Franchise History

Standings by Year

As of:

Final NHL standings as of the last day of the regular season, for any year on record. View by Division, Conference, or League, and track where Buffalo (and every other team) stood across a season with the trend chart below.

1983–84 Final Standings

1983–84 Game Results

Buffalo finished 4th in the league, 2nd in the Adams.

Prince of Wales

TeamGPWLTPTSPTS%GFGASOWSOLDIFFxPTSSTRK
1y-New York Islanders8050264104.650357269+88102W4
2x-Boston Bruins8049256104.650336261+75100W5
3x-Buffalo Sabres8048257103.644315257+5896W1
4x-Washington Capitals8048275101.631308226+82104W1
5x-Philadelphia Flyers8044261098.613350290+6095L1
6x-Quebec Nordiques8042281094.588360278+82100W2
7x-New York Rangers804229993.581314304+1083W1
8x-Montréal Canadiens803540575.469286295-978L6
9Hartford Whalers8028421066.412288320-3272L1
10New Jersey Devils801756741.256231350-11949L8
11Pittsburgh Penguins801658638.237254390-13648L6

Clarence Campbell

TeamGPWLTPTSPTS%GFGASOWSOLDIFFxPTSSTRK
1y-Edmonton Oilers8057185119.744446314+132107W3
2y-Minnesota North Stars8039311088.550345344+180L1
3x-Calgary Flames8034321482.512311314-379L1
4x-Vancouver Canucks803239973.456306328-2274T1
5x-Winnipeg Jets (1979)8031381173.456340374-3472W2
6x-St. Louis Blues803241771.444293316-2374L3
7x-Detroit Red Wings803142769.431298323-2574L2
8x-Chicago Blackhawks803042868.425277311-3471W2
9Toronto Maple Leafs802645961.381303387-8461L1
10Los Angeles Kings8023441359.369309376-6764L1

x - clinched playoff spot, y - clinched division, z - clinched conference, p - clinched Presidents' Trophy.

xPTS is the points a team’s goals for and against project: the Pythagorean win estimate GF² / (GF² + GA²), scaled to points as win% × 2 × games played. It follows the current pace on any “as of” date. +/-xPTS is real points minus xPTS, after removing each team’s overtime-loss points. That step matters because xPTS splits a flat 2 points per game, while an overtime game pays out 3, so without it almost every team since 1999–00 reads as lucky. What is left is the points a team banked above or below its goal margin: positive means winning more of the close and overtime games than goal difference alone predicts.

Standings Over the Course of the Season

Buffalo in navy. Tap any team to compare.
through 80 GP
1st5th10th15th21st1020304050607080games playedBUF 4th