAN'S HAVING A FABULOUS SUMMER

"Under this CBA the rich get richer AND get to pick off the better players. The less rich will have to raise ticket prices in some markets just to get to the floor and in other markets just to be able to pay for arbitration awards that will be rising because of the new contracts being handed out to players who are jumping to teams with more cash on hand.

"Imagine hiking ticket prices after you've just seen your best player bolt for a bigger market and you've got nothing in return." -- Jim Kelley, Sportsnet.ca

What we said a while back:

"With co-captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury headed for free agency, this will be Buffalo's best chance for a while to win the Cup -- and for their owners to gouge the fans with higher ticket prices next year. This is the time for the flowering and deflowering of Western New York." -- April 11, 2007

It totally sucks. Hey, so long as Gary Bettman's buddies in New York and Philadelphia are happy, who gives a fat rat's patoot, eh? Briere and Scott Gomez are nice players, but contracts such as theirs are part of why the NHL shut down for an entire season.

One Sabres-loving friend has, "Seriously thinking about never watching the NHL again," as his MSN Messenger name right now. Really, what happened to the Sabres -- with GM Darcy Regier being somewhat complicit -- is as big a travesty as the Predators debacle.