2003-04 Buffalo Sabres | |
---|---|
Division | 5th Northeast |
Conference | 9th Eastern |
2003-04 record | 37–34–7–4 |
Home record | 21–16–4–3 |
Road record | 16–21–3–1 |
Goals for | 220 |
Goals against | 221 |
Team information | |
General manager | Darcy Regier |
Coach | Lindy Ruff |
Captain | Rotating Miroslav Satan (Oct) Chris Drury (Nov, Mar-Apr) James Patrick (Dec) Jean-Pierre Dumont (Jan) Daniel Briere (Feb) |
Arena | HSBC Arena |
Average attendance | 15,289 |
Minor league affiliate(s) | Rochester Americans |
Team leaders | |
Goals | Miroslav Satan (29) |
Assists | Daniel Briere and Jochen Hecht (37) |
Points | Daniel Briere |
Penalty minutes | Andrew Peters (151) |
Plus/minus | Jochen Hecht |
Wins | Martin Biron (26) |
Goals against average | Martin Biron (2.52) |
The 2003–04 Buffalo Sabres season was the 34th 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 the third consecutive season.
On March 17, 2004, Derek Roy scored just 15 seconds into the overtime period to give the Sabres a 4–3 road win over the Atlanta Thrashers. [2] Roy tied the Blackhawks' Mark Bell, who had also scored 15 seconds into the overtime period in Chicago's 4–3 home win over the Detroit Red Wings on December 11, 2003. [3] Both goals would end up being the fastest overtime goals scored during the 2003-04 NHL regular season. [4]
No. | CR | GP | W | L | T | OTL | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Boston Bruins | 82 | 41 | 19 | 15 | 7 | 209 | 188 | 104 |
2 | 4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 45 | 24 | 10 | 3 | 242 | 204 | 103 |
3 | 5 | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 43 | 23 | 10 | 6 | 262 | 189 | 102 |
4 | 7 | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 41 | 30 | 7 | 4 | 208 | 192 | 93 |
5 | 9 | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 37 | 34 | 7 | 4 | 220 | 221 | 85 |
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 | Z- Tampa Bay Lightning | SE | 82 | 46 | 22 | 8 | 6 | 245 | 192 | 106 |
2 | Y- Boston Bruins | NE | 82 | 41 | 19 | 15 | 7 | 209 | 188 | 104 |
3 | Y- Philadelphia Flyers | AT | 82 | 40 | 21 | 15 | 6 | 209 | 188 | 101 |
4 | X- Toronto Maple Leafs | NE | 82 | 45 | 24 | 10 | 3 | 242 | 204 | 103 |
5 | X- Ottawa Senators | NE | 82 | 43 | 23 | 10 | 6 | 262 | 189 | 102 |
6 | X- New Jersey Devils | AT | 82 | 43 | 25 | 12 | 2 | 213 | 164 | 100 |
7 | X- Montreal Canadiens | NE | 82 | 41 | 30 | 7 | 4 | 208 | 192 | 93 |
8 | X- New York Islanders | AT | 82 | 38 | 29 | 11 | 4 | 237 | 210 | 91 |
8.5 | ||||||||||
9 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 82 | 37 | 34 | 7 | 4 | 220 | 221 | 85 |
10 | Atlanta Thrashers | SE | 82 | 33 | 37 | 8 | 4 | 214 | 243 | 78 |
11 | Carolina Hurricanes | SE | 82 | 28 | 34 | 14 | 6 | 172 | 209 | 76 |
12 | Florida Panthers | SE | 82 | 28 | 35 | 15 | 4 | 188 | 221 | 75 |
13 | New York Rangers | AT | 82 | 27 | 40 | 7 | 8 | 206 | 250 | 69 |
14 | Washington Capitals | SE | 82 | 23 | 46 | 10 | 3 | 186 | 253 | 59 |
15 | Pittsburgh Penguins | AT | 82 | 23 | 47 | 8 | 4 | 190 | 303 | 58 |
Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast
Z – Clinched Conference; Y – Clinched Division; X – Clinched Playoff spot
2003–04 regular season [7] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 6–5–0–0 (home: 2–2–0–0; road: 4–3–0–0)
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November: 5–6–2–1 (home: 4–1–1–1; road: 1–5–1–0)
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December: 4–8–1–0 (home: 2–5–1–0; road: 2–3–0–0)
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January: 8–6–2–0 (home: 5–1–1–0; road: 3–5–1–0)
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February: 5–5–1–0 (home: 4–2–1–0; road: 1–3–0–0)
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March: 9–2–1–3 (home: 4–1–0–2; road: 5–1–1–1)
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April: 0–2–0–0 (home: 0–1–0–0; 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 |
48 | Daniel Briere | C | 82 | 28 | 37 | 65 | −7 | 70 |
81 | Miroslav Satan | LW | 82 | 29 | 28 | 57 | −15 | 30 |
17 | Jean-Pierre Dumont | RW | 77 | 22 | 31 | 53 | −9 | 40 |
23 | Chris Drury | C | 76 | 18 | 35 | 53 | 8 | 68 |
55 | Jochen Hecht | LW | 64 | 15 | 37 | 52 | 17 | 49 |
45 | Dmitri Kalinin | D | 77 | 10 | 24 | 34 | 0 | 42 |
61 | Maxim Afinogenov | RW | 73 | 17 | 14 | 31 | −4 | 57 |
44 | Alexei Zhitnik | D | 68 | 4 | 24 | 28 | −13 | 102 |
12 | Ales Kotalik | RW | 62 | 15 | 11 | 26 | −1 | 41 |
37 | Curtis Brown‡ | C | 68 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 2 | 30 |
24 | Taylor Pyatt | LW | 63 | 8 | 12 | 20 | −7 | 25 |
22 | Adam Mair | C | 81 | 6 | 14 | 20 | −3 | 146 |
9 | Derek Roy | C | 49 | 9 | 10 | 19 | −8 | 12 |
16 | Chris Taylor | C | 54 | 6 | 6 | 12 | −2 | 22 |
8 | Rory Fitzpatrick | D | 60 | 4 | 7 | 11 | −5 | 44 |
3 | James Patrick | D | 55 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 12 |
51 | Brian Campbell | D | 53 | 3 | 8 | 11 | −8 | 12 |
10 | Henrik Tallinder | D | 72 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 26 |
15 | Milan Bartovic | RW | 23 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 18 |
25 | Mike Grier† | RW | 14 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 4 |
5 | Andy Delmore‡ | D | 37 | 2 | 5 | 7 | −5 | 29 |
74 | Jay McKee | D | 43 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 41 |
28 | Jason Botterill | LW | 19 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 14 |
26 | Eric Boulton | LW | 44 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −2 | 110 |
34 [a] | Jeff Jillson† | D | 14 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −3 | 19 |
76 | Andrew Peters | LW | 42 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −3 | 151 |
43 | Martin Biron | G | 52 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 | |
4 | Brad Brown† | D | 13 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
35 | Mika Noronen | G | 35 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
33 | Doug Janik | D | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
30 | Ryan Miller | G | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
19 | Norm Milley | RW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
38 | Domenic Pittis | C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 |
29 | Jason Pominville | RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Regular season | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Player | GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
43 | Martin Biron | 52 | 26 | 18 | 5 | 1442 | 125 | 2.52 | .913 | 2 | 2972 |
35 | Mika Noronen | 35 | 11 | 17 | 2 | 821 | 77 | 2.57 | .906 | 2 | 1796 |
30 | Ryan Miller | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 73 | 15 | 5.06 | .795 | 0 | 178 |
Type | Award/honor | Recipient | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
League (in-season) |
NHL Defensive Player of the Week | Martin Biron (October 27) | [8] |
NHL YoungStars Game selection | Derek Roy | [9] |
The Sabres were involved in the following transactions from June 10, 2003, the day after the deciding game of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 7, 2004, the day of the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals. [10]
Date | Details | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|
June 27, 2003 | To
Nashville Predators 3rd-round pick in 2004 |
To Buffalo Sabres Andy Delmore |
[11] |
July 3, 2003 | To
Colorado Avalanche Rights to Keith Ballard |
To Buffalo Sabres Steven Reinprecht |
[12] |
July 3, 2003 | To
Calgary Flames Steven Reinprecht Rhett Warrener |
To Buffalo Sabres Steve Begin Chris Drury |
[12] |
March 8, 2004 | To
Minnesota Wild 4th-round pick in 2005 |
To Buffalo Sabres Brad Brown 6th-round pick in 2005 |
[13] |
March 9, 2004 | To
San Jose Sharks Curtis Brown Andy Delmore |
To Buffalo Sabres Jeff Jillson 9th-round pick in 2005 |
[14] |
March 9, 2004 | To
Washington Capitals Rights to Jakub Klepis |
To Buffalo Sabres Mike Grier |
[15] |
Date | Player | Former team | Term | Via | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 12, 2003 | Joel Bouchard | Pittsburgh Penguins | 1-year | Free agency | [16] |
July 14, 2003 | Domenic Pittis | Nashville Predators | 1-year | Free agency | [17] |
July 15, 2003 | David Cullen | Minnesota Wild | 1-year | Free agency | [18] |
August 22, 2003 | Brian Chapman | Manitoba Moose ( AHL) | 1-year | Free agency | [19] |
Rick Mrozik | Calgary Flames | 1-year | Free agency | [19] | |
October 17, 2003 | Scott Ricci | Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) | Free agency | [20] |
Date | Player | New team | Via [b] | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
July 2, 2003 | Radoslav Hecl | HC Slovan Bratislava ( SVK) | Free agency (UFA) | [22] |
July 5, 2003 | Denis Hamel | Ottawa Senators | Free agency (UFA) | [23] |
August 11, 2003 | Peter Ratchuk | Frankfurt Lions ( DEL) | Free agency (VI) | [24] |
August 18, 2003 | Francois Methot | Washington Capitals | Free agency (VI) | [25] |
August 27, 2003 | Doug Houda | Retirement (III) | [26] | |
October 3, 2003 | Steve Begin | Montreal Canadiens | Waiver draft | [27] |
Joel Bouchard | New York Rangers | Waiver draft | [27] | |
April 5, 2004 | Domenic Pittis | Kloten Flyers ( NLA) | Free agency | [28] |
Date | Player | Term | Contract type | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
June 30, 2003 | Brian Campbell | 1-year | Option exercised | [29] |
July 3, 2003 | Rory Fitzpatrick | Re-signing | [30] | |
July 10, 2003 | Jason Botterill | 1-year | Re-signing | [31] |
Chris Taylor | 1-year | Re-signing | [31] | |
July 31, 2003 | Steve Begin | 1-year | Re-signing | [32] |
Tim Connolly | 1-year | Re-signing | [32] | |
Dmitri Kalinin | 1-year | Re-signing | [32] | |
Adam Mair | 3-year | Re-signing | [33] | |
Taylor Pyatt | 1-year | Re-signing | [32] | |
August 1, 2003 | Eric Boulton | 2-year | Re-signing | [34] |
Henrik Tallinder | 1-year | Re-signing | [35] | |
August 7, 2003 | Tom Askey | 2-year | Re-signing | [36] |
Andrew Peters | Re-signing | [36] | ||
August 8, 2003 | Curtis Brown | 1-year | Re-signing | [37] |
Ales Kotalik | 1-year [c] | Re-signing | [38] | |
August 25, 2003 | Chris Drury | 4-year | Re-signing | [39] |
September 15, 2003 | Norm Milley | 1-year | Re-signing | [40] |
September 24, 2003 | Jay McKee | multi-year | Re-signing | [41] |
September 29, 2003 | Miroslav Satan | 2-year | Re-signing | [42] |
October 17, 2003 | Nathan Paetsch | Entry-level | [20] |
Buffalo's draft picks at the 2003 NHL Entry Draft held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee. [43]
Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | Thomas Vanek | Austria | University of Minnesota (NCAA) |
2 | 65 | Branislav Fabry | Slovakia | Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) |
3 | 74 | Clarke MacArthur | Canada | Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) |
4 | 106 | Jan Hejda | Czech Republic | Slavia Praha (Czech Republic) |
4 | 114 | Denis Ezhov | Russia | Lada Togliatti (Russia) |
5 | 150 | Thomas Morrow | United States | Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) |
6 | 172 | Pavel Voroshnin | Russia | Mississauga IceDogs (OHL) |
7 | 202 | Nathan Paetsch | Canada | Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL) |
8 | 235 | Jeff Weber | Canada | Plymouth Whalers (OHL) |
9 | 266 | Louis-Philippe Martin | Canada | Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL) |
SABRES: Signed D Scott Ricci and D Nathan Paetsch
WASHINGTON CAPITALS--Signed C Francois Methot.
15-Sep-03: Re-signed by the Buffalo Sabres.