Buffalo Sabres 40th Anniversary All-Time Team

Time to look at the Sabres all-time squad as they celebrate their 40th anniversary along with the Canucks. Interestingly each franchise has been to two Cup Finals neither winning the ultimate prize. Over their histories Buffalo has obtained 494 points more than Vancouver, or an average of six additional wins per season. In theory, The Sabres all-time team should be slightly better than the Canucks.

(Games-Goals-Assists-Points)

Centre
1st Gilbert Perreault 1191-512-814-1326
2nd Pat LaFontaine 268-158-227-385
3rd Dale Hawerchuk 342-110-275-385
4th Don Luce 766-216-311-527

Mr. Sabre, Gil Perreault is the easy choice for first team centre. He has 130 more goals, almost twice as many assists and over 500 more points than any other player to don the blue and gold.
LaFontaine's stay in Buffalo was short but brilliant, his 1.44 points per game with Buffalo is tops by far and his 148 points in '92/'93 is 21 more than any other Sabre. Hawerchuk scored between 86 and 98 points in four straight seasons and his 80 assists in '92/'93 is second most in Sabre history. Luce had a +61 rating in '74/'75, highest ever for single season.

Right Wing
1st Danny Gare 503-267-233-500
2nd Alexander Mogilny 381-211-233-444
3rd Rene Robert 524-222-330-552
4th Mike Foligno 664-247-264-511

Perhaps the most highly competitive position in Buffalo history, Gare takes top RW spot on the strength of two 50 goal seasons, and a Second Team all star selection in '79/'80. Mogilny's incredible 76 goal season and 0.55 goals per game as a Sabre barely beats out French Connection liner Robert.

Left Wing
1st Rick Martin 681-382-313-695
2nd Dave Andreychuk 837-368-436-804
3rd Craig Ramsay 1070-252-420-672
4th Miroslav Satan 578-224-232-456

Once again, a tight battle at LW with Martin's far superior goals per game beating Andreychuk's slightly longer tenure. Career long Sabre Ramsay had 8 consecutive 20 goal seasons and finished his career with a Selke Award in '84/'85.

Defense
1st Phil Housley 608-178-380-558
2nd Mike Ramsey 911-73-256-329
3rd Alexei Zhitnik 712-55-234-289
4th Jim Schoenfeld 584-45-183-228
5th John Van Boxmeer 294-49-166-215
6th Bill Hajt 854-42-202-244
7th Doug Bodger 479-54-233-287
8th Lindy Ruff 608-102-183-285

Housley is easily the top Sabre defender in their history and never scored less than 62 points in any of his eight Buffalo seasons. Ramsey and Zhitnik were long time Sabre soldiers who played in a combined six all-star games. Schoenfeld was selected as second team all-star in '79/'80 a year which saw him record a +60 rating. Van Boxmeer's brief stint saw him tally over 50 points in three straight seasons. Lindy Ruff is the only defenseman not named Phil Housley to have scored 20 goals in a season with 20 even in '85/'86 (Housley did it five times).

Goalie
1st Dominik Hasek 234-170-70, 2.22
2nd Ryan Miller 187-104-34, 2.57
3rd Don Edwards 156-83-61, 2.90
4th Tom Barrasso 124-102-28, 3.28

Hasek, with five Vezina's and back to back Hart Trophies make him not only the greatest Sabre goalie, but one of the greats in NHL history. Miller with one Vezina and first team all-star selection has alot of work to do even challenge The Dominator. Don Edwards and Tom Barrasso have each also won a Vezina and had two All-Star selections each as a Sabre.

In the end, when comparing Buffalo's to Vancouver's all-time teams the Sabres far better goaltending and superior top-level talent at centre would give them the edge over the 'Nucks.
Perhaps next, as a point of comparison I'll look at other franchises best players from 1970 through the present. Toronto will be next.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Team Canada 1972, What Might have Been

Image
Guy Lafleur, if he had played in the 72 Summit Series "No way. Can you imagine what our fans would say if we allowed Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito to play for Canada in that series and either...suffered an injury that might prevent them from playing with us for a year or more?" This was the concern of Weston Adams Jr, president of the Boston Bruins as quoted on April 20, 1972. After being speculated and discussed since February 1972 at the Olympics in Sapporo Japan, the series was set to go. Early on however, controversy stirred as to who exactly would be representing Canada. Bruins GM, Milt Schmidt agreed with his boss saying, "My only interest would be to see the Russians play the Bruins for the world championship...or whatever team wins the Stanley Cup." In the Vancouver Sun a few days later, the legendary Jim Coleman responds to the American naysayers suggesting that Team Canada should be made up strictly of players from Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal
Read more

WHA Ottawa Civics, The Two Week Franchise

Image
Tom Earl, Daryl Maggs, Mark Lomenda, Gary MacGregor, Garry Swain "Please let the fans make up their own minds," Henry Feller told a press gathering. "Let them decide if they want pro hockey here. We have to average 7,000 or 8,000 in the remaining 19 home games for a break-even point." Feller was a director of the Founders Club who had interest in buying the WHA's Denver Spurs club. Ivan Mullinex, owner of the Spurs had brought his team to Ottawa in an attempt to drum up interest and save his investment. The date was January 2, 1976 and Mullinex was in debt to a Denver bank to the tune of $1 million dollars. This same day, the newly christened Civics lost their first game under the new moniker by a score of 2-1 at Cincinnati. Star of the team, Ralph Backstrom said after the game, "Our first official notice of the move hit us when we entered the Cincinnati rink and the names on the big scoreboard read: Stingers and Civics. Until that moment we were un
Read more

Denman Arena, Vancouver - "The Pile"

Image
Situated at the corner of Denman and Georgia Streets in Vancouver, sitting on the shore of Coal Harbour, the Denman Arena was once the largest in the world. Built in 1911 by Frank and Lester Patrick at a cost of $300,000 it was the main venue for their newly formed Pacific Coast Hockey Association. Until the Montreal Forum was built in 1926, it was the largest artificial ice arena in the world seating 10,500. Constructed of wood and brick, the large brick facing led Vancouverites to refer to it as The Pile. The Patrick brothers simultaneously built the 3,500 seat Patrick Arena in Victoria to help house their three team league which also included New Westminster. They would proceed to raid the established National Hockey Association of much of it’s top talent to stock their teams. The Pile would host the Vancouver Millionaires Stanley Cup championship in March, 1915, boxing matches featuring Max Baer and “Cinderella Man” James Braddock, movie star Rudolph Valentino as well as bicycle r
Read more