Why Buffalo drafted a player who didn't exist

This is the story of Taro Tsujimoto, a Japanese born NHL player drafted by the Buffalo Sabres... well, sort of. We'll talk his story in today's NHL hockey video!
Video about the signing on NHL's website: www.nhl.com/sa...

[@Enraged.]

Imagine being super young and are ready to be drafted into the nhl and then a fake person gets drafted before you

[@lHasRage]

🤣

[@MrWaifuTaker]

I remember first hearing of Tsujimoto through UrinatingTree's video tearing into the Buffalo Sabres and Bills.

[@JunkratJoules]

FYI, that was the 183rd overall pick in 1974 in the 11th round because there was fewer teams in that era. Draft was weird then, it went to round 25, but most teams didn't pick past round 14. In contrast, the 183rd overall pick in 2022 was in the 6th round.

[@keepups1586]

did anyone even take the draft seriously back then

[@JunkratJoules]

@@keepups1586 History of the draft is quite amazing, and I wish I knew a time when draft was exclusive to the players region of birth. Habs got first dibs on many great players simply because they were from the area.

[@stupidvarietyhour]

fun fact: two players who had pretty solid careers were picked after tsujimoto

[@mvmt2]

@justplaya Dave Lumley (F), pick 199 by Montreal: 437 GP 258 PTS Stefan Persson (D), pick 214 by NYI: 622 GP 369 PTS and also Warren Miller (F), pick 241 by NYR: 262 GP 90 PTS

[@stupidvarietyhour]

@@mvmt2 didn't even know about the last guy

[@CanMav]

But only Tsujimoto became a legend

[@DarkZ0l]

@@CanMav a literal legend at that

[@sootchh4055]

Interesting thing is that there are probably a few hundred "Taro Tsujimotos" in Japan who are now likely in their 60s or 70s. Tsujimoto is more or less a common surname there.

[@LieuFang]

IIRC they got the name from a fruit stand run by a Japanese family in the area. They called the family up to see if it was okay to use their name, and the family essentially helped them concoct the story to make it seem quasi-believeable, giving them the name Taro and the Tokyo Katanas.

[@willrobinson1671]

This is a pretty cool story. Why isn't it more widely known? Good stuff!

[@bonwatcher]

Never heard of that one, but now I have to get a Tsujimoto jersey.

[@scatterthewinds3126]

never change buffalo

[@davidyoung5114]

You should do a clip just about all the April Fools press releases that Paul Weiland released during his tenure with the Sabres! One stated that Buffalo would hold their next training camp in Central America (Guatemala, I believe), or that the team would use a newly-discovered 'banana-oil' surface at the Aud. R.I.P. Paul Weiland!

[@TwiggglesMcNasty]

I love the history post! That was actually interesting as I saw this jersey on reddit today and said whotf that? Thanks for the clarification!

[@judasthepious1499]

legend says Nick Suzuki is his reincarnation

[@stuartegrin7543]

Met a construction worker yesterday his name was Bill Ding

[@humblelad]

Get outta town

[@JOBdOut]

I remember reading about this in a hockey facts book back in the mid 90s. He was actually re-added as their official draft pick as the official documented pick was "Invalid selection"

[@ColeNollavook]

I can just picture Jay McKee going to a Sabres game, getting excited when he sees a 74 jersey, only to realize it has a made-up name on the back

[@blitzy69.]

Sad to hear Paul passed

[@bluebear1985]

I heard something that the reason the draft was done by phone that year was because they didn't want news of the picks to leak to the rival league World Hockey Association (WHA). It didn't really work, as the press would eventually catch wind of some of them anyway.

[@renegadeleader1]

As an aside you cover the first real Japanese player to be drafted, play, and start in the NHL, Yutaka Fukufuji. He was drafted in the 8th of the 2004 draft and didn't stick around long, but he's become a mainstay for the Japanese men's Olympic team. I remember seeing him play for the Manchester Monarchs and he was being followed around by 20 or so Japanese reporters who were covering his story because at the same time the Boston Red Sox had signed Daisuke Matsuzaka.

[@mikecumbo7531]

Paul also would dress and be a practice goalie for the Sabres. Roger Crozier, the Sabres #1 goalie, had stomach issues and needed some practices off. Paul told Punch Imlach he had played and with Paul on the team payroll, he was a free body. The last time I saw Paul we were standing in the loading dock area of Buffalo’s minor league baseball stadium, we, the tv crew he had hired, had finished covering the last of a dozen or so minor league baseball games and Paul brought a bottle of champagne and the crew and Paul shared the bottle. That was the summer of ‘96 or ‘97, Paul was starting a new chapter as was I.

[@redwolves]

In hind sight, I should have gotten a Tsujimoto jersey instead of a Jack Eickel Jersey that is now on it's third year of hanging in my closet unworn.

[@mrconfusion87]

Tsujimoto is timeless man! 🤣🤣🤣

[@renegadeleader1]

Back in the day when I hosted panels at Anime Boston I used to do one on ice hockey in Japan, and this was one of my favorite stories to bring up. Hockey in Japan goes back a long including teams like the Nippon Paper Cranes and Oji Eagles with history going back to the 1920s to today with the Asia League(ALIH). Unfortunately it looks like the recent pandemic really did a number on the league leaving only one Korean team and five Japanese teams, two of which are successors to the Cranes and Eagles which both folded in the last three years.

[@AlexBigShid]

1:40 If a dude named "Henrik" is available I'm the 7th round, your best bet is to just draft him regardless of position.

[@Grape-Juice-Games]

i was waiting for a video from anyone abt this lol!

[@mickshealthjourney3635]

Luc Robitaille went #171 in round nine of the 1984 draft, the same draft where Brett Hull was drafted #117 in round six.

[@bluebear1985]

In the fourth round, 69th overall that year, the Los Angeles Kings picked a young high school player from Massachusetts by the name of Tom Glavine. Yes, it's that one.

[@chuffskateco]

Classic buffalo

[@billchoinski1672]

Don't forget the WHA was in full swung with 16 franchises in 1974. With only a tiny handful of Europeans / no Russians , and the WHA not afraid of grabbing underaged talent (Gretzky was a WHA pro in High School) there wasn't much to draft. Past the first round there weren't a lot of named/known players. The draft was moved up secretly at the last moment and done by phone to throw off WHA scouts / management.

[@panachevitz]

^^^This. The NHL had some real competition and held the draft like the MLB draft so they could sign their draftees without the WHL knowing about it. But, ain't nobody got time for that, and Punch imlah decided to troll the commish. Mission accomplished. :)

[@cdubsoptional7849]

Go Sabres!

[@ManualMike_TGS]

Damn I learned something new today

[@elGeant24]

Fun his hockey card does exists indeed:)

[@gabetalks9275]

Buffalo should retire his jersey just to troll the league for the memes.

[@mrconfusion87]

Maybe they will if/when the Sabres finally get their shit together and WIN a Stanley Cup! 🤣🤣🤣

[@yanpro8844]

What would have been funny is that a guy with that name would have shown up to the fall hockey camp.

[@nutboyisgod]

Why is it everytime a low drafted hall of famer gets mentioned you never hear Robitaille's name 🤷🏻‍♂️...drafted 9th Rd 171st overall... retired 6th all time in goals(I believe he is 12th all time now) and most points ever by a left wing...

[@rickseiden1]

Not only was Lundqvist a 7th round pick, but he was chosen almost as an afterthought. "Maybe we should get a goalie" kind of thing. Turns out to be the best European goalie ever, the best NY Rangers goalie ever, and one of the best goalies period ever.

[@ronaldwayne7092]

*Dominik Hasek has entered the chat.*

[@Fokhe]

day 84 of asking Eck for a jersey tierlist.

[@brandensimmons653]

Legacy of pain

[@Zzyzx_2112]

The "T" at the beginning of the name is silent. Pronounced "Sujimoto".

[@MrBruinman86]

That's pretty damn funny.

[@dmitrifailla6408]

Sabres 11 Perreault

[@daveblock4061]

Because they drafted Morris Titanic with their first pick..

[@derkprosigma]

kings legend luc robitaille 9th round

[@Nathan_13-17]

What happend ti moose head minute?

[@bipity-bob]

no more media pass i guess

[@dogwithheadphones]

Few people know that Taro was traded to Boston in 1984, where he would play a total of 420 games with the Bruins and score a total of 69 points, tru story

[@owenmurphy9287]

Nice

[@mrconfusion87]

🤣🤣🤣

[@jeremybyington]

The draft should be removed altogether. Let draftees enter as UFAs and negotiate their own situation. There are countless stories where a rookie just didn’t pan out because they were being forced into a new position or a different system that wasn’t geared toward their capabilities. If a team sucks they will just have to offer players a bit more money. If a rookie lives near the team, that might be their preferred destination.

[@JoshJoshJoshJoshJoshJoshua]

Legend shit

[@THELEAFSFAN]

Wow

[@getdusty1]

You mentioned late-round picks who went on to long careers. How About Vladimir Konstantinov who wasn't especially on ANYONE'S radar not being picked until the eleventh round, being selected by the Red Wings at number 221. He was one of the most feared defensemen ever to pull on an NHL jersey. Sadly, his playing career was cut way too short in a limo accident. He was so good, he never played one single game in the minors!!!

[@Chris-qo2jx]

He was a late round pick because the Redwings didn’t think he’d be allowed to leave the Soviet Union. Konstantinov was on the Red Army team and as such, he was an officer in the Soviet Army. He had to fight to be allowed out of the army and the country. He was the first Soviet player allowed to play in the NHL. At the time, it was looked at as a wasted pick by the Redwings. But he paved the way for other Russians in the early 90s.

[@JohnDaubSuperfan369]

Are we running out of "content" or is there a better reason for regurgitating this particular story for the zillionth time? It's almost as if *nothing* happens in hockey any more, they keep playing and scoring but no one remembers any of it, just stat keeping at this point.

[@alwayzsmarter]

Didnt a team draft like a disabled kid a few years ago as some sortve make a wish thing or something

[@richmoore3957]

Blues signed a make a wish kid to a one day contract!!

[@Tokyo_Sexwale]

Eck watches 32 Thoughts

[@steventalbott6066]

Classic 😅

[@007Hutchings]

Urinating Tree already did this video. You pretty much just copied pasted 😂

[@lelouchvibritannia4028]

It's pronounced Soo-jee-moto

[@pupperquincy3430]

First