2016–17 Buffalo Sabres season
The 2016–17 Buffalo Sabres season was the 47th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970. Buffalo missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. Off-season. The Sabres held their annual development camp during the second weekend of July. After the previous two seasons in which the Sabres held the tournament in the First Niagara Center, this edition was held at HarborCenter. The Sabres reprised their hosting of a prospect tournament for 2016, after the success of the first event in 2015. The New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins  returned for the tournament, which ran September 16–19, partially opposite the 2016 World Cup of Hockey; in contrast to the previous season, the Sabres lost both prospect tournament games and finished in third place. The Sabres contributed three players to the World Cup: Jack Eichel for Team North America, Ryan O'Reilly for Canada, and Rasmus Ristolainen for Finland. On July 16, 2016, the Sabres hired Tom Ward as an assistant coach. Ward had spent the previous 18 seasons as the head coach for the Minnesota High School boys prep team. The Sabres also announced that the naming rights to their  home arena will change. Due to First Niagara Financial Group, the arena's previous rights holder, being subsumed into KeyBank, the team's arena was renamed KeyBank Center for the 2016–17 season. The arena naming rights have passed through a succession of regional banks, having been known as First Niagara Center, HSBC Arena and Marine Midland Arena, through its 20-year history. Player stats. As of April 9, 2017 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 2016–17 season: Draft picks. Below are the Buffalo Sabres' selections at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, held on June 24–25, 2016 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York.