A late Second Round Pick in 2001, Jason Pominville made the Sabres roster in 2005, where he would rise in the ranks to become one of Buffalo’s top forwards.

In 2015, Jack Eichel became the second freshman to win the Hobey Baker Award as the most outstanding player in college hockey when he was tearing it up at Boston University.  Eichel was projected to go number two in that year’s draft, which he did behind Connor McDavid.

After playing a minor role for the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings, the Buffalo Sabres acquired Don Luce, who found a role with his defensive skills from the Center position.

Since the Soviet Union has not existed for decades, the record for most games played by a Soviet-born Defenseman (1,085) will never be broken.  Alexei Zhitnik is that record holder, and 712 of those games were as a Buffalo Sabre.