Sacharuk began his career as a 14 year old with his hometown team, the Saskatoon Blades in 1967. The Blades were part of the Western Canadian Hockey League (now the Western Hockey League (WHL)) one of the three major junior leagues in Canada at the time. As a 14 year old, Sacharuk was playing with older, more experienced players from the ages of 17 to 20, many who were positioned to be drafted to the NHL. It was virtually unheard of for a 14 year old to be considered for, let alone play major junior hockey. Not to be deterred, Sacharuk was already pushing 6 feet tall, and 180 pounds as a defensive stalwart. At the Blades\' training camp at that time, his coach, George "Bus" Agar noted that Sacharuk possessed a blistering slap-shot, a much needed skill for a defenceman, particularly in the junior and NHL ranks. He made the Saskatoon Blades roster for the 1967-68 campaign and in spite of only playing 34 games, he managed to score 6 goals during that time.\n', '

The following season, as a 15 year old, Sacharuk played 56 games with the Blades, putting up 16 points, again, 5 which were goals. Just as he was settling in with the Blade\'s organization, in the 1969-70 season he was offered a position with the lowly Niagara Flyers in the Ontario Hockey League, with the promise of more ice time and a chance to improve his game. In 51 games with the Flyers, Sacharuk took his game to another level, notching 19 goals and 18 assists, which was a personal best up to that time. The following season, Sacharuk wanted to return home and play again for the Blades, where in the next two seasons, he was one of the team\'s scoring leaders with 77 goals in 124 games, and total points of 171. In the 1971-72 season, he scored 50 goals finishing his junior career as the leading scorer on the Blades, and also the 10th leading goal scorer in the WCHL, tied with Medicine Hat\'s Lanny McDonald, who went on to a prolific NHL career.\n', '

Sakaruk was drafted first in the 2nd round of the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft at #21 by the New York Rangers. At the time, the Rangers had the likes of established NHL veteran defencmen such as Brad Park, Rod Seiling, Jim Neilson Ron Harris and Dale Rolfe. In spite of his stellar junior year previously and his draft position, cracking the Rangers lineup for the \'72-\'73 season was a difficult proposition for Sacharuk. Ultimately, he was sent to the Rangers AHL affiliate, the Providence Reds to start the season. He spent 64 games with the Reds before the call-up to the Rangers, where he played 8 games and only managed one point, a goal. The following season, he was again sent to the Reds following an unsuccessful Rangers\' training camp. He played 42 games for the Reds during the \'73-\'74 NHL campaign, and once again, due to injuries on the Rangers, he was called up to play the remaining 23 games of the season. With virtually no change in defensive personnel on the Rangers from the previous season, Sacharuk struggled with ice time and his offensive role as a top point getter. As a result, he only managed 6 points in 23 NHL games, with 2 of them goals. Disillusioned over the lack of offensive production by Sacharuk, on August 29, 1974 the New York Rangers Management traded Sacharuk along with the Ranger\'s number #1 draft pick to the St. Louis Blues for their 1977 #1 draft pick.\n', '

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