TORONTO - Back in late May, much fanfare accompanied the Toronto Maple Leafs' hiring of Mike Babcock as head coach. Not to be forgotten in the sweepstakes were the Buffalo Sabres, who reportedly met with Babcock prior to his decision. At his introductory press conference in Toronto, members of the Buffalo media put Babcock on the spot about the details.

But the end result is what mattered. Toronto won the Babcock sweepstakes, while the Sabres lost.

On Saturday, the Maple Leafs hosted the Sabres in a game that had zero short-term implications. Both teams won't compete for the Stanley Cup.

In fact, both teams are going through full-scale rebuilds, but appear headed in different directions.

There is no quick rebuild

The Sabres have been rebuilding for years now. They've been near the bottom of the standings for the past few seasons and have had some summers to double-down on young talent, while adding the odd veteran here and there to complement the roster.

The Maple Leafs are in the first year of their rebuild, a dismantling long overdue. And there are already signs that Toronto has learned how to do it a little bit better.

To compare the Sabres' rebuild fairly, you need only go back to the 2011-12 season. Multi-billionaire Terry Pegula purchased the team in February 2011, giving Buffalo the wherewithal to compete with the NHL's very best teams. Pegula made a bold declaration: Buffalo would be a free-agent destination, and the Sabres would be players in the market. In July 2011, forward Ville Leino became a Sabre, signed to a six-year, $27-million contract.

Days before the Leino signing, the Sabres traded for the rights to defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, and then signed him to a 10-year, $40-million contract. Pegula's words delivered action.

Buffalo narrowly missed out on the 2012 playoffs, by three points, but the regression was underway. Older players had to be moved out and both Leino's and Ehrhoff's contracts were ultimately purged under compliance-buyout rules in June 2014.

"A lot of nights, this team was hard to watch," Sabres general manager Tim Murray said when he addressed the media at the end of the 2013-14 season, in which his team finished last by 14 points. "This is not going to be a five-year rebuild, not for me anyway. That's not what I want."

Sound familiar?

It's the same notion Brian Burke had when he served as president and general manager of the Maple Leafs. On March 3, 2010, Burke addressed the media following the trade deadline.

"Like you saw with the (Phil) Kessel deal, we're not interested in a five-year rebuilding plan," Burke said.

Patience a virtue many GMs can't afford

The Sabres finished last again in 2014-15, though Murray was busy.

Buffalo made some additions, trading for talented forward Evander Kane from the Winnipeg Jets. Kane came with baggage, but Buffalo represented a fresh start. This season, he was disciplined by the team for sleeping in and missing practice after attending the NBA All-Star game in Toronto the night before.

In late June 2015, the Sabres traded for Ryan O’Reilly, and the forward was immediately signed to a seven-year, $52.5-million extension. He will make $11 million next season, which includes a $10-million signing bonus.

Outside of Rasmus Ristolainen, Buffalo's defense is in need of severe help. It starts with a solid structure and some patience.

They drafted Jack Eichel, a heck of a consolation prize to Connor McDavid, but the Sabres have demonstrated a lack of patience.

Patience off the ice, too

In June 2015, the Maple Leafs' overhaul included the hiring of a new doctor, Jeremy Bettle, as director of sports science. In late July, Toronto shocked everyone, hiring Lou Lamoriello as its general manager.

Before the Sabres and Maple Leafs played Saturday, Buffalo head coach Dan Bylsma was answering questions about a tense parting of ways with the club's director of performance, Oliver Finlay. He didn't survive his first season on the job, thanks to some resistance to his methods.

Many of the Maple Leafs' prospects have been dominating the AHL. The Toronto Marlies have the league's best record, and were the first team to clinch a playoff spot. Buffalo's farm team, the Rochester Americans, is occupying the last playoff spot in the North Division, with two teams threatening to bump it out of postseason contention.

A rebuilding rivalry

The Buffalo-Toronto rivalry is not about what has been happening on the ice, but about the foundation both organizations are trying to build. Both have taken very different approaches, but it appears Toronto is winning the battle at the moment.

It's still early, and some of the challenges both markets go through are very different. But it's hard to fault Toronto's approach, one season in.

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Buffalo Sabres rookie forward Jack Eichel is making the trip to Carolina, and is expected to be in the lineup Tuesday versus the Hurricanes.

He was unavailable over the weekend - and in a loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs - with flu-like symptoms, but it's suspected he was dealing with food poisoning.

Eichel ranks second in rookie scoring behind Chicago's Artemi Panarin with 22 goals and 27 assists in 72 games.

He's also nine points up on the hard-charging Connor McDavid, for those counting.

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Ducks forward David Perron is travelling back to Anaheim for an MRI on his injured right shoulder.

The extent of the injury is unknown, but as of now, he's considered week to week. Anaheim has four stops remaining on its Eastern road trip.

Perron suffered the knock in Sunday's win over the Winnipeg Jets when he lost his balance on a forecheck and crashed shoulder-first into the boards.

The multi-faceted winger has provided a discernible lift since his acquisition from the Pittsburgh Penguins, scoring eight times and adding 12 assists.

Anaheim has 21 wins in his 28 appearance with the club.

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It'll be a summer to stew for Bob Hartley and the Calgary Flames.

The Flames coach met the Toronto media Monday, and though his team, much like the Maple Leafs, is young and building toward something, he doesn't share in a similar uplifting outlook felt throughout the opposing rink.

"It's going to be a long summer. An awfully long summer," he said. "No one will say they're proud about our season."

The Flames had expectations bestowed upon them after a season spent defying the underlying numbers, and using myriad third-period comebacks (and a down season from the Los Angeles Kings) to earn the third seed in the Pacific Division.

They're on a bit of a roll now, collecting seven points in their last four games, and are just one point behind the Arizona Coyotes for fourth in the division.

But progress, at this point, only means fewer tickets at the draft lottery.

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Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Quick, and Sean Monahan have received weekly accolades, being named the NHL's three stars for the third week of March.

With two goals and seven points, and continuing on his season-best 12-game point streak, Crosby has ascended to third place in the NHL scoring race. His Pittsburgh Penguins took all eight points, beating the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers, and Washington Capitals to move into the Metropolitan Division's second seed.

Quick allowed four goals, winning all three of his starts, and helping the Los Angeles Kings become the first Western Conference team to clinch a postseason berth. His week began with a shutout of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Lastly, Monahan hit the 25-goal plateau with a five-goal, seven-point week. He helped the Calgary Flames earn seven of a possible eight points.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs remain steady losing experience.

Leo Komarov is latest Maple Leafs player to incur a setback, and after further testing on his lower-body injury yielded discouraging results, it's believed the gritty winger could be out "a while," James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail reports.

Frederik Gauthier took Komarov's spot in the lineup over the weekend, and figures to remain there.

Komarov, an All-Star this season, leads the club with 19 goals and is one point off Nazem Kadri's scoring lead.

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Washington Capitals defender Mike Weber will avoid supplemental discipline for his punishing hit from behind on Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust, CSN's Chuck Gormley reports.

Weber was given a five-minute major and a misconduct for driving through the back of Rust, who pulled up after entering the zone, driving him head- and shoulder-first into the side boards.

The Capitals defenseman had time to recognize that Rust put himself in a vulnerable position, but still finished his check with authority.

The NHL, it seems, has deemed that missing the remainder of that game was the proper recourse.

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With just 11 games left in the regular season, the Washington Capitals sit 18 points clear atop the Eastern Conference, 12 points up in the President's Trophy race, and will tie a bow on a Metropolitan Division crown in a matter of days.

Still, there's something sinister hanging over a club that's run laps around the competition this season: the recent performance of Braden Holtby.

Holtby was lifted Sunday afternoon after allowing five goals on 19 shots in a loss to the surging Pittsburgh Penguins. In a vacuum, it's a just a blip on the radar - just his ninth loss in 58 appearances.

But really, the loss, and his struggles, were illustrative of Holtby's substandard play since the calendar flipped to 2016.

Check out Holtby's numbers from October through December, compared to how he's fared ever since:

A deeper dive doesn't help pinpoint the root of his struggles. The Capitals have suppressed shots at a higher rate over the last two-and-a-half months, while Holtby's adjusted save metrics in all situations, and scoring areas, have risen evenly across the board.

The Capitals will still be confident in themselves and Holtby heading into the playoffs - even if he's loosened his grip on the Vezina Trophy they might have already started engraving his name into after his dazzling December. But in a seven-game series, when sticks are gripped tighter, the particularly hot (or cold) goaltender historically tips the scales.

So, with the weight of a decade of postseason failures, and all the pressure to not just win a few rounds, but to represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final, a team that features near-flawless construction suddenly appears vulnerable.

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