Sabres goalies

A Steady Backup Should be High on Kevyn Adams’ To-Do List

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There isn’t one cause for the Sabres’ failure to break their playoff drought this year. Buffalo’s special teams weren’t nearly good enough, the team failed to spend to the cap once again and goaltending didn’t hold up its end of the bargain. 

You can find several more areas that fell short for the Sabres this year, but the problems between the pipes are going to get plenty of attention this coming offseason. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s play regressed significantly this season, his goals saved above expected at 5-on-5 dropped from 10.8 last season to -3 this year per MoneyPuck. Hockey Reference clocks his GSAA at 10.1 last season and -17.6 this year. His counting stats also took a noticeable dive, going from a .910 SV% in 2023-24 to .888 this season. Luukkonen has been more erratic and leaky this year, showing many of the struggles which defined his early NHL play as opposed to the more controlled, commanding performance he enjoyed last season. 

James Reimer’s opportunities have been fairly limited until a recent string of starts. While his play has been steady in a backup role, his long-term outlook is limited at 37 years old. Whether Lindy Ruff lacked trust in Reimer, had too much faith in Luukkonen or he simply didn’t operate with a good rotation, it’s telling that Reimer has played as many games this month (five) as he did between December 21 and the end of February. Reimer was a far better insurance policy for the Sabres than they’ve had in recent years and he’s been a steady option (despite his lack of playing time) after Devon Levi proved he needed more AHL seasoning. However, Reimer’s has only played 17 games this year and would need to play the majority of this stretch run to get to 25. At his age, he’s not the sort of backup who could be relied on for over 30 starts, which is what the Sabres will need for 2025-26. 

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Pinpointing Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s Contract

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Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen needs a new contract this offseason and after an impressive campaign in which he solidified himself as Buffalo’s starting goaltender, he’s on track to receive a healthy raise and more term than the two-year deal he just completed. 

Luukkonen and Jeremy Swayman will be the two most notable RFA goaltenders to track this offseason. Swayman will be coming off a one-year, $3.475 million deal and will be in line for a substantial raise as he too has taken over the starting duties. Swayman could garner a contract north of $6 million a year, especially after his playoff heroics. Luukkonen doesn’t have the same track record as Swayman and won’t be flirting with the upper echelon of goaltender salaries. But he is still set to see a substantial pay increase. 

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Don’t Forget the Summer Goalie Market When Questioning the Sabres Moves

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The season may only be four games old, but the Sabres’ 1-3 start has put some of the fans’ biggest offseason concerns in the spotlight.

Buffalo’s decision to leave the roster largely untouched and lean on their unproven trio of goaltenders was chief among the offseason debate in Sabres circles. Leaning on a roster that made the Sabres the third highest scoring team in the NHL wasn’t a terrible choice when you dig into the data. Kevyn Adams has continued to lock up the core of his roster and it was those players – most notably Tage Thompson (47 goals), Dylan Cozens (31 goals) and Rasmus Dahlin (73 points) – who pushed the Sabres to the top of the league’s scoring race. The choices in goal were a greater gamble. 

Eric Comrie and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s struggles last season underscored the position that likely kept the Sabres out of the playoffs. While Devon Levi has shown promise (and was stout in Tuesday’s win over Tampa), handing the keys to a 21-year old with seven games of NHL experience is unprecedented. If there was one position where fans would have agreed with more tangible reinforcement, it would have been in net. The league’s goalie market from the summer made that proposition much harder to accomplish than maybe some assume. 

Connor Hellebuyck was far and away the best goaltender available over the summer. There were widespread reports that the Jets were shopping the former Vezina winner, though a deal never materialized. Hellebuyck’s contract status almost certainly played a role in the lack of a trade. While Hellebuyck was a goaltender I felt could push the Sabres to a playoff berth, I would not have pursued him with a lengthy contract extension attached. Now that he’s signed a seven-year, $59.5 million extension, it would be hard to see the logic in acquiring that sort of player given the faith the organization has in Levi. 

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The Instigator Podcast 11.13 – Answers in Goal Won’t Come Easy for the Sabres

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While virtually every aspect of the Buffalo Sabres play has been humming of late, their netminders have been suspect for most of the season. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been given an opportunity to prove his worth to the organization, but early returns have been questionable. Finding a solution that offers the club a true improvement in net is easier said than done. We discuss the shortcomings in goal plus the challenges that will face the Sabres in trying to once again improve between the pipes.

Fit Check: 2022-23 Sabres Goaltenders

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It’s taken a little longer than usual due to the late-November launch of the Sabres alternate jersey but all the different sets of gear worn by Buffalo’s goaltenders have now seen the ice (with the exception of Eric Comrie’s black and red setup).

The black and red uniforms offer a great shift for the team’s netminders, providing a drastically different look for each when the team wears their new third jersey. Perhaps we will see more mask art or pads for the team’s Reverse Retro jerseys, but for now each goalie has sported two different sets on the year. It offers a great variety of looks and there’s a similar collection of mask art to admire. I’ve included Rochester’s goaltenders in the mix as well since more gear is always more fun.

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The Instigator Podcast Featuring Kevin Woodley of InGoal Magazine and NHL.com

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Kevin Woodley joins the show this week to share his goaltending expertise and talk about the outlook for the Sabres in net for the coming season. We talk at length about Eric Comrie’s strengths and weaknesses and his ability to take on a larger workload. Kevin also shares his thoughts on Craig Anderson and how both he and Comrie can work in tandem this season.

We touch on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and, of course, Devon Levi as we wrap up the show. Along the way you’ll catch some terrific anecdotes about Ryan Miller and other goaltenders Kevin has covered and spoken with during his time with InGoal and NHL.com.

You can catch The Instigator Podcast on these platforms any virtually everywhere else you find your podcasts:
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The Instigator Podcast 10.46 – Listener Q&A on Jerseys, Trades and More

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As we continue through August, it seemed like a good time to field a few more listener questions. This week’s episode tackles a bunch of different topics including the Sabres Reverse Retro sweaters, shoulder patches, goaltending plans, special teams alignments and trade targets. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions for this week’s Q&A.

You can catch The Instigator Podcast on these platforms any virtually everywhere else you find your podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Spreaker
Audacy
Stitcher
iHeartRadio
TuneIn

Despite Early Movement, Sabres Aren’t Shut Out of Goalie Market (yet)

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As the wheels got turning on the goalie market at the draft, the Sabres have yet to complete a move to round out their crease for the coming season. It’s a subject that’s caused some consternation throughout the fanbase, though I’m not sure theirs is cause for concern just yet.

There are still a few notable names left on the list I laid out last week. Of those remaining options, a few are truly viable targets for the Sabres to pursue in the coming days. Most notably, Eric Comrie and whoever may be available via trade from the Sharks. In the meantime, I think it’s important to consider that the goalie market isn’t completely shuttered because Alex Georgiev and Vitek Vanacek got traded. Combing through the league, you can quickly find another tier of goalies who could almost certainly be had via trade given their respective team’s outlook in net.

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Pros and Cons for a Busy Goalie Market

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The talk of the offseason in Buffalo will be over who Kevyn Adams finds to form a goaltending tandem with Craig Anderson. The goalie market is expected to be pretty hot as upwards of eight teams could be on the hunt for a starting caliber netminder. The Sabres will be among that group with Anderson expected to continue to lend a veteran presence in the locker room while playing somewhere around 25-30 games in the 2022-23 season.

Who the Sabres opt to acquire – or perhaps more fittingly, who they’re able to acquire – will give a strong indication on how the season will go. Land a primary target and the good vibes from the end of 21-22 will keep rolling with optimistic expectations for the coming season. Strike out and repeat the UFA day scramble of a year ago and suddenly the outlook on next can shift dramatically.

We’ve seen plenty of reporting that points to Buffalo’s desire to keep the tracks clear for Devon Levi, Erik Portillo and even Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. That indicates that a long-term, big-money acquisition is probably off the table. It seems likely to me that the Sabres will find something akin to Carter Hutton this offseason. A veteran goalie willing to sign a middle-term deal who offers some promise as a starter but lacks a more prestigious resume.

With that in mind, I’ve laid out the pros and cons of signing or trading for some of the goaltenders who are UFAs or have been rumored to be available via trade and whether or not the Sabres could realistically land each goalkeeper.

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The 10 Best Sets of Sabres Goalie Equipment

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Another season is winding down and the future in net for the Sabres is up in the air once again. That’s exciting for a few reasons. First and foremost, the opportunity to improve in net opens the door for the Sabres to take a big step back to respectability as they work through this rebuild.

Second, and most importantly, a new goalie (or goalies) means new goalie gear.

Thanks to the Sabres rich history in goal, there have been buckets of goalies whose mask design or gear choices have been terrific. With the 2021-22 NHL season ready to wrap up, it felt like a good time to look back at 10 of the best sets of goalie gear in Sabres history.

You’ll notice that no one from the era of vintage pads did not make the cut. That’s simply because vintage pads are quite ambiguous. There’s nothing that really sets Roger Crozier apart from Gerry Desjardins or Gary Bromley besides their masks (and we’ve already ranked those). Those terrific vintage sets all have their place in history, but when it comes to the best looks in team history, they can’t compare to the way more modern pads pop with different color combinations.

This isn’t a ranking so much as a collection of the sets I feel look the best. So, the list isn’t in any particular order. Though I did save the best for last.

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