"LaCore" is no more

During the 2004-05 lockout, former GM Darcy Regier had a core group of youngins down in Rochester that he would look to as his "core" of the future.

Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Derek Roy, Paul Gaustad and Ryan Miller were all down in Rochester and had a remarkable year for the Amerks.

When the lockout ended they all came up together to Buffalo and joined a group of veterans that would eventually make it to game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2005-06 season. They would make the ECF again in 2006-07 before the summer that changed the franchise.

July 1, 2007 would see the departures of two veteran leaders--Chris Drury and Daniel Briere. Regier's core now had the reigns of the franchise.

What ensued were years of mediocrity and underachievement. They made the playoffs two times out of five seasons getting bounced in the first round each time.

It was clear that this wasn't working.

WGR's Paul Hamilton said it best when he referred to the team as a collection of excellent individual talent that just never gelled as a team.

After extreme patience and a 2011 off-season spending spree that was designed to add to Regier's core, owner Terry Pegula had seen enough failure during the first half of the 2011-12 season.

One by one, the core was dismantled.

• Feb. 27, 2012--Paul Gaustad and a 2013 fourth-round pick to Nashville for a 2012 first-round pick (#21 and #42 traded to Calgary for #14--Zemgus Girgensons)
• July 2, 2012--Derek Roy traded to Dallas for Steve Ott and Adam Pardy
• March 3, 2013--Jason Pominville and a 2014 fourth-rounder traded to Minnesota for Johan Larsson, Matt Hackett a first round pick in 2013 (#16-overall, Nikita Zadorov) and a 2014 second round pick
• Oct. 27, 2013--Thomas Vanek traded to the NY Islanders for Matt Moulson a conditional 2014 first-round pick and a 2015 second-rounder.
• November 14, 2013--Darcy Regier fired
• Feb. 28, 2014--Ryan Miller and Steve Ott traded to the St. Louis Blues for Jaroslav Halak, Chris Stewart, William Carrier, a 2015 first round pick and a conditional 2014 first-round pick*

In the end, the Buffalo Sabres received quite the haul for the core, although they've paid quite the price as they're in last place this year.

As a long-time fan of the Sabres, I say good-riddance to "la core" and to the man who assembled them--Darcy Regier.

It's not to say that I hate on these guys individually, to the contrary I've been one of Miller's biggest fans and liked Pominville as well. But this group should have been dismantled three years ago as it just wasn't working.

We can now close the book on one of the most uninspiring Buffalo teams of all time. So much talent, so little intestinal fortitude.

Viva LaCore!!!



*Edit:  the conditional 2014 1st round pick:  if the Blues make the Western Conference Finals or Miller re-signs, the Blues surrender their 1st rounder with the Sabres giving their 2014 2nd and 3rd round picks to the Blues. If the Blues do not make the WCF and Miller re-signs after the draft, the Sabres will receive a 2016 2nd round pick. If neither conditions are met, the Sabres will receive a 2016 3rd round pick