The Buffalo Sabres used 31 players in the 1996-97 season, with a 46-26-10 record. Derek Plante led the team with 53 points (27 goals, 26 assists) in 82 games. Dominik Hasek played the most games in goal (67).
| # | Player — sort by name ⇅ | GP — sort by games played ⇅ | Streak | G — sort by goals ⇅ | A — sort by assists ⇅ | PTS — sort by points ▼ | P/GP — sort by points per game ⇅ | PPG — sort by power-play goals ⇅ | SOG — sort by shots on goal ⇅ | HIT — sort by hits ⇅ | BLK — sort by blocked shots ⇅ | PIM — sort by penalty minutes ⇅ | TOI — sort by average ice time ⇅ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Derek Plante 🇺🇸 C 26 | 82 | 🧊 2 | 27 | 26 | 53 | 0.65 | 5 | 191 | 0 | 0 | 24 | — |
| 2 | Brian Holzinger 🇺🇸 C 24 | 81 | 🧊 2 | 22 | 29 | 51 | 0.63 | 2 | 142 | 0 | 0 | 54 | — |
| 3 | Donald Audette 🇨🇦 RW 27 | 73 | 🧊 2 | 28 | 22 | 50 | 0.68 | 8 | 182 | 0 | 0 | 48 | — |
| 4 | Michael Peca 🇨🇦 C 23 | 79 | 🔥 1 | 20 | 29 | 49 | 0.62 | 5 | 137 | 0 | 0 | 80 | — |
| 5 | Jason Dawe 🇨🇦 RW 23 | 81 | 🔥 1 | 22 | 26 | 48 | 0.59 | 4 | 136 | 0 | 0 | 32 | — |
| 6 | Dixon Ward 🇨🇦 LW 28 | 79 | 🔥 1 | 13 | 32 | 45 | 0.57 | 1 | 93 | 0 | 0 | 36 | — |
| 7 | Matthew Barnaby 🇨🇦 RW 23 | 68 | 🧊 2 | 19 | 24 | 43 | 0.63 | 2 | 121 | 0 | 0 | 249 | — |
| 8 | Garry Galley 🇨🇦 D 33 | 71 | 🧊 4 | 4 | 34 | 38 | 0.54 | 1 | 84 | 0 | 0 | 102 | — |
| 9 | Michal Grosek 🇨🇿 LW 21 | 82 | 🔥 1 | 15 | 21 | 36 | 0.44 | 1 | 117 | 0 | 0 | 71 | — |
| 10 | Alexei Zhitnik 🇺🇦 D 24 | 80 | 🧊 3 | 7 | 28 | 35 | 0.44 | 3 | 170 | 0 | 0 | 95 | — |
| 11 | Randy Burridge 🇨🇦 LW 31 | 55 | 🧊 2 | 10 | 21 | 31 | 0.56 | 1 | 85 | 0 | 0 | 20 | — |
| 12 | Richard Smehlik 🇨🇿 D 27 | 62 | 🔥 2 | 11 | 19 | 30 | 0.48 | 2 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 43 | — |
| 13 | Darryl Shannon 🇨🇦 D 28 | 82 | 🧊 2 | 4 | 19 | 23 | 0.28 | 1 | 94 | 0 | 0 | 112 | — |
| 14 | Mike Wilson 🇨🇦 D 22 | 77 | 🧊 16 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 0.14 | 0 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 51 | — |
| 15 | Miroslav Satan 🇸🇰 RW 22 | 12 | 🧊 2 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 0.83 | 2 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 4 | — |
| 16 | Rob Ray 🇨🇦 RW 28 | 82 | 🧊 9 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 0.12 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 286 | — |
| 17 | Jay McKee 🇨🇦 D 19 | 43 | 🧊 2 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 0.23 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 35 | — |
| 18 | Pat LaFontaine 🇺🇸 C 32 | 13 | 🧊 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 0.62 | 1 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 4 | — |
| 19 | Barrie Moore 🇨🇦 LW 21 | 31 | 🧊 4 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 0.26 | 1 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 18 | — |
| 20 | Bob Boughner 🇨🇦 D 26 | 77 | 🧊 14 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0.10 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 225 | — |
| 21 | Curtis Brown 🇨🇦 C 21 | 28 | 🧊 5 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0.25 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 18 | — |
| 22 | Brad May 🇨🇦 LW 25 | 42 | 🔥 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0.17 | 1 | 75 | 0 | 0 | 106 | — |
| 23 | Anatoli Semenov 🇷🇺 C 35 | 25 | 🧊 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0.24 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — |
| 24 | Wayne Primeau 🇨🇦 C 20 | 45 | 🔥 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0.13 | 1 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 64 | — |
| 25 | Ed Ronan 🇺🇸 RW 29 | 18 | 🧊 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0.28 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 11 | — |
| 26 | Ruman Ndur 🇳🇬 D 21 | 2 | 🧊 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — |
| 27 | Vaclav Varada 🇨🇿 RW 20 | 5 | 🧊 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — |
| 28 | Charlie Huddy 🇨🇦 D 37 | 1 | 🧊 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Team totals · 28 skaters | 82 | 237 | 391 | 628 | 7.66 | 43 | 2090 | 0 | 0 | 1794 |
| # | Goalie — sort by name ⇅ | GP — sort by games played ⇅ | Share of games | W — sort by wins ⇅ | GAA — sort by goals against average ▲ | SV% — sort by save percentage ⇅ | SV — sort by saves ⇅ | GA — sort by goals against ⇅ | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dominik Hasek 🇨🇿 G 32 | 67 | 42 | 2.28 | 0.000 | 0 | 153 | 60:15 | |
| 2 | Steve Shields 🇨🇦 G 24 | 13 | 4 | 3.00 | 0.000 | 0 | 39 | 60:43 | |
| 3 | Andrei Trefilov 🇷🇺 G 27 | 3 | 0 | 3.33 | 0.000 | 0 | 10 | 52:53 |
58% of this roster was born in Canada, against 62% across the league. The team leans on Czechia: 13% of its players, against 4% league-wide. Canadian-born players scored 63% of the team's points.
| Country | Players | Share of roster | vs NHL | Points | Who |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 18 |
|
-4 | 394 (63%) | Audette, Peca, Dawe, Ward +14 |
| Czechia | 4 |
|
+9 | 66 (11%) | Grosek, Smehlik, Varada, Hasek |
| United States | 4 |
|
-4 | 117 (19%) | Plante, Holzinger, LaFontaine, Ronan |
| Russia | 2 |
|
even | 6 (1%) | Semenov, Trefilov |
| Nigeria | 1 |
|
+3 | 0 | Ndur |
| Slovakia | 1 |
|
+2 | 10 (2%) | Satan |
| Ukraine | 1 |
|
+2 | 35 (6%) | Zhitnik |
Derek Plante led the Buffalo Sabres in scoring in 1996-97 with 53 points — 27 goals and 26 assists in 82 games. Next came Brian Holzinger (51) and Donald Audette (50).
Donald Audette scored 28 goals for the Buffalo Sabres in 1996-97, 8 of them on the power play.
The Buffalo Sabres dressed 31 players in 1996-97: 28 skaters and 3 goalies. Together the skaters scored 237 goals.
Dominik Hasek played the most games in goal for the Buffalo Sabres in 1996-97: 67 games, 42 wins, a 0.000 save percentage and a 2.28 goals against average. Steve Shields was the backup, in 13 games.
The average age was 25.8 years. Jay McKee was the youngest at 19, and Charlie Huddy the oldest at 37.
The Buffalo Sabres used 31 players in 1996-97 with a known birthplace. By country of birth: 18 in Canada, 4 in Czechia and 4 in the United States. The other 5 came from Russia, Nigeria, Slovakia and Ukraine. League-wide that season, 62% of players were born in Canada, against 58% on this roster.