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Franchise best right winger is a good debate, in my opinion.

Nobody can come close to Mogilny’s ridiculous 76 goal-season, but he’s actually just number 6 in all-time scoring, a few points back of Miro Satan (who was too 1-dimensional to deserve consideration.) 

The other 4 are all within 50 Sabre points of each other. Robert edges Pominville for #4 in a tight race for that 100-point season in otherwise pick-em careers.

Mogilny is the most talented and dangerous RW ever to lace them up in Buffalo, but too many of his seasons were disrupted by injury or drama and his career was cut short. He’s #3 for me.

#2 is the best power forward in Sabres history. Punishing 40 goal scorers don’t happen very often, especially ones that can chuck the knuckles, backcheck and lead like Mike Foligno could.

And #1 is Danny Gare who not only leads the group in career goals, but also is it’s only 2-time 50-goal scorer, who has the # 2, 3, 9 and 11th best all-time single season points for RWs and 2, 3, 4, and 8 for goals. Like Foligno he was tough, diligent defensively and a captain. Like Mogilny, he was a Rocket Richard winner before the trophy existed. He was also clutch.

Edited by dudacek
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1 hour ago, B-U-F-F-A-L-O said:

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….

Playfair couldn't play in today's league. Big and mean and solid in his day but all he basically knew how to do was crosscheck anybody who came in front. Did it well, but he'd get a penalty on every shift today. Those were the days though weren't they?

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10 hours ago, dudacek said:

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.

 

 

People coming up with Power, Lydman, even Talinder.   This is crazy.  

Bill Hajt is not mentioned., or ever mentioned, and he played great defense for 12+ years.  He is 5th all time in games played.  No GM or coach thought to trade him.  He was really good and deserves to be mentioned.  

Jerry Korab was just as good as Schoenfeld defensively, and he was better offensively.  Plus he wore a big fur coat. 

 

Edited by Pimlach
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8 hours ago, B-U-F-F-A-L-O said:

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….

Varada instead of Craig Ramsey? Come on!

 

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8 hours ago, dudacek said:

Franchise best right winger is a good debate, in my opinion.

Nobody can come close to Mogilny’s ridiculous 76 goal-season, but he’s actually just number 6 in all-time scoring, a few points back of Miro Satan (who was too 1-dimensional to deserve consideration.) 

The other 4 are all within 50 Sabre points of each other. Robert edges Pominville for #4 in a tight race for that 100-point season in otherwise pick-em careers.

Mogilny is the most talented and dangerous RW ever to lace them up in Buffalo, but too many of his seasons were disrupted by injury or drama and his career was cut short. He’s #3 for me.

#2 is the best power forward in Sabres history. Punishing 40 goal scorers don’t happen very often, especially ones that can chuck the knuckles, backcheck and lead like Mike Foligno could.

And #1 is Danny Gare who not only leads the group in career goals, but also is it’s only 2-time 50-goal scorer, who has the # 2, 3, 9 and 11th best all-time single season points for RWs and 2, 3, 4, and 8 for goals. Like Foligno he was tough, diligent defensively and a captain. Like Mogilny, he was a Rocket Richard winner before the trophy existed. He was also clutch.

Gare gets my vote for #1 RW.   Then Foligno at #2.  Robert was a much better two way player than Moligny.   He is my 3rd "as a Sabre" although Mogilny has a better career overall.   I could go either way on 3/4.   Pommer is probably 5.  

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8 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

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

Knew there was somebody being forgotten.  Turned out it was him. D'oh!

He'd get in over one of Drury or Gilmour.

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1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

 

People coming up with Power, Lydman, even Talinder.   This is crazy.  

Bill Hajt is not mentioned., or ever mentioned, and he played great defense for 12+ years.  He is 5th all time in games played.  No GM or coach thought to trade him.  He was really good and deserves to be mentioned.  

Jerry Korab was just as good as Schoenfeld defensively, and he was better offensively.  Plus he wore a big fur coat. 

 

Tallinder in the 2nd half of '05-'06 was the best D-man the Sabres had seen in a good decade and during that '06 playoff run was a beast.  He never was the same after breaking his arm.  Really expect he'd've rivaled Schoeny and Ramsey for best Sabres D-man ever had he not broken the arm.  That's why he got the final nod on this kid's roster over Hajt.

Gave SERIOUS consideration to putting Connolly onto the list too for HIS '06 playoffs.  But he'd been a Sabre for a long time before that and was never anything to write home about until he cut his hair and he was never even close to the same after the Schaefer incident.  His time at his peak was way too fleeting.

But, though Tallinder was never the same, he still was their best D-man for several years to follow and he was a big part of why Myers was as good as he was as a rookie.

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12 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

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

I choose Crozier to backup Hasek and possibly Joe Crozier as the coach

We need a 3 man booth - Ted Darling and RJ sharing the play by play, while Lorentz is in the booth with  commentary.

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12 hours ago, dudacek said:

Franchise best right winger is a good debate, in my opinion.

Nobody can come close to Mogilny’s ridiculous 76 goal-season, but he’s actually just number 6 in all-time scoring, a few points back of Miro Satan (who was too 1-dimensional to deserve consideration.) 

The other 4 are all within 50 Sabre points of each other. Robert edges Pominville for #4 in a tight race for that 100-point season in otherwise pick-em careers.

Mogilny is the most talented and dangerous RW ever to lace them up in Buffalo, but too many of his seasons were disrupted by injury or drama and his career was cut short. He’s #3 for me.

#2 is the best power forward in Sabres history. Punishing 40 goal scorers don’t happen very often, especially ones that can chuck the knuckles, backcheck and lead like Mike Foligno could.

And #1 is Danny Gare who not only leads the group in career goals, but also is it’s only 2-time 50-goal scorer, who has the # 2, 3, 9 and 11th best all-time single season points for RWs and 2, 3, 4, and 8 for goals. Like Foligno he was tough, diligent defensively and a captain. Like Mogilny, he was a Rocket Richard winner before the trophy existed. He was also clutch.

I'll opine on the RW debate - which is interesting. I think Gare is the clear #1. In my opinion, Robert is the clear #2. Here is likely his greatest moment as an NHL player

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Taro T said:

Tallinder in the 2nd half of '05-'06 was the best D-man the Sabres had seen in a good decade and during that '06 playoff run was a beast.  He never was the same after breaking his arm.  Really expect he'd've rivaled Schoeny and Ramsey for best Sabres D-man ever had he not broken the arm.  That's why he got the final nod on this kid's roster over Hajt.

Gave SERIOUS consideration to putting Connolly onto the list too for HIS '06 playoffs.  But he'd been a Sabre for a long time before that and was never anything to write home about until he cut his hair and he was never even close to the same after the Schaefer incident.  His time at his peak was way too fleeting.

But, though Tallinder was never the same, he still was their best D-man for several years to follow and he was a big part of why Myers was as good as he was as a rookie.

Maybe so, but I cannot give him top 6 status for being great for one-half of a season and very good for 2 season.  Injuries happen unfortunately. 

 

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Seems like an all star team. Intangibles anyone? No room for Vaclav Varada, who drove the Flyers nuts in 98? Want to win a key faceoff? Brent Peterson.

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15 hours ago, B-U-F-F-A-L-O said:

 

 

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….

Barrasso was only here for 5 years, but he was really good and had a bit impact.  Goalie stats were a bit....worse...in that era so its hard to go by them, but don't even consider his time and cups in Pittsburgh.  Just in Buffalo:  5th overall pick in the first round. 18 year old makes the team, wins the Calder AND the Vezina his rookie year. In his 5 years here, he finished in the top 10 in voting for the Hart 3 times, 1 Vezina win, 2 Vezina runner ups in total....Led the league in Goals against average his 2nd year.  He was very important to this team.

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Satan - Kahun - Kotalík
Grosek - Kulich - Varada
Frolik - Sobotka - Ludvig
Bartovic - Novotny - Rousek

(Moravec, Kristek, Sejba)
Obviously, Kulich could displace Kahun in 2 years.

Svoboda - Sekera
Spacek - Smehlik
Meszaros - Hecl

Hasek
Halak*
Neuvirth

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4 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

Satan - Kahun - Kotalík
Grosek - Kulich - Varada
Frolik - Sobotka - Ludvig
Bartovic - Novotny - Rousek

(Moravec, Kristek, Sejba)
Obviously, Kulich could displace Kahun in 2 years.

Svoboda - Sekera
Spacek - Smehlik
Meszaros - Hecl

Hasek
Halak*
Neuvirth

Czech out this one!

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Bonus points for what season or even part of a season the player represents. For example the all time Sabres team has December 1998 Dom in goal. Now you might consider half season Tage.

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On 5/31/2024 at 1:09 AM, B-U-F-F-A-L-O said:

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….

Different era's but Marcus Foligno and Vaclav Varada could not carry Craig Ramsay's jock strap and neither should be mention in the same conversation for all time Sabres.  

Craig Ramsay won a Selke Trophy and he really should have won more than the one, but the league was so enamored with Bob Gainey and Montreal, making Gainey the perennial winner and  Ramsay the perennial runner up way too many times.   They didn't have a Selke Trophy for most of Ramsay's prime years or he would have had a bunch of them.   

Ramsey had 8 straight 20+ goals season.   Marcus has 1 in his entire career and none for the Sabres, and Varada never scored more than 10.  

Ramsay played 1070 games for the Sabres, second all time.  

Ramsay did not miss a game for 8 straight seasons, and played and 776 straight games spanning 10 seasons.  

Ramsay never had a minus year in plus minus rating in his entire 13+ years. 

Ramsay was selected to play in an NHL All Star Game. 

On to Larry Playfair.  Great guy, and a super nice guy, and a very tough hockey player.  I saw him last summer at a Jr Sabres game and he is still extremely popular in Buffalo.  Larry would be the first to laugh at any suggestion that he is a top 10 all time Sabres defensemen. 

Mike Foligno is not mentioned when your team wants to stress tough players?    Mike Foligno, along with Danny Gare,  are the best examples of toughness and skill.  

 

Edited by Pimlach
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9 hours ago, dudacek said:

Czech out this one!

Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Slovakia (needed for scorers), and Czechia (not yet represented).

 

Here's what I came up with a more standard approach:

Martin - Perrault - Robert
Andreychuk - LaFontaine - Gare
Ramsay - Peca - Hawerchuk
Vanek - Eichel - Briere     

(Foligno, Mogilny)

Ramsey - Dahlin
Schoenfeld - Housley
Korab - Zhitnik 

(Hajt, McKee)

Hasek
Miller
(Crozier)

Lots of folks won't like my 4th line, but they'll win puck battles and imagine a breakout from their own zone. (Besides, they're only playing 10 minutes a night, so they're all angry.)

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Ramsay is a nice segue to a best LW post.

To me there is only one choice for #1.

Rick Martin is 3rd all-time in franchise points and 2nd in goals, 2nd in goals per game and 11th all-time in NHL goals per games played.

He’s one of only 2 Sabres to score 50 twice, he finished top 10 in NHL goal scoring 5 times. Eight 30 goal seasons in his first  nine, and he had 28 when injuries cut short the ninth.

2-time first team all-star, 2-time 2nd team all-star. 

Hasek is the only Sabre to dominate his position more on a league-wide basis for such an extended period of time. It’s too bad injuries cut his career short.

He should be in the Hall of Fame.

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Seeing Eichel pop up on a few lists makes me wonder how history will compare him and Tage Thompson as Sabres.

Eichel had 5 good years to Thompson’s 3 and has a significant lead in career points, but Thompson certainly has time to make up the gap and his recent years stack up pretty well

  • Thompson 47/47/94
  • Eichel 28/54/82
  • Eichel 36/42/78
  • Thompson 38/30/68
  • Eichel 25/39/64
  • Eichel 24/33/57
  • Thompson 29/27/56
  • Eichel 24/32/56

I think you have to take into account how Eichel may have been robbed of a 90-point year by COVID.

It all comes down to how much of an outlier 22/23 was for Thompson. If he has another point-per-game season or two in his holster, history will probably come down on his side.

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Andreychuk and Ramsay is an interesting debate for #2 at left wing.

One of the best net-front specialists of all time and a hall-of-famer versus one of the best defensive forwards of all-time and a Selke winner.

Andreychuk is 2nd all-time in franchise points, Ramsay 4th. Ramsay is 2nd and Andreychuk 6th in franchise games played.

While each was dominant on his half of special teams, I’ll take Rammer as the better ES player. That +324 over a career spent lining up against the best the NHL had to offer still blows me away.

And my #4 goes to Thomas Vanek, who ranks very high in all the statistical categories, but was also probably the best weapon for a very good run of Sabre teams and showed a ton of courage for the abuse he took in front game in and game out.

Without knocking Vanek - who was an excellent Sabre - there’s not many others worthy of consideration.

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1 hour ago, dudacek said:
  • Thompson 47/47/94
  • Eichel 28/54/82
  • Eichel 36/42/78
  • Thompson 38/30/68
  • Eichel 25/39/64
  • Eichel 24/33/57
  • Thompson 29/27/56
  • Eichel 24/32/56

 

 

 

This becomes even more interesting if you build it out to include a few more productive Sabre centres

  • Turgeon 40/66/106
  • Hawerchuk 23/75/98
  • Hawerchuk 16/80/96
  • Briere 32/53/95
  • Thompson 47/47/94
  • Hawerchuk 31/58/89
  • Turgeon 34/54/88
  • Hawerchuk 35/51/86
  • Eichel 28/54/82
  • Turgeon 32/47/79
  • Eichel 36/42/78
  • Luce 33/43/76
  • Ruuttu 26/45/71
  • Luce 21/49/70
  • Drury 37/32/69
  • Luce 23/46/69
  • Thompson 38/30/68
  • Drury 30/37/67
  • Ruuttu 23/42/65
  • Briere 28/37/65
  • Eichel 25/39/64
  • Luce 26/35/61
  • Luce 26/35/61 (yes, he did it twice)
  • Ruuttu 14/46/60
  • Ruuttu 19/41/60
  • Briere 25/33/58
  • Eichel 24/33/57
  • Thompson 29/27/56
  • Luce 26/30/56
  • Eichel 24/32/56
  • Drury 18/35/53
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