Former Sabres Player and GM Gerry Meehan passed away

[Brawndo]

 

[Brawndo]

 

[PASabreFan]

A brilliant and consequential figure in Sabres history. And he scored the goal that ended the Flyers' playoff hopes on Easter Day 1972.

Meehan does a Newhook:

 

[Taro T]

18 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

A brilliant and consequential figure in Sabres history. And he scored the goal that ended the Flyers' playoff hopes on Easter Day 1972.

Meehan does a Newhook:

 

Truly consequential.  Would argue one of the 4 or 5 most important figures in the team history.

And his getting traded to Vancouver both brought in Guevremont and opened the door for Schoenfeld to become captain for that 1st SCF run.

[Flashsabre]

Lafontaine and Hawerchuk were 2 of the biggest trades in franchise history and the Hasek deal turned out to be the biggest.

RIP Gerry Meehan

[K-9]

Travel well, professor. 

[Pimlach]

RIP Gerry. 

 

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

A brilliant and consequential figure in Sabres history. And he scored the goal that ended the Flyers' playoff hopes on Easter Day 1972.

Meehan does a Newhook:

 

Really bright guy.  Graduated from Canisius and then UB Law School.  Went to work for Robert Swados legal firm (one of the Knox's closest confidents and a founding member of the Sabres) after law school and then applied this to a role as AGM under Bowman before eventually taking over as GM.   

He had to rebuild the team post Bowman and post Perreault, and he did.   

[Pimlach]

43 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Lafontaine and Hawerchuk were 2 of the biggest trades in franchise history and the Hasek deal turned out to be the biggest.

RIP Gerry Meehan

 

 

Incidentally,  he practiced sports, corporate, and immigration law while working in the Swados law firm.  It is interesting to note that he kind of smuggled Alexander Mogilny into the country and on the Sabres roster.  

 

 

[Standing Room Smoking Cigs]

He was a good man

[French Collection]

RIP Gerry, you were Sabres to the core.

[dudacek]

My memory is foggy on the circumstances of Gerry’s departure as GM.

Can anyone help with a refresh?

[PASabreFan]

6 hours ago, dudacek said:

My memory is foggy on the circumstances of Gerry’s departure as GM.

Can anyone help with a refresh?

Here's a start from when John Muckler was hired as DOHO before 91-92.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/06/24/Muckler-to-join-Sabres-front-office/5196677736000/

"Muckler would not become Sabres general manager, but he would have general manager-type duties that would be expanded as current general manager Jerry Meehan's role becomes more administrative in nature."

Why Meehan's duties were being shifted is the question. Muckler would not only go on to coach the team after Rick Dudley was fired early in the 91-92 season, he became GM shortly after May Day.

[PASabreFan]

Another question, at the risk of sending this topic off the rails, who pulled the trigger on the moronic and disastrous trade of Andreychuk, Puppa and a first to Toronto for Grant Fuhr during the 92-93 season? Meehan was still GM.

Edited June 7 by PASabreFan

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

Another question, at the risk of sending this topic off the rails, who pulled the trigger on the moronic and disastrous trade of Andreychuk, Puppa and a first to Toronto for Grant Fuhr during the 92-93 season? Meehan was still GM.

Scratch a former Euler, find a bit of Muckler.  There's a reason the team became Edmonton East after John was brought in.

It took Muckler years before he figured out what he'd been gifted in the form of Hasek.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

Here's a start from when John Muckler was hired as DOHO before 91-92.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/06/24/Muckler-to-join-Sabres-front-office/5196677736000/

"Muckler would not become Sabres general manager, but he would have general manager-type duties that would be expanded as current general manager Jerry Meehan's role becomes more administrative in nature."

Why Meehan's duties were being shifted is the question. Muckler would not only go on to coach the team after Rick Dudley was fired early in the 91-92 season, he became GM shortly after May Day.

Thanks, I kinda remember it as Gerry being politely pushed aside and slowly drifting away altogether.

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

Another question, at the risk of sending this topic off the rails, who pulled the trigger on the moronic and disastrous trade of Andreychuk, Puppa and a first to Toronto for Grant Fuhr during the 92-93 season? Meehan was still GM.

And this I remember as being Muckler’s agenda

[PASabreFan]

Knoxes were on way out (literally), and the team was losing money IIRC. They knew they needed a new arena and at least an infusion of money, if not a new owner. Was Gerry moved into a role overseeing all that? What of LQ? Too bad, because Gerry was a good hockey man. Muckler, too. He eased them through a soft rebuild and left Lindy and Darcy a budding contender. That trade, tho...

11 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Scratch a former Euler, find a bit of Muckler.  There's a reason the team became Edmonton East after John was brought in.

It took Muckler years before he figured out what he'd been gifted in the form of Hasek.

Or one year?

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Knoxes were on way out (literally), and the team was losing money IIRC. They knew they needed a new arena and at least an infusion of money, if not a new owner. Was Gerry moved into a role overseeing all that? What of LQ? Too bad, because Gerry was a good hockey man. Muckler, too. He eased them through a soft rebuild and left Lindy and Darcy a budding contender. That trade, tho...

Or one year?

When the lockout ended in January of '95, which goalie got the start when the Rags raised the banner?

[Sabres Fan in NS]

RIP.

'Smilin Ger'.

He took a lot of chances as GM ... turning Phil Housley into Ducky ... turning Pierre into Patty ... he and Don Luce orchestrating the defection of Mogilny (it makes no difference that the Berlin Wall came down that year and the Soviet Union fell apart within a few years).

The biggest thing has to be getting Hasek off the scrap heap in Chicago for some nameless goalie or other.

Edited June 7 by Sabres Fan in NS

[PASabreFan]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

When the lockout ended in January of '95, which goalie got the start when the Rags raised the banner?

You mean Fuhr with one of his three games played that season? Muckler really didn't know what he had in Hasek after 93-94? Dom played 58 games: 7 SOs, .930 save %, sub 2.00 GAA and that performance against NJ in the playoffs. Vezina.

Maybe Dom had a groin burn from whipping off his robe in a Manhattan massage parlor? You tell me.

[PASabreFan]

Fuhr played well in the opener. Dom started the next two. Grant ***** the bed against Quebec, and that was about it for his time in Buffalo.

I did find this quote after the NYR game.

“He was sharp as a tack when he came to training camp,” Buffalo coach John Muckler said of Fuhr. “That’s why we went with him and he didn’t lose anything.”

[Taro T]

47 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

You mean Fuhr with one of his three games played that season? Muckler really didn't know what he had in Hasek after 93-94? Dom played 58 games: 7 SOs, .930 save %, sub 2.00 GAA and that performance against NJ in the playoffs. Vezina.

Maybe Dom had a groin burn from whipping off his robe in a Manhattan massage parlor? You tell me.

Yeah, Muckler knew exactly what he had in Hasek.  Suuuuuuuuurre he did. 

That's why he traded for Fuhr when Dom was already there, exposed Dom in the expansion draft, went back to an injured Fuhr against the Habs rather than start the guy that was healthy and between the pipes for May Day, and was still giving Fuhr the 1st start of the season the year that they decided to swtich gears from being one of the 3 most expensive teams in the league to a bottom of the league in payroll team.

[PASabreFan]

7 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Yeah, Muckler knew exactly what he had in Hasek.  Suuuuuuuuurre he did. 

That's why he traded for Fuhr when Dom was already there, exposed Dom in the expansion draft, went back to an injured Fuhr against the Habs rather than start the guy that was healthy and between the pipes for May Day, and was still giving Fuhr the 1st start of the season the year that they decided to swtich gears from being one of the 3 most expensive teams in the league to a bottom of the league in payroll team.

You're moving the goalposts. You pointed to opening night 1995 as evidence Muckler didn't know what he had in Hasek. I think he knew sometime in 93-94 what he had.

[Taro T]

33 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

You're moving the goalposts. You pointed to opening night 1995 as evidence Muckler didn't know what he had in Hasek. I think he knew sometime in 93-94 what he had.

No.  He still couldn't get it out of his own head that Fuhr deserved the premier starts.  Hasek soon thereafter forced his hand.  But you said Muckler only took 1 year to figure out what he had in Hasek.  It took way longer than that.

But at any rate, have things to do so likely won't be responding back to this discussion.

[ExWNYer]

I loved Gerry Meehan. He was one of my favorite players when I was a little kid. He had the first assist in Sabres history and my favorite player, Gil Perreault, also scored the first goal of his career in the Sabres' first ever game which just so happened to fall on my 7th birthday. 😊 RIP, Gerry.