The Buffalo Sabres currently hold the longest playoff drought in North American sports. They have never won a Stanley Cup and have only been there twice. Despite their poor team history, they have some of the greatest players in NHL history to their name. The list of the top 10 Sabres players is full of Hall-of-Famers and award winners, like Gilbert Perreault, Pat Lafontaine, and Dominik Hasek.
Greatest Sabres player of all time: Gilbert Perreault
The greatest player in Sabres history was their first-ever draft pick. Gilbert Perreault was almost a member of the Vancouver Canucks in the 1970 NHL Draft, but the Sabres won the right to take him and did. He spent all 17 seasons in Buffalo and sits atop the franchise leaderboard in games played, goals, assists, and points. His number 11 is retired by the Sabres. Outside of the late Rick Jeanneret, there is no one more synonymous with the Sabres than Perreault.
Perreault is also the subject of one of the more bizarre NHL stories of all time. The league was not sure how to figure out which of the Canucks and Sabres should get the first overall pick. They decided the best way to solve that problem was with a roulette-style wheel and hilarity ensued.
#2: Dominik Hasek
The Sabres were competitive throughout the 1990s with one of the greatest goaltenders of all time. Hasek did not become the starter until he was 29 years old in 1992. He won six Vezina Trophies for top goaltender, two Hart Trophies for Most Valuable Player, and led the league in save percentage for six consecutive seasons.
Hasek has the highest save percentage and lowest goals against average of any goalie who has made more than 250 starts. The Sabres went to the 1999 Stanley Cup Final on the backs of a .939 save percentage from Hasek. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and has his number 39 hangs in the rafters in Buffalo.
#3: Rick Martin
The second leg of the “French Connection” line with Perreault and Rene Robert, Martin was a dominant goal scorer throughout the 1970s. He scored 382 goals with the Sabres, second in franchise history, despite only playing 681 games with them. His career rate puts him 12th on the all-time goals-per-game list.
Martin is a four-time All-Star and placed second in Calder Trophy voting for Rookie of the Year in 1971. He scored 44 goals in 73 games as a 20-year-old that season but lost to Montreal Canadiens goaltender Ken Dryden who had already won a Stanley Cup and put up a ridiculous .930 save percentage in his first full season. Martin's number seven is retired by the Sabres.
#4: Alexander Mogilny
Alexander Mogilny is one of the most important players in the history of the National Hockey League. He was the first drafted player to defect from the Soviet Union to play in the NHL. He joined the Sabres and immediately made an impact, scoring 84 goals in his first three seasons. Mogilny broke out in 1992-93, scoring 76 goals in 77 games as a 23-year-old.
Mogilny was a two-time All-Star and won a Stanley Cup with the 2002 Detroit Red Wings. He does not have his number retired by the Sabres or his name enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. As a member of the Triple Gold Club (World Championship gold, Olympic gold, Stanley Cup) and the first European captain in league history, he certainly deserves both.
#5: Dave Andreychuk
A consistent linemate of Mogilny and LaFontaine, Andreychuk sits second in franchise history in points scored. He spent the first 12 years of his career in Buffalo, scoring 386 goals in 837 games. He was best known as a powerplay specialist until Alexander Ovechkin re-invented what that phrase meant. Andreychuk sits second all-time with 274 powerplay goals in his career, with 161 of them coming with the Sabres.
Andreychuk bounced around the NHL throughout 23 seasons. He finally won a Stanley Cup with the 2004 Lightning at 40-years-old. He retired after that season and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2017.
#6: Craig Ramsay
Another member of the expansion 1970 Sabres, Ramsay's defensive prowess lands him on this list. He played over 1000 games for Buffalo and ranks fourth with 652 points in the Blue and Gold. Ramsay backed it up with six top-three finishes in the Selke Trophy voting for best defensive forward. He won only one, in his final season of 1984-85.
He stayed in Buffalo after his retirement, becoming an assistant coach. Ramsay was named the interim head coach in 1986-87, winning just four of the 21 games he coached. He won a Stanley Cup with the 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning as an assistant coach, was the head coach of the Atlanta Thrashers for one season in 2010-11, and is currently the coach of the Slovak National Team.
#7:Pat LaFontaine
The first American on the list, LaFontaine spent six seasons at the end of his career with the Sabres. He partnered with Mogilny and Dave Andreychuk to make a great forward unit. He scored 13 goals in 19 playoff games with the Sabres and added 158 regular-season tallies.
LaFontaine's career is split between the Islanders and Sabres, making him a hard player to rank on these lists. His consistent offensive excellence gave him a Hall of Fame nod in 2003 and his number 16 is retired in Buffalo. He is also the subject of one of the great Rick Jeanneret calls ever.
#8: Thomas Vanek
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Thomas Vanek was a goal-scoring machine in the dead-puck era version of the Sabres. In his 14 NHL seasons, he had 11 20-goal seasons including all nine of his campaigns in Buffalo.
In 2006-2007, he scored 43 goals in the regular season. The Sabres were the number-one seed and scored the most goals in the league. He scored 10 points in 16 games before they lost in the Eastern Conference Final to the Ottawa Senators. He was on seven other teams but never won a Stanley Cup.
#9: Rene Robert
The final member of the French Connection, Robert is sixth on the all-time franchise points list. He scored 13 points in 16 games in 1975, when the Sabres made it to the Cup Final. He scored 100 points in the regular season that year, which gave him his only All-Star award.
Robert's number 14 is retired by the Sabres and he is immortalized in the French Connection statue outside of KeyBank Center. The line was important in legitimizing the Sabres franchise in the early days and got them to that Cup Final.
#10: Ryan Miller
The final spot on the top 10 list goes to Ryan Miller. He has the franchise lead in wins and games played among goalies. His career is most remembered by two goals he allowed to Sidney Crosby, one in the Winter Classic and the other in the Olympics. Those moments overshadow the fact that Miller was one of the top goalies in the league during that period.
He won his lone Vezina Trophy in 2010, the same year as the Golden Goal. He went 16 consecutive seasons starting 2005-06 with a goals against average below 3.00. His number 30 is retired by the Sabres.
