Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
It's a good thing the NHL had the All-Star game in January as it allowed the Buffalo Sabres an eight-day hiatus. Were it not for that break, the team may have added one or two more losses to an 0-12-0 month of January. During a wretched month they managed to obliterate the previous franchise mark for futility which stood at eight losses in a row set between January 25 and February 13, 2003.
I remember that 2002-03 season as well as last season when they finished with a league-low 21 wins, 52 points and a minus-91 goal differential. For 2013-14 the Sabres were last in shots/game (26.3) and goals/game (1.83) but were 29th or better in the other team stats, most notably goals against (2.96) thanks in large part to goalie Ryan Miller.
Miller was traded to the St. Louis Blues at the 2014 deadline then signed a free agent contract with the Vancouver Canucks in the off season. He was in net on Friday as the Sabres finished an 0-fer month of January with a 5-2 loss in Vancouver. With the victory over Buffalo, Miller would have the distinction of defeating all 30 NHL teams.
One would think that a bottom-dwelling team losing every game for a whole month should be dead last in every statistical category. Through all of it, though, Buffalo actually has one more victory to this point in the season than the 29th place Edmonton Oilers' and their 13 wins. The only other category the Sabres are not 30th in is penalty kill where the NY Islanders are slightly worse at a 73.0% kill-rate.
The Oilers are an interesting case study as they've managed to stay near the bottom of the standings (28th or worse) in five of the last six seasons (including this one) and have landed the top overall pick in three of them (2010-12.) Taylor Hall (2010,) Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011) and Nail Yakupov could wind up being great players, but in the end none may compare to the gem of the 2015 draft, Connor McDavid. In fact none may end up being as good as consensus second-overall pick, Jack Eichel who's said to be only slightly behind the generational-type McDavid.
The last place team is guaranteed to get one of those two at the draft this year as the 30th place team will move down only one spot should they lose the lottery.
That being said, for the rest of the season we'll be adding more numbers to this page. After the Sabres team stats is a listing of the bottom five teams in the league, their points to date and their records for the previous month.
Buffalo Sabres Team Stats:
Wins
--October: 2 (29th)...(NHL Leader--ANA, 9)
--November: 8 (27th)...(NYI, 17)
--December: 14 (T-24th)...(CHI, 25)
--January: 14 (29th)...(ANA, 32)
Points
--October: 5 (29th)...(ANA, 18)
--November: 18 (27th)...(NYI, 34)
--December: 31 (28th)...(ANA, 54)
--January: 31 (30th)...(ANA, 70)
Points Percentage
--October: .227 (29th)...(MTL, .773)
--November: .375 (27th)...(PIT, .739)
--December: .408 (28th)...(NSH, .708)
--January: .310 (30th)...(NSH, .708)
Atlantic Division Standing
--October: 8th...(MTL)
--November: 8th...(TBL)
--December: 8th...(TBL)
--January: 8th...(TBL)
Eastern Conference Standing
--October: 16th...(MTL)
--November: 14th (PIT)
--December: 14th (TBL)
--January: 16th (TBL)
League Standing
--October: 29th...(ANA)
--November: 27th..(PIT)
--December: 28th...(ANA)
--January: 30th...(ANA)
Goal Differential
--October: -24
--November: -33...(PIT, +26)
--December: -52...(CHI, +39)
--January: -85...(CHI, +40)
Goals/Game
--October: 1.09 (30th)...(PIT, 4.00)
--November: 1.67 (30th)...(TBL, 3.50)
--December: 1.84 (30th)...(TOR, 3.29)
--January: 1.76 (30th)...(TBL, 3.22)
Shots/Game
--October: 21.2 (30th)...(CHI, 38.1)
--November: 22.3 (30th)...(CHI, 36.1)
--December: 23.2 (30th)...(CHI, 35.4)
--January: 22.9 (30th)...(CHI, 35.1)
Goals against/Game
--October: 3.27 (21st)...(ANA, 1.83)
--November: 3.12 (27th)...(NSH, 1.96)
--December: 3.34 (29th)...(CHI, 2.08)
--January: 3.56 (30th)...(MTL, 2.23)
Shots against/Game
--October: 36.7 (30th)...(MIN, 23.2)
--November: 36.5 (30th)...(MIN, 25.8)
--December: 35.4 (30th)...(MIN, 26.5)
--January: 35.0 (30th)...(MIN, 26.9)
Powerplay
--October: 2.9% (29th)...(PIT, 39.5)
--November: 7.2 (30th)...(PIT, 31.6)
--December: 9.4 (30th)...(CLB, 24.4)
--January: 11.4 (30th)...(DET, 25.6)
Penalty Kill
--October: 85.4% (9th)...(DET, 94.1)
--November: 77.0 (25th)...(CHI, 91.3)
--December: 76.7 (27th)...(CHI, 90.5)
--January: 73.7 (29th)...(CHI, 87.6)
Faceoff Percentage
--October: 41.4 (30th)...(CAR, 54.4)
--November: 41.0 (30th)...(MTL, 55.9)
--December: 44.5 (30th)...(DET, 55.1)
--January: 45.2 (30th)...(STL, 54.0)
Bottom five teams in the league, their point total and their records for the previous month
26. Columbus Blue Jackets, 45 points; 5-8-0
27. Carolina Hurricanes, 40; 7-3-2
28. Arizona Coyotes, 40; 3-7-2
29. Edmonton Oilers, 35; 5-6-1
30. Buffalo Sabres, 31; 0-12-0
Of note. The Toronto Maple Leafs are in 24th place with 48 points. They finished the month of January with a 1-11-1 record. After beating Columbus for their lone win of the month on January 9th, the Leafs proceeded to finish the month with an 0-8-1 record.
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