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.

Division Conference League

1996–97 Final Standings

1996–97 Game Results

Buffalo finished 6th in the league, 1st in the Northeast.

Eastern

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	z-New Jersey Devils	82	45	23	14	104	.634	231	182	–	–	+49	101	L1
2	x-Philadelphia Flyers	82	45	24	13	103	.628	274	217	–	–	+57	101	W1
3	y-Buffalo Sabres	82	40	30	12	92	.561	237	208	–	–	+29	93	L2
4	x-Florida Panthers	82	35	28	19	89	.543	221	201	–	–	+20	90	W2
5	x-New York Rangers	82	38	34	10	86	.524	258	231	–	–	+27	91	L1
6	x-Pittsburgh Penguins	82	38	36	8	84	.512	285	280	–	–	+5	83	L3
7	x-Ottawa Senators	82	31	36	15	77	.470	226	234	–	–	-8	79	W3
8	x-Montréal Canadiens	82	31	36	15	77	.470	249	276	–	–	-27	74	T1
9	Washington Capitals	82	33	40	9	75	.457	214	231	–	–	-17	76	W3
10	Hartford Whalers	82	32	39	11	75	.457	226	256	–	–	-30	72	W1
11	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	32	40	10	74	.451	217	247	–	–	-30	71	L1
12	New York Islanders	82	29	41	12	70	.427	240	250	–	–	-10	79	L1
13	Boston Bruins	82	26	47	9	61	.372	234	300	–	–	-66	62	W1

Western

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	p-Colorado Avalanche	82	49	24	9	107	.652	277	205	–	–	+72	106	L1
2	y-Dallas Stars	82	48	26	8	104	.634	252	198	–	–	+54	101	L2
3	x-Detroit Red Wings	82	38	26	18	94	.573	253	197	–	–	+56	102	L2
4	x-Anaheim Ducks	82	36	33	13	85	.518	245	233	–	–	+12	86	W3
5	x-Phoenix Coyotes	82	38	37	7	83	.506	240	243	–	–	-3	81	W1
6	x-St. Louis Blues	82	36	35	11	83	.506	236	239	–	–	-3	81	W3
7	x-Edmonton Oilers	82	36	37	9	81	.494	252	247	–	–	+5	84	L2
8	x-Chicago Blackhawks	82	34	35	13	81	.494	223	210	–	–	+13	87	W2
9	Vancouver Canucks	82	35	40	7	77	.470	257	273	–	–	-16	77	W3
10	Calgary Flames	82	32	41	9	73	.445	214	239	–	–	-25	73	L4
11	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	30	44	8	68	.415	230	273	–	–	-43	68	W1
12	Los Angeles Kings	82	28	43	11	67	.409	214	268	–	–	-54	64	W2
13	San Jose Sharks	82	27	47	8	62	.378	211	278	–	–	-67	60	L2

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 82 GP