The Buffalo Sabres are trying to build something real again, and that makes old draft mistakes sting a little harder. With a youth movement driving the franchise and the team coming off its first playoff appearance in 15 years, the Sabres are looking for a legitimate contention window.
That kind of optimism also invites a look back at one of the biggest “what if?” moments in team history: the 1986 NHL Draft and the Shawn Anderson pick.
Anderson entered that draft as the top defensive prospect. He had the kind of size and mobility scouts loved, and he backed it up with 23 goals and 65 points in 42 games for the Lac St-Louis Lions of the QMAAA.
He also turned in a solid season at the University of Maine. The questions centered on whether his offense would carry over to the next level, but the overall view was clear enough: he looked like a top-four defenseman who could support Mike Ramsey and Phil Housley and help fill a major need.
What Buffalo got was a player who was, in the simplest terms, fine.
Anderson jumped straight into the NHL as an 18-year-old in the 1986-87 season and stayed with the Sabres through 1989-90. He was a steady defender, never really a disaster, never really a difference-maker either.
That kind of profile would have been acceptable for a later pick. For the fifth overall selection, it was a major disappointment.
In 113 games with Buffalo, Anderson produced six goals and 32 points with a plus-five rating. By 1995, he was out of the NHL entirely.
The real pain comes from who was still available.
Just three picks later, the New York Rangers selected Brian Leetch, another defenseman. Leetch went on to put together a career that speaks for itself: 1,205 games, 1,028 points, two Norris Trophies as the league’s best defenseman, and the 1994 Conn Smythe Trophy. Buffalo ended up with a player who barely reached 100 games for the franchise while passing on one of the greatest American-born defensemen ever.
That miss looms even larger when you look at the Sabres’ roster at the time. Gilbert Perreault was in the later years of his era but still effective, and the team also had Dave Andreychuck, Mike Foligno, Paul Cyr, John Tucker, Housley, and Ramsey in place.
Leetch would have fit right into that group and likely pushed the Sabres into a much stronger position. A Stanley Cup run would not have been guaranteed, especially with the Edmonton Oilers rolling the way they were, but a trip to the Final was well within reach.
Instead, the 1986 draft became one of the most painful misses in Sabres history. And for a franchise once again trying to use the draft to stretch its contention window, it’s a reminder that the future can turn on one pick.
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