kingdok
Registered User
- Jun 8, 2004
- 8,009
- 16
Starting in 1991, Buffalo was stockpiling some of the best offensive weapons in the league in Lafontaine, Mogilny, Hawerchuk, Andreychuk, Audette and some other decent forwards. Only rivals were the Penguins in that department. In 92-93, it became even more impressive when Lafontaine finished 2nd in points (only behind Lemieux) and Mogilny leading the goal scoring leaders with Selanne.
Problem was the lack of a great first pairing at D, and Hasek, while good (rookie allstar team) wasn't the Hasek of the second half of the 90's.
A year later, Hasek started his domination, winning his first Vezina, even with a so-so D corps (solid but no allstars). That's when the offense started to wither, with the Andreychuk trade, the Lafontaine and Mogilny's injuries, the Craig Simpson experiment, the strike, the Mogilny trade. They added Zhitnik at D but with hindsight, it feels too little too late.
The team became D oriented first, with Hasek and Peca leading the charge, to a Stanley cup final in 99, but lost to Dallas (with circumstances we better not point out).
During those years, there was also lots of other good teams, with Pittsburgh in the early 90's and New Jersey, Detroit and Colorado stealing the spotlight later on.
So this is actually a ''what if?'' question. What if the 91-93 Sabres forward squad would have been couples with the 94-2000 Hasek's peak. Can we talk about 2 Stanley Cups? Was the team just off 1 year for the ultimate goal.
Problem was the lack of a great first pairing at D, and Hasek, while good (rookie allstar team) wasn't the Hasek of the second half of the 90's.
A year later, Hasek started his domination, winning his first Vezina, even with a so-so D corps (solid but no allstars). That's when the offense started to wither, with the Andreychuk trade, the Lafontaine and Mogilny's injuries, the Craig Simpson experiment, the strike, the Mogilny trade. They added Zhitnik at D but with hindsight, it feels too little too late.
The team became D oriented first, with Hasek and Peca leading the charge, to a Stanley cup final in 99, but lost to Dallas (with circumstances we better not point out).
During those years, there was also lots of other good teams, with Pittsburgh in the early 90's and New Jersey, Detroit and Colorado stealing the spotlight later on.
So this is actually a ''what if?'' question. What if the 91-93 Sabres forward squad would have been couples with the 94-2000 Hasek's peak. Can we talk about 2 Stanley Cups? Was the team just off 1 year for the ultimate goal.
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