Buffalo News reporter Lance Lysowski writes that the Buffalo Sabres and the agent for goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen have opened up talks on a contract extension for the young netminder. The 25-year-old hadn’t been able to find consistency in the NHL prior to last season but was able to assert himself and provide the Sabres with excellent goaltending as he went 27-22-4, with a .910 save percentage and a 2.57 GAA.
Luukkonen is due for a big pay increase from the $925K he made last season, and it will be interesting to see whether he and the Sabres opt for a bridge deal or a long-term commitment. If the two sides opt for arbitration or a bridge deal, Toronto Maple Leafs netminder Ilya Samsonov would be a good comparison after he signed a one-year contract for $3.55 million last summer. The alternative to a short-term pact would be a longer-term deal and according to Jeff Marek of Sportsnet, that type of contract could run the Sabres between $4-5 million per season.
In other Eastern Conference notes:
- With the NHL draft lottery complete, the Ottawa Senators will have 24 hours to decide whether to forfeit this year’s first-round pick or push the decision to 2025 or 2026 because of the invalid Evgenii Dadonov trade. Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun tweets that he doesn’t think the Senators will forfeit this year’s pick as Ottawa’s new management group headed by Steve Staios has ramped up their scouting efforts in preparation for this draft. The Senators hold the seventh overall pick after another disappointing season and will likely use the top-10 pick to add to their young core.
- Luke DeCock of The News & Observer tweeted that the Carolina Hurricanes made Evgeny Kuznetsov a healthy scratch for game 2 of their second-round series against the New York Rangers. Max Comtois will make his NHL playoff debut, skating in Kuznetsov’s place. Carolina dropped the first game of the series on Sunday and have been receiving offensive contributions from Kuznetsov, despite him playing predominantly in a fourth-line role with limited power play time. The 31-year-old struggled in the regular season but has been good offensively in the playoffs, posting two goals and two assists in six games.
Bad decision, Rod. Comtois was invisible last night. If you want more physicality, then play Lemieux. If you want both offense and physicality, bench Kotkaniemi and play Kuznetsov and Lemieux. Instead, he choses the worst option and scratches both Kuzy and Lemieux and plays an AHL’er for the first time and an overpaid player who contributes nothing. C’mon Rod, we expect better than this.
Rod, PLEASE flip flop Jarvy and Svetch. Jarvy meshes very well with Aho and Guentz. Svetch is more of an “Alpha” and does his own thing, which while Jordan and TT play the smart game, Svetch will get opportunities to explode.