Buffalo Sabres goaltender Dustin Tokarski is the team's nominee for the Bill Masterton Trophy this season. Tokarski was named the Sabres' nominee by the Buffalo chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association for best exemplifying the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey.
Tokarski started the season playing with the Rochester Americans in the American Hockey League, where he only appeared in two games, posting a 1-1 record with a 2.51 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage. He would spend most of the first half of the season back-and-forth between the Amerks and Sabres' taxi squad before earning the full-time promotion to the taxi squad after the trade of goalie Jonas Johansson.
Eventually due to injuries to goalies Linus Ullmark and Carter Hutton, Tokarski would earn his first NHL action since October of 2016, where he performed admirably in his 13 appearances in the 2020-21 season. The 31-year-old ended up going 2-8-2 over the course of the year with a 3.54 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.
After going 0-4-2 in his first six appearances of the season, Tokarski finally earned his first win on April 15 in a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena. The veteran netminder stopped 27 of 29 shots faced to earn his first NHL win since Dec. 12, 2015. Tokarski was emotional after the victory, given that he had lost his father just a few years prior.
Just two games later, Tokarski went on to get his second win over the season in a 4-2 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tokarski was fantastic for Buffalo on that night, making 34 saves on 36 shots faced to get the Sabres in the win column for just the 12th time on the year.
Tokarski signed with the Sabres during the offseason to a two-year contract, and was supposed to serve as the veteran presence to help groom young goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in Rochester. The 12-year pro was coming off a season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL where he went 9-5-4 with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage.
The year before last in 2019, Tokarski was part of the goaltending tandem with Alex Nedeljkovic and the Charlotte Checkers that won the Calder Cup Championship. It was his second Calder Cup title in the AHL, with the first coming in 2012 while with the Norfolk Admirals.
Tokarski is under contract for one more season at $725,000. He and Luukkonen are the only two goaltenders currently under contract to start the 2021-22 season.
Each team around the NHL is nominated one player for the chance to win the Masterton Memorial Trophy, and the winner is selected by the PHWA. The award has often been awarded to a player who has overcome adversities such as a serious injury, an illness, a family crisis, and other factors.
Only two players in Sabres franchise history have ever won the Masterton Memorial Trophy. Those players were Pat LaFontaine in the 1994-95 season, and Don Luce in the 1974-75 season.