THE SIDELINES : Ex-Buffalo Player to Coach Sabres

Minor league Coach Rick Dudley, a former Buffalo player, was named Sabres coach today, replacing the fired Ted Sator. Sator was dismissed Thursday by Gerry Meehan, who was in Minneapolis for the NHL meetings and draft.

Dudley, 40, who has been coach of the American Hockey League’s New Haven Nighthawks, played for Buffalo from 1973 to ’75 and 1979 to ‘81, scoring 70 goals and 94 assists in 279 games. He also had a 30-game stint with the Winnipeg Jets.

A left wing, his top scoring years came with Cincinnati of the now-defunct World Hockey Assn. In 3 1/2 years there, he scored 131 goals and 146 assists and had two seasons of 40-plus goals.

The Sabres are the eighth NHL team to change coaches since the end of the regular season.