In honor of December 12, 2012 – 12-12-12 as everyone’s calling it today – we present the Buffalo Sabres’ No. 12 list, the 18 distinguished men who have worn the number in franchise history.
Who do you think is the greatest?
Here’s a note on each:
Skip Krake, 1970-71: First No. 12 scored four goals for the inaugural Sabres.
Mike Byers, 1971-72: Second No. 12 tallied nine goals during the team’s second season.
Larry Mickey, 1971-75: Played parts of four seasons with the club, including 23 during the 1974-75 Stanley Cup final season. Also wore No. 21.
Gary McAdam, 1975-79, 1982-83: Played for eight NHL teams, including two Sabres stints. Also wore Nos. 15 and 32.
Andre Savard, 1976-83: Arguably the Sabres’ greatest No. 12, ranking first in games (467), goals (130) and points (305).
Sean McKenna, 1981-86: Quietly had consecutive 20-goal seasons. Also wore Nos. 19 and 23.
Jody Gage, 1985-86, 1987-88, 1991-92: AHL legend who earned sporadic recalls. Also wore Nos. 14 and 33.
Ken Priestlay, 1986-90: Played 117 games while tearing up the AHL. Also wore No. 56.
Rick Vaive, 1988-92: Scoring star wore No. 12 briefly before switching to No. 22 when the Sabres traded captain Lindy Ruff.
Scott Metcalfe, 1987-90: Edmonton first-round bust played 17 games. Also wore Nos. 32 and 34.
Greg Paslawski, 1990-91: Played 12 (coincidence?) of his 650 NHL games with the Sabres.
Peter Ciavaglia, 1991-93: Buffalo native and AHL/IHL star played five games.
Bob Errey, 1992-93: Played 12 total (eight regular season, four playoff). Fresh off two straight Cup wins, Pittsburgh dished him for Mike Ramsey.
Peter Ambroziak, 1994-95: Played all 12 of his NHL games (again, coincidence?) during lockout-shortened season.
Randy Burridge, 1995-98: Fort Erie, Ont., native scored 25 goals in 1995-96 following training camp tryout.
Domenic Pittis, 1998-00, 2003-04: AHL star played 14 games during two stints. Also wore Nos. 28, 38 and 83.
Ales Kotalik, 2001-09: With 114 goals and 240 points in 426 games, probably ranks second behind Savard on the list. Also wore No. 20.
Mark Mancari, 2006-07, 2008-11: Another AHL star with some frequent recalls. Switched from No. 25 when Mike Grier returned.
UPDATE: Our very informal poll found that Ales Kotalik, despite having 16 fewer goals and 65 fewer points than Andre Savard, is the “greatest” No. 12 in Sabres history.
Not the prettiest of lists, but i think Andre Savard wins this in a landslide.
Vaive. He’s the only one worth mentioning in a group of good, but not great, players
Scotty Metcalfe is a Richester American Hall of Famer and was an AHL All-Star.
Scotty Metcalfe was an AHL All-star who is in the Rochester Americans Hall of Fame. He was a key contributor on our 1996 Calder Cup team.
Funny you didn’t find anything positive to say about him but you did for….Mark Mancari?
I know Scott Metcalfe was a big contributor to some great Amerks teams. But this list was about the Sabres.