2009 FNHL Cup Champions

Buffalo Sabres

Led By GM: Jeff Little

         

                            

                          

                           

                           

 

Row 1: Martin Biron

Row 2: Tim Connolly, Simon Gagne, Maxim Afinogenov, Dan McGillis, Brent Seabrook

Row 3: Yared Hagos, Taylor Pyatt, Andrei Kostitsyn, Dmitri Kalinin, Lance Ward

Row 4: Dmitri Pestunov, Jeff Toms, Jordan Tootoo, Paul Martin, Nolan Yonkman

Row 5: Ryan Bayda, Grant Marshall, Vaclav Varada, Mika Noronen

 

Who Are These Guys?

The team picture above shows you everything you need to know. Half of the players on this team are so unknown or undiscovered, they do not even have a professional picture taken. Buffalo over the past few years have put together some solid young players together with some solid older players and built a possible dynasty. The top few offensive talents are Gagne (29 years old), Connolly (28), Pyatt (28), and Afinogenov (30). Every one of those guys should still be very valuable for the next 5-7 seasons. They also even younger guys that are really stepping up like Hagos (23), Seabrook (24), and Kostitsyn (24). The oldest star on this team is goalie Martin Biron at the old age of 32. Luckily for them, they already have Chris Holt developing when need be. Buffalo went the entire season with the GM going AWOL, and still seemed to manage themselves. They finished with the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference with 100 points, which was good for 7th best team in the FNHL this season. I guess after winning the cup, that puts them the best team in the FNHL. The Eastern Conference has been joked about how they are not as good as the Western Conference but I do believe the Eastern Conference has teams with more depth which explains why they have won 5 out of 7 FNHL Cups including 3 straight. Congratulations to the Buffalo Sabres for a season well played and good luck next season in hopes of becoming the first team to win the cup twice.