The Buffalo Sabres will add another banner to the rafters this year, when they raise number 39 and take it out of circulation permanently and officially. For a team that hasn’t quite reached it’s fiftieth birthday, having six numbers in the rafters of the building is quite a lot, and adding a seventh is almost unheard of. I was running down the list of all time Buffalo Sabres this year, and realized – the Buffalo Sabres could make it eight numbers in the rafters, without having to stretch the boundaries and really push the tarnish the the work done by those who have come before. Alexander Mogilny is a key player for the Buffalo Sabres organization, and should have his number 89 forever immortalized alongside other Buffalo Sabres greats.
He only played six seasons with the Buffalo Sabres out of his 17 NHL years. He went on after his time in Buffalo to play a total of 990 NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and New Jersey Devils.
He scored 76 goals in one season for the Buffalo Sabres (1992-1993) a record that still stands today, and will likely stand for the future of the Buffalo Sabres. He was the first to defected from the Soviet Union with the help of the Buffalo Sabres, and when Pat Lafontaine was injured, he became the first European player to wear the captains C in the NHL. He was the first Russian player to be an NHL All-Star.
While Alexander Mogilny had success with other clubs, to include winning a Stanley Cup and hitting over 50 goals in a season, there is no doubt in my mind, that the Buffalo Sabres should roll out the red carpet, and honor Alexander Mogilny by placing the number 89 right alongside number 16 where it belongs, because there were so many games that the two of them played together offering Buffalo Sabres fans much delight. Enjoy some highlights courtesy of Alexander Mogilny before voting in our poll.