Buffalo Sabres Draft Steal #6

Today we'll double up on the all-time Buffalo Sabres draft steals and first we will look to the past present and future for number six.  It's another guy who never made his mark with the Sabres as a player but he has done it as a coach in the organization.

Randy Cunneyworth- 1980 (8th round, #167 overall)

Cunneyworth would be considered a great NHL player who began and finished his career with the Sabres but never made an impact as a Sabre.  After being drafted in 1980 he played one final season with the Ottawa 67's and scored 54 goals and had 128 points in 67 games.  He finsihed that season by playing one game with the Buffalo Sabres and one game with the Rochester Americans.  He never really cracked the Sabres lineup in bhis time in the organization, playing only 20 games in 1981-1982.  He played most of his four seasons with the Rochester Americans and in 1984-1985 he scored 30 goals in 72 games.

On October 4, 1985 the Sabres made what could be considered one of the all-time worst trades in history and sent Cunneyworth and Mike Moller to the Penguins for Pat Hughes  (who the hell is Pat Hughes?).  Cunneyworth went on to have the best four seasons of his career as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.  In four seasons he scored 101 goals and enjoyed the best season of his career in 1987-1988.  In 87-88 he scored 35 goals, 39 assists and 74 points (all career highs).

He never enjoyed the same success after leaving Pittsburgh, bouncing around between Winnipeg, Hartford and Chicago before reviving his career with the Ottawa Senators in 1994.  He played four seasons with Ottawa before returning to Buffalo in 1998.  He played only 14 games with Buffalo and completed his career playing for the Rochester Americans.  On September 8, 2000 he officially announced his retirement and he was named the Head Coach of the Rochester Americans on teh same day.  He has coached the Americans ever since and he will probably become the Head Coach of the Portland Pirates with the Sabres switch of affiliates this off-season.