2004–05 Buffalo Sabres season

The 2004–05 Buffalo Sabres season was to be the 35th for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970. The season was cancelled as the 2004–05 NHL lockout could not be resolved in time to save the season.

Schedule
The Sabres preseason and regular season schedules were announced on July 12 and July 14, 2004, respectively.

Transactions
The Sabres were involved in the following transactions from June 8, 2004, the day after the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, through February 16, 2005, the day the season was officially cancelled.

Trades
The Sabres did not make any trades.

Draft picks
Buffalo's picks at the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, which was held at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina on June 26–27, 2004.

Farm teams
The Sabres AHL affiliate Rochester Americans played with a roster that included many future Sabres. Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, Ryan Miller and Jason Pominville among others, played the season in Rochester. HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) hosted a pair of Rochester games experimenting with blue ice to see if blue would make the television appearance better than white. The blue ice experiment was ultimately not accepted in post-lockout rule changes.