In the month of August, as the news in the hockey world slows to a crawl, we will be taking a look at the most consequential deals in Buffalo Sabres history (using the Hockey News Archives as source material) and ranking the 15 best and the 15 worst deals in the club’s 54-year history.
This required the input of a trio of veteran media members (Dave Reichert, Randy Schultz, and Pete Weber), as well as three lifetime Sabre fans (Chuck Bender, Todd Riniolo, and Joe Schwartz).
11. December 27, 1973 – Jerry Korab from the Vancouver Canucks for John Gould and Tracy Pratt
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The Sabres under Punch Imlach were successful in accumulating talent via the Amateur Draft (Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin, Jim Schoenfeld, Craig Ramsay, Danny Gare) to put together the core group that made the Stanley Cup Final in just five seasons but also were able to add key contributors in the trade market. One of the better deals made just after Christmas 1973 was a three-player swap with the Vancouver Canucks to acquire defenseman Jerry Korab.
The big blueliner made his NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1970 and immediately established his reputation for toughness, accumulating 152 penalty minutes in just 46 games as a rookie. In his third year with the Hawks, “King Kong” scored 12 goals and made the Stanley Cup Final, but Chicago traded him to Vancouver in a deal involving forward Dale Tallon, who the Canucks selected second overall after the Sabres chose Perreault in the 1970 Draft.
Korab played just 31 games in Vancouver before being dealt to Buffalo for defenseman Tracy Pratt and winger John Gould. Pratt was an original Sabre after being claimed in the expansion draft from Pittsburgh in 1970, while Gould joined the Sabres in 1971 after scoring 100 points in the Eastern Hockey League and split time between Buffalo and the AHL Cincinnati Swords his first two seasons.
The motivation for the deal may have partly been that Pratt’s father; Hockey Hall of Famer Babe Pratt, was an executive for the Canucks. He played 176 games over three seasons in Vancouver, and another season with Colorado, before finishing with Toronto and retiring in 1977.
Gould had two excellent 30+ goals season in Vancouver, but could not continue that pace and was traded to Atlanta in 1976 before returning to Buffalo to finish his career in 1979-80.
Korab became a force with Buffalo in more than six seasons, scoring in double figures, posting more than 100 penalty minutes four times, and being a key part of the club’s 1975 run to the Stanley Cup Final. In 1980, he was traded to Los Angeles by GM Scotty Bowman, but after three seasons with the Kings and a brief retirement, he returned to the Sabres to play 73 games over two seasons before retiring in 1985.
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