Rangers, Flyers raid Sabres of co-captains

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. Also notable, the Rangers, this past spring, and Flyers, last year, had been eliminated by the Sabres in the playoffs.

New York made an additional splash when it signed New Jersey center Scott Gomez.

And earlier the Flyers had completed a four-player deal with Edmonton. Philadelphia acquired the Oilers captain, defenseman Jason Smith, and forward Joffrey Lupul in exchange for defenseman Joni Pitkanen and journeyman forward Geoff Sanderson.

In other significant deals:

• Sharks forward Joe Thornton signed a three-year, $21.6 million contract extension that keeps him up with San Jose through 2011;

• The Anaheim Ducks found a potential replacement in the event captain Scott Niedermayer retires, signing defenseman Mathieu Schneider to a two-year, $11.25 million contract;

• Detroit quickly made up for Schneider's loss by signing top-tier New Jersey defenseman Brian Rafalski to a five-year, $30 million contract.