All 10 of Ville Leino's goals as a Buffalo Sabre
It's the end of an era in Buffalo. Ville Leino was placed on waivers Tuesday, his six-year, $27-million contract - signed in 2011, a simpler time - set to be bought out by the Sabres.
It's reportedly a compliance buyout, so Leino's $4.5-million salary will no longer count towards Buffalo's salary cap. The Sabres will pay Leino $7.3 million to not score for them over the next six years. When it's all said and done, Leino will have been paid around $22.3 million by the Sabres.
And here's what the Sabres have to show for that money. Below, watch all 10 of Leino's goals in his illustrious 137-game Sabres career.
Never forget.
Oct. 7, 2011
It all began so perfectly. Ville Leino scored on his first shot, in his first game as a Buffalo Sabre, and it was a game winner, too:
Nov. 11, 2011
Leino's second goal as a Sabre was scored from an almost-impossible angle, banked in off Alex Auld. Once upon a time, he was averaging a goal a month.
[Courtesy: NHL.com]
Dec. 7, 2011
Another month, another goal from Savonlinna, Finland's most famous son, and it came against his former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, too. It was one of the prettiest goals Leino would score as a Sabre:
[Courtesy: NHL.com]
Jan. 31, 2012
Ville Leino, toe drag. It happened, people, and we were alive to see it:
March 3, 2012
Leino would score 20 percent of his goals as a Sabre on a fateful night in March 2012, against Roberto Luongo - one of them five-hole, obviously - and the Vancouver Canucks:
[Courtesy: NHL.com]
[Courtesy: NHL.com]
March 31, 2012
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Carl Gunnarsson still has trouble sleeping at night. He can't forget what Leino did to him on a spring night in Toronto, nor should he:
[Courtesy: NHL.com]
April 5, 2012
Another goal against the Flyers, who brought out the best in Ville:
March 30, 2013
Leino played only eight games in the lockout-shortened 2013 season, but the way we see it, he averaged 0.25 goals per game, after his two-goal game against the Washington Capitals:
[Courtesy: NHL.com]
Leino didn't score a goal in 58 games this past season. This tap-in beauty was his last as a Sabre:
[Courtesy: NHL.com]
Thanks for the memories, Ville. All 10 of them.