WHICH SABRES TEAM WAS THE GREATEST?
By George Walters, Sabres History Correspondant
Monday, May 31, 1999

The biggest question swirling around Buffalo these days is what was (or is) the best Buffalo Sabres team of all time? My first response is the 1975 Buffalo Sabres. They played in a much tougher league, where there were a lot less teams and the talent wasn't washed down. That team had more individual stars, with the likes of the French Connection (Gil Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert), Don Luce, Danny Gare, Craig Ramsey, Roger Crozier, Jerry Korab, Jim Schoenfield, and more. They could really light up the goal lamp.

But after much consideration, this present Sabres team seems to get more accomplished with what they have. In other words, this squad has much more team unity and gets ahead with a solid work ethnic and team work. That effort was lacking in the second half of the regular season, but they have come together during the playoffs with vengeance. This team is focused on one goal and one goal only: the Stanley Cup. Right now, they rank right up there with the early 90s Buffalo Bills as being resilient. The Sabres have come back from huge setbacks to win. Not having Miro Satan, their 40-goal scorer for a month, and then losing Dominik Hasek for 2 games was a big hole to crawl out of. But they managed to do so by everyone else picking up the slack. In fact, not having those two in the lineup made this team that much stronger. Now they know they can win without even their stars in the lineup. Everybody is contributing, playing out of character, making the open-ice hits, doing whatever it takes to win.

The 1974-75 Sabres were a more exciting team, but they got there only once and loss then. This team seems on the verge of becoming a possibly dynasty if the Sabres owners can afford to keep this team intact. That is really the big question facing this team in the summer.

As for the old Glory Years (and my alias "Blue & GOLD" is rooted in that era), I will always cherish those memories. But this team is adding a new chapter to my Sabres reminiscences.