Luukkonen’s Pay Raise Built on Technical Improvements

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Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is armed with a fresh five-year contract after a breakout performance in 2023-24. He’s locked in as the Sabres starting goaltender for the foreseeable future after taking a firm grasp on the job when neither Devon Levi or Eric Comrie could. 

Luukkonen was a steady, effective presence for the Sabres last season. He posted a 22.46 GSAx (according to Evolving Hockey) with a healthy .910 save percentage. His play was so strong that it helped to counterbalance Buffalo’s offensive struggles. That they even had a sniff at the postseason was a testament to Luukkonen’s stellar play. 

He was also tasked with a fairly heavy workload. Only 10 goalies played more than the 54 games Luukkonen appeared in and he was effectively the only goaltender the coaching staff would turn to as their lack of faith in Comrie was evident. Even with Levi carving out 23 appearances, his games came in chunks with lengthy, necessary spells in Rochester in between. In virtually every aspect, Luukkonen was Buffalo’s MVP in 23-24. 

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Warpath #3 – Year One

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The Buffalo Sabres made their official entry to the NHL on October 10, 1970. This episode follows the the Sabres from the draft and offseason acquisitions made in the summer of 1970 as they prepared for their inagural season. Then follow the team through the ups and downs of their expansion year with an eye on how they would grow in those early years in the NHL. 

https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/60655243/download.mp3

References:

Historical Hockey
Sportsnet
Buffalo Sabres 1970-71 Media Guide

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Up Close and Personal with Fanatics in Vegas

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I had the opportunity to head to Vegas during draft weekend to get an up-close look at the new Fanatics Authentic Pro jerseys that will be worn in the NHL next season. 

It was a surreal experience that included a trip to the Sphere for the first round of the draft and an afternoon spent with some other influencers, bloggers and podcasters in the hockey space, viewing the new jerseys in a suite alongside Fanatics leadership, including CEO Michael Rubin. 

We had a chance to walk through the suite to view and handle the jerseys and they look really great. As previously reported, there has been little change in design or material from the Adidas uniforms we’ve seen over the last several years ,with the exception of the dimpled shoulders. I’d grown fond of the Adidas shoulder design but removing them gives the jerseys a very clean and classic look, which is a net positive. The additional details on various crests (think the detailing on the Sabres bison) also carry over from the Adidas era, which provide every jersey a very rich appearance, especially up close. Anyone who had concerns about the look and quality of the jerseys in the shift to Fanatics can allay those fears.

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The Instigator Podcast 12.45 – Have the Sabres Done Enough?

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The offseason isn’t over but as we get deeper into July, the odds that many more significant moves will be made decrease. In the wake of Buffalo’s acquisition of Ryan McLeod, we discuss just how well Kevyn Adams did this summer and if the moves he made are enough to end the Sabres’ 13-year playoff drought. We kick off with a discussion on the McLeod acquisition before exploring the way the Buffalo roster will shape up and what holes may still exist if Adams is indeed done for the summer. 

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Sabres Fill Key Need with Ryan McLeod

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Statements like ‘the time is now” didn’t exactly jive with Kevyn Adams’ early work in the offseason. The Sabres were quiet at the draft, trading back in the first round and shipping a second round pick to acquire Beck Malenstyn. 

Free agency was busy but unspectacular – a fine result on a day so many questionable contracts are given out – ratcheting up the angst in the fanbase as Adams early bluster in the offseason had given way to different messaging. Adams finally took a more substantial swing on Friday, bringing in Ryan McLeod and Ty Tullio from Edmonton. 

One of Buffalo’s prized prospects had to go the other way, catching some off guard given the acquisition cost for a player who will likely slot in as Buffalo’s third center. It seemed inevitable that at least one of Buffalo’s first round prospects would have a new home before the summer was over and Matthew Savoie checks that box as the sole piece the Sabres sent to Edmonton in this trade.

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The Instigator Podcast 12.44 – Sabres Stick to Fringes with Early Moves

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Kevyn Adams got things rolling at the draft, making his first acquisition of the offseason, trading for Beck Malenstyn from the Washington Capitals. He added more depth to the roster in free agency though Buffalo’s moves have been focused on the bottom six thus far. With a fanbase that’s desperate for a move, Adams’ inaction on the trade front has been a source of frustration. We talk through the work Adams has done thus far and dig in on the approach he’ll need to take if he hopes to check a big acquisition off his to-do list. 

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Two in the Mailbox – What Makes a Successful Offseason?

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I could’ve done without the agonizing breaks between games of the Stanley Cup Final, but it’s worked out in a way. Playing game seven on Monday sets up a sprint to Thursday’s draft and the opening of free agency on July 1 In between, Fanatics launched their new on-ice jerseys with the Kings and Ducks dropping their new designs for 2024-25. The end of this week could be a whirlwind of action as teams play catchup on trades and signings now that the Cup has been awarded. 

The Sabres will be among those clubs as they are expected to buy out Jeff Skinner when the buyout window officially opens. The buyout will give the Sabres an additional $7.5 million in cap space and the onus will fall on Kevyn Adams to use that space wisely. As previously discussed, there are some financial hurdles to clear with Skinner’s buyout. Even with the cap expected to rise, the three added years of dead cap eats up the approximate salary of a bottom six player. There’s also the larger cap hit in year three to contend with. In order to extract full value from this decision, the Sabres need to cash in on the cap and roster space created by the buyout. That means finding established NHL talent to acquire this offseason in order to tangibly improve the roster and break the playoff drought. They can seek players with term, but this buyout also opens the door for a rental acquisition. Adams has the most space to play with this summer, he has to use it to his advantage. The Sabres can lean on their pipeline when the dead cap stings the most, but they can’t use a buyout on Skinner and not use the cap savings to improve the roster.

Now, for your questions:

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GM Mode Recap – A Breakdown of Both Offseason Gameplans

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Over the past week on the podcast, Tyler and Chris each shared their respective views on how they would approach the offseason if they were sitting in Kevyn Adams’ chair. For anyone who doesn’t subscribe to the podcast, missed the episode or simply needed to see a more detailed breakdown of the moves we made, this post will cover both episodes of the podcast. 

Each breakdown will highlight some of the key talking points we hit on the episode, list the transactions and display each respective lineup. Both episodes were recorded before the report that the Sabres are exploring the potential to buy out Jeff Skinner’s contract, so neither lineup reflects that move as we operated under the impression that the Sabres wouldn’t take on the dead cap. 

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The Instigator Podcast 12.43 – GM Mode (Chris’ Version)

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We’re back for another mock offseason. This time, Chris takes over the controls and navigates through the summer, picking the trades and signings he’d like to see the Sabres make. This comes after last week’s episode when Tyler offered up his approach to the Sabres offseason gameplan. 

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Sabres Trade Tiers – Pre-Draft Edition

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The Buffalo Sabres are open for business. 

Kevyn Adams hasn’t been shy expressing his desire to inject talent into Buffalo’s roster and in addition to the 11th overall pick, it appears that he is prepared to include either players or prospects into an offer that brings back significant talent. Last fall, there was some expectation that Adams would take a stab at a significant trade, and in anticipation of that, we put together this list of trade tiers for Buffalo’s players and prospects. With it seeming nearly inevitable that Adams will pull the trigger on a deal in the next week, it was high time to revisit those trade tiers.

This list will differ a bit from the version in the fall as the Sabres still have several unsigned restricted and unrestricted free agents. Most of the team’s UFAs are of little consequence in trade discussions, so they wouldn’t have made this list anyway. But the RFAs remained, with some exceptions, as they still have value in a trade. I have also left draft picks off this list since, theoretically, they’re all readily available to be dealt at any moment. So this list will focus solely on Buffalo’s prospects and roster players. 

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