In terms of making trades, each workforce in skilled sports activities has had each successes and failures, and the Buffalo Sabres aren’t any totally different. Within the workforce’s ongoing, 54-year historical past, some transactions haven’t aged nicely, whereas some have proved very useful.
Prior to now, we’ve checked out a number of the former trades the Sabres have made that both aged poorly or turned outright disasters. However what in regards to the ones that labored out? Let’s be optimistic for a change and study a number of the transactions that went in Buffalo’s favor.
Whether or not as a result of the workforce turned a bit into rather a lot or its prognostication proved right, listed here are a number of the greatest offers the Sabres have made of their historical past, based mostly on who/what was acquired in return. Although some could also be apparent, some can also be a shock when actually fascinated by it.
1995 – Michael Peca
Attributable to growing monetary constraints, it turned evident that the Sabres wouldn’t be capable of retain celebrity sniper Alexander Mogilny and the workforce was compelled to commerce him away earlier than he might stroll in free company. One of many NHL’s most electrical scorers of the Nineteen Nineties, he was immensely standard with followers and helped revitalize a Sabres offense that struggled within the second half of the Nineteen Eighties.
On the 1995 NHL Draft, Buffalo despatched Mogilny to the Vancouver Canucks, receiving Michael Peca, Mike Wilson and a 1995 first-round decide in return (from “Sabres Commerce Mogilny To Canucks Draft Day Deal Opens New Period; Chops Payroll”, The Buffalo Information, 7/9/1995). Although on the time it appeared like an outright steal on Vancouver’s half, the commerce ended up figuring out very nicely for the Sabres, too.
Though there was no approach he’d match Mogilny’s manufacturing, Peca proved to be the entire package deal and emerged as a star in his personal proper. Famend for his mixture of scoring means, defensive prowess and physicality, he emerged as one of many NHL’s premier two-way forwards and received the Selke Trophy for the 1996-97 marketing campaign. He turned the Sabres’ captain the following season and helped lead the workforce to the 1999 Stanley Cup Remaining. His time with the Sabres got here to an abrupt finish when he sat out all the 2000-01 marketing campaign because of a contract deadlock and he was traded to the New York Islanders on the 2001 Draft. Peca’s contributions are simple, nevertheless, and he was a vital a part of the workforce’s late 90s success.
Additionally, the first-round decide they acquired turned Jay McKee, who anchored the workforce’s protection for a lot of the following decade. Buying and selling Mogilny might have been robust for followers to endure on the time, however the Sabres managed to show an enormous destructive into a good greater optimistic.
2003 – Daniel Briere and Chris Drury
Darcy Regier isn’t remembered very fondly amongst Sabres followers, and their emotions are largely justified. Regardless of this, the controversial former normal supervisor (GM) was capable of pull off just a few good strikes in his day, and these two (which we’ll contemplate one entry for the reason that gamers are so synonymous) had been undoubtedly the most effective.
On the 2003 NHL Commerce Deadline, the rebuilding Sabres despatched the hulking 6-foot-4 Chris Gratton and a fourth-round choice to the then-Phoenix Coyotes in alternate for 5-foot-9 speedster Daniel Briere and a fourth-round decide. 4 months later, they despatched Steven Reinprecht and long-time defenseman Rhett Warrener to the Calgary Flames for Steve Start and former Hobey Baker Award winner Chris Drury. On the time it might have appeared just like the Sabres had been merely making an attempt to rework their roster, however the strikes shortly paid immense dividends.
Associated: Drury and Briere: What May Have Been
Briere and Drury fashioned a brand new core and their talents complemented one another magnificently. The mixture of the previous’s skating and scoring prowess and the latter’s management and clutch situational means reinvigorated the downtrodden Sabres and the duo finally turned co-captains beneath then-head coach Lindy Ruff. With them on the helm, the workforce underwent a exceptional transformation and practically made it to the Stanley Cup Remaining in back-to-back seasons in 2006 and 2007.
After all, their successes will ceaselessly be overshadowed by the circumstances beneath which each departed in the summertime of 2007 and the way the Sabres plummeted afterwards. Whereas followers won’t ever forgive Regier for that, it shouldn’t take away from how spectacular each trades had been.
1991 – Pat LaFontaine
In Oct. 1991, then Sabres’ GM Gerry Meehan despatched a package deal headlined by Pierre Turgeon, the first-overall choice of the 1987 Draft, to the Islanders in alternate for a package deal headlined by one other celebrity, Pat LaFontaine. Pissed off with the Isles’ struggles on the time, the American refused to report for the season and compelled New York to commerce him.
The Sabres didn’t have to do away with Turgeon by any means, as he helped deliver the workforce again to life from their doldrums of the late-Nineteen Eighties, however LaFontaine finally proved to be the higher match and shortly turned a power in Buffalo. Because of the moment cohesion he discovered with Mogilny, he scored 93 factors in simply 57 video games in his first season in Western New York. The following season he was named captain and scored 148 factors, profitable the Woman Byng Trophy for sportsmanship while ending second for the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP.
Sadly, LaFontaine struggled with accidents immensely throughout his time with the Sabres and the workforce beneficial he retire after he sustained his fifth concussion early within the 1996-97 season. Decided to proceed taking part in, he was traded to the New York Rangers, however was compelled to retire after the 1997-98 marketing campaign after struggling yet one more concussion. The Sabres retired his No.16 in 2006 and he stays probably the most beloved figures in workforce historical past.
1972 – Rene Robert
The Sabres have pulled off some exceptional steals of their historical past, and this one might have been the primary. Eddie Shack is likely one of the most memorable gamers in hockey and his on-ice antics have change into the stuff of legend. After a season and a half with Buffalo, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in March 1972 in alternate for 23-year-old, up-and-coming winger Rene Robert.
That’s proper, the Sabres acquired certainly one of their best gamers in alternate for an agitator. Robert proved to be the lacking piece and fashioned one of many best strains of all time with fellow Quebecois Rick Martin and Gilbert Perreault.
As probably the most iconic gamers in franchise historical past, he turned a family title amongst Sabres followers, together with his best second coming when he scored the time beyond regulation winner within the legendary “Fog Sport” of the 1975 Stanley Cup Remaining. He was traded to the Colorado Rockies in 1979, however his recognition in Buffalo remained till he sadly handed away in 2021. His No. 14 hangs from the rafters of KeyBank Heart subsequent to Perreault’s No. 11 and Martin’s No. 7.
2002 – Jochen Hecht
One of many higher strikes the Sabres made throughout their early 2000s rebuilding interval is one which often flies beneath the radar. On the 2002 NHL Draft, the workforce despatched two second-round picks to the Edmonton Oilers for winger Jochen Hecht.
Although by no means a marquee participant, Hecht spent the rest of his profession with the Sabres and became a strong, reliable piece of the core. A dependable two-way ahead, he by no means contributed greater than 60 factors in a season however was at all times integral to the roster, particularly throughout the workforce’s back-to-back runs to the Japanese Convention Remaining. The aforementioned departures of Briere and Drury left the workforce in dire want of management and the German was one of many gamers who stepped as much as assist fill the void, as made evident when he was named captain twice the next season when it was rotated every month.
He retired on the conclusion of the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season after 10 seasons and 613 video games performed in Buffalo, during which he recorded 345 factors. His title isn’t up there with the all-time greats in franchise historical past, however Hecht at all times served his function and deserves to be acknowledged as probably the most underrated acquisitions the Sabres have made over time.
1992 – Dominik Hasek
The best commerce the Sabres ever made can also be probably the most outright robberies in NHL historical past. The summer time after the 1991-92 season they lastly succeeded in buying and selling for a goaltender from the Chicago Blackhawks that that they had tried to amass just a few instances earlier than. The Blackhawks had Ed Belfour entrenched in purpose and noticed no want for backup Dominik Hasek regardless of his standout efficiency in that 12 months’s Stanley Cup Remaining.
Consequently, they traded him to the Sabres for the price of goaltender Stephane Beauregard and future concerns that became a 1993 fourth-round decide the Blackhawks used to pick out Eric Daze. That’s proper, the Sabres acquired top-of-the-line gamers of all time in alternate for a goaltender that by no means performed a recreation for the workforce and future concerns.
It’s secure to imagine Chicago might have regretted the choice. In Buffalo, Hasek blossomed right into a celebrity the likes of which the sport had by no means seen, together with his unorthodox type making him a sensation. The Czech spent 9 seasons with the Sabres and received the Vezina Trophy six instances in that span along with back-to-back Hart Trophies. He’s certainly one of simply seven goaltenders to win the Hart and the one one to win it greater than as soon as. He was by no means capable of seize the Stanley Cup in Buffalo, although he practically did so nearly single-handedly in 1999.
With the Sabres headed downward after the 2000-01 season, they traded Hasek to the Detroit Purple Wings in (paradoxically) one of many worst offers the workforce has ever made. The Sabres retired his No. 39 in 2015, making him the primary goaltender in franchise historical past to obtain the dignity. Arguably the best participant to ever put on a Sabres jersey, he’s with out query the most effective commerce the workforce has ever made as nicely.
Sabres Might Have Huge Trades On the Horizon
With the quantity of managerial ineptitude the Sabres have endured over the previous decade, it’s simple to overlook that they’ve had a considerable amount of luck in that space over their historical past. Present GM Kevyn Adams has stayed away from large trades since taking the helm, but it surely’s doable that one thing may very well be coming down the road if the workforce improves this 12 months. If that’s the case, hopefully, fortune will proceed to be their good friend.
