About the Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres burst onto the NHL in 1970-71, nabbing future hall-of-famer Gilbert Perreault in the 1970 amateur draft. Perreault went on to score 38 goals in his first season, a record-breaking feat for a rookie. During their second season, the team acquired French-Canadian players Rick Martin and Rene Robert who, along with Perreault, earned the nickname The French Connection. The team made it to the playoffs during their third season, losing in the quarter-finals to the Montreal Canadiens, a game that went down in sports history after their loyal fans serenaded the team with the chant Thank you Sabres! Thank you Sabres! at the close of their losing game.

The team tied for the best NHL record in the 1974-75 season and played in the finals against the Flyers. The French Connection continued to be high scorers throughout the 1975-76 season, but the team lost in the quarter-finals to the New York Islanders. They didnt make it to the Stanley Cup finals during the 70s, but did win a regular-season conference championship in 1980 and were the first NHL team to beat the touring Russian Olympic team.

Robert and Martin were traded in the early 80s, and Perreault retired after 16 years in 1986. They missed the playoffs only twice in the 80s, but rarely got past the first round. The Sabres signed the first young Soviet player to defect after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Alexander Mogilny, who had a league-leading 76 goals in the 92-93 season. The team finally advanced past the first round of the playoffs that year, but lost to Cup champs Canadiens.

Buffalo acquired Dominik Hasek from the Blackhawks during the 92-93 season. The Dominator became their starting goaltender and a legendary goalie, breaking many longstanding records. Ted Nolan began his coaching career with the Sabres during the 95-96 season, during which the team had little success but was referred to the Hardest Working Team in History.

They had a comeback in 96-97 at a their new arena, the Marine Midland, and won the Northeast Division. The off-season led to new ownership and the cancellation of Nolans coaching contract due to infighting between managers and players. The Sabres reached the conference finals in 1998, but lost to the Washington Capitals in six games.

The Sabres had a new beginning after being sold to Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano in 2003, who lowered ticket prices upon purchase of the team. They narrowly missed the playoffs the following season. They earned an Eastern Playoff spot in 2005-06, and tied the Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes for the most wins in the Eastern Conference. They defeated the Flyers in the first round of the 2006 playoffs and the top-ranked Senators in the second round, but were upset by Cup winners Carolina Hurricanes in a heartbreaking game seven. Coach Lindy Ruff won the Jack Adams award as Coach of the Year after in 2006, barely edging out Carolina coach Peter Laviolette with the awards closest vote in history.