Floyd Smith hasn't been watching MSG's "Sabres Classics" from his home in Orchard Park. The 84-year-old is more interested in the future than dwelling on the past, though the franchise's 50th anniversary has often taken him on a trip down memory lane.
Smith, however, seemed intrigued when broached with the topic of which team should be crowned the best in Sabres history. He even made a case for 1974-75, the team he guided to the Stanley Cup final.
"I don’t know, really, any team that could come close to it," said Smith, who coached the Sabres' from 1974-77 after being their first captain.
Smith went on to describe how his group of skilled, young forwards, led by Gilbert Perreault, and battering-ram defensemen disrupted the balance of power in the National Hockey League and transformed the Sabres' fan base from niche to rabid.
Now, our readers will have the final say in the debate. Following three rounds of voting, The Buffalo News' bracket of the 16 best teams in Sabres history is down to a final two: Smith's 1974-75 team vs. the Presidents' Trophy winners in 2006-07. The poll requiring your vote is below and we'll announce the winner Sunday, May 17.
During our semifinal round, the 1974-75 Sabres defeated 1998-99 with 79.8% of the vote, while 2006-07 earned 79% of the vote against 1992-93.
While only one of our finalists reached the Stanley Cup final, both finished the regular season with 113 points, the highest total in franchise history. Equipped with the league's second-highest scoring offense, the 1974-75 Sabres won 49 games to capture the Adams Division title and earned the second seed in the playoffs. Thirty-two years later, Lindy Ruff coached the Sabres to a second consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
At least two Sabres teams had a better chance at hoisting the Stanley Cup. In 1998-99, "No goal" spoiled the franchise's second trip to the Stanley Cup Final. With a weaker field in the Western Conference, the 2005-06 Sabres seemed destined to win a championship as long as they could get past the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference finals.
The latter is a popular pick among fans, but one player on both teams agreed with our voters' selection.
"It was a pretty incredible year to be a part of," recalled former Sabres winger Jason Pominville. "If you asked me what year we had the best chance of winning when I was there, I’d say '05-06 because of the way we played in the playoffs, what was going on in the Western Conference and the way it all played out. Unfortunately, we ran into injuries. As far as who the best team was? Without a doubt, in my mind, it was '06-07. We were able to do it for 82 games. ... The team we had, the depth we had, was pretty crazy."
Depth likely played in these teams reaching our championship:
During the 1974-75 season, the French Connection – Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert – combined for 291 points, including 131 goals. Buffalo's checking line – Don Luce, Craig Ramsay and Danny Gare – chipped in 90 goals. Jim Lorentz, Rick Dudley and Peter McNab had 78. The Sabres kept rolling when Perreault and Martin missed time because of injury.
The team's 354 goals remain a franchise record. Six players scored 30 or more goals, a record that has only been matched by the 1977-78 New York Islanders and the 1984-85 Winnipeg Jets. These Sabres were green – including 14 regulars younger than 26 years old – yet they were resolute when facing transcendent talents such as the Bruins' Bobby Orr and the intimidating "Broad Street Bullies."
"The thing about the team we had in '74-75, as far as the forwards, we had pretty big guys," Smith said. "It seemed like when we played the tough teams, we played tough. When we played the offensive teams, we played offensive. But our problem was we’d get ahead and we didn’t finish the job a lot of the times. We’d let them hang around, but that’s a bunch of young kids finding their way. ... We had a bunch of kids who came together. They were a close-knit group who played hard."
Buffalo's defensemen had the skating ability to contribute on offense and the tenacity to frustrate opponents around their own net. Smith joked he had to remind his defensemen that they weren't forwards, as the group possessed an unwavering confidence in their ability on the power play.
Opposing forwards paid a price when trying to battle for a loose puck against Sabres defensemen Jerry Korab, Jocelyn Guevremont, Bill Hajt, Jim Schoenfeld, Larry Carriere and Lee Fogolin. While this team was known for its offense, the Sabres allowed only 10 goals in five games during a first-round series win over Chicago. Buffalo then eliminated the Canadiens, capped by a Game 6 in which the Sabres scored four goals on legendary goaltender Ken Dryden in Montreal Forum.
The run ended in the Cup final, though. The Sabres had more shots and scoring chances, but they were bested by Philadelphia Flyers goalie Bernie Parent, who posted a .924 save percentage in those playoffs. Buffalo was not at full strength in net, either. Roger Crozier was unable to man the net every game because he was dealing with side effects from pancreatitis, forcing Buffalo to use Gerry Desjardins, a late-season addition from the now-defunct World Hockey Association. Desjardins had a .863 save percentage in 15 playoff games.
"I give Bernie Parent all the kudos in the world," Smith said. "He played very well. They were a good team. We had many, many more opportunities to score than they did and Bernie stopped them. Gerry did the best he could for us, but the biggest thing that hurt us was Roger Crozier was about 60 percent. … We were left kind of behind. We had all kinds of chances. When it came down to it, our scorers couldn’t score."
A similar problem might occur if these Sabres faced Ruff's from 2006-07. The blue line was strong again after its conference finals loss to Carolina the previous playoffs and the departure of Jay McKee in free agency. This defense corps included Brian Campbell, Jaroslav Spacek, Dmitri Kalinin, Teppo Numminen, Toni Lydman, Henrik Tallinder and Nathan Paetsch.
Tallinder and Lydman could shut down an opponent's top line. Campbell had 48 points with a plus-35 rating, and he was again outstanding on the power play. Buffalo also benefited from having goalie Ryan Miller, who cleaned up the mistakes of his young forwards. Miller appeared in 63 of 82 regular-season games and posted a .922 save percentage during the playoffs.
"Millsy in net was by far the most dominant goalie I’ve played with," said Pominville. "He was so fun to watch and competed so hard. Obviously our depth on defense, too. We added Spacek. … Our depth was pretty crazy. He was all-out, all the time in practice. He would go down on every shot in practices. You would take a rebound, there would be another shooter coming in, and he would still dive to try to catch your rebound."
The forwards, led by Daniel Briere and Chris Drury, helped the Sabres score a league-leading 298 regular-season goals. Young players blossomed after receiving valuable playoff experience the previous spring. Pominville, who essentially replaced J.P. Dumont, scored 34 goals. Briere and Drury combined for 69, and Thomas Vanek had a career-high 43 during his second NHL season. Buffalo also had Maxim Afinogenov, Jochen Hecht and Ales Kotalik.
A team carefully constructed by Ruff and former General Manager Darcy Regier had the pieces to make a run, despite the Sabres having Tim Connolly for only two regular-season games. This Buffalo team won each of its first 10 games that season and did not lose in regulation for the first month.
However, these Sabres were unable to get past the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference Finals. Injuries weren't the cause this time.
"I think Ottawa was playing better than we were at the time," Pominville said. "We were so in-sync as a team in '05-06 and it was kind of the opposite the year after that. Ottawa was on a mission. They wanted revenge from the year before and for us, really, throughout the whole course of the playoffs it was almost like the fans were waiting for us to get to that point."
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