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50 for 50 - Best Sabre Players of All-Time


GASabresIUFAN

Best Sabres 21-25 (Please vote for 5)  

60 members have voted

  1. 1. Best Sabres 21-25 (Vote for 5)

    • Don Edwards
    • Tom Barrasso
    • Bill Hajt
    • Jerry Korab
    • Alexei Zhitnik
    • Brian Campbell
    • Doug Bodger
      0
    • Jay McKee
    • Larry Playfair
    • Jack Eichel
    • Danny Briere
    • Miro Satan
    • Chris Drury
    • Stu Barnes
    • Derek Roy
    • Sam Reinhart
      0
    • Other
      0


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On 10/29/2019 at 11:28 AM, calti said:

Thorny---lets all hope you are just joking about McDavid vs gretzky. That is laughable

It's a function of the human athlete of today vs decades ago. 

If you took 80s Gretzky and matched him up with today's McDavid, McDavid would completely annihilate him. Athletes are stronger, faster, better conditioned today than they ever have been due to advancements in technology, nutrition, etc etc etc

Now, I'm not saying McDavid is greater, that still tips heavily in Gretzky's favour for now. If Gretzky was brought up in today's day and age, he'd be a lot better of a version of himself than he was, so when measuring greatness it's only fair to compare players to how they dominated their own era. 

But if we remove all context and compare the two straight up as if we could pit 80s Wayne against 2010s Connor, it's not a question who would play the game itself more skillfully, better, objectively. It's McDavid. It's just that, players everywhere are way better than they ever have been. 

Can you imagine matching today's cup champs vs a Habs championship team from the 70s? The Habs would be completely overrun. The team of today would absolutely skate circles around them. 

 

Just watch the skating of the players in these highlights. 

Edited by Thorny
And the goalies by god
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I've created the new Poll for players 17-20.  

This is going to be the hardest poll yet.  So many really good players.  It's like splitting hairs to try to differentiate between them.  

I voted for Jerry Korab, Vanek, Briere and Pominville.  Turgeon, Satan, Eichel and Bill Hajt were right there for me.

I chose Korab because he was an everything player for us.  Kong, was an intimidator, but he was a really good all around defenseman.  He is 3 in goals by a Sabres D, 10th in games by a D and 5th in points, but my vote is from a great childhood memory of watching this excellent player almost single-handedly destroying the Russians in their first game at the Aud.  He bashed them in the boards and created offense.  They left battered and bruised.

Briere helped lead us back to prominence after the lock out and authored the best scoring season in recent Sabres history with 95 pts in (06-07).

Pominville: 8th in games (all players), 7th in forward pts, 10th in goals and a former captain.  Maybe one of the most loved players in Sabres history.  

Vanek's 254 goals are 5th in Sabres history.  His two 40 goals season are also the best in recent Sabres history.  Skinner is the 1st to score 40 since.

Close:

Turgeon:  Before there was Eichel, there was Turgeon.  He average a pt a game in his 4 years in Buffalo and we traded him for LaFontaine.  323 pts in 322 games.  Topped out at 40 goals and 106 pts in 1989-90.

Hajt: 2nd in D games (854 gms) over 14 seasons.  The ultimate defensive D.

Satan:  Scored 20 or more in all 7 seasons in Buffalo.  Lead us in scoring his 1st 6 years here.  Topped out at 40 goals (1998-99). 8th goals.

Eichel:  Now in year 5 he is now the Captain of the upstart Sabres.  Has lead the Sabres the last 3 season and he is blowing up this season with 17 pts in 13 games.  4 straight 24+ goal season but hasn't yet scored 30.  Hit 82 pts last season and has 276 pts in only 299 games.

Edited by GASabresIUFAN
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7 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I've created the new Poll for players 17-20.  

This is going to be the hardest poll yet.  So many really good players.  It's like splitting hairs to try to differentiate between them.  

I voted for Jerry Korab, Vanek, Briere and Pominville.  Turgeon, Satan, Eichel and Bill Hajt were right there for me.

I chose Korab because he was an everything player for us.  Kong, was an intimidator, but he was a really good all around defenseman.  He is 3 in goals by a Sabres D, 10th in games by a D and 5th in points, but my vote is from a great childhood memory of watching this excellent player almost single-handedly destroying the Russians in their first game at the Aud.  He bashed them in the boards and created offense.  They left battered and bruised.

Briere helped lead us back to prominence after the lock out and authored the best scoring season in recent Sabres history with 95 pts in (06-07).

Pominville: 8th in games (all players), 7th in forward pts, 10th in goals and a former captain.  Maybe one of the most loved players in Sabres history.  

Vanek's 254 goals are 5th in Sabres history.  His two 40 goals season are also the best in recent Sabres history.  Skinner is the 1st to score 40 since.

Close:

Turgeon:  Before there was Eichel, there was Turgeon.  He average a pt a game in his 4 years in Buffalo and we traded him for LaFontaine.  323 pts in 322 games.  Topped out at 40 goals and 106 pts in 1989-90.

Hajt: 2nd in D games (854 gms) over 14 seasons.  The ultimate defensive D.

Satan:  Scored 20 or more in all 7 seasons in Buffalo.  Lead us in scoring his 1st 6 years here.  Topped out at 40 goals (1998-99). 8th goals.

Eichel:  Now in year 5 he is now the Captain of the upstart Sabres.  Has lead the Sabres the last 3 season and he is blowing up this season with 17 pts in 13 games.  4 straight 24+ goal season but hasn't yet scored 30.  Hit 82 pts last season and has 276 pts in only 299 games.

Two things I’ll always remember about Korab.

1) Punch acquired him to be a left winger. He thought Tommy Abrahamson(?) was going to come from Sweden and be the next Borje Salming

2) that Russian game. If he played consistently like that, he might have been a top ten guy for me.

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On 10/31/2019 at 3:56 PM, GASabresIUFAN said:

Playfair is already on the poll.  Hank, Hecht and Jim Lorentz will certainly be added as choices soon.  

Lorentz had a surprisingly, very good career and Ric Seiling would be a lot more well thought of except he wasn’t Mike Bossy.

Edited by tom webster
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37 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Lorentz had a surprisingly, very good career and Ric Seiling would be a lot more we’ll thought of except

a) not Bossy

b) not a very nice person 

Never quite being the same player he had been after nearly losing an eye didn't help the perception of him either.

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26 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I'm sorry but Jason Pominville is a better Sabre than Vanek. 

I don’t agree but it’s very close and I voted for both this go around.  I said at the onset that this was going to be the toughest vote. 15 different players have votes already.  

My guess is I’m going to have to have a second vote with the top 8 vote getters.  

 

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On 10/30/2019 at 3:32 PM, Thorny said:

It's a function of the human athlete of today vs decades ago. 

If you took 80s Gretzky and matched him up with today's McDavid, McDavid would completely annihilate him. Athletes are stronger, faster, better conditioned today than they ever have been due to advancements in technology, nutrition, etc etc etc

Now, I'm not saying McDavid is greater, that still tips heavily in Gretzky's favour for now. If Gretzky was brought up in today's day and age, he'd be a lot better of a version of himself than he was, so when measuring greatness it's only fair to compare players to how they dominated their own era. 

But if we remove all context and compare the two straight up as if we could pit 80s Wayne against 2010s Connor, it's not a question who would play the game itself more skillfully, better, objectively. It's McDavid. It's just that, players everywhere are way better than they ever have been. 

Can you imagine matching today's cup champs vs a Habs championship team from the 70s? The Habs would be completely overrun. The team of today would absolutely skate circles around them. 

 

Just watch the skating of the players in these highlights. 

even dumber post...keep going

On 10/29/2019 at 9:52 AM, #freejame said:

McDavid is almost certainly a more skilled hockey player than Wayne Gretzky in every way less IQ

gretzky is a much better hockey player.

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On 10/31/2019 at 4:01 PM, tom webster said:

Lorentz had a surprisingly, very good career and Ric Seiling would be a lot more we’ll thought if except

a) not Bossy

b) not a very nice person 

I have met Seiling many times, still in the Buffalo area.  Nice guy.  Don’t understand the comment.  

That said, clearly not a top 20 Sabre.  Probably not top 30 or 40 either.  

I knew Bossy was the better scorer too.  I purposely went for a checking, defensive player. One of my few mistakes.   

Edited by Pimlach
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3 hours ago, Pimlach said:

I have met Seiling many times, still in the Buffalo area.  Nice guy.  Don’t understand the comment.  

That said, clearly not a top 20 Sabre.  Probably not top 30 or 40 either.  

I knew Bossy was the better scorer too.  I purposely went for a checking, defensive player. One of my few mistakes.   

He’s(Seiling) actually a well respected banker in Rochester area and very active in women’s hockey although he was mysteriously fired by PSE. People change and I regret the post and thus am deleting it.

By the way, I like the way you seamlessly go from living  personality to  dead personality.

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6 hours ago, tom webster said:

He’s(Seiling) actually a well respected banker in Rochester area and very active in women’s hockey although he was mysteriously fired by PSE. People change and I regret the post and thus am deleting it.

By the way, I like the way you seamlessly go from living  personality to  dead personality.

Thanks, it’s part of my Schtick.  

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19 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I have to say I’m confused by all the Peca love.  He wasn’t a better hockey player here then Vanek, Briere, Drury, Satan, and Pommers. 

I would say say better than Vanek (but not as a pure goal scorer), better than Satan for sure, and better than Pommer because he brought something to the team that has been hard for this organization to consistently acquire -  grit with talent.  

 

 

Edited by Pimlach
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On 11/2/2019 at 1:32 PM, GASabresIUFAN said:

I have to say I’m confused by all the Peca love.  He wasn’t a better hockey player here then Vanek, Briere, Drury, Satan, and Pommers. 

None of whom ever were a captain in a Stanley Cup final.

You dig now?

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1 minute ago, Eleven said:

None of whom ever were a captain in a Stanley Cup final.

You dig now?

That doesn't make Peca a better hockey player nor doesn't it make him a better hockey player for us.  It just means he was a leader of a Hasek anchored team.  I'm sorry but Briere, Drury, Vanek and Pommers all did more for this franchise.   

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