Buffalo Boy's Blog

Yesterday I was listening to Bulldog on WGR 550 and he was talking about putting Dominik Hasek's jersey up in the rafters at HSBC Arena and I completely agree. What I didn't agree with was the Dominator being though of as one of our top two pro atheletes in Buffalo history. The other brought up was OJ Simpson which may be considered but I have a major disagreement with both of them being top two.

Here is my top 5 pro athletes in Buffalo Sports:

1. Gilbert Perreault: He played from 1970 to 1987 in a Buffalo Sabre jersey, number 11 and leader of the French Connection and never played anywhere else while he was in the NHL, He is ranked first all time in goals, assists and points as a Buffalo Sabre and all time in NHL history ranks 37th in goals, 25th in assists and 31st in points. His totals were 512 goals, 814 assists for a total of 1326 points. No Sabre current or past has bettered those numbers in a Sabre uniform and I'm tempted to say that in the era of free agency no one ever will. Gilbert Perreault "The Tap Dancer for the Buffalo Sabres"

2. Bruce Smith: How easy is this pick? Bruce was the most gifted athlete the Bills have ever seen and to me that includes OJ. When Bruce was here wearing a Buffalo uniform he was the most dominating force on the Super Bowl defenses and you'd be hard pressed to say that they go to four Super Bowls without Bruce. He had 171 sacks in Buffalo, a stat that may never be broken. He made the defense around him better just by being there.

3. Dominik Hasek: He had a slinky for a spine. The Sabre teams of the 1990s were average teams with the greatest goalie in the world. Nothing sums up Hasek better than RJ:

4. Jim Kelly: Before Jim Kelly set foot in Buffalo they were a 2-14 mess, Kelly brought leadership to a team that desparately needed a leader and he would start as a Bill and retire a Bill and to this day we are still looking for his replacement as the franchise quarterback. Watch Kelly pick apart the Dolphins in the last two minutes with no timeouts.

5. Pat LaFontaine and Alexander Mogilny; They weren't together here very long and had injury problems but when they was here and was healthy they may have been the best players the Sabres ever saw. They had instant chemistry especially in the Mogilny 76 goal season that is and will probably always be a franchise record.