Buffalo Sabres alumni Richie Dunn has died. He was 59 years old.
Dunn played nearly 500 games in the National Hockey League and made Buffalo his home after retirement. No cause of death has been cited at this writing. However, online condolences are increasing.
According to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Boston-born Dunn was a free agent signing by the Buffalo Sabres in 1977. He played two years of junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey Association with the Kingston Canadians and the Windsor Spitfires.
He cracked the Sabres' lineup that fall and played in 25 games for the Sabres. He also suited up for 54 games with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. After playing in 24 games the following year, Dunn was promoted to full-time duty on the Sabres' defense for the 1979-80 season when he played in all 80 regular season games where he had 38 points. In 1981-82, Dunn had the best season of his career, scoring seven goals and 42 assists for 49 points.
In 1982-83, Dunn joined the Calgary Flames as part of a trade that also sent goaltender Don Edwards to Alberta. He followed that up with two years in Hartford before returning to Buffalo in 1985-86 where he remained playing for parts of four seasons before retiring in 1990 as a member of their farm team, the American Hockey League's Rochester Americans.