GASabresIUFAN

Not close but not bad either. Dudley and Drury are in the correct spots.

Without looking it up, place these current and former Sabres in order from most to least games played for the Sabres Briere, LaFontaine, Jason Dawe, Drury, Mitts, Rick Dudley, TnT and Mike Grier?

It’s funny but he was the first one that came to mind when I wrote the question.

I think for at least 4 different teams. I know Florida, TB, Ottawa, and Atlanta. I feel like we are missing a guy or two. Should be count Patty's stint as Sabres President?

How could you. What about Rick Dudley?

I don’t know the answer to this question (yet), but how many former Sabre players have served as GM’s in the NHL? And who are they?

Is it a goalie?

DG doesn’t ever dump on a player publicly and what we learned with Risto sometimes coaches play guys because that’s all they have. Joki played 21 minutes because he was paired with Power and because he was a better option than Bush to pair with Power. I don’t think the analytics support that was either guy was especially “good” last year. There is a reason KA brought in 2 guys for the defense and not just one guy to pair with Power. That reason is that the guys after the top 3 weren’t good enough. https://theathletic.com/3989459/2023/01/30/nhl-player-cards-buffalo-sabres-2/ While these cards aren’t perfect they do a good job illustrating the great divide in D last year. The top 3 had and excess contract value of 16 mill, while Bush, Joki and Bryson had a -6.5 value. According to these cards Joki was terrible on both ends of the ice and frankly that matched the eye test. With 5 of the top 6 D slots now spoken for, my guess is Bush earns the 6th slot over Joki. By comparison the hockey cards for Johnson had a market value of 4.5 and Clifton was 7.7. Like I said these cards aren’t perfect but they clearly illustrate why Clifton and EJ were signed and why Joki and Bush were pushed farther down the depth chart.

It’s going to be a goalie.

I think you may be reading too much into DG’s comments. I think he is of the mindset that he wants to see who has chemistry with whom. Whose skill set works well with others. DG wants to see if Samuelsson and Johnson for on the PK for example even though they likely won’t be paired 5 on 5. They have been very adamant of cross training their players so that they can flip sides and play their off side comfortably both for the wingers and D. They reason for this is simple, injuries or an over abundance of special teams can force guys to play together who normally don’t share the ice and DG wants the guys to be comfortable on those situations. DG also now has a full complement of real NHL D for the first time. Bush and Joki are going to battle to see who is our 6th D. Last here he had 3 guys he could fully trust, now he has 5. It’s going to take some time to figure out how the puzzle fits together.

I love these questions.

Eleven I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with this you on this one. The only truly obscure answer here was Russell, but the rest people got pretty easily and personally I love a tour of Sabres history. Also a trivia question should have some challenge to it otherwise it’s just common knowledge. How about you give it a try.

Congrats. He is No. 10 and yes Grier was mentioned earlier. He was the Sabres Asst coach and Rochester head coach who finished his career in Buffalo and played with Mike Foligno and Mike Ramsey. His teammate is the last player on the list. I'm going to give the answer because I doubt anyone will ever guess. He finished his career with the Sabres the same two seasons as Don Lever. He only managed to play 18 games over those two seasons, but that was enough to get him over the 1000 game threshold. His name is Phil Russell. Next!

Has a goalie ever reached 1000 games? Off to play poker. Last hints. The missing players were also teammates in Buffalo with Mike Foligno and Mike Ramsey. PS: and his last words were “Peter Pucks survives”

Mike didn’t reach his 1000th game with the Sabres. He played 911 games for the Sabres.

He was old. He was 34 when he got to Buffalo. Remember he was an original 6 guy. In 8 years in Tor he only played 264 games. In 4 if those seasons he played 12 games or less. Still two to go. One should be easy.

Horton was still in Tor when he reached 1000. Hillman didn’t get to 800 NHL games.

The Ryan Johnson and Novikov signing made all the difference. It gave us a top layer of near ready D prospects, with a solid layer underneath them talent wise in Strbak and McCarthy, plus an additional 2 in Komarov and Lindgren who show some promise. To add a layer between the top 2 guys and the newly drafted, Ka has added 3 college/chl UFAs in Metsa, Jandric and Savoie. Maybe one of them will become something. Savoie is only 21. My hope is KA continues to add at least 1 D in the top 3 rounds annually.

Ruff no. Only 691 games. Finally, Hawerchuk! No. 9, No. 9, No. 9 etc…. 2 to go! I am surprised by how quickly someone mentioned Marshall. If y’all remember Marshall, this 1000 gamer should come to mind and it’s the not former coach.

Goyette never reached 1000 games (940) and Marshall had his 1000th with the Rags before he came to Buffalo. 3 to go. You are missing a HoF center and two guys who played their last games in Buffalo, one of these two spent years coaching for the Sabres organization. I’d dare says he’s better remembered here as a coach vs as a player.

Well done. No. 7 Pommers is 8.

Dicky Duff is 5 and Gionta is 6. 5 to go. Staal is a no and Teppo no. Teppo got his in PHX, and Staal in MN.

Grier 3, Patrick 4. Gilles never reached 1000 games.

Sadly no to Andreychuk and Dougy got his in Tor 3 years before he came here. A few more hints. 2 came during this rebuild. 3 played on the Drury/Briere teams, including one who retired during the rebuild, one who is currently a top Jr coach whose brother also played for the Sabres, and one who is a current NHL GM. Another is a HOF center. Another is 6x Cup winner and HoF LW who somehow ended his career in Buffalo. The last 3 all played their final game in Buffalo after long and solid careers.

Luce didn’t even get to 1000 games. Craig Ramsay is No. 2. Mike Ramsey actually got his 1000th Det. 9 to go. Gilbert and Ramsay are the only two Sabres to play their entire career in Buffalo and reach 1000. The other 9 guys played the later stages of their careers in Buffalo, but 5 of these players made significant impact here in Buffalo. One was also a Sabres draftee.