By Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page Columnist

Ray Sheppard of the Sabres

Taken in Round 3 in 1984

Other picks in that round: The standout of the group was Canadiens’ goalie Patrick Roy, a third-round choice (No. 51) who is one of the all-time greats. Second to Sheppard in goals among players taken in the round is Michal Pivonka of the Caps, while Jeff Norton, Steven Finn and Trent Yawney also had good-sized careers.

The details: Ray’s hockey career had quite a ride. He started with a 38-goal season with the Sabres. In two years, Buffalo didn’t want him playing on its roster or in Rochester, and the team essentially gave him to the Rangers in the summer of 1990. Ray had a good year in New York, and then went to Detroit where he scored 150 goals in the next four seasons (including 52 in 1993-94). Sheppard bounced to San Jose, Florida and Carolina before finishing his career with 357 goals.

Other 60s: It’s a weak group. Paul White (1962) and Chuck Linning (1961) never played a game for the Bills. Matt Friedman (2010) was a lacrosse standout for Canisius, but never played for the Bandits.

(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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