Random Nostalgia- thoughts/memories of the ‘98-‘99 roster

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Greetings y’all,

I found myself wondering about random former Sabres the other day, and so here we are. I figure I should start with the squad I first somewhat remember, but that’s when I was 7, so I wasn’t really comprehending much. I’m just wondering- what do you remember of these players? Good, bad, how did/do you think of them?

I just remember Hasek being god, Peca was cool, Barnaby was funny, and they shoulda shot from the point more. I don’t remember Grosek at all, or what Varada did. Was Woolley actually good? Did Dixon Ward actually suck?

Just figure this is a nice distraction from what might be a meh playoff race.

Player	Age	Pos	GP	G	A	PTS ▼	+/-	PIM	EV	PP	SH	GW	EV	PP	SH	S	S%	TOI	ATOI	OPS	DPS	PS
1	Miroslav Šatan	24	LW	81	40	26	66	24	44	24	13	3	6	18	8	0	208	19.2	1686	20:49	6.5	2.6	9.1
2	Michael Peca	24	C	82	27	29	56	7	81	17	10	0	8	19	9	1	199	13.6	1683	20:31	4.1	2.0	6.1
3	Michal Grošek	23	LW	76	20	30	50	21	102	16	4	0	3	22	8	0	140	14.3	1309	17:14	3.8	2.1	5.9
4	Curtis Brown	22	C	78	16	31	47	23	56	10	5	1	3	25	5	1	128	12.5	1365	17:30	2.9	2.3	5.2
5	Dixon Ward	30	RW	78	20	24	44	10	44	17	2	1	4	18	6	0	101	19.8	1231	15:47	3.3	1.6	5.0
6	Jason Woolley	29	D	80	10	33	43	16	62	6	4	0	2	17	16	0	154	6.5	1497	18:43	4.0	4.2	8.2
7	Brian Holzinger	26	C	81	17	17	34	2	45	12	5	0	2	11	5	1	143	11.9	1337	16:31	1.7	1.4	3.1
8	Alexei Zhitnik	26	D	81	7	26	33	-6	96	3	3	1	2	13	13	0	185	3.8	2077	25:39	2.0	3.6	5.7
9	Václav Varaďa	22	RW	72	7	24	31	11	61	6	1	0	1	21	3	0	123	5.7	1044	14:30	1.2	1.5	2.6
10	Geoff Sanderson	26	LW	75	12	18	30	8	22	11	1	0	1	13	5	0	155	7.7	969	12:55	1.8	1.3	3.1
11	Matthew Barnaby	25	RW	44	4	14	18	-2	143	4	0	0	3	9	5	0	52	7.7	613	13:56	0.6	0.5	1.2
12	Derek Plante	28	C	41	4	11	15	3	12	4	0	0	0	8	2	1	66	6.1	636	15:31	0.3	0.8	1.0
13	Darryl Shannon	30	D	71	3	12	15	28	52	2	1	0	0	10	2	0	80	3.8	1412	19:54	0.4	5.0	5.4
14	Richard Šmehlík	29	D	72	3	11	14	-9	44	3	0	0	0	10	1	0	61	4.9	1572	21:50	0.2	2.4	2.6
15	Wayne Primeau	22	C	67	5	8	13	-6	38	5	0	0	0	7	1	0	55	9.1	691	10:19	0.0	0.5	0.5
16	Erik Rasmussen	21	C	42	3	7	10	6	37	3	0	0	0	7	0	0	40	7.5	519	12:22	0.0	0.8	0.7
17	James Patrick	35	D	45	1	7	8	12	16	1	0	0	0	7	0	0	31	3.2	664	14:45	0.3	2.2	2.5
18	Jay McKee	21	D	72	0	6	6	20	75	0	0	0	0	5	0	1	57	0.0	1474	20:28	-0.9	4.5	3.6
19	Randy Cunneyworth	37	LW	14	2	2	4	1	0	2	0	0	1	2	0	0	12	16.7	126	8:58	0.3	0.2	0.5
20	Stu Barnes	28	C	17	0	4	4	1	10	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	25	0.0	312	18:20	-0.4	0.4	-0.1
21	Rob Ray	30	RW	76	0	4	4	-2	261	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	23	0.0	394	5:11	-0.6	0.3	-0.3
22	Paul Kruse	28	LW	43	3	0	3	0	114	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	33	9.1	275	6:24	-0.1	0.3	0.2
23	Mike Wilson	23	D	30	1	2	3	10	47	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	40	2.5	500	16:40	-0.1	1.8	1.7
24	Joé Juneau	31	C	9	1	1	2	-1	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	8	12.5	155	17:11	-0.1	0.1	0.0
25	Rhett Warrener	23	D	13	1	0	1	3	20	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	9.1	237	18:13	0.0	0.7	0.7
26	Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre	21	D	16	0	1	1	0	17	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	11	0.0	218	13:36	-0.1	0.4	0.3
27	Martin Biron	21	G	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0				0		281	46:47	0.0	0.0	0.8
28	Dominik Hašek*	34	G	64	0	0	0	0	14	0	0	0	0				0		3817	59:38	0.0	0.0	16.8
29	Jason Holland	22	D	3	0	0	0	-1	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.0	33	10:58	0.0	0.0	0.0
30	Mike Hurlbut	32	D	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.0	18	17:53	0.0	0.2	0.2
31	Rumun Ndur	23	D	8	0	0	0	1	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.0	88	10:58	-0.1	0.3	0.2
32	Domenic Pittis	24	C	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.0	26	8:35	-0.1	0.0	0.0
33	Dwayne Roloson	29	G	18	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0				0		911	50:36	0.0	0.0	2.7
34	Cory Sarich	20	D	4	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.0	53	13:11	-0.1	0.3	0.3
35	Dean Sylvester	26	RW	1	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.0	15	14:31	0.0	0.0	-0.1

Click to read more...

 

[WiHockeyGuy]

May not be quite on topic for your thread but...

I got to see Dom Pittis play with the Admirals in the early 00's and he was an absolute monster at the AHL level. I went to go see the Ads play the Amerks (Ryan Miller in net, Pominville, Gaustad etc on the roster) and I was relieved every time Pittis was off the ice. He was just tearing the Amerks up.

 

[5 Minute Major]

They had a lot of very good role players. It was an actual team from top to bottom. No doubt Hasek led that group but the Sabres had a playoff quality roster from top to bottom.

 

[thewookie1]

Your column headers are off by 1.

 

[Zman5778]

Greetings y’all,

I found myself wondering about random former Sabres the other day, and so here we are. I figure I should start with the squad I first somewhat remember, but that’s when I was 7, so I wasn’t really comprehending much. I’m just wondering- what do you remember of these players? Good, bad, how did/do you think of them?

I just remember Hasek being god, Peca was cool, Barnaby was funny, and they shoulda shot from the point more. I don’t remember Grosek at all, or what Varada did. Was Woolley actually good? Did Dixon Ward actually suck?

Grosek was an enigma. He would have a period here and there or a game here and there where he actually use his big body and just dominate a game......and then be utterly invisible the rest of the time.

Jason Woolley was fine. He was a good enough PP QB who wasn't awful defensively most of the time, but wasn't really good defensively either.

Dixon Ward was the first in a long line of Sabres (in that timeframe) who was really solid defensively but limited offensively (at least in the NHL).

Vaclav Varada? Brad Marchand without the offense. A whirling dervish who had a mission to hit everything in sight, sometimes questionably. An absolute dink and a guy that teams despised playing against. Rode shotgun with Peca a lot of the time and formed an absolute lockdown duo. Hands of concrete. He's the 4th liner that our current team needs right now.

 

[LetsGoBuffalo1126]

Dixon Ward was my dad's favorite player. Just an absolute plugger with some nice hands. Very few players outworked him. I think he's a farmer in Saskatchewan now, which fits his play style.

Stu Barnes is actually the guy I named myself after during my radio career. The PD at the time wouldn't let me keep my last name for on the air, so I just looked at the Sabres' roster and picked the last name that fit my first name. Friends of mine still call me Barnesy.

I was so sad to see Derek Plante go; that OT winner in '97 against the Senators in Game 7 was one of my fondest Sabres' moments of all-time. I picked 26 as my hockey number because of that goal.

Another guy I absolutely loved from those teams was Curtis Brown. He had a knack for the big goal and even though he wasn't an offensive superstar by any measure, he always flashed in the big moments.

I loved that team because they were the polar-opposite of this team. All of the grit, grind, and "play for each other" you could eat, all the while being a little short on talent. (Minus Hasek, of course)

 

[KeyserSoze81]

Easily my favorite Sabres team of all time. I was ~15 at the time, so this is all through a teenage die hard lens. This was peak clutch and grab era hockey, which I weirdly learned to enjoy. Peca was a two way warrior who fought hard above his weight class, and that Varada-Peca-Ward line was fantastic at shutting down opposition and grinding out shifts cycling along the boards. Varada was a beast, just really solidly built and physical/borderline dirty. Ward was unremarkable but worked well with the other two.

The trade deadline was the catalyst for that Stanley Cup Finals run - Barnaby for Barnes was a great move, as was Wilson for Warrener.

Grosek was an enigma. He had a lot of variance to his game, and was often in Lindy's doghouse. He provided some secondary offense, but would be stapled to the bench often.

The defense was my absolute favorite:

Zhitnik-Smehlik: Zhitnik was relatively smooth skating and had a helluva shot that never hit the net. He had a knack for hip checks. Smehlik was an underappreciated defensive specialist who was quietly efficient, but heavily criticized for not being physical.

McKee-Warrener: We all know Jay McKee, but my god, Rhett Warrener had an edge to his game. He was acquired at the deadline from Florida (for Mike Wilson, who was universally despised in my circles) and meshed perfectly with that team. Blocking shots, some dirty stick work throughout the playoffs...

James Patrick was a really solid two way vet. I will forever remember his crossbar hit in OT1 of Game 6. Jason Wooley was a PP specialist back when that was a thing.

 

[Beerz]

Varada was my absolute favorite

 

[dortt]

Shit but hard working team. Dom dominated.

Put dom behind our team it is a guaranteed cup

 

[WiHockeyGuy]

Dixon Ward was my dad's favorite player. Just an absolute plugger with some nice hands. Very few players outworked him. I think he's a farmer in Saskatchewan now, which fits his play style.

Stu Barnes is actually the guy I named myself after during my radio career. The PD at the time wouldn't let me keep my last name for on the air, so I just looked at the Sabres' roster and picked the last name that fit my first name. Friends of mine still call me Barnesy.

I was so sad to see Derek Plante go; that OT winner in '97 against the Senators in Game 7 was one of my fondest Sabres' moments of all-time. I picked 26 as my hockey number because of that goal.

Another guy I absolutely loved from those teams was Curtis Brown. He had a knack for the big goal and even though he wasn't an offensive superstar by any measure, he always flashed in the big moments.

I loved that team because they were the polar-opposite of this team. All of the grit, grind, and "play for each other" you could eat, all the while being a little short on talent. (Minus Hasek, of course)

CuBro was a beauty. Him and Satan later on had some real nice chemistry. I remember a bank pass from Brown to Satan in the '01 playoffs that was a thing of beauty.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

I was at Hasek's last game for Buffalo, the playoff tilt against the Pens that saw Darius Kaspiritis score on a weak dump in overtime. That shit sucked.

The top line of Peca Ward Varada was super fun to watch because of their effort. Peca didn't even ease up slapping a tuna can. I was at a game wh where the officiating was so bad that after the first period, Ward went to the ref while other players left for intermission. It was clearly heated, and Ward put his hands together and mimed diving into a pool. That got a good laugh from the crowd, but it was accurate.

CuBro was Peca without the thunderous open ice checks. He finished in the top 5 for selke voting one year, where I think Peca was a finalist. Very committed forwards when it came to team defense.

I met Miro outside of a movie theater once. Had him sign a page in a memo pad I had in my pocket. Seemed content to tolerate a nervous high school kid, which I always appreciated.

Not in 98/99, but I believe 2002, I was at a game against Vancouver where Wooley got into a fight behind the net. That was shocking to see, but clearly he was tired of the sneaky slashes.

Sanderson just didn't mesh in Buffalo. He was fantastic in Hartford, and acquitted himself well in Columbus afterwards, but in Buffalo he was just a fly down the flank and launch a slapper kinda guy.

Z and Smehlik were a solid pairing. When Z was drafted, he was known as the Russian Bobby Orr. Hardly, but he was decent, and threw great hip checks. Couldn't hit the net with a boulder, though.

McKee and Warrener were just next level shutdown d-men. The story goes that the Avs called about McKee once, and Darcy said the price to acquire would be Joe Sakic. Definitely not an equal trade, but it shows how much the team relied on Jay. Warrener has a reputation as a great LR guy with quick wit, able to keep all the boys loose between periods with a joke.

The thing I remember most other than Dom and Peca and Miro's empty netters - no one worked harder for an ENG than Miro - was the team's speed and tenacity. They were known as the hardest working team in hockey, to the point where plastic hard hats were put on all the seats in the arena at least once to acknowledge it.

 

[KeyserSoze81]

CuBro was Peca without the thunderous open ice checks. He finished in the top 5 for selke voting one year, where I think Peca was a finalist. Very committed forwards when it came to team defense.

I forgot about the Selke thing. CuBro was just a fantastic middle six center. He could slot in just about anywhere without showing many deficiencies.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Loved Peca's game. He'd be a monster today as well, kind of a all ages type of player.

Having Brown was like having 2 shutdown centers. Great player.

I really wanted Regier to trade for Cassels at the deadline. He's the only guy that could get Sanderson going.

It's too bad Groske got hurt in game 1 of the finals.

We'd die to have a shutdown type D like Smehlik right now. McKee as well but that goes without saying.

 

[BB79]

Yup remember Sanderson more from his days as a Whaler than Sabre though. Good faceoff guy and great speed. One of my favorite Whalers in the 90s. Forgot Joe Juneau was on that team. Remember him from his days as a Bruin in the earlier 90s. He had some good years there.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Dixon Ward was my dad's favorite player. Just an absolute plugger with some nice hands. Very few players outworked him. I think he's a farmer in Saskatchewan now, which fits his play style.

Stu Barnes is actually the guy I named myself after during my radio career. The PD at the time wouldn't let me keep my last name for on the air, so I just looked at the Sabres' roster and picked the last name that fit my first name. Friends of mine still call me Barnesy.

I was so sad to see Derek Plante go; that OT winner in '97 against the Senators in Game 7 was one of my fondest Sabres' moments of all-time. I picked 26 as my hockey number because of that goal.

Another guy I absolutely loved from those teams was Curtis Brown. He had a knack for the big goal and even though he wasn't an offensive superstar by any measure, he always flashed in the big moments.

I loved that team because they were the polar-opposite of this team. All of the grit, grind, and "play for each other" you could eat, all the while being a little short on talent. (Minus Hasek, of course)

Ward is the VP of Okanagan Hockey Academy

 

[OkimLom]

Nice writeup about that team:

Flashback: Roster Analysis 1998-99 | Buffalo Hockey Central

buffalohockeycentral.com

 

[TehDoak]

That was a team with two fourth lines, a 3rd line, and a 2nd line and 3 second pairs....and the best goalie to ever play the game.

Ward is the VP of Okanagan Hockey Academy

He's in line to be our next GM, evidently, based on previous hires.

At least with Dixon we'd know he's listening.

 

[Chainshot]

Ward-Peca-Varada had a stretch of games where they didn't get scored on at even strength. I want to say it was in the 40's for number of straight games. Defensively they were excellent.

Brown was someone Muckler said had the best hands of any player he'd ever coached... which made a lot of us wonder considering Mucks was co-coach of the Oilers.

Woolley was a good discount PP point man but it was him being neutralized in the Finals that put an end to their timely PP scoring and sealed their fate.

One thing about that team was how many of them were excellent skaters. Holzinger was excellent, one of the best collegiate skaters I've ever seen. There wasn't a lot of plodding, even if they weren't very gifted offensively.

 

[SwordsgoneWild]

Varada was my absolute favorite

One of our very best agitators. Also a key component of one of our best ( if not the best ) shutdown lines of all time. Man, did he drive opposing players nuts lol.

 

[dortt]

I was at Hasek's last game for Buffalo, the playoff tilt against the Pens that saw Darius Kaspiritis score on a weak dump in overtime. That shit sucked.

The top line of Peca Ward Varada was super fun to watch because of their effort. Peca didn't even ease up slapping a tuna can. I was at a game wh where the officiating was so bad that after the first period, Ward went to the ref while other players left for intermission. It was clearly heated, and Ward put his hands together and mimed diving into a pool. That got a good laugh from the crowd, but it was accurate.

CuBro was Peca without the thunderous open ice checks. He finished in the top 5 for selke voting one year, where I think Peca was a finalist. Very committed forwards when it came to team defense.

I met Miro outside of a movie theater once. Had him sign a page in a memo pad I had in my pocket. Seemed content to tolerate a nervous high school kid, which I always appreciated.

Not in 98/99, but I believe 2002, I was at a game against Vancouver where Wooley got into a fight behind the net. That was shocking to see, but clearly he was tired of the sneaky slashes.

Sanderson just didn't mesh in Buffalo. He was fantastic in Hartford, and acquitted himself well in Columbus afterwards, but in Buffalo he was just a fly down the flank and launch a slapper kinda guy.

Z and Smehlik were a solid pairing. When Z was drafted, he was known as the Russian Bobby Orr. Hardly, but he was decent, and threw great hip checks. Couldn't hit the net with a boulder, though.

McKee and Warrener were just next level shutdown d-men. The story goes that the Avs called about McKee once, and Darcy said the price to acquire would be Joe Sakic. Definitely not an equal trade, but it shows how much the team relied on Jay. Warrener has a reputation as a great LR guy with quick wit, able to keep all the boys loose between periods with a joke.

The thing I remember most other than Dom and Peca and Miro's empty netters - no one worked harder for an ENG than Miro - was the team's speed and tenacity. They were known as the hardest working team in hockey, to the point where plastic hard hats were put on all the seats in the arena at least once to acknowledge it.

It wasn't a weak dump. It was an odd man rush that Gilmour absolutely quit on. Perfect shot

Loved Peca's game. He'd be a monster today as well, kind of a all ages type of player.

Having Brown was like having 2 shutdown centers. Great player.

I really wanted Regier to trade for Cassels at the deadline. He's the only guy that could get Sanderson going.

It's too bad Groske got hurt in game 1 of the finals.

We'd die to have a shutdown type D like Smehlik right now. McKee as well but that goes without saying.

Peca would be suspended more than Tom Wilson or Raffi Torres today

 

[TheMistyStranger]

It wasn't a weak dump. It was an odd man rush that Gilmour absolutely quit on. Perfect shot

Honestly never saw it aside from live in person. From my angle, it looked more like he was dumping it to the corner.

 

[Chainshot]

It wasn't a weak dump. It was an odd man rush that Gilmour absolutely quit on. Perfect shot


Peca would be suspended more than Tom Wilson or Raffi Torres today

That goal was not Dom's finest hour. It was weak by his standards.

 

[dortt]

That goal was not Dom's finest hour. It was weak by his standards.

was weak for Dom, not not a soft goal by any means. Dom just set the standard high.

Gilmour was a lazy bitch on that play, however

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

On warm spring nights in south buffalo legends tell you can still faintly hear people yelling at Smehlik to hit someone (or shoot on the power play)

 

[Chainshot]

On warm spring nights in south buffalo legends tell you can still faintly hear people yelling at Smehlik to hit someone (or shoot on the power play)

Hajt too.