# 2018–19 Buffalo Sabres season

The 2018–19 Buffalo Sabres season was the 49th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970.
After experiencing a ten-game winning streak in November that put them atop the NHL standings, the Sabres regressed sharply the rest of the season and were officially eliminated from playoff contention on March 23, 2019, after suffering a 7–4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, joining the 2016–17 Philadelphia Flyers as the only teams in NHL history to win 10 consecutive games and be eliminated from playoff contention.
With the Carolina Hurricanes clinching a playoff berth in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Sabres became the team with the longest active postseason appearance drought in the NHL at eight consecutive seasons, about 1.5 years after their football counterparts, the Buffalo Bills, ended what was the longest active postseason appearance drought in the NFL at 17 consecutive seasons. On April 7, 2019, the Sabres fired Phil Housley, who became the fifth head coach to be fired since the Pegulas bought the team from Tom Golisano in February 2011.

## Standings

Atlantic Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | p – Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 62 | 16 | 4 | 56 | 325 | 222 | +103 | 128 |
| 2 | x – Boston Bruins | 82 | 49 | 24 | 9 | 47 | 259 | 215 | +44 | 107 |
| 3 | x – Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 46 | 28 | 8 | 46 | 286 | 251 | +35 | 100 |
| 4 | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 44 | 30 | 8 | 41 | 249 | 236 | +13 | 96 |
| 5 | Florida Panthers | 82 | 36 | 32 | 14 | 33 | 267 | 280 | −13 | 86 |
| 6 | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 33 | 39 | 10 | 28 | 226 | 271 | −45 | 76 |
| 7 | Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 32 | 40 | 10 | 29 | 227 | 277 | −50 | 74 |
| 8 | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 29 | 47 | 6 | 29 | 242 | 302 | −60 | 64 |
Eastern Conference Wild Card :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | ME | x – Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 46 | 29 | 7 | 44 | 245 | 223 | +22 | 99 |
| 2 | ME | x – Columbus Blue Jackets | 82 | 47 | 31 | 4 | 45 | 258 | 232 | +26 | 98 |
| 3 | AT | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 44 | 30 | 8 | 41 | 249 | 236 | +13 | 96 |
| 4 | AT | Florida Panthers | 82 | 36 | 32 | 14 | 33 | 267 | 280 | −13 | 86 |
| 5 | ME | Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 37 | 37 | 8 | 34 | 244 | 281 | −37 | 82 |
| 6 | ME | New York Rangers | 82 | 32 | 36 | 14 | 26 | 227 | 272 | −45 | 78 |
| 7 | AT | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 33 | 39 | 10 | 28 | 226 | 271 | −45 | 76 |
| 8 | AT | Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 32 | 40 | 10 | 29 | 227 | 277 | −50 | 74 |
| 9 | ME | New Jersey Devils | 82 | 31 | 41 | 10 | 28 | 222 | 275 | −53 | 72 |
| 10 | AT | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 29 | 47 | 6 | 29 | 242 | 302 | −60 | 64 |

## Schedule and results
### Preseason

The preseason schedule was published on June 15, 2018.

### Regular season

The regular season schedule was released on June 21, 2018.
2018–19 game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

## Player statistics

As of April 6, 2019

### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Jack Eichel | 77 | 28 | 54 | 82 | −11 | 26 |
| Sam Reinhart | 82 | 22 | 43 | 65 | −10 | 16 |
| Jeff Skinner | 82 | 40 | 23 | 63 | 0 | 36 |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 82 | 9 | 35 | 44 | −13 | 34 |
| Rasmus Ristolainen | 78 | 5 | 38 | 43 | −41 | 38 |
| Conor Sheary | 78 | 14 | 20 | 34 | −18 | 12 |
| Jason Pominville | 73 | 16 | 15 | 31 | −4 | 4 |
| Kyle Okposo | 78 | 14 | 15 | 29 | −9 | 41 |
| Evan Rodrigues | 74 | 9 | 20 | 29 | −7 | 25 |
| Casey Mittelstadt | 77 | 12 | 13 | 25 | −19 | 10 |
| Zach Bogosian | 65 | 3 | 16 | 19 | −5 | 52 |
| Zemgus Girgensons | 72 | 5 | 13 | 18 | −11 | 17 |
| Johan Larsson | 73 | 6 | 8 | 14 | −8 | 37 |
| Jake McCabe | 59 | 4 | 10 | 14 | −4 | 35 |
| Marco Scandella | 63 | 6 | 7 | 13 | −13 | 26 |
| Vladimir Sobotka | 69 | 5 | 8 | 13 | −20 | 26 |
| Tage Thompson | 65 | 7 | 5 | 12 | −22 | 20 |
| Brandon Montour$^†$ | 20 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −4 | 16 |
| Nathan Beaulieu$^‡$ | 30 | 3 | 4 | 7 | +1 | 32 |
| Lawrence Pilut | 33 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −8 | 20 |
| Casey Nelson | 38 | 1 | 5 | 6 | +1 | 13 |
| Victor Olofsson | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | +1 | 2 |
| Alexander Nylander | 12 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −4 | 4 |
| Patrik Berglund | 23 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −5 | 6 |
| Scott Wilson | 15 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −8 | 4 |
| C. J. Smith | 11 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Hunwick | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −7 | 4 |
| Remi Elie | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 2 |
| Danny O'Regan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brendan Guhle$^‡$ | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 |
| William Borgen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −5 | 0 |
| Matt Tennyson | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Carter Hutton | 50 | 48 | 2,839 | 18 | 25 | 5 | 142 | 3.00 | 1541 | .908 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Linus Ullmark | 37 | 34 | 2,102 | 15 | 14 | 5 | 109 | 3.11 | 1146 | .905 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 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 2018–19 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 23, 2018 (2018-06-23) | To Toronto Maple Leafs6th-round pick in 2018 | To Buffalo Sabres6th-round pick in 2019 |
| June 27, 2018 (2018-06-27) | To Pittsburgh PenguinsConditional 4th-round pick in 2019 | To Buffalo SabresConor Sheary Matt Hunwick |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | To St. Louis BluesRyan O'Reilly | To Buffalo SabresPatrik Berglund Vladimir Sobotka Tage Thompson 1st-round pick in 2019 2nd-round pick in 2021 |
| August 2, 2018 (2018-08-02) | To Carolina HurricanesCliff Pu 2nd-round pick in 2019 3rd-round pick in 2020 6th-round pick in 2020 | To Buffalo SabresJeff Skinner |
| October 1, 2018 (2018-10-01) | To Nashville PredatorsNicholas Baptiste | To Buffalo SabresJack Dougherty |
| November 10, 2018 (2018-11-10) | To Dallas StarsTaylor Fedun | To Buffalo SabresConditional 7th-round pick in 2020 |
| January 17, 2019 (2019-01-17) | To Philadelphia FlyersJustin Bailey | To Buffalo SabresTaylor Leier |
| February 24, 2019 (2019-02-24) | To Anaheim DucksBrendan Guhle Conditional 1st-round pick in 2019 | To Buffalo SabresBrandon Montour |
| February 25, 2019 (2019-02-25) | To Winnipeg JetsNathan Beaulieu | To Buffalo Sabres6th-round pick in 2019 |

### Free agents

| Date | Player | Team | Contract term |
| June 26, 2018 (2018-06-26) | Adam Wilcox | to Rochester Americans (AHL) | 1-year |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | Seth Griffith | to Winnipeg Jets | 1-year |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | Carter Hutton | from St. Louis Blues | 3-year |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | Chad Johnson | to St. Louis Blues | 1-year |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | Scott Wedgewood | from Los Angeles Kings | 1-year |
| July 2, 2018 (2018-07-02) | Viktor Antipin | to Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL) | 3-year |
| July 2, 2018 (2018-07-02) | Mike Sislo | to New York Islanders | 1-year |
| July 5, 2018 (2018-07-05) | Jordan Nolan | to St. Louis Blues | 1-year |
| February 24, 2019 (2019-02-24) | Adam Wilcox | from Rochester Americans (AHL) | 1-year |
| May 8, 2019 (2019-05-08) | Arttu Ruotsalainen | from Ilves (Liiga) | 3-year |

### Waivers

| Date | Player | Team | Ref |
| October 2, 2018 (2018-10-02) | Remi Elie | from Dallas Stars | |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Contract term |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | Brandon Hickey | 2-year |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | Scott Wilson | 2-year |
| July 9, 2018 (2018-07-09) | Rasmus Dahlin | 3-year |
| July 12, 2018 (2018-07-12) | Sean Malone | 1-year |
| July 15, 2018 (2018-07-15) | Justin Bailey | 1-year |
| July 15, 2018 (2018-07-15) | Nicholas Baptiste | 1-year |
| July 15, 2018 (2018-07-15) | Danny O'Regan | 1-year |
| July 16, 2018 (2018-07-16) | C. J. Smith | 1-year |
| September 19, 2018 (2018-09-19) | Sam Reinhart | 2-year |
| October 17, 2018 (2018-10-17) | Matej Pekar | 3-year |
| March 26, 2019 (2019-03-26) | Casey Fitzgerald | 2-year |
| April 15, 2019 (2019-04-15) | Jacob Bryson | 3-year |
| June 7, 2019 (2019-06-07) | Jeff Skinner | 8-year |

## Draft picks

Below are the Buffalo Sabres' selections at the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 22 and 23, 2018, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 1 | Rasmus Dahlin | D | Sweden | Frolunda HC (SHL) |
| 2 | 32 | Mattias Samuelsson | D | United States | U.S. NTDP (USHL) |
| 4 | 94 | Matej Pekar | C | Czech Republic | Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL) |
| 4 | 117$^1$ | Linus Lindstrand Cronholm | D | Sweden | Malmo Redhawks J20 (SuperElit) |
| 5 | 125 | Miska Kukkonen | D | Finland | Ilves U20 (Nuorten SM-liiga) |
| 7 | 187 | William Worge Kreu | D | Sweden | Linkopings HC J20 (SuperElit) |
Notes:
* The Minnesota Wild's fourth-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on June 30, 2017 that sent Tyler Ennis, Marcus Foligno and a third-round pick to Minnesota in exchange for Jason Pominville, Marco Scandella and this pick.