Buffalo Sabres History: Top 30 Players in Franchise History

Jan 13, 2015; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres former goalie Dominik Hasek gets his number retired at a ceremony before a game against the Detroit Red Wings at First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

When you think about the Buffalo Sabres historically, which players come to mind? Go ahead, make a list. Surely there’s names like Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin, Rene Robert, Dominik Hasek, even Ryan Miller…. what if you had to pick some of the top 30 players in franchise history?

Well, that’s what I set out to do. It turns out it’s a little harder than you think. After all, how can you possibly rank a highly-touted netminder like Dominik Hasek against forwards like Perreault? How can you quantify things like points, goals, and assists against stats like goals-against average and save percentage? How can you throw defensemen into that mix and quantify their contributions throughout history?

Like I said – it’s not as easy as it might sound. So I made my list and it turned out to have about 50 names on it. I tried my best to narrow it to just 30: my goal for this slideshow, being sure to include some players of each position. And rather than ranking them against each other intra-position, I kept the positions separate, and the “numerical” rankings really don’t mean a lot in the wider context of things.

But without any further ado, here’s my list of what I consider to be some of the top 30 players in Buffalo Sabres franchise history.

Next: 1. The Original Sabre