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Born on Christmas Day in 1970, Stu Barnes was drafted 4th overall in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets while in the process of scoring 389 points in 204 games during his three seasons in the Canadian junior Western Hockey League.
He would make his NHL debut with Winnipeg in the 1991-92 season and score his first NHL goal, along with 7 more, plus 9 assists for 17 points in 46 games that season.
His time in Winnipeg was short-lived however, as he was traded to the Florida Panthers. He would spend parts of four seasons in Florida, highlighted by their run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996. Barnes would contribute to the playoff run with 16 points in 22 games during "The Year of the Rat".
During the 1996-97 season, Barnes was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins. His offensive numbers would take a leap upwards in his new environment, and he would set career highs in 1997-98 with 30 goals and 35 assists for 65 points. He would never exceed 20 goals in any other of his 16 seasons in the NHL.
The following season Barnes was once again moved, this time to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Matthew Barnaby. While he only played in 17 regular season games that season for the Sabres, he was with them all the way throughout the playoffs, totaling 21 games, which included 7 goals and 3 assists as the Sabres made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.
He was named team captain for the Sabres at the start of the 2001-02 season, during which today's featured jersey was worn following the terrorist attacks on September 11th.
Barnes popularity with the Sabres fans during his five seasons in Buffalo was aided by the calls of announcer Rick Jeanneret's calls of "Stuuuuuuuuuuuu Barnes!" following his goals. However, the last place Sabres began a rebuilding process in 2002-03, which including trading team captain Barnes to the Dallas Stars.
A steady and reliable performer in Dallas, Barnes would play an average of 79 games in the final four seasons of his career, scoring 11, 15, 13 and 12 goals in each season.
He would retire following the 2007-08 season with 1136 games played with 261 goals and 336 assists for 597 career points.
Today's featured jersey is a 2001-02 Buffalo Sabres "New York" Stu Barnes jersey. This jersey features Barnes' captain's "C" as well as the special "New York" cresting, which replaced the normal Sabres logo for this one game only.
The highest bids were $20,010 for Mark Messier's Rangers jersey, $15,010 each for Mike Richter and Brian Leetch of the Rangers, $9030 for Theo Fleury's Rangers jersey and $8030 for Eric Lindros of the Rangers with the highest Sabres jersey being Barnes at $5885. In total, 44 jerseys were auctioned off and over $215,000 was raised.
This is one of the more unique jerseys in the Third String Goalie collection. A blank Sabres CCM was first purchased. After locating the proper Sabres shoulder patches on ebay, the jersey was then sent in for customizing, with not only Barnes name and number, but the "New York" cresting recreated in the same font at the Sabres names on the back.
Here is a brawl from the October 7th, 2001 game when the Sabres and Rangers wore their special "New York" jerseys. You can see the Sabres jersey at the start before the players tie up. The 9/11 memorial ribbon patch can clearly be seen on the Rangers player's shoulder during the fight and you do get a clear look at both fighters jerseys at the end of the video when the fight is broken up and they are leaving the ice.
Plus, any day we get to post a video featuring Sabres announcer Rick Jeanneret is a good day.
Just because we can, some more Rick Jeanneret excitedly calling a few goals by Stuuuuuuuuuuuu Barnes!
Hate Jeanneret but I love me some Stu Barnes - a solid lunchpail hockey player who had himself a career. Beautiful sweater from a memorable match. I had a bid on the real one but it quickly got out of my price range - which is actually a good thing considering the cause it was being auctioned for...
ReplyDeleteI am now in possession of this jersey. Awesome!
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