Mark Hinrich

The Legend of Taro Tsujimoto Mark Hinrich

In the 1974 NHL Draft, 247 players were selected by the eighteen teams. Everything seemed normal over the course of the three-day proceedings. Nothing seemed out of place as the summer wore on and teams eventually began their respective rookie camps. However, it was soon discovered that only 246 players had been drafted that fateful weekend. One of the players, the 183rd overall pick, a Japanese player named Taro Tsujimoto, was discovered to have something extra special about him. Taro Tsujimoto never existed. Selected merely as a joke by Buffalo, as a way to show their extreme displeasure at the long, drawn-out process of the NHL draft at that time, the general manager had decided to play a prank on the league. With the help of a secretary and a little bit of divine intervention with other staff members present at the draft table, they fabricated Taro Tsujimoto's name and hockey team, the Tokyo Katanas, or sabres. Of course, when the joke finally became known, the NHL was not impressed. They would later revise the draft pick to "invalid" in most listings, but the damage had already been done. Top line publications such as The Hockey News had already printed Taro's name as a draft pick. The legend grew from there. This is his untold story.