Two-time Calder Cup-winning goaltender inks two-year contract with Buffalo
(Rochester, NY) – The Buffalo Sabres announced that the team has signed goaltender and two-time Calder Cup winner Dustin Tokarski to a two-year contract.
Tokarski, 31, most recently spent the 2019-20 season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, posting a 9-5-2 record with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in 18 games.
A native of Watson, Saskatchewan, Tokarski boasts a 192-120-16 record and 27 shutouts to go along with a 2.50 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage over 361 career AHL games with Norfolk, Syracuse, Hamilton, St. John’s, San Diego, Lehigh Valley, Hartford, Charlotte and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He also owns a 10-12-5 record at the NHL level in 34 appearances for Tampa Bay, Montreal and Anaheim.
His best season came during the 2011-12 campaign when he led the AHL in wins (32) and ranked fifth among all goaltenders with a 2.23 goals-against average while tying for second with five shutouts in 45 games with the Norfolk Admirals. Tokarski backstopped an Admirals team that set a professional hockey record with 28 straight wins during the regular season before leading Norfolk to its first-ever Calder Cup following back-to-back four-game sweeps in the final two rounds. He won his second Calder Cup with the Charlotte Checkers in 2019.
Tokarski was selected in the fifth round (122nd overall) by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2008 after leading the Spokane Chiefs to the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions and later a Memorial Cup that same year. For his performance in the Memorial Cup, he was named both the outstanding goaltender and most valuable player of the tournament while also earning a selection to the Memorial Cup All-Star team.
Over three seasons with Spokane, Tokarski compiled a 77-39-7 record and 15 shutouts with a 2.18 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage.
Internationally, the 6-foot-0, 198-pound netminder led Canada to its fifth straight gold medal at 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship, going 4-0 at the tournament with a 2.65 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage.
