Buffalo Boy's Blog

Teppo Numminen did the inevitable today, the 41 year old defenseman officially announced his retiremernt today from the NHL and the Buffalo Sabres.

I remember when the NHL lockout ended everyone predicted these big name free agents and the Sabres need to go after one of them and they came back with 37 year old Teppo. Everyone was kind of puzzled.

Well the Sabres front office had the last laugh, Teppo had two solid seasons with the Sabres from 05/06 to 06/07 and then had open heart surgery and missed the entire 07/08 season all except for one game. I thought it was over for him after that season but he came back one more year and was a shadow of his former self.

His time here in Buffalo was good though but its time for the Sabres to get younger and hopefully tougher. Teppo wasn't a kick your teeth in defenseman he was a finesse guy who played the angles and used his experience and you couldn't help but enjoy watching him during his first two years here during those playoff runs.

He finishes his time here in Buffalo with:

6 goals and 86 assists for 92 points. He was a plus 19 during that span as well.

For his career Teppo finishes with:

117 goals and 520 assists for 637 points as well as being a three time NHL All Star, He plaayed 20 seasons with the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes, Dallas Stars and the Buffalo Sabres.

Dare I say he could be a hall of famer?