The 2016–17

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

was the 47th season for the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

franchise that was established on May 22, 1970. Buffalo missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

Off-season

The Sabres held their annual development camp during the second weekend of July. After the previous two seasons in which the Sabres held the tournament in the First Niagara Center, this edition was held at

HarborCenter LECOM Harborcenter is an American mixed-use development in Buffalo, New York, developed by Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The building occupies a full 1.7 acre city block formerly known as the Webster Block, directly across from and connect ...

. The Sabres reprised their hosting of a prospect tournament for 2016, after the success of the first event in 2015. The

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...

and

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

returned for the tournament, which ran September 16–19, partially opposite the

2016 World Cup of Hockey The 2016 World Cup of Hockey (abbreviated WCH2016) was an international ice hockey tournament. It was the third installment of the National Hockey League (NHL)-sanctioned competition, 12 years after the second World Cup of Hockey in 2004. It was ...

; in contrast to the previous season, the Sabres lost both prospect tournament games and finished in third place. The Sabres contributed three players to the World Cup:

Jack Eichel John Robert Eichel (born October 28, 1996) is an American professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), center and Captain (ice hockey)#Alternate captains, alternate captain for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). Eichel ...

for Team North America,

Ryan O'Reilly Ryan O'Reilly (born February 7, 1991) is a Canadian professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), centre and Captain (ice hockey)#Alternate captains, alternate captain for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has prev ...

for Canada, and

Rasmus Ristolainen Rasmus Ristolainen (born 27 October 1994) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected eighth overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2013 NHL entry draft. Playing ...

for Finland. On July 16, 2016, the Sabres hired Tom Ward as an assistant coach. Ward had spent the previous 18 seasons as the head coach for the Minnesota High School boys prep team. The Sabres also announced that the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

to their home arena will change. Due to First Niagara Financial Group, the arena's previous rights holder, being subsumed into

KeyBank KeyBank is an American regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and the 27th largest bank in the United States. Organized under the publicly traded KeyCorp, KeyBank was formed from the 1994 merger of the Cleveland-based Society Corpora ...

, the team's arena was renamed

KeyBank Center KeyBank Center is a multipurpose indoor arena located in Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally known as Marine Midland Arena, the venue has since been named HSBC Arena and First Niagara Center. Home to the Buffalo Sabres of the Nation ...

for the 2016–17 season. The arena naming rights have passed through a succession of regional banks, having been known as First Niagara Center,

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

Arena and

Marine Midland Marine Midland Bank was an American bank formerly headquartered in Buffalo, New York, with several hundred branches throughout the state of New York (state), New York, Pennsylvania and two branches located in Seattle, Washington (state), Washing ...

Arena, through its 20-year history.

Standings

Schedule and results

Pre-season

Regular season

Player stats

As of April 9, 2017

Skaters

Goaltenders

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Sabres. Stats reflect time with the Sabres only.
^‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Sabres only.
Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

Transactions

The Sabres have been involved in the following transactions during the 2016–17 season:

Trades

;Notes

Free agents acquired

Free agents lost

Claimed via waivers

Lost via waivers

Lost via retirement

Players released

Player signings

Draft picks

Below are the Buffalo Sabres' selections at the 2016 NHL entry draft, held on June 24–25, 2016 at the

First Niagara Center KeyBank Center is a multipurpose indoor arena located in Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally known as Marine Midland Arena, the venue has since been named HSBC Arena and First Niagara Center. Home to the Buffalo Sabres of the Nation ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. ;Notes * The

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...

' second-round pick went to the

as the result of a trade on June 25, 2016 that sent Mark Pysyk, a second-round pick and St. Louis' third-round pick both in 2016 (38th and 89th overall) to Florida in exchange for Dmitry Kulikov and this pick. :Florida previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on May 25, 2016 that sent

Erik Gudbranson Erik Donald Stanley Gudbranson (born January 7, 1992) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and alternate captain for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected third overall by the Florida Panthers ...

and the Islanders fifth-round pick in 2016 to Vancouver in exchange for

Jared McCann Jared McCann (born May 31, 1996) is a Canadian professional ice hockey Forward (ice hockey), forward currently playing for the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL). McCann was selected by the Vancouver Canucks in the first round ( ...

, a fourth-round pick in 2016 and this pick. * The

' second-round pick went to the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

as the result of a trade on June 25, 2016 that sent Dmitri Kulikov and Vancouver's second-round pick in 2016 (33rd overall) to Buffalo in exchange for Mark Pysyk, St. Louis' third-round pick in 2016 (89th overall) and this pick. * The

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. The Stars compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The Stars ...

' third-round pick went to the

as the result of a trade on February 11, 2015 that sent

Jhonas Enroth Jhonas Erik Enroth (born 25 June 1988), is a Swedish professional ice hockey goaltender, who is currently playing with Örebro HK of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabres, Dallas St ...

to Dallas in exchange for Anders Lindback and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – Buffalo will receive a third-round pick in 2016 if Enroth wins fewer than four playoff games for the Stars in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

– was converted on April 6, 2015 when the Stars were eliminated from playoff contention. * The

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

' fifth-round pick will go to the

as the result of a trade on March 2, 2015 that sent Brian Flynn to Montreal in exchange for this pick. * The

' seventh-round pick went to the

as the result of a trade on March 2, 2015 that sent

Torrey Mitchell Torrey Charles Mitchell (born January 30, 1985) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. He was selected in the fourth round, 126th overall, by the San Jose Sharks in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Mitchell also previously played for the M ...

to Montreal in exchange for Jack Nevins and this pick.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Buffalo Sabres Season Buffalo Sabres seasons

Buffalo Buffalo