Remembering the Sabres' star-studded 1982 and '83 drafts

When the Sabres arrive for the NHL Draft in Montreal on July 7, it will be just the third time in franchise history that Buffalo has three first-round selections.
Buffalo holds its own pick at ninth overall, along with the 16th pick acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights and 28th selection via the Florida Panthers.
It has been nearly 40 years since Buffalo made three first-round picks in a single draft. The two previous occasions occurred in back-to-back years in 1982 and 1983. Both drafts saw key players enter the franchise who made their impacts felt quickly as the Sabres made the playoffs 11 out of the next 15 seasons.
Let's take a trip down memory lane recapping Buffalo's drafts in 1982 and '83.

During the 1981-82 season, Buffalo finished with a 39-26-15 record, sixth-best in the league (out of 21 teams), before losing to the Boston Bruins in the division semifinals. The Sabres held the ninth and 16th selections in the first round - just as they do this year - along with the sixth pick.
Scotty Bowman, Buffalo's head coach and general manager, used those picks to select two future Hall of Famers. The third ended up as part of the trade tree that brought Alexander Mogilny to the organization in 1988.
Bowman's first pick off the board was Phil Housley, a left-handed defenseman from Saint Paul, Minnesota. Housley played eight seasons in Buffalo, earning All-Rookie honors and playing in three All-Star games with the Sabres. His 1,495 games played and 1,232 (338+894) career points were the most by an American-born player at the end of his 23-year career.
Housley was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015.
The late Paul Cyr was selected ninth overall after playing three seasons with the Victoria Cougars in the WHL. Cyr finished his NHL career with 471 games played, 101 goals, and 140 assists. The left winger played six seasons in Buffalo before being traded halfway through the 1987-88 season in exchange for Mike Donnelly and a fifth-round pick.
That fifth-round pick paid off for Bowman's successor, Gerry Meehan, who chose Alexander Mogilny from CSKA Moscow in the Soviet Union. Mogilny went on to have an illustrious NHL career, playing six of his 17 NHL seasons with Buffalo, earning him a spot in the Sabres Hall of Fame in 2011.
Bowman's last first rounder was arguably his best of the 1982 draft, as Buffalo took 2017 Hall-of-Fame inductee Dave Andreychuk 16th overall.
The Hamilton, Ontario native played 12 of his 23 years with the Sabres, netting 368 goals and 436 assists. His 1,639 games played are 7th most all-time. He held the NHL record with 274 power-play goals until Alexander Ovechkin surpassed him this past season.
During the 1982-83 season, Buffalo's record slightly dipped by four points to 38-29-13 even though they had a longer postseason run. Buffalo swept the Montreal Canadiens in the first round before forcing a Game 7 against the Prince of Wales champion Boston Bruins and losing 3-2 in overtime.

Heading into the 1983 season, Buffalo held the fifth pick and consecutive selections at 10 and 11. This draft wasn't as star-studded as it was the year prior for the Sabres, but it was highlighted by goaltender Tom Barrasso joining the franchise.
The first goalie off the board out of Acton-Boxboro high school in Massachusetts had an immediate impact for Buffalo as a rookie, becoming just the third player ever to win the Calder Trophy and the Vezina Trophy in the same season.
Two Hall of Famers and key contributors for the Sabres throughout the '90s were also drafted with Barrasso in 1983 - albeit to other teams. Pat LaFontaine was picked third overall by the New York Islanders and was traded to the Sabres prior to the 1991 season. In his first season in Buffalo, LaFontaine played just 57 games but scored 46 goals and 93 points, ranking 15th in the league.
Later in that draft, the Chicago Blackhawks took a 10th-round flyer on Dominik Hasek, selecting the Czechoslovakian goaltender 199th overall. It would take Hasek over seven years to make his NHL debut in 1990, and he was sent to Buffalo following the Blackhawks' defeat in the Stanley Cup finals in '92.
In his nine seasons with Buffalo, "The Dominator" won the Vezina six times and two Hart Memorial trophies in 1997 and '98. Hasek still holds many franchise records, including most shutouts in a season (13) and lowest goals-against average (1.87). He was inducted Sabres Hall of Fame and Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.