2002–03 Buffalo Sabres | |
---|---|
Division | 5th Northeast |
Conference | 12th Eastern |
2002–03 record | 27–37–10–8 |
Home record | 18–18–5–2 |
Road record | 9–27–5–6 |
Goals for | 190 |
Goals against | 219 |
Team information | |
General manager | Darcy Regier |
Coach | Lindy Ruff |
Captain |
Stu Barnes (Oct-Mar) Vacant (Mar-Apr) |
Alternate captains |
Rob Ray (Oct-Mar) Rhett Warrener |
Arena | HSBC Arena |
Average attendance | 13,776 |
Minor league affiliate(s) | Rochester Americans |
Team leaders | |
Goals | Miroslav Satan (26) |
Assists | Miroslav Satan (49) |
Points | Miroslav Satan (75) |
Penalty minutes | Eric Boulton (178) |
Plus/minus | Jochen Hecht and Curtis Brown (+4) |
Wins | Martin Biron (17) |
Goals against average | Mika Noronen (2.42) |
The 2002–03 Buffalo Sabres season was the 33rd season of operation for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970. [1] The Sabres failed to qualify for the playoffs for a second consecutive season. The 72 points accumulated in the regular season was the lowest total for the franchise since the 1986–87 season.
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adding to it. (July 2010) |
No. | CR | GP | W | L | T | OTL | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 52 | 21 | 8 | 1 | 263 | 182 | 113 |
2 | 5 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 44 | 28 | 7 | 3 | 236 | 208 | 98 |
3 | 7 | Boston Bruins | 82 | 36 | 31 | 11 | 4 | 245 | 237 | 87 |
4 | 10 | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 30 | 35 | 8 | 9 | 206 | 234 | 77 |
5 | 12 | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 27 | 37 | 10 | 8 | 190 | 219 | 72 |
Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.
R | Div | GP | W | L | T | OTL | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | P- Ottawa Senators | NE | 82 | 52 | 21 | 8 | 1 | 263 | 182 | 113 |
2 | Y- New Jersey Devils | AT | 82 | 46 | 20 | 10 | 6 | 216 | 166 | 108 |
3 | Y- Tampa Bay Lightning | SE | 82 | 36 | 25 | 16 | 5 | 219 | 210 | 93 |
4 | X- Philadelphia Flyers | AT | 82 | 45 | 20 | 13 | 4 | 211 | 166 | 107 |
5 | X- Toronto Maple Leafs | NE | 82 | 44 | 28 | 7 | 3 | 236 | 208 | 98 |
6 | X- Washington Capitals | SE | 82 | 39 | 29 | 8 | 6 | 224 | 220 | 92 |
7 | X- Boston Bruins | NE | 82 | 36 | 31 | 11 | 4 | 245 | 237 | 87 |
8 | X- New York Islanders | AT | 82 | 35 | 34 | 11 | 2 | 224 | 231 | 83 |
8.5 | ||||||||||
9 | New York Rangers | AT | 82 | 32 | 36 | 10 | 4 | 210 | 231 | 78 |
10 | Montreal Canadiens | NE | 82 | 30 | 35 | 8 | 9 | 206 | 234 | 77 |
11 | Atlanta Thrashers | SE | 82 | 31 | 39 | 7 | 5 | 226 | 284 | 74 |
12 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 82 | 27 | 37 | 10 | 8 | 190 | 219 | 72 |
13 | Florida Panthers | SE | 82 | 24 | 36 | 13 | 9 | 176 | 237 | 70 |
14 | Pittsburgh Penguins | AT | 82 | 27 | 44 | 6 | 5 | 189 | 255 | 65 |
15 | Carolina Hurricanes | SE | 82 | 22 | 43 | 11 | 6 | 171 | 240 | 61 |
Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast
P – Clinched Presidents Trophy; Y – Clinched Division; X – Clinched Playoff spot
2002–03 regular season [4] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 3–5–2–0 (home: 2–2–1–0; road: 1–3–1–0)
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November: 1–9–2–1 (home: 1–4–1–0; road: 0–5–1–1)
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December: 4–8–1–1 (home: 3–4–1–1; road: 1–4–0–0)
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January: 7–2–2–2 (home: 3–1–1–0; road: 4–1–1–2)
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February: 4–7–1–1 (home: 3–3–0–0; road: 1–4–1–1)
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March: 7–5–1–3 (home: 5–2–0–1; road: 2–3–1–2)
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April: 1–1–1–0 (home: 1–0–1–0; road: 0–1–0–0)
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Legend:
Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) Overtime loss (1 point) |
Regular season | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
81 | Miroslav Satan | LW | 79 | 26 | 49 | 75 | −3 | 20 |
77 | Chris Gratton‡ | C | 66 | 15 | 29 | 44 | −5 | 86 |
12 | Ales Kotalik | RW | 68 | 21 | 14 | 35 | −2 | 30 |
17 | Jean-Pierre Dumont | RW | 76 | 14 | 21 | 35 | −14 | 44 |
41 | Stu Barnes‡ | C | 68 | 11 | 21 | 32 | −13 | 20 |
37 | Curtis Brown | C | 74 | 15 | 16 | 31 | 4 | 40 |
24 | Taylor Pyatt | LW | 78 | 14 | 14 | 28 | −8 | 38 |
71 | Jochen Hecht | LW | 49 | 10 | 16 | 26 | 4 | 30 |
18 | Tim Connolly | C | 80 | 12 | 13 | 25 | −28 | 32 |
45 | Dmitri Kalinin | D | 65 | 8 | 13 | 21 | −7 | 57 |
44 | Alexei Zhitnik | D | 70 | 3 | 18 | 21 | −5 | 85 |
51 | Brian Campbell | D | 65 | 2 | 17 | 19 | −8 | 20 |
22 | Adam Mair | C | 79 | 6 | 11 | 17 | −4 | 146 |
3 | James Patrick | D | 69 | 4 | 12 | 16 | −3 | 26 |
10 | Henrik Tallinder | D | 46 | 3 | 10 | 13 | −3 | 28 |
48 | Daniel Briere† | C | 14 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 12 |
25 | Vaclav Varada‡ | RW | 44 | 7 | 4 | 11 | −2 | 23 |
61 | Maxim Afinogenov | RW | 35 | 5 | 6 | 11 | −12 | 21 |
4 | Rhett Warrener | D | 50 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 63 |
26 | Eric Boulton | LW | 58 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 178 |
28 | Jason Botterill | LW | 17 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 14 |
74 | Jay McKee | D | 59 | 0 | 5 | 5 | −16 | 49 |
8 | Rory Fitzpatrick | D | 36 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −7 | 16 |
16 | Chris Taylor | C | 11 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 |
5 | Jason Woolley‡ | D | 14 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −1 | 29 |
55 | Denis Hamel | LW | 25 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −4 | 17 |
19 | Norm Milley | RW | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −2 | 6 |
15 | Milan Bartovic | RW | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
43 | Martin Biron | G | 54 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |
60 | Paul Gaustad | C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
21 | Radoslav Hecl | D | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
6 | Doug Houda | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 2 |
33 | Doug Janik | D | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
29 | Jaroslav Kristek | RW | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 4 |
23 | Sean McMorrow | LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
30 | Ryan Miller | G | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
35 | Mika Noronen | G | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
32 | Rob Ray‡ | RW | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −5 | 92 |
Regular season | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Player | GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
43 | Martin Biron | 54 | 17 | 28 | 6 | 1468 | 135 | 2.56 | .908 | 4 | 3170 |
30 | Ryan Miller | 15 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 410 | 40 | 2.63 | .902 | 1 | 912 |
35 | Mika Noronen | 16 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 411 | 36 | 2.42 | .912 | 1 | 891 |
Type | Award/honor | Recipient | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
League (in-season) |
NHL All-Star Game selection | Miroslav Satan [a] | [6] |
NHL Player of the Week | Miroslav Satan (December 9) | [7] | |
NHL Rookie of the Month | Ales Kotalik (January) | [8] | |
NHL YoungStars Game selection | Ryan Miller | [9] | |
Taylor Pyatt | |||
Henrik Tallinder |
The Sabres were involved in the following transactions from June 14, 2002, the day after the deciding game of the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 9, 2003, the day of the deciding game of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. [10]
Date | Details | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|
June 22, 2002 | To Buffalo Sabres 1st-round pick in 2002 |
To
Columbus Blue Jackets Rights to Mike Pandolfo 1st-round pick in 2002 |
[11] |
June 22, 2002 | To Buffalo Sabres 2nd-round pick in 2002 3rd-round pick in 2002 |
To
Atlanta Thrashers Vyacheslav Kozlov 2nd-round pick in 2002 |
[11] |
June 22, 2002 | To Buffalo Sabres 2nd-round pick in 2002 |
To
Nashville Predators 3rd-round pick in 2002 2nd-round pick in 2003 |
[11] |
June 22, 2002 | To Buffalo Sabres Jochen Hecht |
To
Edmonton Oilers Atlanta’s 2nd-round pick in 2002 Nashville’s 2nd-round pick in 2002 |
[11] |
July 24, 2002 | To Buffalo Sabres Adam Mair 5th-round pick in 2003 |
To
Los Angeles Kings Erik Rasmussen |
[12] |
November 16, 2002 | To Buffalo Sabres Future considerations |
To
Detroit Red Wings Jason Woolley |
[13] |
February 25, 2003 | To Buffalo Sabres Rights to Jakub Klepis |
To
Ottawa Senators Vaclav Varada 5th-round pick in 2003 |
[14] |
March 10, 2003 | To Buffalo Sabres Future considerations |
To Ottawa Senators Rob Ray |
[15] |
March 10, 2003 | To Buffalo Sabres Rights to Michael Ryan 2nd-round pick in 2003 |
To
Dallas Stars Stu Barnes |
[16] |
March 11, 2003 | To Buffalo Sabres Daniel Briere 3rd-round pick in 2004 |
To
Phoenix Coyotes Chris Gratton 4th-round pick in 2004 |
[17] |
Date | Player | Former team | Term | Via | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
August 7, 2002 | Peter Ratchuk | Pittsburgh Penguins | Free agency | [18] | |
August 12, 2002 | Jason Botterill | Calgary Flames | Free agency | [19] |
Date | Player | New team | Via [b] | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
June 14, 2002 | Christian Matte | ZSC Lions ( NLA) | Free agency (VI) | [21] |
July 10, 2002 | Richard Smehlik | Atlanta Thrashers | Free agency (III) | [22] |
July 29, 2002 | Darren Van Oene | Boston Bruins | Free agency (UFA) | [23] |
August 3, 2002 | Bob Corkum | Retirement (III) | [24] | |
August 18, 2002 | Mike Hurlbut | Retirement (VI) | [25] | |
September 10, 2002 | Bob Essensa | Retirement (III) | [26] | |
N/A | Mario Larocque | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins ( AHL) | Free agency (UFA) | [27] |
October 2, 2002 | Luc Theoret | Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs ( CHL) | Free agency (UFA) | [28] |
December 3, 2002 | Jeremy Adduono | Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL) | Free agency (II) | [29] |
Date | Player | Term | Contract type | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
June 27, 2002 | Curtis Brown | 1-year | Option exercised | [30] |
Jay McKee | 1-year | Option exercised | [30] | |
July 3, 2002 | Rob Ray | 1-year | Re-signing | [31] |
July 12, 2002 | Mika Noronen | multi-year | Re-signing | [32] |
July 25, 2002 | James Patrick | 2-year | Re-signing | [33] |
July 30, 2002 | Tim Connolly | 1-year | Re-signing | [34] |
July 31, 2002 | Brian Campbell | Re-signing | [35] | |
Chris Gratton | Re-signing | [35] | ||
Rhett Warrener | Re-signing | [35] | ||
August 7, 2002 | Rory Fitzpatrick | Re-signing | [18] | |
August 8, 2002 | Martin Biron | 2-year | Re-signing | [36] |
Radoslav Hecl | Entry-level | [37] | ||
Jason Pominville | Entry-level | [37] | ||
August 12, 2002 | Francois Methot | Re-signing | [19] | |
August 26, 2002 | Ryan Miller | 2-year | Entry-level | [38] |
September 4, 2002 | Maxim Afinogenov | multi-year | Re-signing | [39] |
September 18, 2002 | Jiri Novotny | multi-year | Entry-level | [40] |
October 8, 2002 | Vaclav Varada | Re-signing | [41] | |
May 28, 2003 | Derek Roy | Entry-level | [42] | |
Chris Thorburn | Entry-level | [42] |
Buffalo's draft picks at the 2002 NHL Entry Draft held at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. [43]
Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 11 | Keith Ballard | United States | University of Minnesota (WCHA) |
1 | 20 | Daniel Paille | Canada | Guelph Storm (OHL) |
3 | 76 | Michael Tessier | Canada | Acadie-Bathurst Titan (QMJHL) |
3 | 82 | John Adams | United States | Boston College (Hockey East) |
4 | 108 | Jakub Hulva | Czech Republic | HC Vitkovice Jr. (Czech Republic) |
4 | 121 | Marty Magers | United States | Omaha Lancers (USHL) |
6 | 178 | Maxim Shchevyev | Russia | Elemash Elektrostal (Russia) |
7 | 208 | Radoslav Hecl | Slovakia | Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) |
8 | 241 | Dennis Wideman | Canada | London Knights (OHL) |
9 | 271 | Martin Cizek | Czech Republic | Slavia Prague Jr. (Czech Republic) |
Atlanta Thrashers -- Signed free agent defenseman Richard Smehlik.