JODY GAGE
Gage put up much better numbers in the minors - getting 329 points in 464 minor league games - in this sim than he did in the NHL, but unlike in real life he managed to have a pretty long NHL career. The real life Gage only managed a total of 68 regular season games between Detroit and Buffalo. The sim Gage bounced back and forth between Detroit and Adirondack over the first 5 years of his career, playing in 111 games for the Red Wings while scoring just 11 goals.
His big break came midway through the 1984-85 season when the Wings dealt him to the Islanders in exchange for 30 year old Bob Bourne. Gage would be an NHL regular with the Islanders for the next 5 seasons before once again finding himself back in the minors. In all he played 403 games with New York, scoring 55 goals and 104 points.
Gage's best stretch of games came in the 1984-85 playoffs when he scored 9 goals and 12 points in 11 games for the Islanders helping them past Penguins in the preliminary round before losing in 7 games to Philadelphia in the quarterfinals. Those were the only playoff points Gage ever recorded as he was pointless in his 9 other post-season games with Detroit and the Islanders.
His final regular season NHL totals are 514 games played with 66 goals and 119 points.
MIROSLAV SATAN
Satan enjoyed a 19 year NHL career with Edmonton, the Rangers, Washington and Detroit. In all he appeared in 1295 regular season NHL games, scoring 340 goals and 775 points. He also had 17 goals and 48 points in 80 playoff games.
He broke in with the Oilers as a 21 year old in 95-96 and was nominated for the Calder Trophy after scoring 14 goals and 39 points as a rookie. He would spend the next two and a half years in Edmonton but did not top his rookie season for production.
The Oilers dealt him to the Rangers for a then 30 year old Brian Leetch. Leetch would go on to have 6 more solid seasons in Edmonton but the deal would certainly not disappoint Ranger fans as Satan enjoyed the best seasons of his career on Broadway. He scored a career high 36 goals and 71 points in the year after the trade and followed that up with a 34 goal season the next year.
After 8 and a half years in New York, the Rangers dealt the 33 year old Satan to Washington in the summer of 2007 in exchange for young goaltending prospect Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov would go on to have a long career in New York, playing over 600 games in the Rangers cage. Satan would put together 3 straight 20 goal seasons in Washington before his production started to slide at age 36.
He would end his career by going pointless in 8 games for Detroit in 2012-13 after he was dealt to the Wings midway through his final campaign.
MARTIN BIRON
Biron sat in the Buffalo Sabres system for 3 years without even getting a shot at some games in Rochester. The Sabres released him in 2001 and he signed with Detroit at a perfect time as he would go on to win 4 Stanley Cups with the Red Wings.
His rookie season of 2001-02 was by far the best of his career as he took the league by storm, going 43-6-8 with a 1.37 GAA for the powerhouse Wings. He also had 16 shutouts that season and won the Jennings Trophy. He is nominated for the Calder and the Vezina but failed to win either that season but was named a first team all-star.
Biron got his chance when Chris Osgood struggled early after leading Detroit to Cups the two previous seasons.
Biron would play 9 seasons with the Wings and be a starter for 4 of them. He became a free agent in 2010 and signed with Pittsburgh, where he ended his career with 21 games over 2 seasons with the Pens.
In 358 career NHL games, Biron fashioned a 210-88-53 record with a lifetime 1.89 GAA. That record was definately inflated because of just how good the Wings teams were during the first decade of the 2000's.
ZEMGUS GIRGENSONS
Girgensons played his entire 14 year career in Buffalo, scoring 270 goals and 598 points in 1061 NHL games. His peak years were 2022-23 and 2023-34 when he had back to back 30 goal seasons including a career best 33 the second year.
Girgensons would had 42 goals and 92 points in 115 playoff games for the Sabres including 17 points in the 2021 post-season and 24 points in 20 games the following year. Buffalo won back to back Cups those seasons. His career would end with a couple of seasons in Rochester.
He is 13th all-time in games played in a Buffalo uniform and his 270 goals are tied with Danny Gare for 11th all-time on the Sabres list. In case you are wondering Buffalo's all-time goal leader is Pierre Turgeon with 650. The other players to score at least 500 in a Buffalo uniform are Dave Andreychuk (627), Jack Eichel (609), Gilbert Perreault (590) and Rick Martin (514).
LINUS ULLMARK
Ullmark spent 8 years in Rochester before finally making his NHL debut at the age of 27 with the Sabres in 2020-21. He would play 35 games that season, going 18-10-2 as Ben Bishop's backup, to help the Sabres win their first Cup. The following year he would again win the Cup as Bishop's backup, starting 19 games in the regular season.
In 2022-23 he took the starting job away from an aging Bishop and was 36-13-4 during the season. He made his playoff debut that year, going 11-5 but the Sabres Cup run came to an end with a Game Seven loss to the Islanders in the conference finals. He also won the Jennings Award that season for lowest GAA.
That off-season he signed with Tampa as a free agent and spent the next 5 seasons as the backup to Andrei Vasilevskiy. They both retired after the 2028-29 season and Tampa would win it's first Cup the following year.
Ullmark finished with a 105-65-19 record and a lifetime 2.40 GAA in the NHL. He actually played more minor league than NHL games and was very successful in the AHL, going 136-58-21. The only playoff action he ever saw in the NHL was during his run to the conference finals in 2023 but he did get a pair of Cups as a backup.
ALEXANDER NYLANDER
Another member of the back-to-back Cup winning Sabres teams of 2021 and 2022, Nylander would play 579 games in the NHL. He scored 124 goals and 317 points in what turned out to be a relatively short career. He made his NHL debut in 2017-18, spending most of the season in Rochester but appearing in 5 games with the Sabres in which he recorded his first career point - an assist.
Nylander would become a regular the following season and played 82 games for each of the next seven seasons, although just the first 4 were in Buffalo. He had back to back 50 point seasons in the Sabres two Cup winning years and scored 15 points in each of the 2 playoff runs.
For some reason he sat out the entire 2022-23 season - I will assume he returned to Europe to play - and re-emerged in the NHL in 2023-24 when the Pittsburgh Penguins signed him as a free agent. Nylander had a career year with 27 goals and 69 points in his first season with the Penguins. He would play 3 years in Pittsburgh, never missing a game but then after becoming a free agent sat out the 2026-27 season. He returned to North American and played 2 years for the AHL Toronto Marlies alongside his brother William.
WILLIAM NYLANDER
Had a bit longer career than his brother, playing 867 NHL games - all with the Leafs - and scoring 177 goals and 506 points in his career. William's top year was a 25 goal, 61 point effort in 2019-20. His career would end with 2 seasons with the Marlies - as a teammate of Alexander's in both of them.
MICHAEL NYLANDER
Might as well add their dad here as well. Michael spent his entire career with the Hartford-Carolina organization, appearing in 1425 career games. He scored 308 goals and 859 points. He is third all-time in franchise games behind only Ron Francis and Chris Pronger. His best season was a 28 goal, 73 point effort in 2003-04. He never won a Cup - the Hurricanes didn't win their first and only Cup until 2031 - but he made the conference finals twice, losing to Montreal both times.