1974-75: The team that Punch built

Before we discuss the 1974-75 Buffalo Sabres, we need to address how the franchise became a Stanley Cup contender a mere five years after its inception.
The answer, by most accounts, is George "Punch" Imlach.

Imlach arrived in Buffalo with four Stanley Cups on his resume and a chip on his shoulder after being fired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in spring 1969. A Sports Illustrated feature from November 1970 claimed that Imlach had his picture placed in large advertisements in the Toronto Telegram, seeking to lure fans from his former club down the QEW to root on the Sabres. (It's the sort of petty creativity one might expect from a man who, fed up with the lengthy nature of the NHL Amateur Draft, used his 11th-round pick on a fictional player named Taro Tsujimoto in 1974.)

Punch Imlach was many things, according to those who played for him. He could be tough to play for. Mike Robitaille, the former Sabres defenseman who would go on to become a longtime broadcaster for the team, recalls Imlach keeping a train ticket visibly sticking out of his pocket during conversations with players. "Just to give you a reminder," Robitaille explained.
Imlach was also a man who, underneath his hard exterior, cared deeply for his players and others in the organization. Early in his career, Sabres play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret would often go for dinner and drinks with Imlach and fellow broadcaster Ted Darling. Imlach insisted their wallets never leave their pockets.
Longtime Sabres forward Don Luce got to know Imlach better than many. Luce had no agent in those days, so he would negotiate his own contracts with Imlach. The conversations would go something like this:
1) Luce gave Imlach a dollar amount.
2) Imlach said it was unreasonable and reminded Luce he could be traded.
3) Luce told Imlach to make the deal if he felt it made the team better.
"And then that was the end of the conversation, and we talked just hockey for another two hours," Luce said. "We'd do this for like 10 days straight because he just loved to talk hockey and he didn't like to talk to agents. ... Punch was great. He was great. He had a great persona of being this mean guy and the craziness, being hardnosed and everything. He loved his players. He loved them and he would take care of them."
Rene Robert offered a similar description of his former coach.
"I had a great relationship with Punch," Robert said. "Punch was a man that was very tough but very loyal to his players. He would never give us a day off, we're not allowed to have ice or water on the bench. But when Punch Imlach shook your hand on a deal, you could take it to the bank. That's how loyal Punch Imlach was. A lot of people don't like him, I loved Punch Imlach."

All of this is to say: Punch Imlach was a colorful, complicated personality. But, above all, he was a brilliant hockey mind who understood how to build a franchise from the ground up.
The first piece was easy. The Sabres were awarded the first pick in the 1970 amateur draft over fellow expansion team Vancouver thanks to the spin of a roulette wheel, and Imlach made the obvious pick by selecting Gilbert Perreault. With that, the franchise had its centerpiece.
But Perrault alone would not be enough. Imlach would turn the team into a contender with shrewd trades and consistent drafting, but that would take time. In the meantime, he filled the inaugural roster with seasoned veterans who would produce an exciting brand of hockey for the fans in Buffalo.
"He knew he wasn't going any place the first two years with what he had to work with," Robitaille said. "He said, 'Well, we might not win many games, but I'm going to tell you what - if I'm going to bring in some players, I'm going to bring in guys who would blow the lid off this place.'"
The list of acquisitions included goaltender Roger Crozier, a former Calder Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy winner with Detroit whose career had been slowed by illness and injury. Crozier captured the imaginations of fans with a 50-save performance in the team's inaugural home game, a 3-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
Gerry Meehan - at 24, a key contributor on the 1970-71 team - recalls the presence of veterans like Eddie "The Entertainer" Shack, Phil Goyette, Don Marshall, and Dick Duff as being vital to the development of the team's young players. Imlach coaxed defenseman Tim Horton - a future Hall of Famer who had played under him in Toronto - out of retirement in 1972-73, adding an instant leader and a player who would profoundly impact Buffalo's young defensemen.

As the years wore on, that list of young players grew quickly. Imlach hit three home runs in the 1971 draft, selecting Rick Martin (fifth overall), Craig Ramsay (19th), and Bill Hajt (33rd). He added Jim Schoenfeld (fifth) in 1972 and Danny Gare (29th) in 1974. All five are in the Sabres Hall of Fame.
Imlach combined that success in the draft with trades for Luce, Robert, Jerry Korab, and Jim Lorentz. By 1972-73, the Sabres were a playoff team with most of the pieces that would comprise the 1974-75 team already in place. They pushed the Montreal Canadiens - who were entrenched in a dynasty - to six games before falling in the opening round.
Robitaille and Meehan were both traded by Imlach at the start of that 1974-75 season in a deal that brought defenseman Jocelyn Guevremont from Vancouver. Yet both insist today that Imlach was chiefly responsible for the organization's early success.
"He understood that building a team isn't just about getting players to go on the ice," Meehan said. "It's about making the parts each contribute in a way that's suitable to that player and the sum of the parts is a better outcome than just slapping guys on the ice and saying, 'go play defense or forward.' He had a good sense of how to build a team."
Robitaille put it plainly. Punch Imlach was, he said, "The key to the whole thing."
Part 2:
Danny Gare's unforgettable debut