Leino Goes Long in Buffalo

The Buffalo Sabres did a great job spending money during the frenzy as well, landing one of the bigger prizes for their stable as well. The Sabres got the signature of Ville Leino on a 6-year deal, valued at $27 million, which works out to be a $4.5 million cap hit per season.

Leino has taken his time adjusting to the North American game through stops in Detroit and Philadelphia in his career, but it does look like his game is rounding out to a very respectable form and the contract length and value is a sure sign of that.

In 2011 with the Flyers, Leino finished with 19 goals and 34 assists in 81 games, ranking 76th among all forwards in the game.  A new team, a new role, possibly some better minutes may add up to some better things from the 27-year old Finn.


With a couple of deals done today, I now have the Sabres sitting with 19 players and one buyout on the books for a projected cap hit of $63 million, only $1.3 million away from the cap ceiling.  In that $1.3 million, the Sabres will need a back-up goalie and a sixth defenseman, so it got awfully tight, awfully quickly.