Pat LaFontaine was a teammate of Alexander Mogilny’s in Buffalo from 1991-95. LaFontaine and Mogilny forged a connection and created a chemistry that allowed them to have a season for the ages in 1992-93, when LaFontaine had 53 goals and 148 points, and Mogilny had 76 goals and 127 points. To do it, LaFontaine had to get to know Mogilny, the player and the person. Here, LaFontaine writes about the creation of the bond he and Mogilny, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Monday, had in Buffalo, how it was born and what it led to.
I’ll share a story with you about Alexander Mogilny that describes just how immensely talented he was as a player.
When I was traded to the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 25, 1991, a few people said to me that Alex is so far in front of everybody that he holds onto the puck too long. I always saw Alex as a player who has amazing talent. I didn’t look at the negative. I never thought of it until I was traded to Buffalo and people started to tell me a few things about him.
Well, it was the season after I was traded and one day in practice, I just realized why he’s holding onto the puck for “too long,” as it was described to me. I saw that he was just so far in front of everybody that he couldn’t pass it to somebody all the time because at times, there was nobody else there keeping up with him. That’s why he was used to holding onto the puck.
Now, leading up to this, I had taken Alex out to lunch to get to know him. He loved sushi so we would go for sushi. Very personable. Very funny. Around a crowd, he was probably more quiet and shy, but he had a real dry sense of humor. He was fun to be around. Great guy but somewhat misunderstood at times because there were some things he had to learn coming here.
I can’t imagine what it was like for him to defect, the courage that it took. He had to learn a new language. He was by himself. This was all new to him.
So, during this practice that I’ll never forget because the trainer Jim Pizzutelli was there, Alex and I were standing by the boards as we were warming up and I said this to him: “Alex, you don’t shoot the puck all the time and you have a great shot. I don’t think you realize what an amazing shot you have.”
I asked him where his favorite places were to shoot on a goalie. He gave me a few places.
A lot of times he would shoot on his off side, and then he’d be down by the net and sometimes in the slot.
I said, “Alex, I’m going to do my best to keep up with you, but if we practice the give and go and I get a sixth sense of where you’re going to be and you start shooting the puck more, I’ll guarantee you’ll score 50 goals this year.”
He lit up. He just lit up at the thought of 50 goals. I knew that excited him.
I told him he had to trust the process, to get me the puck and I will look for him on a give and go.
We had Dave Andreychuk, too. He played an amazing role on our line because he was that third guy that would drive the net and go to the hard areas.
You know, if we never traded Dave Andreychuk, that would be the first line where each guy had 50 goals. Then again, Andreychuk went on to score 53 goals in Toronto and we got Grant Fuhr. Both turned out to be Hall of Famers.
Anyway, Alex skated away after our conversation and I said to the trainer, ” ‘Pizza,’ if he does this, I think he can score 70. I’ll bet you he’ll score 70.”
‘Pizza’ laughed. He said, “No way, it’ll never happen.”
Alex bought in. He started shooting the puck. We worked on the give and go. We got it down pat.
He scored 76 goals.
Still to this day, blue line to blue line, I’ve never seen anybody quicker. His first four strides, it was like Mach 1, Mach 2. He was like a rocket ship. Blue line to blue line, he was the fastest I’ve ever seen.
So, immediately when I’d get the puck Alex was taking off. I’d get him the puck, he’d get it back to me, and Andreychuk was amazing because he could tip pucks or take one of the defensemen and we could 2-on-1 down low.
That power play with Dale Hawerchuk, God bless him, and Doug Bodger, it was so good. Donald Audette, Michael Peca and Yuri Khmylev filled in at times.
I knew right away when I was playing with him that this guy had it. Not that you ever think of the Hall of Fame, but I knew he was the most talented and best player I ever played with, and I’ve been blessed to play with some amazing players. He was high-end at everything he did.
We were able to have chemistry and a connection that I was grateful for. We had a lot of fun. He was the best player that I ever played with.
