2021–22 Buffalo Sabres season

The 2021–22 Buffalo Sabres season was the 52nd season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970. The Sabres failed to snap their ten-year playoff drought, having last qualified for the playoffs in the 2010–11 season.
The league returned to its normal October-to-April scheduling, a full 82-game regular season which began on October 12, 2021, but this was contingent on the COVID-19 pandemic and the Government of Canada reducing its COVID-19 cross-border travel restrictions. As a result, the Sabres rejoined the Atlantic Division after a one-season stint in the East Division due to realignment under the league's return to play protocols. On April 6, 2022, after the Washington Capitals defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Sabres were eliminated from playoff contention for the 11th straight season, setting an NHL record.
==Standings==
===Divisional standings===
===Eastern Conference===
==Schedule and results==
===Regular season===
The regular season schedule was published on July 22, 2021.
2021–22 game log 	2021–22 game log 	2021–22 game log 	2021–22 game log 	2021–22 game log 	2021–22 game log 	2021–22 game log 	2021–22 game log 	2021–22 game log 	2021–22 game log 	2021–22 game log
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October: 5–2–1 (Home: 4–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1)	October: 5–2–1 (Home: 4–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1)	October: 5–2–1 (Home: 4–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1)	October: 5–2–1 (Home: 4–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1)	October: 5–2–1 (Home: 4–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1)	October: 5–2–1 (Home: 4–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1)	October: 5–2–1 (Home: 4–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1)	October: 5–2–1 (Home: 4–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1)	October: 5–2–1 (Home: 4–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1)	October: 5–2–1 (Home: 4–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1)	October: 5–2–1 (Home: 4–1–0 ; Road: 1–1–1)
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score 	Home 	OT 	Decision 	Attendance 	Record 	Pts 	Recap
1 	October 14 	Montreal 	1–5 	Buffalo 	 	Anderson 	8,467 	1–0–0 	2 	
2 	October 16 	Arizona 	1–2 	Buffalo 	SO 	Tokarski 	7,872 	2–0–0 	4 	
3 	October 19 	Vancouver 	2–5 	Buffalo 	 	Anderson 	7,376 	3–0–0 	6 	
4 	October 22 	Boston 	4–1 	Buffalo 	 	Anderson 	7,820 	3–1–0 	6 	
5 	October 23 	Buffalo 	1–2 	New Jersey 	OT 	Tokarski 	13,158 	3–1–1 	7 	
6 	October 25 	Tampa Bay 	1–5 	Buffalo 	 	Anderson 	7,417 	4–1–1 	9 	
7 	October 28 	Buffalo 	4–3 	Anaheim 	OT 	Anderson 	12,014 	5–1–1 	11 	
8 	October 31 	Buffalo 	2–3 	Los Angeles 	 	Tokarski 	12,101 	5–2–1 	11 	
==Player statistics==
===Skaters===
Regular season
Player	 	 	 	 	 	
 	78	38	30	68	−17	37
 	80	33	30	63	−14	42
 	80	13	40	53	−22	68
 	72	20	29	49	−16	6
 	74	21	24	45	−15	43
 	79	13	25	38	−19	55
† 	50	12	26	38	−3 	14
 	80	8 	19	27	−5 	10
 	62	13	12	25	−11	24
† 	48	7 	15	22	−20	20
 	40	6 	13	19	−14	4
 	60	3 	16	19	−8 	20
 	56	10	8 	18	−7 	27
 	38	2 	12	14	−2 	21
 	69	4 	8 	12	−15	22
 	68	3 	9 	12	−4 	16
 	73	1 	9 	10	−9 	12
 	42	0 	10	10	−10	16
 	58	5 	3 	8 	−14	10
 	37	2 	6 	8 	−10	0
‡ 	48	1 	7 	8 	−9 	25
 	19	2 	4 	6 	−3 	23
 	36	0 	6 	6 	−19	36
 	19	2 	3 	5 	+2 	4
 	18	2 	3 	5 	−4 	4
 	55	2 	2 	4 	−12	84
 	18	2 	2 	4 	−1 	6
 	8 	2 	1 	3 	+3 	2
 	2 	1 	1 	2 	0 	0
 	4 	1 	0 	1 	−1 	0
 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
‡ 	1 	0 	0 	0 	−2 	0
 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
===Goaltenders===
Regular season
Player	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	31	31	1,867:15	17	12	2	97	3.12	945	.897	0	0	1	0
 	29	28	1,671:26	10	12	5	91	3.27	900	.899	1	0	0	0
 	2 	2 	120:00 	2 	0 	0	4 	2.00	77 	.948	0	0	0	0
 	9 	9 	503:04 	2 	5 	2	23	2.74	277	.917	0	0	0	0
 	12	9 	565:23 	1 	8 	1	38	4.03	354	.893	0	0	0	2
† 	4 	3 	210:28 	0 	2 	1	17	4.85	132	.871	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.
==Awards and honours==
===Awards===
 Regular season
Player	Award	Awarded
 	 	
===Milestones===
===Records===
==Transactions==
The Sabres have been involved in the following transactions during the 2021–22 season.
===Trades===
Date	Details 	Details 	Ref
 	To Philadelphia FlyersRasmus Ristolainen 	To Buffalo SabresRobert Hagg1st round pick in 2021 (Isak Rosen)2nd round pick in 2023 	
 	To Florida PanthersSam Reinhart 	To Buffalo SabresDevon Levi1st round pick in 2022 	
 	To New Jersey Devils5th round pick in 2022 	To Buffalo SabresWill Butcher 	
 	To Vegas Golden KnightsJack EichelConditional 3rd round pick in 2023 or 2024	To Buffalo SabresPeyton KrebsAlex TuchConditional 1st round pick in 2022 or 2023Conditional 2nd round pick in 2023 or 2024	
 	To New York IslandersFuture considerations 	To Buffalo SabresJohnny Boychuk 	
 	To Chicago BlackhawksFuture considerations 	To Buffalo SabresMalcolm Subban 	
 	To Florida PanthersRobert Hagg 	To Buffalo SabresCGY 6th-round pick in 2022 	
===Players acquired===
Date	Player 	Former team 	Term 	Via 	Ref
 	Craig Anderson 	Washington Capitals 	1-year	Free agency	
 	Aaron Dell 	New Jersey Devils 	1-year	Free agency	
 	John Hayden 	Arizona Coyotes 	1-year	Free agency	
 	Vinnie Hinostroza 	Chicago Blackhawks 	1-year	Free agency	
 	Sean Malone 	Nashville Predators 	1-year	Free agency	
 	Ethan Prow 	Florida Panthers 	1-year	Free agency	
 	Mark Pysyk 	Dallas Stars 	1-year	Free agency	
 	Jimmy Schuldt 	Vegas Golden Knights 	1-year	Free agency	
 	Ryan MacInnis 	Columbus Blue Jackets 	1-year	Free agency	
 	Axel Jonsson-Fjallby	Washington Capitals 	 	Waivers 	
 	Christian Wolanin 	Los Angeles Kings 	 	Waivers 	
 	Michael Houser 	Rochester Americans (AHL)	1-year	Free agency	
===Players lost===
Date	Player 	New team 	Term 	Via 	Ref
 	William Borgen 	Seattle Kraken 	 	Expansion draft	
 	Jean-Sebastien Dea 	Montreal Canadiens 	1-year 	Free agency 	
 	Matt Irwin 	Washington Capitals 	1-year 	Free agency 	
 	Steven Fogarty 	Boston Bruins 	1-year 	Free agency 	
 	Carter Hutton 	Arizona Coyotes 	1-year 	Free agency 	
 	Jake McCabe 	Chicago Blackhawks 	4-year 	Free agency 	
 	C. J. Smith 	Carolina Hurricanes 	1-year 	Free agency 	
 	Linus Ullmark 	Boston Bruins 	4-year 	Free agency 	
 	Stefanos Lekkas 	Fort Wayne Komets (ECHL) 	Unknown	Free agency 	
 	Michael Houser 	Rochester Americans (AHL)	1-year 	Free agency 	
 	Riley Sheahan 	Seattle Kraken 	1-year 	Free agency 	
 	Axel Jonsson-Fjallby	Washington Capitals 	 	Waivers 	
 	Tobias Rieder 	Växjö Lakers (SHL) 	1-year 	Free agency 	
===Signings===
Date	Player 	Term 	Contract type	Ref
 	Drake Caggiula 	1-year	Re-signing 	
 	Brandon Davidson 	1-year	Re-signing 	
 	Rasmus Asplund 	2-year	Re-signing 	
 	Casey Fitzgerald 	2-year	Re-signing 	
 	Henri Jokiharju 	3-year	Re-signing 	
 	Casey Mittelstadt	3-year	Re-signing 	
 	Rasmus Dahlin 	3-year	Re-signing 	
 	Owen Power 	3-year	Entry-level 	
 	Josh Bloom 	3-year	Entry-level 	
==Draft picks==
Below are the Buffalo Sabres selections at the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on July 23 and 24, 2021, virtually via video conference call from the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Round	# 	Player 	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1 	1 	Owen Power 	D 	 	University of Michigan (Big Ten)
1 	141 	Isak Rosen 	RW 	Sweden 	Leksands IF (SHL)
2 	33 	Prokhor Poltapov 	RW 	 	HC CSKA Moscow (KHL)
2 	532 	Aleksandr Kisakov 	LW 	 	MHC Dynamo Moscow (MHL)
3 	883 	Stiven Sardarian 	RW 	 	Krasnaya Armiya (MHL)
3 	954 	Joshua Bloom 	LW 	 	Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
4 	97 	Olivier Nadeau 	RW 	 	Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL)
5 	1594	Viljami Marjala 	LW 	 	Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
6 	161 	William von Barnekow-Lofberg	C 	 	Malmo Redhwaks U20 (J20 SuperElit)
6 	1885	Nikita Novikov 	D 	 	Dynamo Moscow (MHL)
7 	193 	Tyson Kozak 	C 	 	Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Notes:
# The Philadelphia Flyers' first-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on July 23, 2021, that sent Rasmus Ristolainen to Philadelphia in exchange for Robert Hagg, a second-round pick in 2023 and this pick.
# The Boston Bruins' second-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on April 11, 2021, that sent Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar to Boston in exchange for Anders Bjork and this pick.
# The Florida Panthers' third-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on April 10, 2021, that sent Brandon Montour to Florida in exchange for this pick.
# The Montreal Canadiens' third and fifth-round picks went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on March 26, 2021, that sent Eric Staal to Montreal in exchange for these picks.
# The Colorado Avalanche's sixth-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on March 20, 2021, that sent Jonas Johansson to Colorado in exchange for this pick.
==References==
Category:2021–22 NHL season by team
Category:Buffalo Sabres seasons