50 for 50 - Best Sabre Players of All-Time

[GASabresIUFAN]

It looks like the 4th place Sabres is going to go down to the wire.  I’m thinking about doing a runoff of the top three comes Sunday.Thoughts?

[Pimlach]

I picked Pat for 3rd, that was an easy one   

Then I go with Martin at 4.  He was a great player and a huge threat to score.  I saw one of his slaps shots take Jim Rutherford’s (Detroit) glove right off his hand.  If Martin recovers from that knee injury he is a 500 goal scorer and in the HOF.   Many think Perreault made Martin but Martin was one of the few that could play (and skate) with him back then   He was a great Sabre and a Buffalo guy   

 

Edited October 11, 2019 by Pimlach

[dudacek]

You know Florida’s core looks very good, but there are a lot of question marks in the bottom half of that roster.

Bobrovsky can mask that, but Q still has some work to do.

[Weave]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

You know Florida’s core looks very good, but there are a lot of question marks in the bottom half of that roster.

Bobrovsky can mask that, but Q still has some work to do.

Kind of early to be out on the piss, innit?

[GASabresIUFAN]

4 minutes ago, dudacek said:

You know Florida’s core looks very good, but there are a lot of question marks in the bottom half of that roster.

Bobrovsky can mask that, but Q still has some work to do.

I don’t remember Florida paying for the Sabres.

[dudacek]

48 minutes ago, Weave said:

Kind of early to be out on the piss, innit?

And remember, I'm three hours behind you.

[#freejame]

Housley is a top three all time greatest American born players and was a stud in Buffalo. I can understand voting for Lafontaine as third, since I did that, but I don’t see how Housley isn’t the fourth best player of all time. A lot of people didn’t like him because he was “soft.”

The ol’ “hit ‘em with your purse, Housley!” 

Its probably reflected here as well. 

[Weave]

31 minutes ago, #freejame said:

Housley is a top three all time greatest American born players and was a stud in Buffalo. I can understand voting for Lafontaine as third, since I did that, but I don’t see how Housley isn’t the fourth best player of all time. A lot of people didn’t like him because he was “soft.”

The ol’ “hit ‘em with your purse, Housley!” 

Its probably reflected here as well. 

I'm quite surprised that he's getting as much love as he is.  He was a bit of a whipping boy in Buffalo.  And Mike Ramsey was very highly respected his whole career.  You wouldn't know it by the votes.  Points sell these days.  Those numbers would have been way in Rammers favor back when they both were on the Sabres.

[GASabresIUFAN]

5 hours ago, Weave said:

I'm quite surprised that he's getting as much love as he is.  He was a bit of a whipping boy in Buffalo.  And Mike Ramsey was very highly respected his whole career.  You wouldn't know it by the votes.  Points sell these days.  Those numbers would have been way in Rammers favor back when they both were on the Sabres.

Maybe perspective sells?  We loved Ramsey because he was a great player but more of a blue collar kind of player, like how we loved Ramsay and Luce.  Now looking back on it, we really didn’t fully understand at the time how special of a player we saw each night.  Remember he was just a kid when he started here.  

Now the game has moved so much more toward the style Housley played back in the day.  We live Dahlin and Eichel because of their immense skill.  

I switched my 4th vote from Housley to Rick Martin.  Martin is our only 7 time all-star.  He and Gare are the only 2 Sabres with more than one 50 goal season.  He is second on the Sabres in goals per game played (Patty is first).  He is still second in goals at 382. He 10th in games played, 6th in assists and 3rd in points. He is also 11th all-time in goals per game in NHL history for his career.  
 

 

 

[nfreeman]

1. Bert

2.  Dom

3.  Rico

4.  Schoeny

[matter2003]

Gilbert

Hasek

Martin

Mogilny

[SDS]

On 10/7/2019 at 12:20 PM, GASabresIUFAN said:

I have edited the thread to make everything consistent using “Best”.  No question Gilbert is “Mr. Sabre”, but the Dominator is the best player ever to play for the Sabres.  Hasek is arguably the best player ever to play his position.  Gilbert isn’t even close.

I’m using “best” because there are players like Briere and Drury who played here for only a short time but made a lasting impact.  I’d like to see where they fit it. 

I'm gonna need to see some charts.

[GASabresIUFAN]

8 minutes ago, SDS said:

I'm gonna need to see some charts.

About whether Hasek is the GOAT of goalies?

[SDS]

26 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

About whether Hasek is the GOAT of goalies?

Every player under consideration. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

On Hockeydb you can look at the Sabres all-time stats.  Also Hockey-reference has RHD career leaders

[Sabres Fan in NS]

2 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

On Hockeydb you can look at the Sabres all-time stats.  Also Hockey-reference has RHD career leaders

I could remember wrong, but I don't think @SDS is a big fan of charts and fancy stat junk.  So, maybe he is just funning you?

[GASabresIUFAN]

I'm going to close the polls.

Looking at the 3rd and 4th place polls.  It looks like Rick Martin by virtual of both polls looks like Sabrespace's top vote for 4th place.  I have decided against the run off.  

I'll post the polls for 5 & 6 soon.

[Ross Rhea]

Hasek is arguably the greatest goalie to play the position, ever, you can not say that about Perreault, great yes but not in Haseks league.

 

I do agree Perreault probably meant more to the history of the franchise but as time goes on that viewpoint will wane some.

[Doohicksie]

Victor Olofsson:  Too early?

[#freejame]

20 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Victor Olofsson:  Too early?

By the time we get to 50 he’ll have scored over 50. His 50+ goal year will be enough for the 50 greatest seasons in team history, will it be enough to make him a top 50 player?

[GASabresIUFAN]

16 minutes ago, #freejame said:

By the time we get to 50 he’ll have scored over 50. His 50+ goal year will be enough for the 50 greatest seasons in team history, will it be enough to make him a top 50 player?

The PP is moving the puck so quickly and they can't just concentrate on Vic because Jack and Raz can launch the puck also.  Who knows, with a Mogilny kind of year he could make this list.

[tom webster]

On 10/12/2019 at 1:04 AM, nfreeman said:

 

What about Dale Hawerchuk?

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, tom webster said:

What about Dale Hawerchuk?

Hawerchuk, Turgeon, Eichel, Briere, Drury, Zhitnik, Bodger and others seem to be in the next level.

[Thorner]

5 hours ago, tom webster said:

What about Dale Hawerchuk?

He's a Jet. 

- - - 

Also, Mogilny is next best. 

Edited October 15, 2019 by Thorny

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Hawerchuk, Turgeon, Eichel, Briere, Drury, Zhitnik, Bodger and others seem to be in the next level.

Hawerchuck never had less than 86 points in his 4 full season years with the Sabres.  And that was with being Malkin to whichever guy (typically the 3rd best Sabre of all time per your voters) was Buffalo's version of Crosby.

Considering management considered him more valuable than the guy currently polling in the lead as the 5th best Sabre, to not even include him in the discussion is a mistake IMHO.   (And whatever you do, don't let Ducky know about this slight. ? ).

Not even going to go into a discussion about how strange it is that that other guy who was a Sabres D-man in the '80's can poll ahead of the best Sabres D-man of the '80's.  (Hint, the best one of the '80's won a Gold Medal in Lake Placid.)