Buffalo Sabres History: Who Wore It, Number 68
Buffalo Sabres fans who have been visiting Sabre Noise for some time may be familiar with our “Who Wore It” series. We started this several years ago, highlighting one player to have worn each jersey number with the Buffalo Sabres. This series doesn’t designate who is the “best” to have worn that number, but simply allows fans to learn a little more about the team’s history and the players in it.
We last discussed jersey number 65, which has been worn three times by players in Buffalo Sabres history: Brian Flynn, Travis Turnbull and Mark Napier.
Today, we skip ahead to jersey number 68 — numbers 66 and 67 have never been worn by a player in Buffalo Sabres history.
Just one player in Buffalo Sabres history has worn #68: Scott Buhler.
Ever heard of him? Don’t worry – I won’t bite your head off or revoke your fan card if you haven’t.
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In reality, Buhler never actually got any ice time for the Buffalo Sabres.
He dressed in three games, suiting up as backup for Steve Shields between March 26-30, 1997. All three of those games would turn out to be losses, but Buhler never got to play.
Buhler, who is now 37, was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres 222nd overall in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft.
At the time, he was playing with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League. After the draft, he continued to play there for three more seasons until 1999, including the brief stint where he was recalled to the NHL, due to injuries to Dominik Hasek and Andrei Trefilov.
Then-head coach Ted Nolan was quoted in a March 1997 article in The Buffalo News about Buhler:
"“We’re kind of flying blind with him. We just know he had a pretty good year in junior hockey (in Medicine Hat). It’s a pretty big step from there to the NHL. We don’t expect him to play, but he’s here in case anything else happens.”"
Following that year, he joined the Quad City Mallards of the United Hockey League (UHL) for 23 games in the 1999-2000 season. He had a 3.81 goals-against average and .873 save percentage, with an overall record of 12-7-3.
That same season, he also joined the CHL’s Oklahoma City Blazers, going 4-1 with a 2.20 GAA and .904 save percentage.
He was unsigned by the Buffalo Sabres, and that season was the end of his playing career. He now lives in Saskatchewan and works as an investment advisor. He can be found on Twitter @scottbuhler.
Note: There are some websites out there that say Buhler actually wore #63 during his brief time with the Buffalo Sabres. As the official team media guide says he wore #68, we’ve decided to stick with that. If anyone has photographic proof otherwise, please let us know and we will correct this!
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