Buffalo Sabres
I’m not sure how they’ll do here, but watch out for them in next week’s piece, “guys who went on to actually make the playoffs with other teams.”
Forwards: Alexander Mogilny, Dave Andreychuk, Ryan O’Reilly
Defensemen: Brian Campbell, Richard Smehlik
Goalie: Dominik Hasek
Hoo boy. This might be our best team yet, right?
Hasek is obviously the key. We can argue over whether he’s the greatest goalie of the post-expansion era (he is), but he’s easily the best who qualifies for these rosters. Thank you, Brett Hull’s skate in the crease. And we have a Vezina-winning Tom Barrasso as our backup.
Other than that, we’ve got a 600-goal Hall of Famer in Andreychuk, who finally got his Cup with the 2004 Lightning, plus another guy who absolutely should be in the HHOF in Mogilny (including his 76-goal peak), and O’Reilly’s strong two-way game.
On the blue line, Campbell was a legitimate star, and Smehlik was very good in Buffalo for a long time before sneaking onto the 2003 Devils in his final season. With guys like Uwe Krupp and Miroslav Satan available as depth, I’m calling this the best team we’ve seen so far.
Let’s keep going…
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This is a really good team. But is it good enough to beat Hasek and the Sabres for the title? I don’t think it is. Man, it’s Ray Bourque trying to carry this Boston team without enough talent around him to pull it off. Sounds familiar.
Now it’s over to you. If you’ve got a roster you want to make, a name you think I’ve missed somewhere, or just a thought on which of these teams you’d take over Buffalo, let me know in the comments.
