The Buffalo Sabres are currently carrying three goalies on their roster, and while that has worked for the club in the short term as it’s dealt with numerous injuries, keeping three netminders in the NHL over the course of a full season is generally seen as an unconventional, cumbersome roster decision. Yesterday, The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn identified the Sabres’ NHL goaltending trio as a potential issue as it could very well “prevent the Sabres from being able to carry an offensive player who can help them.” As a result, Fairburn wrote that netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen “seems like the logical odd-man out” if the Sabres do elect to continue on with just two goalies on their NHL team.
That doesn’t mean they’d simply try to send Luukkonen down, of course, and Fairburn notes that they’d need to find a trade partner for Luukkonen, which could be difficult due to the player’s inconsistent form and $4.75MM cap hit. But according to Fairburn, Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff appears to have “lost some faith” in Luukkonen, especially as he has struggled to make timely saves and stay healthy. With veteran Alex Lyon and 25-year-old waiver claim Colten Ellis both under contract through next season, as well as top goalie prospect Devon Levi, it seems the Sabres will have to make a call on which goalies they want to keep and which they would need to move on from at some point in the medium-term future. According to Fairburn, the goalie that they try to move on from could very well be Luukkonen.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- One prospect who has significantly raised his 2026 draft stock that is University of Miami (Ohio) forward Ilia Morozov, who earlier this week was raised to an “A” grade on NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary watchlist, according to NHL.com’s Mike Morreale. An “A” grade signifies a candidate to be a first-round pick at the draft next year, and when the watchlist was first released, Morozov was assigned a “B” grade by Central Scouting. What appears to have raised Morozov’s stock has been his electric start to the season in the NCAA. Morozov has 11 points through 11 games, a point-per-game rate that is just a shade lower than projected top pick Gavin McKenna. What has helped Morozov garner so much hype has been the fact that he’s not only generating offense in the NCAA (an NCAA that has been flooded with high-level CHL talent thanks to recent rule changes) as a 17-year-old with an August birthdate, but that he’s also doing so as a player listed at 6’3″ 205 pounds on Elite Prospects. If there’s something NHL scouts often can’t resist, it’s a draft prospect who pairs dynamic offensive ability with pro-projectable size and strength. In the early part of the season, that’s exactly what Morozov has been, and his stock is soaring as a result.
- Looking at last season’s draft, one of the standout players so far has been Pittsburgh Penguins forward Benjamin Kindel, who the team selected No. 11. At the time, most public-facing outlets had Kindel ranked later than the No. 11 slot Pittsburgh selected him at. The Athletic’s Corey Pronman gave the Penguins’ pick of Kindel a “C” grade on draft night, which was tied for his lowest grade for any selection in the 2025 first round. Kindel was ranked No. 22 on Bob McKenzie’s list, No. 21 among North American Skaters by NHL Central Scouting, and No. 33 by Pronman. But the Penguins were far higher on Kindel. Per The Athletic’s Josh Yohe, the Penguins “entered the draft with Kindel ranked as the fourth-best prospect available.” While it remains to be seen if Kindel’s career falls more in line with Pittsburgh’s No. 4 ranking or the public sphere’s evaluation of Kindel as a mid-to-late first-rounder, early returns have favored the Penguins staff. Kindel has looked like an NHL player at just 18 years old this season, scoring seven points in 18 games. He’s just one of three players projected to play all of 2025-26 in the NHL, the other two being Matthew Schaefer and Michael Misa, the top two picks of the draft.