In a season filled with awful play, the Buffalo Sabres did not do many things well this past season. They had a below-average 5v5 offense and a defense that ranked at the bottom of the league in goals allowed and shots on goal allowed. But there was one specific aspect of the game that the Sabres did better than any other team this past season.
Buffalo led the league in penalty minutes per game. And no, not the most penalty minutes per game, but the least amount per game. The Sabres averaged only 6.1 penalty minutes per game throughout this past NHL season. That amounts to 342 total penalty minutes on the season. In that regard, the next closest team to Buffalo was the Chicago Blackhawks, with 368 total penalty minutes.
It was a good thing that the Sabres could avoid going on the penalty kill as much as they did, as their penalty kill percentage was below average. They killed off only 77.7% of their penalties. This ranked them at 26th in the league. But this does not come as much of a surprise as the team struggled defensively and had numerous goalie issues throughout the year.
Having the least amount of penalty minutes throughout a season, especially with many young players the Sabres had playing for them towards the end of the season, is certainly an accomplishment. Sadly, Buffalo could not take advantage of this strong aspect of their game as often as they would have hoped due to how little they scored in 5v5 situations.
But, if the Sabres could carry over their lack of penalties into next season and improve their even-strength offense and keep a healthy roster, it could definitely lead to some improvements. It will be interesting to see how Buffalo attacks this offseason and what the team will look like when next season rolls around.