In the month of August, as news in the hockey world slows down, we’ll take a look at the most consequential trades in Buffalo Sabers history (using the Hockey News Archives as source material) and rank the 15 best and 15 worst trades in the club’s 54-year history.
This required input from a trio of veteran members of the media (Dave Reichert, Randy Schultz and Pete Weber) as well as three lifelong Saber fans (Chuck Bender, Todd Riniolo and Joe Schwartz).
11. March 7, 1989 – Buffalo acquires defenseman Grant Ledyard, goalie Clint Malarchuk and a 1991 sixth-round pick (Brian Holzinger) from the Washington Capitals for defenseman Calle Johanson and a 1989 second-round pick (Byron Dafoe ).
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The Sabers were in a battle for playoff positioning in the 1989 Adams Division with the Boston Bruins, who went to the Stanley Cup Final the previous year and eliminated Buffalo in the first round in six games.
The year was turbulent for the Blue and Gold, as team captain Lindy Ruff relinquished the captaincy and was traded to the NY Rangers, former Vezina and Calder Trophy winner Tom Barrasso was traded in November to Pittsburgh for Doug Bodger and Darrin Shannon and his replacement Daren Puppa broke their arms in January and were lost for the season.
Before the trade deadline, GM Gerry Meehan needed to bolster his goaltending with Jacques Cloutier making the majority of starts in Puppa’s absence and pulled the trigger on a deal with Washington to bring goaltender Clint Malarchuk to Buffalo along with veteran defenseman Grant Ledyard for blueliner Calle Johansson and a second-round pick.
Malarchuk, 27, was the Capitals’ primary starter, but they also had Pete Peeters and Don Beaupre in goal. Ledyard, 28, has been with three NHL clubs (NY Rangers, Los Angeles, Washington) since debuting in 1984, while Johansson was a first-round pick of the Sabers in 1985 and had a promising start to his career, scoring 42 points as a rookie in 1988.
Just two weeks after the trade, Malarchuk nearly died when Blues forward Steve Tuttle’s strike severed the goalkeeper’s jugular vein. He miraculously returned to play a game in the playoffs a few weeks later when the Sabers fell again to the Bruins in the first round in five games.
Malarchuk shared duties with Puppa for three more seasons before ending his career in the minors and retiring in 1997.
Ledyard continued his path as a journeyman after more than four seasons with Buffalo, with stints in Dallas, Vancouver, Boston, Ottawa and Tampa before retiring in 2004.
Johansson became a mainstay on the Capitals’ blue line for 15 seasons, scoring 474 points and playing nearly 1,000 games, before being traded to Toronto and ending his career in 2004.
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