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| - Taro Tsujimoto is an imaginary ice hockey player who was legally drafted by the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres 183rd overall in the 11th round of the 1974 NHL Entry Draft. The Sabres' general manager at the time, Punch Imlach, was reportedly fed up with the slow drafting process via the telephone, a process intended to keep draft picks secret from the rival World Hockey Association. Imlach decided to have some fun at the expense of the league and president of 28 years, Clarence Campbell, and found a common Japanese name in a Buffalo-area phone book. Thus, when the 11th round surfaced, Imlach chose to select star center Taro Tsujimoto of the Japanese Hockey League's Tokyo Katanas, "Katanas" being an approximation for "Sabres" in the Japanese language (both referring to types of swo
- Taro Tsujimoto is a fictive Japanese player created by Punch Imlach at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft. While a totally imaginary player, Tsujimoto nevertheless was legally drafted by the Buffalo Sabres 183rd overall in the 11th round of the 1974 Amateur Draft by Punch Imlach, then general manager of the Sabres. Imlach was reportedly fed up by the tedious draft process, which was very slow and done via the telephone. To lighten the hardship of the process, he decided to pull a little prank to have some fun at the league's expense. He contacted public relations director Paul Wieland and asked him for the translation of the name "Sabre" in Japanese. Meanwhile, he found a common Japanese name in a Buffalo-area phone book. When came his turn to speak at the 11th round, Imlach drafted an unknown pla
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| abstract
| - Taro Tsujimoto is a fictive Japanese player created by Punch Imlach at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft. While a totally imaginary player, Tsujimoto nevertheless was legally drafted by the Buffalo Sabres 183rd overall in the 11th round of the 1974 Amateur Draft by Punch Imlach, then general manager of the Sabres. Imlach was reportedly fed up by the tedious draft process, which was very slow and done via the telephone. To lighten the hardship of the process, he decided to pull a little prank to have some fun at the league's expense. He contacted public relations director Paul Wieland and asked him for the translation of the name "Sabre" in Japanese. Meanwhile, he found a common Japanese name in a Buffalo-area phone book. When came his turn to speak at the 11th round, Imlach drafted an unknown player named Taro Tsujimoto, whom Imlach assured was a stellar center for his Japan Ice Hockey League side, the Tokyo Katanas. Not knowing any better, the NHL made the pick official and all the major media outlets reported the Sabres' pick, including The Hockey News. Even though nobody had ever heard of this alleged star nor of his equally fictive team (and possibly even of the JIHL, which, unlike Tsujimoto and the Katanas, did exist at the time), the pick remained official and legal until Imlach acknowledged he faked everything about this pick several weeks later. NHL President Clarence Campbell, who had been at the head of the league for 28 years, did not find the prank nearly as funny as Imlach did and the pick was eventually changed to "invalid claim" for the league's official record-keeping purposes. On the Sabres' side however, any media guide issued by the team still lists Tsujimoto as the 183rd overall pick of the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft. Actually, the prank has become an inside joke among Sabres' fans and staffers. For years after the pick, the fans at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium would chant "We Want Taro!" when the games became a little too one-sided, usually in favor of the Sabres' opponents.
- Taro Tsujimoto is an imaginary ice hockey player who was legally drafted by the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres 183rd overall in the 11th round of the 1974 NHL Entry Draft. The Sabres' general manager at the time, Punch Imlach, was reportedly fed up with the slow drafting process via the telephone, a process intended to keep draft picks secret from the rival World Hockey Association. Imlach decided to have some fun at the expense of the league and president of 28 years, Clarence Campbell, and found a common Japanese name in a Buffalo-area phone book. Thus, when the 11th round surfaced, Imlach chose to select star center Taro Tsujimoto of the Japanese Hockey League's Tokyo Katanas, "Katanas" being an approximation for "Sabres" in the Japanese language (both referring to types of swords). The NHL made the pick official, and so it was reported by all major media outlets including The Hockey News. Imlach did not acknowledge the fake draft pick until weeks later. The NHL would eventually change the pick to an "invalid claim" for its official record-keeping purposes (Campbell not finding it nearly as funny as Imlach), but this was after Tsujimoto's name had appeared in several NHL publications. Tsujimoto is still listed among Sabres' draft picks in the Sabres media guide. Taro quickly became an inside joke for Sabres' fans and staffers. For years after the pick, fans would chant "We Want Taro" when games at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium became one-sided. In addition, for many years, banners would be hung from the balcony rail stating "Taro Says..." followed by a witty comment against an opponent or player for the opponent.
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