Division 5th Northeast 2012–13 record 21–21–6 Road record 10–11–3 | Conference 12th Eastern Home record 11–10–3 Goals for 125 | |
The 2012–13 Buffalo Sabres season is the 43rd season, 42nd season of play, for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970. The regular season was reduced from its usual 82 games to 48 due to a lockout. The season was the 15th and final season coached by Lindy Ruff, who was fired after a poor start. The Sabres failed to qualify for the post-season for the second consecutive season.
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Broadcast changes
On June 8, 2012, the Sabres announced that Rick Jeanneret, the longest-tenured play-by-play announcer in NHL history, would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame; Jeanneret will also receive the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award. Rob Ray will replace Harry Neale as the full-time color commentator for all Sabres game broadcasts. Neale will join Mike Robitaille, whose role will remain unchanged, and Brian Duff, who will take over as full-time studio host, in the studio. Kevin Sylvester and Danny Gare, who served as the alternate broadcast team in 2011–12, were not originally going to reprise their roles in 2012–13; Sylvester instead revived the Hockey Hotline, a long-discontinued Sabres call-in talk show, for WGR. However, due to Jeanneret suffering an illness, Sylvester was pressed into service to call play-by-play for the first four games of the regular season.
Alumni Plaza
On July 12, 2012, the Sabres announced that the plaza adjacent to First Niagara Center would be re-branded Alumni Plaza. On October 12, 2012, a bronze French Connection statue was added to the plaza. Other plans included plaques with the name of every player to play a game for the team and fans having to opportunity to buy engraved bricks.
Lockout
On September 13, 2012, Buffalo Sabres owner Terrence Pegula, along with all 28 other league ownership groups (the League still collectively owns the Phoenix Coyotes) authorized NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to lock-out the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) upon the expiration of the CBA on September 15. The lockout ended at 4:45 am EST on January 6, 2013, lasting 113 days. The lockout reduced the regular season from 82 to 48 games.
Overseas Sabres
After the announced lockout players from the team began to sign contracts to play in Europe until resumption of NHL play.
Beyond Blue and Gold
During the abbreviated training camp the team released the first episodes in a new web-series called Beyond Blue and Gold. The series will run through the season with the goal to give fans an "all-access pass to the entire Sabres organization throughout the entire 2012–13 NHL season."
Regular season
After the lockout, the Sabres had an abbreviated one-week training camp. During the camp, the Sabres' first pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Mikhail Grigorenko, played well on a line with off-season trade acquisitions Steve Ott and Ville Leino. At the end of the camp, Grigorenko was put on the opening day roster. The Sabres were given five games to decide whether to keep him on the roster (and thus pay him a full season's salary) or send him back to his junior team, the Quebec Remparts; in the end, Grigorenko was kept on the roster after Leino suffered an injury. After several weeks of mediocre play and Leino's return to the active roster, Grigorenko returned to the Remparts. He remained with the Remparts until their elimination from the QMJHL playoffs, whereupon he returned to the Sabres.
After an unsuccessful 6–10–1 start, General Manager Darcy Regier announced the firing of Head Coach Lindy Ruff Ruff coached the team since 1997 and was the team's most successful coach. It was further announced that Ron Rolston, who was the current coach of the Rochester Americans, would replace Ruff on an interim basis. The Sabres performed better under Rolston but were nonetheless eliminated from playoff contention following an 8–4 home loss to the New York Rangers.
The Sabres allowed the most shorthanded goals in the NHL, with seven.
Playoffs
The Sabres did not qualify for the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
Standings
Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast
bold – Qualified for playoffs, y – Won division, z – Won best record in conference
Player statistics
Final regular season stats
*Totals include goaltenders (G/A/Pts/PIM) and bench minors (PIM)
†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Sabres. Stats reflect time with the Sabres only.
‡Traded mid-season
Bold/italics denotes franchise record
Transactions
The Sabres have been involved in the following transactions during the 2012–13 season:
Draft picks
Buffalo Sabres' picks at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 22 & 23, 2012.