Buffalo Sabres Good Season: Alexander Mogilny – 1992-93

Alexander Mogilny had one of the best seasons in Buffalo Sabres history in 1992-93. Let’s flash back to the past and relive his magical year. 

When you think of the greatest forwards in Buffalo Sabres history, the French Connection are most likely the first players who come to mind. There are others, like Pat LaFontaine, Danny Gare, Thomas Vanek, and Dave Andreychuk. But arguably none of them enjoyed quite a season like Alexander Mogilny’s 1992-93 campaign.

Mogilny was one player I unfortunately snubbed on my greatest forwards list, but that does not take away from what he did in 1992-93, where he scored 127 points and a ridiculous 76 goals. The feat earned him second-team All-Star honors in the process and he became one of the greatest forwards in the league that season.

Did a strong 1991-92 season fuel former Buffalo Sabres forward Alexander Mogilny’s 1992-93 run?

In 1991-92, Mogilny scored 84 points, a 20-point increase from his previous outing in 1990-91. We should have seen an improvement coming given the steady increase in production Mogilny enjoyed since his rookie season in 1989-90 when he knocked down 43 points in 65 games.

But no one saw 76 goals in just 77 contests that year, good for 0.987 goals per game. He led the league in goals, along with Teemu Selaane of the Winnipeg Jets. He also led the NHL with 11 game-winning goals in a three-way tie with Adam Oates of the Boston Bruins and Vancouver’s Geoff Courtnall.

Mogilny also paced the league in hat tricks with seven, this time as the undisputed leader with Selaane taking second with five. And finally, his 21.1% shooting percentage was his career best and he would not break the 20% mark again until 2002-03 during his time with none other than the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Mogilny continued to produce at a high level for the Buffalo Sabres, so it’s understandable as to why it irked some that I snubbed him from my list of best forwards and even honorable mentions, but there was going to be an odd man out.

It just happened to be Mogilny, who in 1995-96 enjoyed another highly productive season, this time securing 107 points, 55 goals, and 52 assists. But that year, the 26-year-old Mogilny had since moved on to the Vancouver Canucks, where he remained until 1999-00.

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)