5 random players you forgot were on the Buffalo Sabres

2. Reed Larson

From his native state — where he ultimately played at every level — to New England, the 1997 U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer logged notable action in almost every top-tier American hockey market east of the Mississippi River.

Except, that is, for the one nuzzling the Niagara River, where he stuck for a single game.

Larson spent nearly a decade with Detroit, turning in 58 points or more for nine consecutive seasons. All eight years he played exclusively in the Motor City yielded All-Star votes. In three of them, the prolific point patroller fetched Norris Trophy votes, finishing among the top 10 candidates twice.

Larson even logged three hat tricks from the Red Wings blue line, achieving one every two winters between 1981 and 1985.

His production rate dipped a tad after the Wings dealt him to Boston ahead of the 1986 deadline. Nevertheless, he finished in the 30-point range in each of two seasons as a Bruin. Ditto a subsequent nomadic 1988-89 ride through the Oilers, Islanders, and North Stars.

But by the turn of the decade, with 13 NHL seasons and 903 games to his credit, Larson had all but burned out. He sustained his skills in the Italy-A league to start the 1989-90 season before the Sabres let him test his homeland’s top circuit again.

The comeback began and ended on March 21, 1990, in a 5-4 win against Calgary. Despite landing a shot on net and retaining a plus-1 rating on the night, Larson never skated another shift for Buffalo or any other NHL team.

Leaving his NHL game count at 904, Larson returned to Italy for two of the next three years, then briefly capped his endeavors in his native Twin Cities with the IHL’s upstart Minnesota Moose.