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

2008–09 Final Standings

2008–09 Game Results

Buffalo finished 18th in the league, 3rd in the Northeast.

Eastern

Northeast

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	z-Boston Bruins	82	53	19	10	116	.707	274	196	4	6	+78	110	W1
2	x-Montréal Canadiens	82	41	30	11	93	.567	249	247	7	7	+2	83	L1
3	Buffalo Sabres	82	41	32	9	91	.555	250	234	8	5	+16	87	W3
4	Ottawa Senators	82	36	35	11	83	.506	217	237	4	6	-20	75	L1
5	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	34	35	13	81	.494	250	293	6	7	-43	69	W1

Southeast

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Washington Capitals	82	50	24	8	108	.659	272	245	4	5	+27	91	L1
2	x-Carolina Hurricanes	82	45	30	7	97	.591	239	226	3	5	+13	87	L2
3	Florida Panthers	82	41	30	11	93	.567	234	231	3	8	+3	85	W2
4	Atlanta Thrashers	82	35	41	6	76	.463	257	280	7	1	-23	73	W1
5	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	24	40	18	66	.402	210	279	3	10	-69	61	L4

Atlantic

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-New Jersey Devils	82	51	27	4	106	.646	244	209	6	2	+35	93	W2
2	x-Pittsburgh Penguins	82	45	28	9	99	.604	264	239	6	6	+25	90	W3
3	x-Philadelphia Flyers	82	44	27	11	99	.604	264	238	4	6	+26	91	L1
4	x-New York Rangers	82	43	30	9	95	.579	210	218	10	6	-8	77	W3
5	New York Islanders	82	26	47	9	61	.372	201	279	3	5	-78	56	L4

Western

Pacific

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	p-San Jose Sharks	82	53	18	11	117	.713	257	204	6	5	+53	101	L2
2	x-Anaheim Ducks	82	42	33	7	91	.555	245	238	7	3	+7	83	OT1
3	Dallas Stars	82	36	35	11	83	.506	230	257	6	6	-27	73	OT1
4	Phoenix Coyotes	82	36	39	7	79	.482	208	252	3	3	-44	66	W2
5	Los Angeles Kings	82	34	37	11	79	.482	207	234	5	8	-27	73	W1

Central

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Detroit Red Wings	82	51	21	10	112	.683	295	244	6	4	+51	97	L2
2	x-Chicago Blackhawks	82	46	24	12	104	.634	264	216	4	7	+48	100	W2
3	x-St. Louis Blues	82	41	31	10	92	.561	233	233	6	6	0	82	W3
4	x-Columbus Blue Jackets	82	41	31	10	92	.561	226	230	6	7	-4	81	L2
5	Nashville Predators	82	40	34	8	88	.537	213	233	6	5	-20	74	L1

Northwest

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Vancouver Canucks	82	45	27	10	100	.610	246	220	3	7	+26	93	W3
2	x-Calgary Flames	82	46	30	6	98	.598	254	248	3	2	+6	84	W1
3	Minnesota Wild	82	40	33	9	89	.543	219	200	5	3	+19	89	W3
4	Edmonton Oilers	82	38	35	9	85	.518	234	248	6	4	-14	76	L1
5	Colorado Avalanche	82	32	45	5	69	.421	199	257	9	4	-58	59	L1

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

Standings goals include the shootout deciding goal, one per shootout result, as every league standings page does. The rest of this site leaves it out, so the season pages read lower by each team's shootout record: GF minus SOW and GA minus SOL are the goals for and against on the Scores and Team Stats pages. DIFF follows the goals beside it, so it reads higher here than everywhere else on the site by a team's shootout wins less its shootout losses.

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, from goals excluding the shootout deciding goal (GF minus SOW, GA minus SOL), the same goals the rest of the site counts. 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