The Buffalo Sabres have seen some unforgettable moments in their 50-plus year history. So which ones landed in the top five? Keep reading to find out.
If you followed the Buffalo Sabres since their inception or if you are a dedicated Sabres historian, you probably heard about all their greatest moments. But five of them have stood out more than others.
Fans will always remember March 10th, 2022, when Alex Tuch stole the puck from Jack Eichel and sunk an empty-netter; an in-your-face exclamation point toward the Vegas Golden Knights, who traded the winger for Eichel earlier that season. But the following moments go far beyond what happened on the tenth, in which goaltender Craig Anderson also recorded his 300th win.
You could write a book on every great moment in team history before most likely writing a second one when you find out that you overlooked several more. That said, it wasn’t easy to pick out five of them. But in the end, we got there. And the #5 moment was actually one of the first in franchise history.
The top five moments in Buffalo Sabres history: Moment #5 – Winning the first overall pick of the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft, June 11th, 1970
Easily one of the top moments in Buffalo Sabres history, the hard-luck franchise struck gold, as 1970 was the first year where the top prospects were open for any of the then-14 NHL teams to draft. In the past, such players held affiliations with a franchise and ended up playing for them. And Gilbert Perreault was the projected top selection.
Since the Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks were starting play, they held the top two picks. But the NHL could only award the top selection to one team. This required a roulette wheel featuring numbers two through 12. Vancouver had numbers two through six, and the Sabres had eight through 12. Seven was neutral.
When NHL President Clarence Campbell spun the wheel, he erroneously awarded the Canucks the first pick, claiming it landed on the number one. However, since there is no number one, Punch Imlach, then the coach and general manager of the Sabres, contested the result and told Campbell to recheck the wheel, which landed on #11.
This, in turn, became the first of many victories for the Sabres in the 1970s, as they used the selection on Perreault. Just a few short years later, Perreault teamed with Rick Martin and Rene Robert to form the legendary French Connection.
Article Source: NHL Draft Stories: The Wheel by Connor Lapalme