10 Best Trades in Sabres History

[Taro T]

Thinking about the Hawerchuk trade in the Hawerchuk thread got me thinking about the best trades in Sabres history.  

I might try to make this a poll later, but for now am curious about other people's takes.  Expecting a lot of divergent views.

Mine would be:

1. Hasek for Ruuttuu & a pick that became Daze.

2. LaFontaine, Wood, Hillier, & pick that became Melanson for Turgeon, McLlwain (hated losing him), Krupp, & Hogue.

3.  Hawerchuk, & moved up to pick May (leaving Tkachuk on the board to be selected w/ Sabres pick (D'oh!)) for Housley, Arniel (who convinced Ducks that Buffalo would be a great place to play), Parker, & the aforementioned pick. 

4. Crozier for Webster.

5.  Robert for Shack.

6.  Martin for picks that became Chisholm & Barasso.

7.  Briere & a 3rd for Gratton & a 4th.

8.  Drury & Begin for  Ballard (via Reinprecht) & Warrener.

9.  Peca, Wilson, & pick that became McKee for Mogilny & a 5th.

10.  O'Reilly & McGinn for Grigorenko, Cooper, Zadorov, & 31. 

11.  Barnes for Barnaby.  (Had forgotten 1, so this bumps out of top 10.)

There's a bunch of other honorable mentions including trades for Zhitnik, Sanderson, Hecht, Korab, Spencer, Gilmour, Grier, & 1st round pick for Korab.  The Sabres weren't always bad at this.

[Weave]

My favorites were your numbers 2&3.  Those two trades built the most exciting Sabres team I ever watched.

The Hasek trade was the best ever for the team.  Too bad Dom was so unlikeable as a person.

[Randall Flagg]

Let's add another to this list this summer.

[shrader]

Hopefully Jokiharju enters the list after a few more years.

[LabattBlue]

I’d like to present this trade for top 10 consideration...

Foligno, McCourt & Peterson 

for

Schoenfeld, Gare and Derek Smith. 

[PerreaultForever]

Robert for Shack and the Hasek deal were both defining franchise changing moves that gave us teams in the final and big pieces of our history. So pick your era, but those are the ones. 

 

Now worst trade, there have been some duds but I can't think of one worse than ROR. 

[DarthEbriate]

Factor into 9 that Wilson became Warrener and a 5th that became Miller and that's a pretty nice return on Mogilny.

[msw2112]

No doubt that Dom is #1.  I also would put the Briere trade higher.  That trade, along with the acquisition of Drury (we gave up more value for Drury) resulted in one of the best 3 eras for the franchise (along with the 75 Finals era and the 99 Finals run with Dom).  We've been terrible ever since (when we let Briere and Drury walk).

Edited August 18, 2020 by msw2112

[Rico7]

1 hour ago, LabattBlue said:

I’d like to present this trade for top 10 consideration...

Foligno, McCourt & Peterson 

for

Schoenfeld, Gare and Derek Smith. 

I hated that trade at the time. The image of Schoeny crying on Rick Azar's shoulder I'll never forget, but Gare was just about spent, Schoeny was limited and Smith was a roll player. Foligno is an all time Sabre. McCourt remains a huge what could have been, but still had a couple productive seasons. Peterson fit into the Don Luce roll.

[Broken Ankles]

Buffalo Sabres acquire	Date	Detroit Red Wings acquire
Don Luce Mike Robitaille	May 5, 1971	Joe Daley

Buffalo Sabres acquire	Date	New York Rangers acquire
Jim Lorentz	January 14, 1972	1972 2nd round pick (#21-Larry Sacharuk)

Buffalo Sabres acquire	Date	Arizona Coyotes acquire
Daniel Briere 2004 3rd round pick (#71-Andrej Sekera)	March 10, 2003	Chris Gratton 2004 4th round pick (#112-Liam Reddox)

 

[IKnowPhysics]

Not my personal overall favorites, but definitely shouldn't be missed:

• Miroslav Satan for Craig Millar and Barrie Moore.
• Jeff Skinner for Cliff Pu, 2019 2nd round pick, 2020 3rd round pick, 2020 6th round pick.
• Rhett Warrener and a 1999 5th round pick (Ryan Miller) for Mike Wilson.

 

And who can't forget this chestnut:

• Islanders promised to not draft certain players in 1972 expansion draft for 1972 8th round pick (#117-Rene Levasseur).

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

I’d like to present this trade for top 10 consideration...

Foligno, McCourt & Peterson 

for

Schoenfeld, Gare and Derek Smith. 

The head agrees with you.  Foligno was a fan favorite that also may be a top 10 Sabre of all time (would likely get in only looking at forwards, gets an honorable mention when G's & D's are included IMHO), Peterson might have been their best FO man not named O'Reilly ever (even though he lost the 1 faceoff that truly mattered) and they went a decade before being close to being able to win a FO & nearly 20 years before being able to consistently win one.  But the centerpiece of the deal was a total bust in Buffalo.

The heart can't.  Shoeny & Gare bled Sabres blue & were both leaders of the team.  Still recall Hockey Digest coming out with an article about untradable players in their December issue (released prior to the trade, but dated after it) talking up how Gare was one of the few truly untradable players due to what he meant to the team.  Ooooops.

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Not my personal overall favorites, but definitely shouldn't be missed:

• Miroslav Satan for Craig Millar and Barrie Moore.
• Jeff Skinner for Cliff Pu, 2019 2nd round pick, 2020 3rd round pick, 2020 6th round pick.
• Rhett Warrener and a 1999 5th round pick (Ryan Miller) for Mike Wilson.

 

And who can't forget this chestnut:

• Islanders promised to not draft certain players in 1972 expansion draft for 1972 8th round pick (#117-Rene Levasseur).

Thought I'd included Satan in the honorable mentions.  Not sure how that 1 was missed.

Warrener was another excellent deal.  Simply getting rid of Wilson for absolutely nothing would've been a net plus.  But to get Rhett & the pick that became Miller made it a clear win & probably deserves to bump 1 of the others.

Can put Skinner in honorable mentions, but considering he should've been 1/2 of the return in the O'Reilly and/or if the trade that did happen had happened ~2 weeks earlier Sheary & Hunwick are never Sabres, & how poor his new contract appears, very hard to include it any higher than that.  And definitely like a lot of those other trades better.

[dudacek]

2 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

I’d like to present this trade for top 10 consideration...

Foligno, McCourt & Peterson 

for

Schoenfeld, Gare and Derek Smith. 

Might not be among the 10 best, but I put it as the 2nd biggest, after Lafontaine and ahead of Ducky.

How many teams have shipped out its two most recent captains for a 1st and 2nd overall picks within a three years of those picks being made?

[Eleven]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

Thinking about the Hawerchuk trade in the Hawerchuk thread got me thinking about the best trades in Sabres history.  

I might try to make this a poll later, but for now am curious about other people's takes.  Expecting a lot of divergent views.

Mine would be:

1. Hasek for Ruuttuu & a pick that became Daze.

2. LaFontaine, Wood, Hillier, & pick that became Melanson for Turgeon, McLlwain (hated losing him), Krupp, & Hogue.

3.  Hawerchuk, & moved up to pick May (leaving Tkachuk on the board to be selected w/ Sabres pick (D'oh!)) for Housley, Arniel (who convinced Ducks that Buffalo would be a great place to play), Parker, & the aforementioned pick. 

4. Crozier for Webster.

5.  Robert for Shack.

6.  Martin for picks that became Chisholm & Barasso.

7.  Briere & a 3rd for Gratton & a 4th.

8.  Drury & Begin for  Ballard (via Reinprecht) & Warrener.

9.  Peca, Wilson, & pick that became McKee for Mogilny & a 5th.

10.  O'Reilly & McGinn for Grigorenko, Cooper, Zadorov, & 31. 

11.  Barnes for Barnaby.  (Had forgotten 1, so this bumps out of top 10.)

There's a bunch of other honorable mentions including trades for Zhitnik, Sanderson, Hecht, Korab, Spencer, Gilmour, Grier, & 1st round pick for Korab.  The Sabres weren't always bad at this.

Sorry, but wasn't #1 Beauregard and the fourth round pick?

Also, the Briere trade was robbery, and the Drury trade was close to it.

Barnes for Barnaby was meh.

Not sure I agree with your ranking at all.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Eleven

[tom webster]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

Thinking about the Hawerchuk trade in the Hawerchuk thread got me thinking about the best trades in Sabres history.  

I might try to make this a poll later, but for now am curious about other people's takes.  Expecting a lot of divergent views.

Mine would be:

1. Hasek for Ruuttuu & a pick that became Daze.

2. LaFontaine, Wood, Hillier, & pick that became Melanson for Turgeon, McLlwain (hated losing him), Krupp, & Hogue.

3.  Hawerchuk, & moved up to pick May (leaving Tkachuk on the board to be selected w/ Sabres pick (D'oh!)) for Housley, Arniel (who convinced Ducks that Buffalo would be a great place to play), Parker, & the aforementioned pick. 

4. Crozier for Webster.

5.  Robert for Shack.

6.  Martin for picks that became Chisholm & Barasso.

7.  Briere & a 3rd for Gratton & a 4th.

8.  Drury & Begin for  Ballard (via Reinprecht) & Warrener.

9.  Peca, Wilson, & pick that became McKee for Mogilny & a 5th.

10.  O'Reilly & McGinn for Grigorenko, Cooper, Zadorov, & 31. 

11.  Barnes for Barnaby.  (Had forgotten 1, so this bumps out of top 10.)

There's a bunch of other honorable mentions including trades for Zhitnik, Sanderson, Hecht, Korab, Spencer, Gilmour, Grier, & 1st round pick for Korab.  The Sabres weren't always bad at this.

I know you know the Dom trade was a little more complicated.

[tom webster]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

Thinking about the Hawerchuk trade in the Hawerchuk thread got me thinking about the best trades in Sabres history.  

I might try to make this a poll later, but for now am curious about other people's takes.  Expecting a lot of divergent views.

Mine would be:

1. Hasek for Ruuttuu & a pick that became Daze.

2. LaFontaine, Wood, Hillier, & pick that became Melanson for Turgeon, McLlwain (hated losing him), Krupp, & Hogue.

3.  Hawerchuk, & moved up to pick May (leaving Tkachuk on the board to be selected w/ Sabres pick (D'oh!)) for Housley, Arniel (who convinced Ducks that Buffalo would be a great place to play), Parker, & the aforementioned pick. 

4. Crozier for Webster.

5.  Robert for Shack.

6.  Martin for picks that became Chisholm & Barasso.

7.  Briere & a 3rd for Gratton & a 4th.

8.  Drury & Begin for  Ballard (via Reinprecht) & Warrener.

9.  Peca, Wilson, & pick that became McKee for Mogilny & a 5th.

10.  O'Reilly & McGinn for Grigorenko, Cooper, Zadorov, & 31. 

11.  Barnes for Barnaby.  (Had forgotten 1, so this bumps out of top 10.)

There's a bunch of other honorable mentions including trades for Zhitnik, Sanderson, Hecht, Korab, Spencer, Gilmour, Grier, & 1st round pick for Korab.  The Sabres weren't always bad at this.

And I’ll always have a soft spot for #4

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Sorry, but wasn't #1 Beauregard and the fourth round pick?

Also, the Briere trade was robbery, and the Drury trade was close to it.

Barnes for Barnaby was meh.

Not sure I agree with your ranking at all.

The plan from day 1 was that Beauregard would end up back in Winnipeg after the expansion draft.  The Sabres had an injury plagued Puppa, Malarchuk working his way out of the league, & Tom frigging Draper on the roster.  They could protect Beauregard for Winnipeg (the Jets had to protect Essensa & Chicago had to protect Belfour) as none of their 3 goalies were on the radar of TB nor the Otters.  On the off chance that Hasek would've been selected then the Sabres would've kept Beauregard but the trade was always going to be Ruuttu & the pick that became Daze going to Chicago and Hasek moving to Buffalo.  

Saying the trade was Beauregard + pick for Dom neglects the reality of how the 2 Beauregard trades were both shams.

 

No concerns with you not agreeing with the rest of the list.  The idea was to spur a discussion that seemed interesting.  And, IMHO, it has been so far.

?

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, tom webster said:

I know you know the Dom trade was a little more complicated.

Obviously.  But the Beauregard portion was always simply a way for the Jets to keep both their goalies.  And considering Buffalo had stolen Hawerchuk just 2 years earlier, the Sabres kind of owed them a favor in return. ?

When all was all said & done, all 3 teams got what they wanted/needed and the Jets goalie situation was the exact same come September that it had been in June.  Have always said, and always will say,that trade was Hasek for Ruuttu & a pick.  And neither Keenan nor Muckler realized what they actually had.   (As demonstrated when Hasek was exposed again to the next expansion draft.)

[Ducky]

Jets absolutely bent over dry and took a big one giving up Hawrchuk (RIP).

Say what you want about Fergie but that trade NEVER happens if he is GM.

Horrible, horrible trade. You don't trade a franchise player like that.

[Drag0nDan]

Gaustad for a first... still boggles my mind to this day.  

[tom webster]

On 8/18/2020 at 9:52 PM, Ducky said:

Jets absolutely bent over dry and took a big one giving up Hawrchuk (RIP).

Say what you want about Fergie but that trade NEVER happens if he is GM.

Horrible, horrible trade. You don't trade a franchise player like that.

The funny thing is I don’t remember that being the universal sentiment at the time. A lot of “hockey people” questioned the smarts of dealing a number one defenseman for a number two, or 1A center.

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, tom webster said:

The funny thing is I don’t remember that being the universal sentiment at the time. A lot of “hockey people” questioned the smarts of dealing a number one defenseman for a number two, or 1A center.

A "#1" D-man that couldn't do #### in his own end and thought Stephane friggin' Richer wore B&G is not (and wasn't even in the wide open '80's/ early '90's) a #1 defenseman.

Can't see any way a PPG C that was also responsible in his own end could be called a #2C.

And, when the Aisles needed a C coming back in the LaFontaine deal, there was a reason the Sabres wouldn't part with Hawerchuk and had to add better 2ndary pieces than the Aisles to make that trade fly.

[tom webster]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

A "#1" D-man that couldn't do #### in his own end and thought Stephane friggin' Richer wore B&G is not (and wasn't even in the wide open '80's/ early '90's) a #1 defenseman.

Can't see any way a PPG C that was also responsible in his own end could be called a #2C.

And, when the Aisles needed a C coming back in the LaFontaine deal, there was a reason the Sabres wouldn't part with Hawerchuk and had to add better 2ndary pieces than the Aisles to make that trade fly.

I agree with all but I clearly remember hockey people questioning the move.

[Taro T]

7 minutes ago, tom webster said:

I agree with all but I clearly remember hockey people questioning the move.

And we all recall "hockey people" stating that Leino was the 2nd best FA C available the year the Sabres "lucked" into signing him.  

As for Ducks - Whimpley, there's ALWAYS contrarians.   Sometimes they're right.  In this case they were dead wrong.