Naming the greatest duo in hockey history would be a nearly impossible task due to the countless names that could contend for that title. Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito, Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr and Daniel and Henrik Sedin always come to mind because they were such brilliant tandems. However, there’s one pairing that frequently flies under the radar.
Perhaps they don’t stand out more because they only played together for parts of four seasons in the 1990s. But in that time, Alexander Mogilny and Pat LaFontaine were a match made in heaven and the Buffalo Sabres reaped the rewards. The abilities of the two complemented each other magnificently and fans were electrified night in and night out. Let’s look back at why both men were so outstanding together and why they were briefly the best tandem in the NHL.
The Making Of Alexander The Great
Mogilny was a trailblazer both literally and figuratively and his thrilling road to the NHL has been very well-documented. He rose to stardom in the Soviet Union as a teenager and won both an Olympic gold medal and a World Championship with the fabled “Red Army”. The Sabres’ brass at the time knew something great when they saw it and drafted him 89th overall in 1988. They helped him defect from the USSR the following year, something that had never been done before. In doing so, the door was opened for numerous other Eastern European stars that followed.
Although the 20-year-old was considered one of the best players outside of the NHL, there was no guarantee his transition to North America would be a success. However, he immediately showed that the lengths the Sabres went to were worthwhile, scoring a goal quite literally the first time he stepped onto the ice in an NHL game. His statistics weren’t jaw-dropping over his first two seasons but everyone watching knew that the potential was there and great things were ahead, and that was exactly the case.
The NHL’s style of play at the time emphasized toughness, grit and physicality and the league was largely inhabited by players that embodied such. Mogilny proved to be ahead of his time, as he possessed the same coveted attributes of speed, finesse and dexterity that were reserved only for high-profile stars like Gretzky and Lemieux. The Russian had the ability to do essentially whatever he wanted on the ice, his slow and lumbering contemporaries simply couldn’t stop him.
The 1991-92 season was the winger’s coming out party. After scoring 30 goals and 64 points the season prior, his production spiked to 39 goals and 84 points in his age-22 season. As Sabres’ broadcaster John Gurtler famously put it, the “Magic of Mogilny” had begun. It was obvious that he had found himself after an arduous start to his NHL career and he emerged as a goal scorer the likes of which Buffalo had never seen. But there was another massive factor in his success.
La-La-La-La-LaFontaine: The Missing Piece
The trajectory of Mogilny’s career (and the Sabres as a whole) was altered in October 1991. In one of the biggest blockbusters in NHL history, the Sabres and New York Islanders swapped future Hall of Famers. With various other players mixed in, Buffalo sent Pierre Turgeon to New York in exchange for LaFontaine, whom the Islanders were forced to unload due to a contractual dispute. Turgeon was the centerpiece of the Sabres and parting ways with him could have sunk the franchise, but those fears were erased immediately.
Twenty-six at the time, LaFontaine had been a star on Long Island, but it can be argued that it wasn’t until he came to Buffalo that his career truly took off. He gelled instantly in the blue and gold and fit into Turgeon’s spot seemlessly. In just 57 games that season, the centerman scored 46 goals and 93 points, just five behind team leader Dale Hawerchuk who played in 20 more games. The legendary Rick Jeanneret wasted no time immortalizing him in Western New York.
The American improved the performances of everybody around him and made the Sabres far more dangerous. Much like Mogilny, he was a terrific skater and had the ability to finish plays as easily as he could create them. His fearlessness more than compensated for his 5-foot-10 stature and he never shied away from contact in pursuit of an opportunity, something many stars at the time weren’t known for.
The energy LaFontaine brought to the Sabres was revitalizing after a period of mixed results and helped propel them to the 1992 Playoffs despite them finishing six games below a .500 winning percentage. His importance was recognized the following season when he was named the team’s new captain after Mike Ramsey’s departure. The most impressive results were yet to come, however.
A Season For The Ages
When Mogilny and LaFontaine crossed paths for the first time, neither knew that they would one day form one of the best duos in NHL history. It’s no coincidence that LaFontaine’s first season in Buffalo was also the season Mogilny broke out. The two looked as if they had been playing together for years from the time they first stepped onto the ice together. Their instant cohesion was remarkable, and while the 1991-92 campaign was impressive for both men, fans hadn’t seen anything yet.
The Sabres came back to life in 1992-93 and their two top stars were at the forefront. The duo transformed into the best pairing in the game and were unstoppable all season long. Playing off each other to perfection, Mogilny’s production exploded while LaFontaine picked up right where he left off. The two wore out the goal horn at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium and made the Sabres one of the most entertaining teams in the game, regardless of winning or losing.
The two made such a great pairing because they were practically identical in style. Not many other NHL players at the time had the same abilities as Mogilny, but LaFontaine was one of the few. For starters, he could keep up whenever the Russian would fly up the ice. Early in his career, Mogilny was often the victim of his own velocity and was forced to slow himself to not leave teammates in the dust. However, LaFontaine could match his speed and had no problem staying in stride beside him.
This allowed them to make plays faster, something that the NHL wasn’t used to at the time. Both were remarkably dexterous and whomever carried the puck had the option of either passing or shooting, both usually resulted in goals. LaFontaine was normally the set-up man and Mogilny the finisher, but that didn’t mean that either couldn’t do the other as well.
The duo’s offensive creativity was bolstered by a remarkable sense of awareness. It’s been said that the Sedin brothers’ brilliance as a pair was a result of extra-sensory perception, and that may have been the case here as well. Mogilny and LaFontaine could always find each other, regardless of whether they were five feet away or at opposite ends of the ice. Both had the ability to connect with the other on picture-perfect passes (sometimes without even looking) that would set up sure goals. It truly seemed uncanny.
The end result was a season of countless benchmarks, almost too many to name. Mogilny’s Sabres-record 76 goals tied for first in the NHL and his 127 points ranked seventh. LaFontaine scored 95 assists and finished second in the NHL with 148 points, both Sabres records. However, neither stood a chance at the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP after Lemieux returned from cancer treatment and led the league with 160 points in just 60 games.
Thanks to their brilliance, the Sabres secured the last playoff berth in their Conference despite a seven-game slide to end the year. The duo continued its magnificence in the playoffs and helped the team to a stunning four-game sweep of the Boston Bruins, shining particularly in the decisive game. LaFontaine assisted Mogilny twice to rally from a 5-2 deficit and then made a spectacular play in overtime to set up Brad May’s legendary game-winner. Buffalo was defeated by eventual Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens in the second round.
A Partnership Over Too Soon
The great shame of Mogilny and LaFontaine’s tandem is that it didn’t last anywhere near as long as it should have. Following that torrid season, LaFontaine missed a majority of the next two due to extensive injuries and the same magic simply wasn’t possible. Without his right-hand man, Mogilny’s numbers regressed sharply the following season, though he still put up a very respectable 32 goals and 79 points in 66 games. The Sabres showed how much they valued the sniper by naming him interim captain, the first Russian to do so in NHL history.
LaFontaine returned for part of the strike-shortened 1994-95 season and was awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy for overcoming his many ailments, but that offseason marked the end of an era. Due to financial hardships, the Sabres were unable to offer Mogilny a new contract and were forced to trade him to Vancouver at the 1995 Draft. It was a sad, sad day in Buffalo and the superstar’s departure left a sizeable hole in the lineup and franchise alike.
LaFontaine performed excellently as a solo act and scored 41 goals and 91 points the following season, but the end of his time in Buffalo was looming as well. A concussion sustained early in 1996-97 ended his season and since it was the fifth of his career, the Sabres refused to clear him to return. Determined to continue his career, he returned to the Big Apple the following September when he was traded to the New York Rangers. He bowed to the inevitable after suffering another serious head injury and retired in 1998 at just 33.
In the span of just two years, the Sabres lost their two biggest offensive weapons and suddenly bore little resemblance to their former selves. Though Buffalo ironically went to the Stanley Cup Final after their departures, the teams that followed couldn’t produce that same awe, and the reason was obvious.
Mogilny & LaFontaine’s Legacies Endure Together
LaFontaine is one of the greatest examples of a talented athlete being ruined by an inability to stay healthy. A host of injuries hampered him throughout his career and limited him to just 865 games. His statistics in that span were remarkable and he still scored 468 goals and 1,013 points, but everyone knows his resume would have been even more impressive had he been able to keep playing.
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On the contrary, Mogilny went on to have many more successes after leaving Western New York. After five strong seasons in British Columbia, he was traded again, this time to the New Jersey Devils, and joined the Triple Gold Club when the Devils won the Stanley Cup in 2000. He came back to the Golden Horseshoe Region in 2001 after signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs and won the Lady Byng Trophy in 2003. Ironically, he scored his 1000th career point in 2004 against the Sabres in Buffalo.
However, injuries plagued him much in the same way they did LaFontaine and he was never able to play a full season in his career, though he did manage more longevity. Whereas the former struggled with concussions, Mogilny endured a slew of lower-body injuries that caught up to him as his career progressed. He returned to the Devils in 2005 but retired after missing the entire 2006-07 season. He finished his career with 473 goals and 1,032 points in 990 games, numbers that one could also assume would have been far better had it not been for his health issues.
The Hockey Hall of Fame rightly welcomed LaFontaine into its ranks in 2003. Though Mogilny is every bit as deserving and has better statistics than some inductees, he has not received the honor as of 2023. LaFontaine has vocally advocated for his inclusion.
The Sabres have recognized the contributions that both men made to the franchise. Both are enshrined in the team’s Hall of Fame and LaFontaine’s No. 16 was retired in 2006. It can be argued that Mogilny’s No. 89 is worthy of retirement as well, and though it hasn’t been, the team didn’t reissue it again until the arrival of Western New York native Alex Tuch 26 years later.
Buffalo has had plenty of talented players pass through its ranks since their dynamic duo’s departure, but it’s unlikely that any will ever be as fun to watch as they were. Had their partnership lasted longer and fans outside Buffalo had a chance to witness more of it, it would easily stand out as one of the greatest in NHL history. The rest of the hockey world may have forgotten (or never even noticed in the first place), but to Sabres fans, Mogilny and LaFontaine will always be synonymous with each other.