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 takes us to jersey number 37, which has been worn by seven players in Sabres history, including most recently, Matt Ellis. Today, let’s go back to the late 90’s and early 00’s to take a look at former Sabres left winger Curtis Brown.
Curtis Brown spent the majority of his NHL career with the Sabres after being drafted by Buffalo 43rd overall in 1994.
After being drafted by Buffalo, Brown played most of the next two seasons in the WHL before moving to AHL and NHL full-time. He spent the 1994-95 season with the Moose Jaw Warriors, notching 104 points in 70 games, but also appeared in his first NHL game.
I’m not sure if there’s a statistic out there on how many guys score their first NHL goal in their first NHL game, but Curtis Brown is one of them, as he had a goal and assist in his lone NHL game that year.
The next season would see Brown split between Moose Jaw and Prince Albert, while also playing four games with the Sabres. He’d make a bigger jump to the NHL and AHL the following season, then go on to spend the next seven seasons with the Sabres.
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His best season with the Sabres was the 1999-2000 year, when he racked up 22 goals and 29 assists for 51 points in 74 regular season games. He also had four points in five playoff games.
Brown was with the Sabres organization until March 2004, when he was shipped off to the San Jose Sharks along with Andy Delmore in exchange for Jeff Jillson and a 2005 9th round draft pick that turned into a 7th-rounder, Andrew Orpik.
After his time in Buffalo, Brown spent parts of three seasons with the Sharks, also playing 71 games with the Chicago Blackhawks and 47 games with the San Diego Gulls of the ECHL.
He then moved overseas in the 2008-09 year and spent the next three seasons playing in the Swiss-A league with Kloten and Biel. His last playing season was in 2010-11, when he had eight points and 20 penalty minutes in 29 games with Biel.
Curtis Brown finished his NHL career having played 823 games and racking up 329 points and 456 penalty minutes.
Other players to wear #37 for the Sabres: Matt Ellis, Michael Ryan, Barrie Moore, Lou Franceschetti, Bill Houlder, Shawn Anderson