Sabres To Add Vanek, Pominville To Hall Of Fame

The Buffalo Sabres are inducting two members of the club’s alumni into the team’s Hall of Fame.

Forwards Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville will be honored in a ceremony before the Sabres home game against the Colorado Avalanche on January 14th, 2027.

Vanek was selected by the Sabres fifth overall in the 2003 NHL Draft. The native of Austria played 598 regular-season games for Buffalo from 2005-2013, scoring 254 and adding 243 assists. He scored a career-high 43 goals in the 2006-2007 season and was a key offensive contributor to Sabres teams that reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2006 and 2007.

Pominville was a second round addition by Buffalo chosen in the second round 55th overall in the 2001 Draft. The talented winger played two stints with the Sabres, first from 2003-2013, and he returned to Buffalo from 2017-2019, appearing in 733 regular-season games. Pominville scored one of the most memorable goals in Sabres postseason history in 2006.

The versatile forward delivered the shorthanded, series-clinching goal against the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

Both players were very popular with both fans and teammates and had their most productive years as members of the Sabres. Vanek shared the team captaincy with Steve Ott in 2013-2014, while Pominville wore the “C” for the Sabres from 2011-2013 before being dealt to the Minnesota Wild; he also served as co- captain briefly in 2008.

Vanek ranks fifth in team history in regular-season goals scored (254), while Pominville sits in eighth place in team history in games played (733), tenth in goals (217), and ninth in assists (304).