DarthEbriate

Exactly. Force Toronto to take some suspensions. Force the issue. Set a tone for yourselves, for the next game, for your fans who don't remain in the stadium. Pathetic.

This team still needs a line brawl in the very worst way. And they have for 4 years. At some point, someone will snap.

Line brawl. Whoever is next on the ice, line brawl. (Except Reaves... please don't go after him, Krebs. You'll die.)

Both teams. Pathetic.

############ ######### # # # # # # # ############### drop your damn gloves and start punching!

Drop your damn gloves, folks. Start throwing.

Scrum in front of the Leafs net, every last one plays the body, even taking a penalty in the process with the tackle on Greenway rather than give up Samsonov's shutout. Rebound in front of the Sabres net, a 59-goal scorer is left unmarked. And I do want to note that Matthews is really good. He's gotten much better defensively. Here on this board he was derided. McDavid was called McClavicle. Eichel was, and remains worse, than both. (And Eichel is really good, too.)

Putting a monetary value against an NHL goalie making a fabulous save will drive you to the dark side.

Well, shoot. Beautiful save by Samsonov on Cozens.

Legendary Linesman!

I don't think the Sabres PP practices against a PK unit as aggressive as this Leafs' unit. The Leafs have no respect for the Sabres, and rightfully so.

Down 2. No push this period. But a powerplay!

Eventually, they will score on a delay of game penalty.

Leafs skating hard the start of this period.

No strides on the backcheck after the turnover.

Even the '99 Conference Finals had tons of Leafs fans. There were tons of Leafs fans in the 05-15 stretch when they were garbage. It's really time we stopped worrying about them invading our stadium and just be a better team on the ice.

Joining in... S-foils in attack position!

Boston has spent over $8M on goalies each of the last four seasons as well (and more previously with Rask's contract). And they spend that money on fewer rostered goalies because they don't sign several tweeners, but focus their money on legitimate NHLers.

There is no bigger laughingstock (*Coyotes) around the league than the Sabres. It was Edmonton and their lack of ability to do anything with all those #1 picks. They still have their struggles and had to fire a coach this very season: but if they're in town you can at least see two of the best forwards in the game and they've finished 2nd in their division 5 years and counting. Chicago has a sullied championship, but they had a great team on the ice. The Sens had a late owner who openly had an internal cap, so at least everyone knew what their goals were (and they still went to the ECF). Other teams have had questionable blips (Minnesota purposefully going into cap hell for 3 seasons, Columbus currently trying to piledrive its way into the void), but no other team is close at the moment.

But that's just it. There has been nothing to indicate that the Sabres have any desire to pay starter/backup comparable salaries. With this GM (EEE), they don't spend anywhere near market. Contrast our spending with two teams that have been actively winding down and outright tanking the last 3 seasons to get Bedard/Celebrini. These goalies aren't their future, but they have proven NHL vets (Mrazek, for example) who can weather the storm and play consistently. And in some cases, they're retaining or buying out contracts for picks/assets. None of these teams (BUF,SJS,CHI,DET) has paid a goalie $5M+ cap hit to skew the numbers. SJS 21-22: $8.841M 22-23: $9.9M 23-24: $11.99M CHI 21-22: $6.93M 22-23: $7.135M (while winning Bedard) 23-24: $6.57M (Still actively tanking. They've also had perfect goalie health this season: only 4 goalie contracts for the entire organization.) Or Detroit, whose rise/track has been battling with the Sabres: DET 21-22: $9.89M 22-23: $10.175M 23-24: $9.637M

Deserved penalty. Fine? Sure, whatever. As to the monetary value, does everyone get the maximum fine for everything? Because this isn't egregious or grossly premeditated.

Granato deserves credit for turning the kid forwards (including Skinner) back around after the Krueger debacle. That job is done and so should his be. And his staff isn't an NHL staff, so purge 'em, Sheevyn. Do it. 80% (estimated, I'm not looking it up) of the roster has played for Team Canada, Team USA, Team Sweden, and Team Finland. They know how to play and can adapt to coaches. Granato still doesn't have the team ready in the 1st, encourage any physicality or finishing of checks, work on the refs like I work in Star Wars references, design a powerplay beyond setting up TNT for a one-timer, match lines at home, or know when to take a timeout or make a goalie switch (though it appeared he learned these last two late last season and then forgot this year). And more recently, apparently, his practices are slow-paced and players don't break a sweat when they should be faster, more intense, to prepare the team with playoff expectations.

TL;DR? Don't be surprised if UPL gets a low-ball $2.75M bridge offer and then walks as a UFA or is traded… only to have a solid NHL career elsewhere with a real starter's salary. EEE has been the mandate in the GM Sheevyn era. Courtesy of Spotrac, here are the total cap hits of the Sabres goalies in those seasons. This isn't the starter/backup tandem, this cap number is for the entire franchise. They're trying to do the equivalent of trying to win in the NFL with a rookie QB contract -- but not having invested the additional money elsewhere, like say a top-5 veteran defense (but that would require all the forwards [and coaching] to also be great at defense), etc. 20-21 CH 2.75, LU 2.6, DT .725, JJ (no cap hit retained, .03 salary), MH .7, SL* .7 Sheevyn inherits one year on Hutton's (post-eye injury) contract. Combined Cap: $7.475M 21-22 CA .75, DT .725, MH .75, AD .75, UPL .778, MS .85 Sheevyn doesn't extend or trade Ullmark and appears to have no plan whatsoever other than sign players to $750k contracts (Tokarski rues signing the year before). Retired Craig Anderson unretires, plays well... and earns another contract! Combined Cap: $4.603M 22-23 BB 4.9, UPL .8375, DL .925, EC 1.8, CA 1.5, MS .85, MH .75 Bishop's actual salary paid this season was only $3.5. WeeeEEE! Trivia: Who is the highest paid goalie in a single season of the GM Sheevyn era? Ben Bishop Prospect note: There was no room in this goalie pool for Portillo (equivalent AHL numbers to Levi this season) to get a contract offer [and yes, the writing was on the wall who was the franchise's preferred rookie in DL]. Combined Cap: $11.525M to hit cap floor. Non-LTIR: $6.6625M 23-24 EC 1.8, DL .925, UPL .8375, DC N/A, DT .775 (Curious side notes: Michael Houser hasn't been signed to an NHL deal this season... yet! And Toker gets his $25k make up as an honorary 750.) Combined Cap: $4.3375M *SL=Stefanos Lekkas

It was eerily similar to his first game back in the lineup this season after the Achilles' injury (9-4 trouncing by Columbus). The team was happy to have him back and... promptly disappeared. Odd stat outlier: Quinn has 3GP v. Ottawa this season and is -8 with 1 assist. 15 GP 5-6-11 and +6 against everyone else.