Greatest Individual Season in Buffalo History

[Big Turk]

Forgot Pat LaFontaine's 53-95-148 line in the same season as Mogilny's 76 goals that still stands as the franchise record for most points and assists in a season...he was the one assisting on the majority of those goals for Mogilny...just an amazing player to watch. Mogilny is 2nd on that point total list with 127. Hawerchuk is 7th with 98 points and they all came during the same season...must have been one of the best lines in NHL history in terms of single season points(probably can't compare to the 80s Oilers lines, but still).

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Big Turk

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

40 minutes ago, TheBrownBear said:

Travis Henry fathered 11 children during the 2002 season.  Still an NFL record.

/thread.  Internet now closed for the rest of the day. 😁

[Simon]

11 hours ago, Mango said:

98-99 Domink Hasek: Carried a flawed roster 6 games into the Stanley Cup Final. Won his 3rd Vezina with a .935 S% and 1.85 GAA. There’s an argument that 97-98 might be a better individual season, but he carried the entire team to the show. I think Hasek voter fatigue is the only reason he didn’t get the Hart trophy three years in a row. As I write this and think of all the other players that have come and gone, Hasek is likely the greatest athlete in Buffalo pro-sports history. 

 

There was a 3-4 year stretch in there that I am still convinced was the greatest sustained run of otherworldly excellence by any athlete in any sport in the world that I have ever seen in many decades of dedicated sports viewing. The only other person who I would even consider mentioning in the same breath regarding this would be Michael Jordan.

It wasn't just that Hasek was the best of the very best; it's that he was soooooo far beyond what any of his peers were doing that there were times that it became impossible to believe your own eyes. It went far beyond excellence and well into uncharted territory where not only was he doing things that nobody else could do, he was doing things that nobody else had ever considered even trying. It was like he was so good that being the best in the world was boring and he had to come up with other ways to keep himself entertained. "Routine 47-save shutouts are so cliche; I think I'll start redirecting pucks with my head". "Stopping multiple odd man rushes night after night with breakdance maneuvers is getting stale; I'm going to start clearing pucks by throwing them and then batting them out of the air with my stick". And it wasn't just for a week here and there; it was complete insanity and it went on regularly for years. 

I cannot think of any other instance in which the gap between the best player in the world and then the next 10 best players after him was as stunningly large. In such a relatively small market with a limited fanbase, I genuinely felt lucky to be one of the few people in the world that got to see something like that night after night. I'm confident that I will never again see anything like it in this lifetime.

 

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

15 hours ago, Mango said:

Rudy Pikuzinski: Mullets and Mustaches

Stallions coach Luis Dabo's Tuesday night show on WEBR 970 am with Dave Kerner was not to be missed.  Coach Dabo was a hard nosed / old time type of disciplinarian compared to his players.

*
EDIT:  At times I recall Dave Kerner hosting, but I think Budd Bailey also handled the duties occasionally.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Ridgewaycynic2013

[dave mcbride]

13 hours ago, Mango said:

Full offseason mode. What’s the greatest single season by one player in the cities professional sports history.
 

I’ll create a poll if this picks up, but thought I’d get feedback from some people a bit older than me. I certainly came of age for Buffalo Sports in the 90’s.
 

For me it’s easy and not close. Hasek in 99. 

 

98-99 Domink Hasek: Carried a flawed roster 6 games into the Stanley Cup Final. Won his 3rd Vezina with a .935 S% and 1.85 GAA. There’s an argument that 97-98 might be a better individual season, but he carried the entire team to the show. I think Hasek voter fatigue is the only reason he didn’t get the Hart trophy three years in a row. As I write this and think of all the other players that have come and gone, Hasek is likely the greatest athlete in Buffalo pro-sports history. 
 

1990 Bruce Smith: Bills make their first run to the Super Bowl. Bruce records 19 sacks only overshadowed by Derrick Thomas 20. 7th best season of all time all from the 3-4 DE.

 
1991 Thurman Thomas: 1400 rushing yards at 4.9 ypc. Plus 600 yards receiving. NFL MVP and OPOY. 7th best season by a RB at the time. 

92-93 Alexander Mogilny: 76 goals, 51 assists. 127 points. Tied Selanne in Goals. 7th in total points.  5th best season of all time. He is the only player in the top 30 not in the HoF. 

Rudy Pikuzinski: Mullets and Mustaches

I think Bruce had a significantly better season in 1996 than in 1990. He had fewer sacks, but IIRC he set the NFL record at the time for pressures (I think 47) by a wide margin and was a terror vs. the run--much better than in his earlier years. He was utterly unblockable that season. The Bills' defense was better in 1996 than in 1990 too. Note that PFR assigned him an AV of 21 in 1996 and an AV of 17 in 1990. He won defensive player of the year both years. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SmitBr00.htm

 

The Bills as a team had 48 sacks in 1996 and 43 in 1990. Bruce opened more up for more players in 1996.

2 hours ago, Mango said:

OJ deserves to be part of the conversation. But as impressive as that feat was, he didn’t even make the playoffs. Hasek single handily dragged the team 6 games in the Stanley Cup. 
 

Advantage Hasek. 

The Bills made it to the playoffs in 1974: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/1974.htm

Edited February 23, 2023 by dave mcbride

[Rico]

1 hour ago, uticaclub said:

Do you count the Bandits? John Tavares won multiple MVPs and championships. One of his years probably should be up there

If you include the Sabres, you have to include the Bandits.

OJ 2003, nothing else close.

[hondo in seattle]

I'd vote for OJ: both the '75 and '73 seasons were amazing.

But, as an old-timer, I have to dig further back with Tommy Hughitt of Buffalo's original NFL team.  The 1920 and 1921 seasons both stand out.  

 

As player-coach, he led the All-Americans to a 9-1-1 record in 1920.   Tommy played QB on offense, LB on defense, and occasionally punted & kicked FGs.  The team began the season with four consecutive double-digit wins - an NFL record not tied till the Patriots of 2007 - and led the league in scoring by a wide margin.   The team claimed a share of the championship with a win percentage of .844 - same as the Akron Pros.  But the league meeting, led by the Akron owner, declared Akron the champions. 

 

The next year Hughitt led the team to an undefeated season - not including two exhibition games that not all players participated in.  Once again, Buffalo was screwed.  In an infamous miscarriage of justice known as the "Staley Swindle," the league decided to count the exhibition games and awarded the championship to Chicago.

 

Hughitt finished his coaching career with a .694 record which ranks 7th all-time among qualifying NFL coaches.   Twice he had the NFL championship stolen from him in controversial league decisions.  He should be in the HOF for his accomplishments as both a player and coach.   

 

www.profootballresearchers.org/biography/Hughitt_Tommy.pdf

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by hondo in seattle

[Coach55]

Butch Rolle's 87-91 seasons. 9 receptions for 9 consecutive TDs and 21 yards over 5 seasons.  Not sure anyone is beating that.  

[Mango]

31 minutes ago, Utah John said:

The Bills did make the playoffs in 1974.  This was OJ's only playoff game in his career. They lost to the Steelers.  

 

OJ was not on the field when the opponents had the ball, so he wasn't responsible for the defense's struggles.  Hasek was on the ice the entire game so he was in position to dominate, which he did.  You just can't compare them based on the team results.  Hasek was great, no doubt, but I put OJ's 1975 season on top of the list.  

 

Right, but nobody is calling OJ's 74 season the greatest season by an individual in Buffalo sports history. It is either 73 or 75.

[TheyCallMeAndy]

2004 Brian Moorman lol

[Mango]

1 hour ago, Simon said:

 

There was a 3-4 year stretch in there that I am still convinced was the greatest sustained run of otherworldly excellence by any athlete in any sport in the world that I have ever seen in many decades of dedicated sports viewing. The only other person who I would even consider mentioning in the same breath regarding this would be Michael Jordan.

It wasn't just that Hasek was the best of the very best; it's that he was soooooo far beyond what any of his peers were doing that there were times that it became impossible to believe your own eyes. It went far beyond excellence and well into uncharted territory where not only was he doing things that nobody else could do, he was doing things that nobody else had ever considered even trying. It was like he was so good that being the best in the world was boring and he had to come up with other ways to keep himself entertained. "Routine 47-save shutouts are so cliche; I think I'll start redirecting pucks with my head". "Stopping multiple odd man rushes night after night with breakdance maneuvers is getting stale; I'm going to start clearing pucks by throwing them and then batting them out of the air with my stick". And it wasn't just for a week here and there; it was complete insanity and it went on regularly for years. 

I cannot think of any other instance in which the gap between the best player in the world and then the next 10 best players after him was as stunningly large. In such a relatively small market with a limited fanbase, I genuinely felt lucky to be one of the few people in the world that got to see something like that night after night. I'm confident that I will never again see anything like it in this lifetime.

 

 

 

I fully agree. I don't think there is another player in Buffalo sports history that has a permanent bust on the Mount Rushmore of absolute all time best at their position. Bruce is likely the closest, and I think he is still a bit further back from Hasek. 

That 1998-99 team so was incredibly flawed. They simply were not good. 

Hasek on the current team would sky rocket the current Sabres roster to the very top of the standings. 

4 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

Not trying to be snarky but I’m interested to know if you were of age to witness OJs 1973 season. What he did that year was at that time considered to be akin to landing a man on mars. (And again I thought the purpose of this was about a single athlete, not team production or results) 

 

Oh I definitely wasn't. I meant to put in the OG post that I really didn't come of age until in Buffalo sports until the 90's.

[Mango]

2 hours ago, uticaclub said:

Do you count the Bandits? John Tavares won multiple MVPs and championships. One of his years probably should be up there

 

I would love to include the Bandits. They are the most under rated event in town. An absolute blast to attend. But I honestly don't know anything about lacrosse and I don't follow it, so I have zero point of reference other that Tavares is a HoF and he played/coaches for my team. I just like going to the games. drinking beer, and cheering.

If somebody can name a season with any authority where Tavares was actually historically great, I would be happy to include it.

[uticaclub]

47 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

I would love to include the Bandits. They are the most under rated event in town. An absolute blast to attend. But I honestly don't know anything about lacrosse and I don't follow it, so I have zero point of reference other that Tavares is a HoF and he played/coaches for my team. I just like going to the games. drinking beer, and cheering.

If somebody can name a season with any authority where Tavares was actually historically great, I would be happy to include it.

Same boat. Incredibly entertaining and have actually won championships, I just don't know enough and can’t rattle off names and stats like I can with hockey & football.

2 hours ago, Rico said:

If you include the Sabres, you have to include the Bandits.

OJ 2003, nothing else close.

Lax isn't considered a Big 4

[Big Turk]

2 hours ago, Simon said:

 

There was a 3-4 year stretch in there that I am still convinced was the greatest sustained run of otherworldly excellence by any athlete in any sport in the world that I have ever seen in many decades of dedicated sports viewing. The only other person who I would even consider mentioning in the same breath regarding this would be Michael Jordan.

It wasn't just that Hasek was the best of the very best; it's that he was soooooo far beyond what any of his peers were doing that there were times that it became impossible to believe your own eyes. It went far beyond excellence and well into uncharted territory where not only was he doing things that nobody else could do, he was doing things that nobody else had ever considered even trying. It was like he was so good that being the best in the world was boring and he had to come up with other ways to keep himself entertained. "Routine 47-save shutouts are so cliche; I think I'll start redirecting pucks with my head". "Stopping multiple odd man rushes night after night with breakdance maneuvers is getting stale; I'm going to start clearing pucks by throwing them and then batting them out of the air with my stick". And it wasn't just for a week here and there; it was complete insanity and it went on regularly for years. 

I cannot think of any other instance in which the gap between the best player in the world and then the next 10 best players after him was as stunningly large. In such a relatively small market with a limited fanbase, I genuinely felt lucky to be one of the few people in the world that got to see something like that night after night. I'm confident that I will never again see anything like it in this lifetime.

 

 

 

The 81 save perfomance in the playoffs against the Devil's that the Sabres won 1-0 in 4 OTs still might be the best live event I have ever witnessed for excellence. He was on another planet that night. I don't care if New Jersey was shooting 3 pucks, none of them were going in the net.

 

Hasek was so good that he used to regularly get in the heads of his opponents who would sometimes try to make a shot too perfect because they knew they couldn't score otherwise and even when they did, many times he would still stop it anyway. Never saw so many players shake their head as if to say "what do I have to do to score on this guy" than I did with Hasek.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Big Turk

[HOUSE]

In 1985 I got a job and the whole stadium cheered.....

[SoCal Deek]

1 hour ago, Mango said:

 

 

Oh I definitely wasn't. I meant to put in the OG post that I really didn't come of age until in Buffalo sports until the 90's.

No worries. But you really missed out. In the 1973 season opener in Foxboro, OJ took off on the opening series of the game for an 80 yard power pitch/sweep play around the right tackle, and I can still remember looking around and everyone in the room saying “THIS is going to be something really special” …and it truly was. He was literally unstoppable. 

[US Egg]

Hasek was “eerie” good. ‘73 O.J. was a spectacle.

 

Tough to backseat either.

 

The other impressives do not dazzle me as much.

[Rico]

1 hour ago, uticaclub said:

Same boat. Incredibly entertaining and have actually won championships, I just don't know enough and can’t rattle off names and stats like I can with hockey & football.

Lax isn't considered a Big 4

There is only a Big 3 in the USA, all others are far below them.

[K-9]

8 hours ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

I'm not so sure that OJ in 1975 wasn't better than 1973. Had 2243 yards from scrimmage vs 2073 and set the NFL record with 23 TDs vs 12 in '73. He had 1800+ rushing yards and the Bills used him in the passing game a ton more in 1975.

Agree entirely as it was one of the best individual seasons in history to that point. 2243 scrimmage yards was unheard of at the time. I think the 2003 yards in ‘73 gets more notoriety simply due to the sheer historic weight of the feat. 

[Marvin]

13 hours ago, CSBill said:

Bob McAdoo = 1973 NBA Rookie of the year, or the 1975 NBA MVP (34.5 points, 14.1 rebounds. and 2.12 blocks per game, while shooting 51.2% from the field and 80.5% from the free-throw line) . . . . And his reward for that MVP season, they traded him (and Tom McMillen) for a hamburger and some cash to the Knicks--which was the beginning of the end of the Buffalo Braves.

It's worse than you made it.  On one of the games on YouTube, Brent Musberger said that the Braves "have supplanted the Knicks as the Celtics' main rival."  The money was specifically to cover the purchase of the team, yet John Y. Brown started threatening to move the team.

 

Oh, yeah.  I pick Hasek and then McAdoo.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Marvin