Sabres to play overseas next season

Next season, the Buffalo Sabres will be participating in the NHL Global Series playing in Europe. Buffalo will be finishing their training camp in Munich, Germany in September. After that, they will be playing Red Bull Munich for an exhibition game on September 27. Red Bull is in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) and the game will be the grand-opening event at Red Bull Munich’s new arena, SAP Garden.

Sabres center JJ Peterka is a native of Munich and played for the Red Bull organization from 2019 to 2021. Peterka expressed how cool it was for the opportunity to play in his hometown and against his former team in a recent interview.

Joining Peterka are several other European players currently on the roster. They are Rasmus Dahlin (Sweden), Zemgus Girgensons (Latvia), Henri Jokiharju (Finland), Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (Finland), Victor Olofsson (Sweden), and Lukas Rousek (Czechia)

They will follow up the exhibition game playing in the regular season in Prague, Czechia on October 4 and 5 as the Sabres will take on the New Jersey Devils for both games. 

This is the third time Buffalo will take part in games internationally. In 2011, the Sabres went 2-0 as they played games in Finland and Germany, beating the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings. Buffalo was in Sweden in 2019, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in both games.

Buffalo hosted the first-ever Winter Classic in 2008 losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the shootout 2-1.  The Sabres returned for the 10th anniversary of the Winter Classic, playing in Queens losing to the New York Rangers 3-2 in overtime at Citi Field where the New York Mets of Major League Baseball play. 

They played in the Heritage Classic in 2022 defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 where the game was played outdoors at Tim Hortons field, the home of the CFL's Hamilton Tiger Cats. Buffalo and New Jersey are not the only teams playing internationally as the NHL also announced the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers will play in Finland next season.