Buffalo Sabres History: Who Wore It, Number 41
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.
Today’s post takes us to jersey number 41, which has been worn by five players throughout Sabres history, but none since 2010. One the bigger names to have worn jersey number 41 was former Sabres captain Stu Barnes.
Barnes was traded to the Sabres in March 1999 in exchange for Matthew Barnaby after nine seasons in the NHL, split between the Winnipeg Jets, Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins. He was originally a Jets draft pick, selected fourth overall in 1989.
Upon joining the Sabres, Barnes was thrust into a team that would go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, only to lose out thanks to the “No Goal.” He had four points in 17 regular season games and 10 points in 21 playoff games that year with the Sabres.
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Barnes had some of his most productive seasons in Buffalo, including 45 points in his first full season with the team. Throughout his time with the Sabres, he had 172 points (67-105) in 310 regular season games.
“STUUU-U-U-U-U” spent a little over four seasons with the Sabres and was captain of the team for two of those years, from 2001 until his trade in 2003.
One day shy of four years after his trade to Buffalo, Barnes was on the move again, this time to Dallas in exchange for Michael Ryan and a 2003 2nd-round pick (Branislav Fabry).
Barnes and the Stars organization certainly seem to be a good match. He finished out the last four seasons of his playing career in Dallas, then became an assistant coach for the team from 2009 until 2011.
Overall, Stu Barnes had 597 points in 1,136 regular season NHL games and added an additional 62 points in 116 playoff games.
Barnes was also just announced as a new member of the Dallas Stars’ broadcasting team for the upcoming season.
What are your favorite memories of Stu Barnes’ time with the Sabres?
Other players to wear #41 for the Sabres: Clarke MacArthur, Dave Hannan, Ken Sutton, Brian Curran