Buffalo Sabres History: Who Wore It, Number 40
We continue our series about Buffalo Sabres history, with each day’s post highlighting a player to have worn the subsequent jersey number with the Buffalo Sabres. This series is not designed to say that any player is the ‘best’ to have worn that jersey number, but rather to allow fans to get a taste of the team’s history and learn more about some of the players in it.
Six players in Sabres history have suited up with jersey number 40. Today, we’ll take a look at one of those players: Rumun Ndur.
Rumun Ndur was a Nigerian-born defenseman who played for the Sabres organization from 1995 until 1999.
He was drafted by the Sabres in 1994 with the 69th overall pick (third round) and spent one more season with the OHL’s Guelph Storm after being drafted.
Ndur began his career with the Sabres organization in the 1995-96 season, when he played 73 games with the Rochester Americans. He had 14 points and 306 penalty minutes – a career high – with the Amerks that season. The next year would see him spend most of the year in Rochester, but also make his NHL debut, appearing in two games with the Sabres.
Ndur never really found his footing in the NHL. After playing two games in the NHL that year, he played in just one NHL game the following season, then eight games the next. In the end, he played 69 games in the NHL, but only 11 with the Sabres.
After his time in Buffalo, Ndur joined the New York Rangers organization, playing in the NHL for 31 games in the 1998-99 season and spending part of the year with Hartford in the AHL.
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He’d also join the Atlanta Thrashers for 27 games in the 1999-2000 season. The years following that would see him play in a number of leagues across the world, starting with the Orlando Solar Bears in the IHL. He’d also play with the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals before spending some time overseas with Graz EC in the 2002-03 season.
He eventually made his way back to North America to join the Columbus Cottonmouths of the ECHL, then the Danbury Trashers and Kalamazoo Wings of the UHL.
He also spent parts of three seasons in the United Kingdom, playing with the Coventry Blaze and Nottingham Panthers of the EIHL before rejoining the UHL, skating with the Muskegon Lumberjacks.
Overall, Ndur’s NHL career saw him appear in 69 games, notching five points and 137 penalty minutes.
Other players to wear jersey number 40 for the Sabres: Patrick Lalime, James Black, Mitch Molloy, Larry Playfair, Uwe Krupp