# 2017–18 Buffalo Sabres season

The 2017–18 Buffalo Sabres season was the 48th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970. The Sabres missed the playoffs again, finishing last in the division for the second straight year and last overall in the league.

## Standings

Atlantic Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | z – Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 54 | 23 | 5 | 48 | 296 | 236 | +60 | 113 |
| 2 | x – Boston Bruins | 82 | 50 | 20 | 12 | 47 | 270 | 214 | +56 | 112 |
| 3 | x – Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 49 | 26 | 7 | 42 | 277 | 232 | +45 | 105 |
| 4 | Florida Panthers | 82 | 44 | 30 | 8 | 41 | 248 | 246 | +2 | 96 |
| 5 | Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 30 | 39 | 13 | 25 | 217 | 255 | −38 | 73 |
| 6 | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 29 | 40 | 13 | 27 | 209 | 264 | −55 | 71 |
| 7 | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 28 | 43 | 11 | 26 | 221 | 291 | −70 | 67 |
| 8 | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 25 | 45 | 12 | 24 | 199 | 280 | −81 | 62 |
Eastern Conference Wild Card :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | ME | x – Columbus Blue Jackets | 82 | 45 | 30 | 7 | 39 | 242 | 230 | +12 | 97 |
| 2 | ME | x – New Jersey Devils | 82 | 44 | 29 | 9 | 39 | 248 | 244 | +4 | 97 |
| 3 | AT | Florida Panthers | 82 | 44 | 30 | 8 | 41 | 248 | 246 | +2 | 96 |
| 4 | ME | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 36 | 35 | 11 | 33 | 228 | 256 | −28 | 83 |
| 5 | ME | New York Islanders | 82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 32 | 264 | 296 | −32 | 80 |
| 6 | ME | New York Rangers | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 31 | 231 | 268 | −37 | 77 |
| 7 | AT | Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 30 | 39 | 13 | 25 | 217 | 255 | −38 | 73 |
| 8 | AT | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 29 | 40 | 13 | 27 | 209 | 264 | −55 | 71 |
| 9 | AT | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 28 | 43 | 11 | 26 | 221 | 291 | −70 | 67 |
| 10 | AT | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 25 | 45 | 12 | 24 | 199 | 280 | −81 | 62 |

## Off-season

General manager Tim Murray and head coach Dan Bylsma were both fired at the end of the previous season. Two former Sabres players were hired in their places: Jason Botterill, at the time a front office executive with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was hired as general manager, while Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Phil Housley, at the time defensive coordinator for the Nashville Predators, was named head coach.
The Sabres once again held a summer development camp during the second week of July. In contrast to the previous two seasons, no full Blue/White game was played; the four-team three-on-three tournament was reprised. Team White, led by 2017 first-round draft pick Casey Mittelstadt, won the tournament. The team will host its third annual Prospects Challenge in September; the tournament will expand to four teams, with the Pittsburgh Penguins joining the returning Sabres, New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins in the tournament.

## Schedule and results
### Preseason

The Sabres released their preseason schedule on June 19, 2017.

### Regular season

The team's regular season schedule was published on June 22, 2017.
2017–18 game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

## Player statistics

Final stats.

### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Jack Eichel | 67 | 25 | 39 | 64 | −25 | 32 |
| Ryan O'Reilly | 81 | 24 | 37 | 61 | −23 | 2 |
| Sam Reinhart | 82 | 25 | 25 | 50 | −24 | 26 |
| Kyle Okposo | 76 | 15 | 29 | 44 | −34 | 40 |
| Rasmus Ristolainen | 73 | 6 | 35 | 41 | −25 | 48 |
| Evander Kane$^‡$ | 61 | 20 | 20 | 40 | −14 | 57 |
| Jason Pominville | 82 | 16 | 18 | 34 | −17 | 8 |
| Evan Rodrigues | 48 | 7 | 18 | 25 | −10 | 14 |
| Marco Scandella | 82 | 5 | 17 | 22 | −15 | 37 |
| Benoit Pouliot | 74 | 13 | 6 | 19 | −8 | 22 |
| Johan Larsson | 80 | 4 | 13 | 17 | −30 | 49 |
| Zemgus Girgensons | 71 | 7 | 8 | 15 | −12 | 26 |
| Scott Wilson$^†$ | 49 | 6 | 8 | 14 | −17 | 8 |
| Jake McCabe | 53 | 3 | 9 | 12 | −11 | 26 |
| Viktor Antipin | 47 | 0 | 10 | 10 | −9 | 18 |
| Nathan Beaulieu | 59 | 1 | 8 | 9 | −19 | 36 |
| Jordan Nolan | 69 | 4 | 4 | 8 | −13 | 69 |
| Casey Nelson | 37 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −14 | 8 |
| Nicholas Baptiste | 33 | 4 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 14 |
| Casey Mittelstadt | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Brendan Guhle | 18 | 0 | 5 | 5 | −6 | 10 |
| Justin Bailey | 12 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −2 | 2 |
| Jacob Josefson | 39 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −4 | 6 |
| Seth Griffith | 21 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −6 | 6 |
| Justin Falk | 46 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −16 | 28 |
| Josh Gorges | 34 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −4 | 17 |
| Alexander Nylander | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −3 | 0 |
| Taylor Fedun | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 2 |
| Zach Bogosian | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −9 | 20 |
| Matt Tennyson | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −8 | 8 |
| Zach Redmond | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Matt Moulson | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −9 | 2 |
| Kyle Criscuolo | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 4 |
| Hudson Fasching | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
| Danny O'Regan$^†$ | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Robin Lehner | 53 | 50 | 2,852:01 | 14 | 26 | 9 | 143 | 3.01 | 1,560 | .908 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Chad Johnson | 36 | 29 | 1,773:32 | 10 | 16 | 3 | 105 | 3.55 | 962 | .891 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Linus Ullmark | 5 | 3 | 240:18 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 2.00 | 123 | .935 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adam Wilcox | 1 | 0 | 38:39 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 14 | 1.000 | 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

The Sabres have been involved in the following transactions during the 2017–18 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 17, 2017 (2017-06-17) | To Montreal Canadiens3rd-round pick in 2017 | To Buffalo SabresNathan Beaulieu |
| June 21, 2017 (2017-06-21) | To Vegas Golden Knights6th-round pick in 2017 | To Buffalo SabresExpansion draft considerations |
| June 30, 2017 (2017-06-30) | To Minnesota WildTyler Ennis Marcus Foligno 3rd-round pick in 2018 | To Buffalo Sabres seasonJason Pominville Marco Scandella 4th-round pick in 2018 |
| October 4, 2017 (2017-10-04) | To Montreal CanadiensNicolas Deslauriers | To Buffalo SabresZach Redmond |
| December 4, 2017 (2017-12-04) | To Detroit Red Wings5th-round pick in 2019 | To Buffalo SabresScott Wilson |
| February 26, 2018 (2018-02-26) | To San Jose SharksEvander Kane | To Buffalo SabresDanny O'Regan Conditional 1st-round in 2019 Conditional 4th-round pick in 2020 |
| June 14, 2018 (2018-06-14) | To Arizona CoyotesHudson Fasching | To Buffalo SabresRights to Brandon Hickey Rights to Mike Sislo |
Notes:
* The Vegas Golden Knights selected William Carrier in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft. The draft pick was exchanged so that the Golden Knights would not select Linus Ullmark.

### Player signings

| Date | Player | Contract terms (in U.S. dollars) |
| June 26, 2017 (2017-06-26) | Taylor Fedun | 2-year, $1.3 million, two-way contract |
| July 8, 2017 (2017-07-08) | Johan Larsson | 2-year, $2.95 million |
| July 25, 2017 (2017-07-25) | Robin Lehner | 1-year, $4 million |
| July 27, 2017 (2017-07-27) | Evan Rodrigues | 2-year, $1.3 million |
| July 31, 2017 (2017-07-31) | Nathan Beaulieu | 2-year, $4.8 million |
| August 17, 2017 (2017-08-17) | Zemgus Girgensons | 2-year, $3.2 million |
| October 4, 2017 (2017-10-04) | Jack Eichel | 8-year, $80 million contract extension |
| October 23, 2017 (2017-10-23) | Cliff Pu | 3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| March 25, 2018 (2018-03-25) | Will Borgen | 3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| March 26, 2018 (2018-03-26) | Casey Mittelstadt | 3-year, $4.475 million entry-level contract |
| April 24, 2018 (2018-04-24) | Victor Olofsson | 2-year, $1.85 million entry-level contract |
| May 2, 2018 (2018-05-02) | Casey Nelson | 2-year, $1.625 million contract extension |
| May 23, 2018 (2018-05-23) | Rasmus Asplund | 3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| June 14, 2018 (2018-06-14) | Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | 3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract |

## Draft picks

Below are the Buffalo Sabres' selections at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 23 and 24, 2017 at the United Center in Chicago.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 8 | Casey Mittelstadt | C | United States | Green Bay Gamblers (USHL) |
| 2 | 37 | Marcus Davidsson | C | Sweden | Djurgårdens IF (SHL) |
| 2 | 54$^1$ | Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | G | Finland | HPK U20 (Jr. A SM-liiga) |
| 3 | 89$^2$ | Oskari Laaksonen | D | Finland | Ilves U20 (Jr. A SM-liiga) |
| 4 | 99 | Jacob Bryson | D | Canada | Providence College (Hockey East) |
| 7 | 192 | Linus Weissbach | LW | Sweden | Tri-City Storm (USHL) |
Draft notes:
* The Minnesota Wild's second-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on March 2, 2015 that sent Chris Stewart to Minnesota in exchange for this pick.
* The Washington Capitals' third-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on February 23, 2016 that sent Mike Weber to Washington in exchange for this pick.