Sabres’ 1st Round Draft History: 1990’s
By Jake Breunig
We continue on into the 90’s
1990 – 14 overall, Brad May. Brad May travelled quite a bit around the league, but spent his longest stint here in Buffalo with 7 seasons. In his 425 games, May scored 67 goals and 156 points. As Buffalo fans know, May is famous for scoring a series clinching goal in the 1993 Adams Division semi-finals against the Boston Bruins in game four by out-dekeing Boston defenseman Ray Bourque, which is when broadcaster Rick Jeanneret made the famous “May Day!” call.
1991 – Taken 13th overall, Philippe Boucher. Boucher didn’t do much for the Sabres, he jumped back and forth between here and rochester for three years before being sent to LA where he did the same thing for six more years. Boucher never played in a full season until his tenth season, his last with the Kings, where he played 80 games. For Buffalo, Boucher tallied only 23 points in 65 games.
1992 – Typical first round bust, drafted 11th, David Cooper. Cooper never played a single game for Buffalo and only played 30 total career games for Toronto.
1993 – No First Round Pick. Traded to Toronto for Grant Fuhr.
1994 – Selected 17th in the first round, Wayne Primeau. Primeau was a bit of a journeyman throughout his career, playing for seven different teams. But it all started in Buffalo with four seasons and 225 games. Primeau hit the net 19 times, including scoring in his first game in the NHL the year after he was drafted. Primeau also added 30 helpers.
1995 – Two first rounders this year bring two long time Sabres and some fan favorites. 14th overall, Jay McKee and everyone’s favorite, 16th overall, Marty Biron. McKee was a powerful, stay at home defender who played in 582 games over nine seasons. His stats were: 17 goals and 81 assists. McKee is a former assistant coach for Niagara University and the current assistant and defense coach for the Rochester Americans. Biron was one of the biggest crowd favorites I have ever seen in Buffalo. After Dominik Hasek won the starting job from an injured Grant Fuhr, Biron came up as Hasek’s back-up. Following Hasek’s departure from Buffalo, Biron became the starter. He would eventually lose the job to young upstart Ryan Miller and requested a trade following the 2006 season.
1996 – Chosen 7th overall, Erik Rasmussen. Rasmussen played a little over four seasons for Buffalo, racking up 33 goals and 80 points in 281 games.
1997 – In Lindy Ruf21st overall, Mika Noronen. Noronen played in 71 NHL games, backing-up Marty Biron for several years. Noronen was the first Finnish goaltender to be credited with a goal in the National Hockey League, a rare feat in itself. He was also the first Buffalo Sabres goaltender to accomplish the feat when he was the last Buffalo player to touch the puck before it entered the opponent’s empty net on a delayed penalty on February 14, 2004.
1998 – In Lindy Ruff’s first draft of his coaching career, He selected, 18th overall in the first round, Dmitri Kalinin. Kalinin played for a number of seasons as a solid defender on the Buffalo blue line. In seven seasons, Kalinin played in 466 games with 32 goals and 145 points.
1999 – Picked 20th overall in 1999, Barrett Heisten. Heisten never played a game for the Buffalo Sabres and only played in 10 total career games, all for the Rangers, and got zero points and only two penalty minutes with a minus -4.
Stay tuned for the 2000’s.