Gerry Meehan Passes Away At 79

Former Buffalo Sabres captain and general manager Gerry Meehan passed away at the age of 79 on Friday. Meehan played through 10 seasons in the NHL between 1968 and 1979. He then kicked off a decade-long managerial career that spanned some of the Sabres’ brightest days as a franchise.

Meehan’s hockey career began in Toronto-area junior hockey. That presence led to a fourth-round selection by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1963 and a quick ramp to the Toronto Marlboros lineup in 1964. He spent four years with the junior club and emerged as a key part of their run to the 1967 Memorial Cup. His point-per-game scoring carried over to his first season at the pro flight. He scored 72 points in 70 games of the 1967-68 Central Professional Hockey League season, then one of many minor-pro leagues in North America.

The Maple Leafs promoted Meehan to the NHL roster in 1968. He only recorded two assists in the first 25 games of his NHL career, leading to a trade to the Philadelphia Flyers just a few months after his NHL debut – as part of a deal that also sent a young Bill Sutherland to the Flyers. Meehan didn’t figure much more out in his move to Pennsylvania and earned a reassignment to the WHL Senior League – another minor-pro league – after just 12 games and three points with the Flyers.

Meehan stuck in the WHL through the 1969-70 season. He was then selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1970 NHL Expansion Draft, sparking a sudden move to the East coast before he could earn another chance in Philadelphia. The move proved incredibly fruitful for the Sabres, who were able to quickly elevate Meehan into an important lineup role. While sharing a lineup with the likes of Gilbert Perreault and Eddie Shack, Meehan managed to breakout with 55 points in 77 games of Buffalo’s inaugural season. That level quickly became his norm, as he twice reached 46 points and once reached 60 points over the next three seasons. At the same time, Meehan was named the second captain in Sabres history, after Floyd Smith filled the role in the final, full season of his NHL career in Buffalo’s first year.

Where Perreault, Rene Robert, and Rick Martin brought the offense – Meehan brought the reliability. He continued in an important role with the Sabres until being traded to the Vancouver Canucks in 1974. Meehan scored a modest 25 points in 57 games for the Canucks but was still flipped to the Atlanta Flames five months later. That move again proved successful, as Meehan reached 41 points in 52 games with Atlanta. He was flipped again in 1976, this time headed to the Washington Capitals in a package deal for two-time Stanley Cup winner Bill Clement.

Meehan spent the final three years of his career with the Capitals. On the other side of multiple moves, he clawed back to productive hockey – and a captaincy – in Washington. He totaled  144 points in 208 games – including a career-high 64 points in the 1976-77 season – through his time with the Capitals. He was impactful until the very end – and earned a waiver designation, and brief stint with the WHA’s Cincinnati Stingers, once his role became obsolete. Meehan retired from his playing career in 1979.

After a brief period away from the NHL, Meehan rejoined the Sabres as an assistant general manager in 1984. He was promoted to the GM role partway through the 1986-87 season, after Buffalo relieved both their GM and head coach. Meehan quickly began an aggressive managerial career. He acquired veterans near the end of their career in Mark Napier and Jan Ludvig, then countered the moves with strong drafting. Meehan brought in Pierre Turgeon with the 1987 first-overall pick – the only player to reach 100 games (he reached 1,294) out of Buffalo’s 13 draft picks that year. After Turgeon turned into an instant impact, Meehan entered the 1988 draft with confidence and selected Keith Carney, Alexander Mogilny, and Rob Ray.

Meehan continued to shake up the lineup with trades through the 1990 NHL Draft. He represented the Sabres in the blockbuster deal that sent Phil Housley, Scott Arniel, and the draft pick utilized on Keith Tkachuk to the Winnipeg Jets in 1990 – returning Dale Hawerchuk and the draft pick used on Brad May to Buffalo. Their presence continued a true cycle of the Sabres lineup under Meehan’s guide – something that continued in force when Turgeon was traded to the New York Islanders in a package for Pat LaFontaine in 1991.

Meehan also brought in Philippe Boucher, Sean O’Donnell, and Matthew Barnaby to New York through the draft. On the heels of the 1992 NHL Draft, he again made the move to acquire a historic Sabre with the August acquisition of eventual superstar-goaltender Dominik Hasek from the Chicago Blackhawks. Hasek only played 28 games in his first season with the Sabres, which kept Meehan from bearing the fruits of one of the NHL’s greatest trades. His GM tenure came to an end just weeks after the 1993 NHL Draft, where Meehan landed Scott Nichol in the 11th-round. He stayed with Buffalo as the Vice President of Hockey Operations through the 1995-96 season.

While his time in hockey was marked by up-and-down action as both a player and manager, there is no doubt about the value that Meehan brought to the teams he supported. He was a core piece of Buffalo’s early lineups, then dedicated a decade towards bringing in all-time-greats to support the Sabres into the 2000s. He will be remembered as a true builder who carried a torch handed off by head coach and GM Scotty Bowman. Pro Hockey Rumors sends condolences to Meehan’s family, friends, and many Sabres fans.