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Buffalo Sabres History: Who Wore It, Number 74

By Melissa Kania

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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 72 – worn by just one player in Buffalo Sabres history: Luke Adam.

Today, we skip on to jersey number 74 – as no player has ever worn #73 – and look at the one player who has worn that jersey number in Buffalo Sabres history: Jay McKee.

All in all, McKee had a 13-season NHL career, split between the Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh Penguins. He spent the majority of his career with the Buffalo Sabres, who drafted the defenseman 14th overall in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft.

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    • The Kingston, ON native was playing with the OHL’s Niagara Falls Thunder at the time of the draft, and joined the Buffalo Sabres for one game in the 1995-1996 season. The next season was spent largely with the Rochester Americans of the AHL, with McKee really making the big jump to the NHL in the 1996-1997 season. He spent 43 games with the Buffalo Sabres that season, notching 10 points and a plus-1.

    McKee continued to flip-flop between Buffalo and Rochester before completely making the jump in 1998-1999. He’d go on to play seven more full seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, through the 2005-2006 season. Then it was time for a new adventure and off to St. Louis, where McKee would spent the next three seasons. He’d wrap up his NHL career in 2009-2010 with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

    McKee’s NHL career culminated with 862 games played. He notched 24 goals and 110 assists in that time. He was a plus-75 and registered 688 penalty minutes in that time. He also registered 651 shots on goal during his NHL career.

    Following his NHL career, McKee took to coaching; first, he acted as an assistant coach with Niagara University’s AHA team in the 2010-11 season. Following that, he was an assistant coach for the AHL’s Rochester Americans. This past season, he was an assistant coach with the OHL’s Erie Otters.

    McKee will now act as an associate coach with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers for the 2015-2016 season.

    Next: Former Sabres Captain Retires

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