The Expos of hockey face an uphill battle to fix their tarnished franchise

By Andrea Woo

Martin Biron.  Bill Wippert SI Fast Fact Miroslav Satan, who had 37 goals in '01-02, led the NHL in special-team scores with 20 -- two more than Peter Bondra of the Caps. SI Insider Rankings Offense: 27 Connolly must prove that he's bona fide No. 2 center Defense: 8 Team's strength; unit can skate and play rough Goaltending: 24 Not a come-from-behind club; Biron must make big saves early Special Teams: 25 PP awful (13.4%), but PK excels with Barnes, Brown Management: 23 G.M. Regier has little to show for Hasek, Peca trades

By the start of training camp goalie Martin Biron had seen and heard enough. In July, Sabres owner and former CEO of Adelphia Communications John Rigas had been whisked to jail after he and his two oldest sons, Michael and Timothy, were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud. (On Oct. 2 they were arraigned and pled not guilty.) Following those arrests, which were shown repeatedly on national TV, the NHL took control of the franchise amid reports that the team would declare bankruptcy. Biron was sick of the talk, refusing to watch TV or listen to the radio. "I turned it all off," says Biron. "I couldn't focus on that."

As the league accepts bids from prospective owners the club is trying to polish its tarnished image with a marketing campaign built around the slogan, It's Our Team -- Let's Keep It That Way. To that end the Sabres, who were 35-35-11-1 in 2001-02 and missed the playoffs for the first time in six seasons, instituted a weekly Tuesday-night practice during camp after which fans chatted with players and got autographs. "Everybody says, 'When is the team going to show support for the fans?'" says the 25-year-old Biron, who last season replaced Dominik Hasek and finished with a 2.66 goals-against average. "But the team made a big effort this summer."

"We need to be accessible to help build the fan base that has been lost because of the ownership problems," coach Lindy Ruff says about the dwindling number of season-ticket holders, which fell from 8,120 in 2001-02 to 6,682. "Everyone in the organization will have to bend over backwards."

The on-ice product won't provide much help. Over the summer general manager Darcy Regier stabilized the club by re-signing Biron, speedy right wing Maxim Afinogenov, second-line center Chris Gratton and hard-hitting defenseman Rhett Warrener. However, Regier was unable to significantly help the offense, which ranked 17th in goals last season and had only one 30-goal scorer, wing Miroslav Satan. Regier's biggest splash was acquiring 25-year-old left wing Jochen Hecht, who had 16 goals and 24 assists for the Oilers last season.

Despite a stingy defense that allowed the third-fewest goals in the Eastern Conference, the Sabres still aren't good enough to earn a playoff berth, let alone make the fans forget about the team's dubious future.

Issue date: October 14, 2002