DarthEbriate

Why would he want to be here any longer than he has to? Would you? If I were Benson, and I cared about my career, I'd ask to be traded this very summer.

In the 2012 offseason, at least Regier signed John Scott and re-signed Kaleta. Matt Ellis skated on a garbage 4th line with the two of them. (Tarnasky was signed to the Amerks that same offseason.) The game is different, but you can still sign players who will be teammates and stick up for each other and say, "No more." And that team already had Foligno. And a soon to retire Cody McCormick. Girgensons was on that team! How can you all forget how to care for your own?

Post-game interviews in Buffalo: "Hey, Coach. Wow, Samsonov, eh?" Post-game interview in a self-respecting hockey hotbed: "Hey, Coach. How pathetic is your team that they don't have the decency to drop their gloves at the end of the game. Not a single player. Do you think that's a reflection on you?"

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.