Buffalo Sabres
Canada: Gilbert Perreault, C (1970-87, 1,191 games, 1,326 points)
USA: Ryan Miller, G (2002-14, 540 games, .916 save percentage)
Finland: Christian Ruuttu, C (1986-94, 438 games, 331 points)
Sweden: Henrik Tallinder, D (2001-10; 2013-14, 532 games, 116 points)
Germany: Uwe Krupp, D (1986-91, 327 games, 103 points)
Slovakia: Miroslav Satan, RW (1996-2004, 578 games, 456 points)
Czech Republic: Dominik Hasek, G (1992-2001, 491 games, .926 save percentage)
Russia: Alexander Mogilny, RW (1989-95, 381 games, 444 points)
Best of the rest of the world (Austria): Thomas Vanek (2005-14, 598 games, 497 points)
Obviously, there are some slam dunks here: Hasek, Mogilny, Vanek, Satan. But there's a debate to be had about the U.S. representative.
Phil Housley is a worthy choice, as a Hall of Fame defenseman with 558 points in 608 games. But how you quantify the flashes of brilliance in
Pat LaFontaine (385 points in 268 games) and
Jack Eichel (337 points in 354 games)? Against those two, we gave the nod to body of work for Housley.
But then you have another level to this debate: Ryan Miller. He played 540 games in Buffalo and won 284 of them, with a .916 save percentage. Plus he captured a Vezina Trophy in 2010, the same year he had an iconic run to the gold medal game for Team USA. Housley was a standout for other NHL teams; Miller's greatest moments were in Buffalo. The winningest American goalie of all time, he's the top American for the Sabres.
Dave Andreychuk and
Dale Hawerchuk -- but the Canadian rep for Buffalo has to be Perreault. Ruutu isn't a minus-145, so he gets the nod over
Rasmus Ristolainen among Finns. The Swedes were interesting. Tallinder put in his years with the Sabres, which is why he gets the nod, but goalie
Robin Lehner and the promise of
Rasmus Dahlin were right there.
Jochen Hecht played many more games (613), but Krupp had a run of years as one of the conference's better defensive defensemen -- although his legacy was forged with the Avalanche.