By Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page Columnist

No. 78: March 11, 1999 – The Sabres trade Matthew Barnaby to Pittsburgh for Stu Barnes.

In a perfect world, Matthew Barnaby should have been a Sabre forever. He first arrived here in the 1992-93 season for a brief stop, and came up for good in 1995-96. Barnaby bonded with head coach Ted Nolan, and the winger became a pest that you loved to have on your team. Barnaby peaked in 1996-97, when he had 43 points in 68 games.

But he lost his way a bit once Nolan was gone, and his production dropped off considerably. When the Sabres had the chance to acquire Stu Barnes from Pittsburgh, Barnaby was the price tag. Buffalo paid it, and had no regrets later on.

Barnes was a solid veteran who filled a number of roles and helped the Sabres reach the 1999 NHL Finals. Barnaby turned out to be a survivor, playing 14 years for a total of seven teams. Still, his best work was done here. Barnaby definitely ranks as one of our most memorable sports characters.

(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)

Budd Bailey

Budd Bailey has been involved in almost every aspect of the local sports scene for the last 40 years. He worked for WEBR Radio, the Buffalo Sabres' public relations department and The Buffalo News during that time. In that time he covered virtually every aspect of the area's sports world, from high schools to the Bills and Sabres and everything in between. Along the way, Budd served as a play-by-play announcer for the Bisons, an analyst for the Stallions, and a talk-show host. He won the National Lacrosse League's Tom Borrelli Award as the media personality of the year in 2011, and was a finalist for that same award in 2017. Budd's seventh and eighth books, one on the Transcontinental Railroad and the other about Ichiro Suzuki, are scheduled to be released in the fall.

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