By Budd Bailey
John Tucker of the Sabres
Taken in Round 2 in 1983
The next pick: Yves Heroux is in an odd club. He is in the ranks of those who played exactly one game in the NHL; it came for Quebec in 1986-87. Heroux played through the end of the century, and even spent three summers in Roller Hockey International.
Other picks in that round: The Sabres had two picks in the second round that year; Richard Hajdu (No. 34) didn’t work out. Buffalo eventually had the No. 39 pick, Wayne Presley, who was taken by Chicago. Some veterans who were taken in that round were Claude Lemieux (No. 26 to Montreal), Sergio Momesso (No 27 to Montreal), Frank Musil (no. 38 to Minnesota, and now a Sabre scout), and Peter Zezel (No. 41 to Philadelphia).
The details: There was plenty of excitement among Sabres’ scouts that Tucker slipped to them at No. 32. He had scored 60 goals with 80 assists in 70 games in junior hockey. Tucker rarely displayed that sort of touch in the NHL, but he did have 31 goals in 1985-86 fro Buffalo. John finished his NHL career with four seasons in Tampa Bay through 1997. Eventually he laded in Japan.
Other 31s: Brendan Lemieux never played for the Sabres, as he was dealt to Winnipeg in the Evander Kane swap. Ryan Johnson, a first-round pick by the Sabres in 2019, has arrived here from college yet.
(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)
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