Damn the Sabres were stacked

Djp

Registered User
Jul 28, 2012
23,825
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Alexandria, VA
Loved that team. Weren't they on their 7th and 8th defensemen a few playoffs in a row? Injuries seemed to derail their opportunity for a Cup. Though they would have been in a dogfight with that 07 Ducks team regardless.

they had only 2 of their top 6 Dmen playing in the conference finals.

f their D was closer to normal say 4 or 5 of 6 then they likely win the conference finals and the cup.

What people forget is they had lost player from the team in the 2006 offseason


If Buffalo kept Brierre and Drurary and let Vanek dgo on the OS and got EDM 1sts in 2008-2011 I wonder how history would have changes.
 

1point21Gigawatts

hell's a gigawatt?
Apr 7, 2010
6,805
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The future
He was missed on 06-07 team as was Jay McKee, and JP Dumont

whats also forgottedm was how much Vanek did not play in the playoffs in 05-06
I even forgot about that. He became such a huge part of the team in 06-07, its easy to pull some revisionist history nonsense. :laugh:
 

tsujimoto74

Moderator
May 28, 2012
29,802
21,846
I thought it was an Sabre all-time team (50th anniversary), but I wondered why there were no French Connection or Hasek.
ok so, the hockey card I owned, Lafontaine had that jersey and a similar position, but yeah, it can't be him, who's that ? lol (Doesn't have the Lafontaine's visor)
84013512_670436987033036_943862837602680832_n.jpg

Last night was 2000s night for Buffalo. (They've been celebrating the 50th anniversary season by having special game nights/ceremonies for each decade of existence.) That poster is basically an homage to the co-captains era (Drury and Briere). Well past Patty's time with the team.
 
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Fixxer

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Jul 28, 2016
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Last night was 2000s night for Buffalo. (They've been celebrating the 50th anniversary season by having special game nights/ceremonies for each decade of existence.) That poster is basically an homage to the co-captains era (Drury and Briere). Well past Patty's time with the team.
I'm aware this ain't about the mid 90s. 148 point season Lafontaine.
 

JianYang

Registered User
Sep 29, 2017
17,753
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yeah believe it or not Buffalo was either sixth or seventh (if not fifth so Your right) all time in winning percentage in the nhl regular season all the way up to about 2011ish. No where they would be now. With expansion teams having more success (regular season anyway) and the sabres sucking for a decade but that’s just an amazing fact considering no cup or dynasty or anything like that.

I believe they were ranked 4th up to 2005. The habs were 1st, and I think the flyers were also ahead. I forgot who the other team was ahead of them.
 

Boom Boom Apathy

I am the Professor. Deal with it!
Sep 6, 2006
48,174
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they got injured in 06 and lost to a weaker canes team. Probably would have won the cup

on 07 choked against the sens who were red hot

since then have done nothing at all

I guess "weaker" is a relative term.

05/06 Canes: 112 regular season points, 40 regulation wins,
05/06 Sabres: 110 regular season points, 41 regulation wins,
 
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sincerity0

Registered User
Dec 23, 2016
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I wake up at night thinking about Jay Mckees leg falling off in the middle of the night. That series stings 15 years later.
 

Rhaegar Targaryen

Registered User
Jun 25, 2016
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Sabres had some really, really good teams in that era. Ottawa - Buffalo was fun to watch, each team won a big series from the other one. Drury, Briere, Maxim, Campbell, Miller. The good ol’ days.
 

bobholly39

Registered User
Mar 10, 2013
22,078
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Dude, they weren’t stacked, they were scary good.

Seriously that was one of my favorite post-lockout teams. I wish they had advanced stats for those early years lol.

I remember in the moment, that season, i thought they were absolutely unstoppable. I've rarely felt this way about any hockey team in the past 30 years.

I don't even know why - their roster on paper isn't anything super special. But they just seemed unbeatable that year.
 

nbwingsfan

Registered User
Dec 13, 2009
20,862
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This isn't just some random roster, they were the most historic offense in NHL history and went to Game 7 of the conference finals... yes I expect a hockey fan knowledgeable/passionate enough to post here to be able to know Drury, Briere, Pominville, Stafford, Vanek, Roy, Connolly, Campbell by face or at least jersey number and know Max Afinogenov was #61 on that team (any Rangers fan should know that)

No matter how good a team is, I’m never going to recognize Drew Stafford of all people from a low quality picture like that.
Also, “most historic offense”....??? What??
 

ShelbyZ

Registered User
Apr 8, 2015
3,799
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Is this the best team to not win a Stanley Cup?

02-03 Red Wings probably at least belong in the conversation:

Take the Cup winning 2002 team, make them one year older and:

Swap Hasek for Cujo - probably a downgrade
Drop Olausson (left as UFA), Duchesne (retired) and Fischer (hurt - but supposedly due back at the end of the 1st round) for Schneider, Woolley and Bykov - probably even
Replace Boyd "the void" Devereaux with a rookie Zetterberg - definite upgrade
 

These Are The Days

Oh no! We suck again!!
May 17, 2014
34,124
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Tampa Bay


Let this say everything you ever needed to know about that team. They were the stuff of nightmares that seemingly had a deal with God that any time they had a prayer Drury would answer it. A two headed monster with Birere acting as the other half. If they didn't get you, Roy, Pominville, Afinogenov, Hecht, Connolly or Vanek would. And there was enough magic around those guys for every last one of them all to hit the powerball in consecutive weeks.

It literally took losing almost their entire defense to swing the series to Carolina in 2005, Joe Corvo taking the shot of his life in game 2 of the ECF (which was destined to end the same way game 5 vs the NYR was) and all the bad luck in game 3 vs the Sens you can imagine to get them down 3-0 in the series.


To this day I have never seen another team execute so well under pressure. Them not winning a Cup comes down to "random acts of God" stuff
 

SnuggaRUDE

Registered User
Apr 5, 2013
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I believe they were ranked 4th up to 2005. The habs were 1st, and I think the flyers were also ahead. I forgot who the other team was ahead of them.

Boston and Buffalo were all but tied for 3rd/4th. Montreal was 1st by a mile, and Philadelphia was similarly well ahead but at 2nd.
 

Arpeggio

Registered User
Jul 20, 2006
9,014
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Edmonton
I've learned from this thread that I'm supposed to know what Drew Stafford looks like and OP has a photographic memory. Better than working!
 

NewSNESJersey

Registered User
Feb 29, 2016
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Just a reminder that Buffalo doesn't even get to play against Carolina if Ottawa had a healthy Hasek so stop bringing up injuries as an excuse. Injuries are a part of the sport and Carolina got the Injury God's favor that year. They fully deserved it.
 

JThorne

Stop accepting failure
Jul 21, 2006
4,803
802
Downtown Buffalo
Fair enough, I have a weirdly photographic memory... one of my college buddies' favorite games when they were wasted was to quiz me on obscure 2000's hockey/Rangers trivia.

No such thing. Maybe you mean eidetic memory, but there's no "exact recollection" memory.
 
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Windy River

Registered User
Jan 31, 2013
1,635
665
This isn't just some random roster, they were the most historic offense in NHL history and went to Game 7 of the conference finals... yes I expect a hockey fan knowledgeable/passionate enough to post here to be able to know Drury, Briere, Pominville, Stafford, Vanek, Roy, Connolly, Campbell by face or at least jersey number and know Max Afinogenov was #61 on that team (any Rangers fan should know that)
Ouch. I guess I have to stop posting here :(
 

sabresEH

Registered User
May 17, 2009
3,428
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OH NOW DO YOU BELIEVE, NOW DO YOU BELIEVE

(or am I an elitist for expecting hockey fans to know this reference)

We were 7.7 seconds away from taking them back home with a 3-2 lead and all the momentum in the world. Still hurts to this day. I had nightmares of Jeanneret's "he SCCCOOooooRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrRRRRRrrrrrsssssssssSSSS" with that iconic siren in the background for weeks. That was the first true heartbreak in my sports existence. A sign of things to come.
I remember thinking we were cooked. We hadn’t looked good in that series until Drury tied it up. That flipped the switch for us.
 

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