The 2019–20 Buffalo Sabres season was the 50th 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. The season was suspended by the league officials on March 12, 2020, after several other professional and collegiate sports organizations followed suit as a result of the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On May 26, the NHL regular season was officially declared over with the remaining games being cancelled and the Sabres missed the playoffs for the ninth straight year.

Off-season

The Sabres fired head coach

Phil Housley Phillip Francis Housley (born March 9, 1964) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former defenseman in the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously served as assistant coach for the Arizona Coyotes of the NHL from 2019 to 2022, a ...

on April 7, 2019, amid a dreadful second half of the season, in which the Sabres had only won 16 of their last 57 games after being on the top of the standings in November. The team hired

Ralph Krueger Ralph Krueger (born 31 August 1959) is a Canadian-born German professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the former head coach of the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL), and former chairman of Sout ...

as Housley's replacement on May 15. Krueger's lone NHL head coaching experience was at the helm of the

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

during part of the strike-shortened

2012–13 NHL season The 2012–13 NHL season was the 96th season of operation (95th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The regular season began on January 19, 2013, and ended on April 28, 2013, with the playoffs to follow until June. The Chicago B ...

; he had also coached Team Europe at 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 ...

. He most recently served as the chairman of

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club is a professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, befor ...

, a position that he held for five years. On May 20, the Sabres unveiled logos for their upcoming 50th anniversary season. On August 16, the Sabres unveiled their

third jersey A third jersey, alternative jersey, third kit, third sweater or alternative uniform is a team jersey or uniform that a sports team can wear instead of its home outfit or its away outfit during games, often when the colors of two competing tea ...

for the 2019–20 season and simultaneously announced that they will return to royal blue starting in 2020-21 season.

Standings

Divisional standings

Eastern Conference

Schedule and results

Preseason

The pre-season schedule was published on June 18, 2019.

Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on June 25, 2019.

Player statistics

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 2019–20 season.

Trades

Free agents

Waivers

Contract terminations

Retirement

Signings

Draft picks

Below are the Buffalo Sabres' selections at the 2019 NHL entry draft, which was held on June 21 and 22, 2019, at

Rogers Arena Rogers Arena, (formerly General Motors Place), is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, arena at 800 Griffiths Way in the Downtown Vancouver, downtown area of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Opened in 1995, the arena was known as General ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. Notes: # The

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

' first-round pick went to the

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 ...

as the result of a trade on July 1, 2018, that sent

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 ...

to St. Louis in exchange for

Vladimir Sobotka Vladimir (, , pre-1918 orthography: ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, widespread throughout all Slavic nations in different forms and spellings. The earliest record of a person with the name is Vladimir of Bulgaria (). Etymology T ...

Patrik Berglund Patrik Berglund (born 2 June 1988) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the St. Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres. He was drafted 25th overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 2006 NHL ...

Tage Thompson Tage Nathaniel Thompson (born October 30, 1997) is an American professional ice hockey center and alternate captain for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). Thompson was selected 26th overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 2 ...

, a second-round pick in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). # 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 ...

' fourth-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on June 22, 2019, that sent San Jose's fourth-round pick and Winnipeg's sixth-round pick both in 2019 (122nd and 175th overall) to Vancouver in exchange for this pick. # The

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. The Blue Jackets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern C ...

' fifth-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on June 22, 2019, that sent Toronto's sixth-round pick and a seventh-round both in 2019 (177th and 191st overall) to Detroit in exchange for this pick.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Buffalo Sabres Season Buffalo Sabres seasons

Buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...

2010s in Buffalo, New York 2020s in Buffalo, New York