It comes a few days late, but the Buffalo Sabres have recalled Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as expected. The young goaltender was dealing with an illness but is expected to start tonight against the Winnipeg Jets. To make room, the Sabres have reassigned Jack Quinn to the AHL.
Luukkonen, 23, is essentially still the team’s starting goaltender right now, despite rotating back and forth from the AHL. The Sabres are in a three-goalie rotation after Eric Comrie recovered from injury, but they plan on having Luukkonen play a lot. That’s because Comrie’s play has been so inconsistent this year that they have lost some trust in him. On Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken, when Luukkonen was unable to play, Comrie allowed four goals on 18 shots.
The interesting part is that his recall comes at the cost of Quinn, who has struggled of late. The 21-year-old rookie has 17 points in 33 games, but none of those have come in his last nine. While the Sabres are still winning with him out there, the young forward isn’t contributing a ton to those victories. The question now is whether Quinn gets an extended period in the minors – a league he has already dominated – or is back up in a few days when Craig Anderson or Comrie take the net. The eighth overall pick from 2020 will need to play somewhere, and not be used like a yo-yo between leagues.
For now, they will go with their young goalie and see if he can get them back in the win column after two disappointing losses.
I can see the Sabres figuring out that issue in due time. It won’t hurt to have Quinn spend a week or 2 in Rochester to help him get out of his funk. Comrie’s days are numbered if he continues to struggle in net with the Sabres (I don’t see them trading Anderson).
The sabres defensive coverage in their own zone is Pathetic, they are Not physical enough to clear the front of the net or in the corners. Where are Power and Samuelsson using their size ? The other D is not known for being physical. The Sabres are hypnotized by the puck in their own zone while the opponent slips in behind them to get a scoring chance.. Hopefully Adams will get a couple of physical defense men to help this up and coming team
The Sabres are not done with their rebuild. What you are seeing this season is the youngest team in the NHL.
I understand that, I bet some players will be gone before the trade dead line.
Hamburg, NY
Possibly. I expect GMKA will address the physical side of things in the near future. Grigs could be on his way out. With Okposo it depends if the Sabres want him as Captain for another season. The Sabres also have a few physical forwards currently playing in the OHL. Power is still young so he has more to learn but he will get better over time.
Okoposo will be 35, you can see he is slowing down, Anderson, Asplund, Bjork, Fitzgerald, Girgensons, Hinostroza, Jost, Okposo, Pilut contracts are up.
Maybe Jiri Kulich can make the team next year ?