By Budd Bailey
For a relative minute, it looked like the Sabres had gotten themselves a steal in the 1986 draft. But things didn’t work out Francois Guay in Buffalo or, for that matter, in North America.
The center played junior hockey in Laval, Quebec, starting in 1984-85. He had 31 points in 66 games that season, and improved to 19 goals and 55 assists in 71 games for the Titan in 1985-86. That was good enough for the Sabres to take a chance on him in the eighth round of the 1986 Entry Draft (No. 152). Buffalo had taken forward Mike Hartman with its previous pick.
Then things turned interesting. Guay took a step forward in 1986-87 with 52 goals and 77 assists for 129 points in only 63 games. He was also above the point a game standard in the playoffs (18 points in 14 games). It was back to Laval for the center a year later, and Francois did even better with 143 points in 66 games. He threw in 142 penalty minutes along the way.
Guay signed with the Sabres’ organization in August of 1988, and was assigned to Rochester. He only played 45 games in his first season, with six goals and 20 assists, due in part of a sprained knee. Still, Francois was brought back a season later, and improved to 28 goals and 35 assists. Along the way, he received his one chance at playing in the NHL It came in a 4-3 win against Winnipeg on March 18, 1990, as Phil Housley scored an overtime goal. He wore No. 43.
It was back to Rochester in the fall of 1990, and he spent one more season with the Amerks. Guay had another 63-point season. At the age of 23, Francois was a decent AHL player, but the Sabres didn’t think he could take a next step.
Guay put North America in the rear-view mirror and headed across the ocean to Europe. There he spent three seasons with Innsbruck and Klagenfurt in the Austrian League, where he averaged well over a point per game. It was more of the same in two seasons with Herisau of the Swiss-B league. Finally, Guay landed in Germany for five seasons with Mannheim and Kassel. He finally retired at the age of 33.
Francois turned his attention to the other side of the business, getting his MBA at Sherbrooke University. He recruited players to come to Europe to play hockey for more than two decades until 2023.
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