Build Your All Time Sabres Team

[Flashsabre]

Just for fun. Build you ultimate Sabres team. Only rule is that it has to be  made of players who have played for the team. Here’s mine:

EDIT: Pick players based on their NHL peak

R Martin Perrault Gare

Mogilny Lafontaine Hawerchuk

Vanek Eichel Reinhart

C Ramsay Peca Drury

Extras: Briere, Rene Robert

Dahlin Schonfeld 

Housley Zhitnik

M Ramsey McKee

Extra: Power

 

Hasek

Crozier

Extra: Edwards

Coach: Scotty Bowman, Associate Coach: Ruff

Edited May 31 by Flashsabre

[Buffalonill]

Did you really just put  robert as an extra? 

I can tell you're very young 

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Flashsabre said:

Just for fun. Build you ultimate Sabres team. Only rule is that it has to be  made of players who have played for the team. Here’s mine:

R Martin Perrault Gare

Mogilny Lafontaine Hawerchuk

Vanek Eichel Reinhart

C Ramsay Peca Drury

Extras: Briere, Rene Robert

Dahlin Schonfeld 

Housley Zhitnik

M Ramsey McKee

Extra: Power

 

Hasek

Crozier

Extra: Edwards

Coach: Scotty Bowman, Associate Coach: Ruff

Question: do you get the Sabres version of a player, say Crozier or Vaive; or do you get them at their peak (Crozier winning Conn Smythe; Vaive 50+)?

[7+6=13]

Eichel ain't gone be happy being a 3rd liner.  

[French Collection]

Just now, 7+6=13 said:

Eichel ain't gone be happy being a 3rd liner.  

He’s not even on my team.

[French Collection]

10 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Question: do you get the Sabres version of a player, say Crozier or Vaive; or do you get them at their peak (Crozier winning Conn Smythe; Vaive 50+)?

Fuhr, Gillies, Staal.

I would think it’s got to be Sabres peak.

[Taro T]

Andreychuk - LaFontaine - Mogilny

Martin - Perreault - Drury

Hawerchuk - O'Reilly - Gilmour

Ramsay - Peca - Gare

 

Zhitnik - Dahlin

Scheoenfeld - Ramsey

Tallinder - McKee

 

Hasek 

Miller

 

Not entirely set on Mogilny (if it's the 76 goal version, he's a no brainer; if he's his usual self, would likely go a different route).  Same with Tallinder - the Tallinder that played in the '06 playoffs was an absolute stud.  Gilmour was getting long in tooth by the time he was a Sabre, but would absolutely love to watch him work with O'Reilly and Ducks.

If we can get guys in their prime vs what they were in Buffalo would make a few other substitutions as well.

In no particular order also considered Vaive, Vanek, Briere, Luce, Robert, McNab, Lorentz, Eichel, Reinhart, Connolly, Spencer, Gillies, Simpson, Grier, Dumont, and Dudley at F.  Also considered Hajt, Guevremont, Montour, Campbell, Ledyard, Power, Huddy, Horton, Myers, and Robitaille at D.

Goalies getting consideration included Crozier; Edwards; Fuhr; Biron; and Levi.  😉 

Suppose Turgeon and Sheppard deserve consideration too.  But neither will make it.

[dudacek]

Sabres play only, peak but also sustained play over time.

Best at their position in order:

• Dahlin
• Ramsey
• Schoenfeld
• Housley
• Zhitnik

I’m going to take Hajt over Korab, McKee and Bodger for #6 mostly due to sustained dependability.

It’s weird that what might have been the best corps we had - ‘06 - didn’t put anybody on the list. Peak Tallinder wasn’t good enough long enough.

The blueline has been the least star-studded position for the team. Power just needs 35 points next year to crack the top 20 of all-time scoring.

Also, only 41 defencemen ever played 200 games for the Sabres. Only 74 played 100.

It’s crazy to me that Richard Smehlik ranks 5th all-time in games played.

 

Edited May 31 by dudacek

[Doohicksie]

Wait... where's Rasmus Asplund in that roster?

[French Collection]

23 man roster.

Martin Perreault Robert      Nuff said.

Andreychuk Lafontaine Mogilny     76 goals from Alex, 53 goals & 95 assists from Patty and Andy the human tripod to clean up.

Hawerchuk Briere Mike Foligno     Two 90+ point players with a gritty 40 goal man.

Ramsay Luce Gare    Selke winger, point a game 2 way C, 50 goal scrappy winger plus they already have chemistry.

Vanek and Peca extras.

Dahlin Schoenfeld    Rasmus can do it all and Schoeny will watch the fort and do more than just facewash during scrums.

Housley Hajt    Phil can dance while Bill takes care of business.

Campbell Ramsey   Both can multitask.

Ruff extra    Cowboy tough, can play forward, assistant coach.

Hasek and Miller   Ryan will need a hobby.

Punch as GM

Scotty as coach

RJ in the booth

Scary Good!

[French Collection]

5 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Wait... where's Rasmus Asplund in that roster?

Risto was close, about my 64th Dman.

It’s wild that I have 7 LHD.

[dudacek]

13 minutes ago, French Collection said:

23 man roster.

Martin Perreault Robert      Nuff said.

Andreychuk Lafontaine Mogilny     76 goals from Alex, 53 goals & 95 assists from Patty and Andy the human tripod to clean up.

Hawerchuk Briere Mike Foligno     Two 90+ point players with a gritty 40 goal man.

Ramsay Luce Gare    Selke winger, point a game 2 way C, 50 goal scrappy winger plus they already have chemistry.

Vanek and Peca extras.

Dahlin Schoenfeld    Rasmus can do it all and Schoeny will watch the fort and do more than just facewash during scrums.

Housley Hajt    Phil can dance while Bill takes care of business.

Campbell Ramsey   Both can multitask.

Ruff extra    Cowboy tough, can play forward, assistant coach.

Hasek and Miller   Ryan will need a hobby.

Punch as GM

Scotty as coach

RJ in the booth

Scary Good!

If you are building a roster, it’s really hard not to take those top two lines as units. Two of the best lines NHL, all-time.

75 Connection: 131 goals

93 MLA: 158! And Dave only played 52 games.

Did we have any others come close?

Tuch Tage Skinner had 118 last year. Im not sure if we had any other lines that have put up 100?

’19 Eichel Reinhart Skinner had 90 Luce Ramsay Gare in 75 also had 90 (as a checking line!]

Edited May 31 by dudacek

[GASabresIUFAN]

Looking at not only production, but how their teams did, how many games they played for the franchise and with the forwards, I tried to keep eras together.  On defense I matched our 3 top offensive D with our 3 best stay at home D.  In goal it's Hasek and Miller and then everyone else.

Line 1: French Connection

Line 2: Andreychuk Patty Mogilny

Line 3: Vanek Eichel Pommers

Line 4: Ramsay Luce Gare

extra: Hawerchuk

Hard to find places for Satan and Mike Foligno.  I went with Vanek because he scored more goals and Pommers because he is 5th all time in games played by a Sabres forward

D1: Ramsey Housley

D2: Hajt Dahlin

D3: Schoenfeld Bodger

extra: Korab, Zhitnik

Hasek & Miller in goal.

Edited May 31 by GASabresIUFAN

[French Collection]

9 minutes ago, dudacek said:

If you are building a roster, it’s really hard not to take those top two lines as units. Two of the best lines NHL, all-time.

75 Connection: 131 goals

93 MLA: 158! And Dave only played 52 games.

Did we have any others come close?

Tuch Tage Skinner had 118 last year. Im not sure if we had any other lines that have put up 100?

’19 Eichel Reinhart Skinner had 90 Luce Ramsay Gare in 75 also had 90 (as a checking line!]

HOFer and 100 point man Turgeon is not on a lot of rosters.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 minute ago, French Collection said:

HOFer and 100 point man Turgeon is not on a lot of rosters.

Because of limited games in Buffalo and his point a game average is well below Gilbert, Patty, and Hawerchuk, who all played more games for the franchise.  Eichel also played more games and had more goals, assists and points in a Sabres uniform.  

[Flashsabre]

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

Question: do you get the Sabres version of a player, say Crozier or Vaive; or do you get them at their peak (Crozier winning Conn Smythe; Vaive 50+)?

I chose them at their NHL peaks (why I chose Crozier over Miller)

[Sabres73]

1 hour ago, French Collection said:

23 man roster.

Martin Perreault Robert      Nuff said.

Andreychuk Lafontaine Mogilny     76 goals from Alex, 53 goals & 95 assists from Patty and Andy the human tripod to clean up.

Hawerchuk Briere Mike Foligno     Two 90+ point players with a gritty 40 goal man.

Ramsay Luce Gare    Selke winger, point a game 2 way C, 50 goal scrappy winger plus they already have chemistry.

Vanek and Peca extras.

Dahlin Schoenfeld    Rasmus can do it all and Schoeny will watch the fort and do more than just facewash during scrums.

Housley Hajt    Phil can dance while Bill takes care of business.

Campbell Ramsey   Both can multitask.

Ruff extra    Cowboy tough, can play forward, assistant coach.

Hasek and Miller   Ryan will need a hobby.

Punch as GM

Scotty as coach

RJ in the booth

Scary Good!

Have to say I think this is absolutely perfect.

[dudacek]

50 minutes ago, French Collection said:

HOFer and 100 point man Turgeon is not on a lot of rosters.

His was the 4th-best Sabres season all-time. One of only 5 Sabres to ever hit 100. 

16, 89, 14 and Perreault was the only guy to do it twice. 

Only 5 more hit 90: Martin, Hawerchuk, Andreychuk, Briere and Thompson.

We’ve forgotten pretty quickly just how special Thompson’s season was last year.

94 points was the most since Briere in 07 and the 2nd most in 30 years.

47 goals is the best ever by a Sabre not named Martin, Gare, Lafontaine and Mogilny. It was also the 3rd best since the 1970s.

If Tage plays out his contract in Buffalo, he’s got a chance to be a top 5 Sabre goal scorer of all time.

He’s already ahead of guys like Turgeon, Briere, McKegney and Drury. He’ll pass Eichel and Reinhart this year and should even move ahead of Lafontaine.

Edited May 31 by dudacek

[dudacek]

I have no problem taking Hawerchuk ahead of Eichel or Turgeon or anyone else at centre after Lafontaine and Perreault.

Guy has the 3rd-best points per game of any Sabre all-time, just behind Lafontaine and Mogilny. He’s 9th all-time on the franchise total assist list despite playing half the games of the others in the top 10. His worst Sabres full-season point total was 86.

He’s also 5th in playoff scoring and 2nd behind Perreault in points per playoff game

I’ve said it on here before, his 5/9/14 in 8 games in the ‘93 playoffs while Lafontaine and Mogilny got hurt remains the most impressive run of hockey I’ve ever seen by a Sabre.

Loved the way that guy played. Probably among my 10 favourite Sabres of all time and the best Sabre no one ever talks about.

Edited May 31 by dudacek

[PerreaultForever]

Well, assuming these guys are all in their prime, you can't build a roster or all your scoring stars from history. That's a team that just doesn't look like a realistic team. Now if you can build what looks more like an NHL team, that's different. With that in mind, 

1. French Connection (duh)

2. Andreychuk- LaFontaine- Gare

3. Foligno-Peca-Foligno

4. Ramsay-Drury-Dudley

(Younger people do not realize that next to Bob Gainey, Ramsay was the best defensive forward in the league)

Schoenfeld-Korab

Housley-Hajt

Ramsey-McKee

Hasek, Biron (because it's Hasek, so Biron sees the net like 2 games a season and no way Miller sits on the bench happy)

and the 13th forward is of course John Scott 🙂

 

There's obviously too many to really pick from and you have to assume each era is an equivalent athlete (even if that's not true) but this would be a roster that can play every way and win every way. Shot blockers and hitters on D what a concept 🙂 and I'm sorry but the idea of original Foligno and son of Foligno on the same line with Peca is just too much of a dream type concept for me to put a higher skill guy in there - sorry Alex. 

I could be convinced to swap Dahlin for Housley, but Korab stays. 

[dudacek]

You want an all-time crazy stat?

19 Sabres have finished their Buffalo careers at +50 or better.

9 are +100

4 are +200

Craig Ramsay and Bill Hajt are +326 and +320 respectively - +110 and +90 ahead of their nearest competitors (Luce and Schoenfeld).

Remember those numbers are compiled playing against the other team’s best players over a 10-year period of extended effectiveness.

To flip things around, Ristolainen is at the bottom by a wide margin: -163, no one else reached -100.

Unsurprisingly 2/3s of the cellar dwellers played, and played a lot over the past decade.

[dudacek]

I’m not much of a Phil Housley fan, but the fact that he has 8 of the top 11 most productive scoring seasons by a Sabre defenceman of all time is pretty incredible. (Even if he played forward for some of those games)

Dahlin’s 73 last year was the 3rd best, but the guy holding down #5 and #7 might surprise some people: John van Boxmeer had 69 and 68-point years running the PP in the early 80s.

Edited May 31 by dudacek

[B-U-F-F-A-L-O]

4 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Just for fun. Build you ultimate Sabres team. Only rule is that it has to be  made of players who have played for the team. Here’s mine:

EDIT: Pick players based on their NHL peak

R Martin Perrault Gare

Mogilny Lafontaine Hawerchuk

Vanek Eichel Reinhart

C Ramsay Peca Drury

Extras: Briere, Rene Robert

Dahlin Schonfeld 

Housley Zhitnik

M Ramsey McKee

Extra: Power

 

Hasek

Crozier

Extra: Edwards

Coach: Scotty Bowman, Associate Coach: Ruff

Not bad, but Larry Playfair absolutely makes any team I come up with…. I’d leave Robert on the first line…. For some reason I’m OK with LaFontaine even though we weren’t his main team I have a problem with Hawerchuk for the same reason. I like Briere more than Vanek. I like Roy and Pommenville more than Vanek. I really like Stu Barnes as well… It’s sad that so many listed played somewhere else more than Buffalo including Briere..Drury…. We’re pathetic …. 🥺

I should try to build an allstar Sabre team with Sabres that played most of their career in Buffalo…. Did Renè and Rick play mostly in Buffalo? IDK? Pretty lame team if we can’t use those two…. I’d like to keep Eichel off of it too… Not that I hate him it’s more he’s not really a Buffalo player…. Here, I’m assuming Rick and Rene main team was Buffalo, I think it was…IDK?

Rene - Gil - Rick

man! It is so hard without LaFontaine, Briere and Drury, etc…

Vanek - Roy - Pommenville I like this because I always thought this line was really a fantastic #2 line….

Molgilny - Connolly? LOL, IDK? - Gare

Foligno - Peca - Vaclav Varada   What a fantastic 4th line this would be!

 

Dahlin - Ramsey

Power - Lydman

Playfair - McKee

Warrener - Tallinder or Teppo….. Either one could be over Power right now but Power is going to get much better, imho…

if it was the playoffs and the team was playing rough I’d switch Power with Playfair…. I really, really liked Toni Lydman….

Just thinking Montador would make it if he played here longer and he played like he did in fla. here..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LabattBlue]

Considering all the “geezers” here, I am surprised how little love Mike Foligno is getting.  

[B-U-F-F-A-L-O]

25 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Well, assuming these guys are all in their prime, you can't build a roster or all your scoring stars from history. That's a team that just doesn't look like a realistic team. Now if you can build what looks more like an NHL team, that's different. With that in mind, 

1. French Connection (duh)

2. Andreychuk- LaFontaine- Gare

3. Foligno-Peca-Foligno

4. Ramsay-Drury-Dudley

(Younger people do not realize that next to Bob Gainey, Ramsay was the best defensive forward in the league)

Schoenfeld-Korab

Housley-Hajt

Ramsey-McKee

Hasek, Biron (because it's Hasek, so Biron sees the net like 2 games a season and no way Miller sits on the bench happy)

and the 13th forward is of course John Scott 🙂

 

There's obviously too many to really pick from and you have to assume each era is an equivalent athlete (even if that's not true) but this would be a roster that can play every way and win every way. Shot blockers and hitters on D what a concept 🙂 and I'm sorry but the idea of original Foligno and son of Foligno on the same line with Peca is just too much of a dream type concept for me to put a higher skill guy in there - sorry Alex. 

I could be convinced to swap Dahlin for Housley, but Korab stays. 

I like your mentioning of Craig Ramsey but I didn’t use him. I want a crazy tough team and my fourth line was Foligno (the kid) - Peca and Varada…. Could you imagine them getting the cycle going? Great playoffs 4th line…

i also like that you had Bill Hajt on your D. I swear, it was completely impossible to go by with the puck…. Can’t score if you can’t go by…l I miss D-men playing the body so much…. Again though, he didn’t make my team, but it made me sad….

 

Dahlin - M. Ramsey - I loved watching Mike! Dahlin’s the best.

Power - Lydman - Power more on potential, I loved watching Lydman. These can play all over.

Playfair - McKee - Nobody messes with Larry and he could play D. I probably should have went with someone more offensive here but I like McKee….Housley I guess would pair well with Larry. I can’t recall if they ever paired together? With Larry and Foligno no one would want to even get sticks up….

 

i’d might go with Barrasso or Edwards or Sauve as Hasek’s backup…Any of those three would do, imho… I know Miller is loved by a lot of fans but I would probably take those three over miller though I haven’t looked at their numbers in almost 50 years…. LOL, getting old…

Very honorable mentions to Warrener, Teppo and Tallinder….