2020–21 Buffalo Sabres season

2020–21 Buffalo Sabres
Division	8th East
2020–21 record	15–34–7
Home record	8–16–4
Road record	7–18–3
Goals for	138
Goals against	199
Team information
General manager	Kevyn Adams
Coach	Ralph Krueger (Jan. 14 – Mar. 17) Don Granato (interim, Mar. 17 – May 8)
Captain	Jack Eichel
Alternate captains	Jake McCabe Kyle Okposo
Arena	KeyBank Center
Minor league affiliate(s)	Rochester Americans (AHL) Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Sam Reinhart (25)
Assists	Victor Olofsson (19)
Points	Sam Reinhart (40)
Penalty minutes	Rasmus Ristolainen (36)
Plus/minus	Steven Fogarty Jake McCabe (+2)
Wins	Linus Ullmark (9)
Goals against average	Linus Ullmark (2.63)

The 2020–21 Buffalo Sabres season was the 51st season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970.

On December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada–United States border. As a result of this realignment the Sabres played this season in the East Division and only played games against the other teams in their new division during the regular season.

With an 18th consecutive loss on March 29, 2021, the Sabres equalled the NHL record for the longest losing streak in a season, tied with the 2003–04 Pittsburgh Penguins. In that game, the Sabres blew a 3–0 lead and lost 4–3 in overtime.

On April 17, the Sabres were eliminated from playoff contention after a 3–2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, extending their playoff drought to ten seasons, tying an NHL record.

In the Sabres' 18-game losing streak, they were 0–15–3 (two overtime losses and one shootout loss). In the first 34 games, they were 6–23–5 for 17 points. In their final 22 games, they were 9–11–2, ultimately finishing with a 15–34–7 record for 37 points. For the fourth time in eight seasons, the Sabres finished with the worst record in the whole NHL.

Off-season

The Sabres introduced three new jerseys for the season. On August 11, 2020, the Sabres revealed their new uniforms, which was an updated version of the team's original jerseys. The team reintroduced their original royal blue, gold, and white colors, which was worn by the team from 1970 to 1996. On November 16, 2020, the NHL introduced Adidas "Reverse Retro" jerseys for all 31 teams, which feature throwback uniforms with a modern twist. The Sabres' Reverse Retro jersey is a modern update to the team's first third jersey worn in 2000, with the exception being that it was done in the team's current colors on a white template.

Standings

Divisional standings

East Division

Pos	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	y – Pittsburgh Penguins	56	37	16	3	29	196	156	+40	77
2	x – Washington Capitals	56	36	15	5	29	191	163	+28	77
3	x – Boston Bruins	56	33	16	7	25	168	136	+32	73
4	x – New York Islanders	56	32	17	7	24	156	128	+28	71
5	e – New York Rangers	56	27	23	6	24	177	157	+20	60
6	e – Philadelphia Flyers	56	25	23	8	17	163	201	−38	58
7	e – New Jersey Devils	56	19	30	7	15	145	194	−49	45
8	e – Buffalo Sabres	56	15	34	7	11	138	199	−61	37

Source: National Hockey League
Rules for classification: 1) Fewer number of games played (GP, only during regular season); 2) Greater number of regulation wins (RW); 3) Greater number of wins in regulation and overtime, excluding shootout wins (ROW); 4) Greater number of total wins, including shootouts (W); 5) Greater number of points earned in head-to-head play; if teams played an uneven number of head-to-head games, the result of the first game on the home ice of the team with the extra home game is discarded; 6) Greater goal differential (GD); 7) Greater number of goals scored (GF)
e – Eliminated from playoff contention; x – Clinched playoff spot; y – Clinched division

Schedule and results

Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.

2020–21 game log
January: 4–4–2 (Home: 2–3–1 ; Road: 2–1–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 January 14 Washington 6–4 Buffalo Hutton 0 0–1–0 0 2 January 15 Washington 2–1 Buffalo Ullmark 0 0–2–0 0 3 January 18 Buffalo 6–1 Philadelphia Hutton 0 1–2–0 2 4 January 19 Buffalo 0–3 Philadelphia Hutton 0 1–3–0 2 5 January 22 Buffalo 3–4 Washington SO Ullmark 0 1–3–1 3 6 January 24 Buffalo 4–3 Washington SO Ullmark 0 2–3–1 5 7 January 26 NY Rangers 2–3 Buffalo Ullmark 0 3–3–1 7 8 January 28 NY Rangers 3–2 Buffalo OT Ullmark 0 3–3–2 8 9 January 30 New Jersey 3–4 Buffalo SO Ullmark 0 4–3–2 10 10 January 31 New Jersey 5–3 Buffalo Hutton 0 4–4–2 10
February: 2–6–1 (Home: 1–4–1 ; Road: 1–2–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap — February 2 Buffalo – NY Islanders Postponed due to COVID protocol. Rescheduled for February 22. — February 4 Buffalo – NY Islanders Postponed due to COVID protocol. Rescheduled for March 4. — February 6 Buffalo – Boston Postponed due to COVID protocol. Rescheduled for March 27. — February 8 Buffalo – Boston Postponed due to COVID protocol. Rescheduled for April 13. — February 11 Washington – Buffalo Postponed due to COVID protocol. Rescheduled for March 15. — February 13 Washington – Buffalo Postponed due to COVID protocol. Rescheduled for April 9. 11 February 15 NY Islanders 3–1 Buffalo Ullmark 0 4–5–2 10 12 February 16 NY Islanders 3–0 Buffalo Hutton 0 4–6–2 10 13 February 18 Buffalo 1–3 Washington Ullmark 0 4–7–2 10 14 February 20 Buffalo 3–2 New Jersey Ullmark 0 5–7–2 12 15 February 22 Buffalo 2–3 NY Islanders Ullmark 0 5–8–2 12 16 February 23 Buffalo 4–1 New Jersey Ullmark 0 6–8–2 14 17 February 25 New Jersey 4–3 Buffalo OT Hutton 0 6–8–3 15 18 February 27 Philadelphia 3–0 Buffalo Hutton 0 6–9–3 15 19 February 28 Philadelphia 3–0 Buffalo Johansson 0 6–10–3 15
March: 1–13–2 (Home: 1–4–1 ; Road: 0–9–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 20 March 2 Buffalo 2–3 NY Rangers Hutton 1,800 6–11–3 15 21 March 4 Buffalo 2–5 NY Islanders Johansson 0 6–12–3 15 22 March 6 Buffalo 2–5 NY Islanders Hutton 0 6–13–3 15 23 March 7 Buffalo 2–5 NY Islanders Johansson 0 6–14–3 15 24 March 9 Buffalo 4–5 Philadelphia SO Johansson 2,838 6–14–4 16 25 March 11 Pittsburgh 5–2 Buffalo Johansson 0 6–15–4 16 26 March 13 Pittsburgh 3–0 Buffalo Hutton 0 6–16–4 16 27 March 15 Washington 6–0 Buffalo Hutton 0 6–17–4 16 28 March 16 Buffalo 2–3 New Jersey Johansson 1,800 6–18–4 16 29 March 18 Boston 4–1 Buffalo Hutton 0 6–19–4 16 — March 20 Boston – Buffalo Postponed due to COVID protocol. Rescheduled for April 20. 30 March 22 Buffalo 3–5 NY Rangers Tokarski 1,800 6–20–4 16 31 March 24 Buffalo 2–5 Pittsburgh Tokarski 2,800 6–21–4 16 32 March 25 Buffalo 0–4 Pittsburgh Tokarski 2,800 6–22–4 16 33 March 27 Buffalo 2–3 Boston Ullmark 2,191 6–23–4 16 34 March 29 Philadelphia 4–3 Buffalo OT Ullmark 0 6–23–5 17 35 March 31 Philadelphia 1–6 Buffalo Ullmark 0 7–23–5 19
April: 6–8–2 (Home: 3–5–1 ; Road: 3–3–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 36 April 1 NY Rangers 3–2 Buffalo OT Tokarski 0 7–23–6 20 37 April 3 NY Rangers 2–3 Buffalo SO Ullmark 302 8–23–6 22 38 April 6 Buffalo 5–3 New Jersey Ullmark 3,600 9–23–6 24 39 April 8 New Jersey 6–3 Buffalo Ullmark 0 9–24–6 24 40 April 9 Washington 4–3 Buffalo Tokarski — 9–25–6 24 41 April 11 Buffalo 5–3 Philadelphia Ullmark 3,250 10–25–6 26 42 April 13 Buffalo 2–3 Boston SO Tokarski 2,191 10–25–7 27 43 April 15 Buffalo 5–2 Washington Tokarski 0 11–25–7 29 44 April 17 Pittsburgh 3–2 Buffalo Tokarski — 11–26–7 29 45 April 18 Pittsburgh 2–4 Buffalo Tokarski 0 12–26–7 31 46 April 20 Boston 2–0 Buffalo Tokarski 0 12–27–7 31 47 April 22 Boston 5–1 Buffalo Tokarski 0 12–28–7 31 48 April 23 Boston 4–6 Buffalo Luukkonen — 13–28–7 33 49 April 25 Buffalo 3–6 NY Rangers Tokarski 1,800 13–29–7 33 50 April 27 Buffalo 1–3 NY Rangers Luukkonen 1,796 13–30–7 33 51 April 29 Buffalo 2–5 Boston Luukkonen 2,191 13–31–7 33
May: 2–3–0 (Home: 2–0–0 ; Road: 0–3–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 52 May 1 Buffalo 2–6 Boston Luukkonen 2,191 13–32–7 33 53 May 3 NY Islanders 2–4 Buffalo Houser 0 14–32–7 35 54 May 4 NY Islanders 3–4 Buffalo SO Houser 0 15–32–7 37 55 May 6 Buffalo 4–8 Pittsburgh Houser 4,672 15–33–7 37 56 May 8 Buffalo 0–1 Pittsburgh Houser 4,672 15–34–7 37
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)   Postponement

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular season

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Sam Reinhart	54	25	15	40	−28	10
Victor Olofsson	56	13	19	32	−23	6
Rasmus Dahlin	56	5	18	23	−36	26
Casey Mittelstadt	41	10	12	22	−10	10
Taylor Hall‡	37	2	17	19	−21	24
Rasmus Ristolainen	49	4	14	18	−18	36
Jack Eichel	21	2	16	18	−9	6
Tage Thompson	38	8	6	14	−6	17
Jeff Skinner	53	7	7	14	−11	14
Brandon Montour‡	38	5	9	14	−13	24
Riley Sheahan	53	4	9	13	−8	8
Dylan Cozens	41	4	9	13	−15	16
Kyle Okposo	35	2	11	13	−1	0
Colin Miller	48	4	8	12	−20	27
Rasmus Asplund	28	7	4	11	+1	0
Eric Staal‡	32	3	7	10	−20	8
Curtis Lazar‡	33	5	4	9	−4	0
Jacob Bryson	38	1	8	9	−1	12
Henri Jokiharju	46	3	5	8	−11	4
Tobias Rieder	44	5	2	7	−9	2
Cody Eakin	46	3	4	7	−9	14
Arttu Ruotsalainen	17	5	1	6	−9	8
Anders Bjork†	15	3	3	6	−5	4
Drake Caggiula†	11	2	1	3	−5	4
Jake McCabe	13	1	2	3	+2	9
Steven Fogarty	9	1	2	3	+2	8
Mattias Samuelsson	12	0	2	2	−8	4
Matt Irwin	24	0	2	2	−10	19
Will Borgen	10	0	0	0	−4	4
Brandon Davidson	6	0	0	0	−4	4
C. J. Smith	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jean-Sebastien Dea	1	0	0	0	−1	2
Brett Murray	2	0	0	0	+1	0

Goaltenders

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	TOI	W	L	OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	G	A	PIM
Linus Ullmark	20	20	1,117:05	9	6	3	49	2.63	591	.917	0	0	0	0
Dustin Tokarski	13	10	729:26	2	8	2	43	3.54	447	.904	0	0	1	0
Michael Houser	4	4	243:02	2	2	0	14	3.46	141	.901	0	0	0	0
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen	4	4	216:42	1	3	0	14	3.88	149	.906	0	0	0	0
Carter Hutton	13	12	674:43	1	10	1	39	3.47	341	.886	0	0	0	0
Jonas Johansson‡	7	6	379:53	0	5	1	24	3.79	207	.884	0	0	0	0

^†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

Trades

Date	Details		Ref
September 16, 2020 (2020-09-16)	To Minnesota Wild Marcus Johansson	To Buffalo Sabres Eric Staal
October 7, 2020 (2020-10-07)	To San Jose Sharks 2nd-round pick in 2020 4th-round pick in 2020	To Buffalo Sabres 2nd-round pick in 2020
March 20, 2021 (2021-03-20)	To Colorado Avalanche Jonas Johansson	To Buffalo Sabres 6th-round pick in 2021
March 26, 2021 (2021-03-26)	To Montreal Canadiens Eric Staal	To Buffalo Sabres 3rd-round pick in 2021 5th-round pick in 2021
April 10, 2021 (2021-04-10)	To Florida Panthers Brandon Montour	To Buffalo Sabres 3rd-round pick in 2021
April 12, 2021 (2021-04-12)	To Boston Bruins Taylor Hall Curtis Lazar	To Buffalo Sabres Anders Bjork 2nd-round pick in 2021

Waivers

Date	Player	Team	Ref
April 9, 2021 (2021-04-09)	Drake Caggiula	from Arizona Coyotes

Draft picks

See also: List of Buffalo Sabres draft picks

Below are the Buffalo Sabres' selections at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally scheduled for June 26–27, 2020 at the Bell Center in Montreal, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was held October 6–7, 2020 virtually via Video conference call from the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	8	Jack Quinn	RW	Canada	Ottawa 67s (OHL)
2	341	John-Jason Peterka	LW	Germany	EHC Red Bull Munchen (DEL)
5	131	Matteo Costantini	C	Canada	Buffalo Jr. Sabres (OJHL)
7	193	Albert Lyckasen	D	Sweden	Vita Hasten (HockeyAllsvenskan)
7	2162	Jakub Konečný	C	Czech Republic	Sparta Jr. (U20 Extraliga)

Notes:

1. The San Jose Sharks' second-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on October 7, 2020, that sent a second and fourth-round pick both in 2020 (38th and 100th overall) to San Jose in exchange for this pick.
2. The Dallas Stars' seventh-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on November 10, 2018, that sent Taylor Fedun to Dallas in exchange for this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – Buffalo will receive a seventh-round pick in 2020 if Fedun plays in 25 games during the 2018–19 NHL season and 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs combined – was converted on January 17, 2019.