The Buffalo Sabres have solidified their goaltending situation for the next half decade as the team announced they signed Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to a five-year, $23.75MM contract. The deal will pay Luukkonen an AAV of $4.75MM each year of the contract and keep the young netminder in Buffalo until the 2028-29 NHL season.
The deal comes just under the current contract of Vancouver Canucks’ netminder Thatcher Demko who secured a five-year, $25MM contract back in 2021. Luukkonen is arguably coming off a better season than when Demko signed his extension in 2021 which may indicate this deal is somewhat of a bargain for the Sabres.
If any positives came from Buffalo during the 2023-24 season, they largely centered around Luukkonen. The start of the year was disappointing as he produced a 6-8-2 record in his first 17 games with a .893 save percentage. At the turn of the calendar, however, Luukkonen went on an impressive stretch to end the season.
Since his first game at the start of the calendar year, Luukkonen concluded the season with a 20-14-2 record in 36 games while maintaining a .919 SV%. Luukkonen finished the season with a 27-22-4 record in 51 starts while earning a .910 SV% and 2.57 goals against average.
Aside from becoming the undisputed starter for the Sabres, the young Finnish netminder recorded five shutouts, 10.1 goals saved above average, and 2.65 adjusted goals against average according to HockeyReference. All of these served as career highs for Luukkonen after coming off a disappointing season the year prior.
This will be the major question surrounding this contract in Buffalo as Luukkonen has only produced one good season in the NHL. This is not to take away from his dominance last year but he has failed to produce back-to-back quality seasons in the best league in the sport.
Luckily, the Sabres do have a fallback option if this contract doesn’t pan out as expected with Devon Levi ready for full-time NHL responsibilities. The young netminder split time between Buffalo and the team’s AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans and he produced a 16-6-4 record in the AHL with a .927 SV% and 2.42 GAA.
General manager of the Sabres, Kevyn Adams, acknowledged this in the announcement when he said, “We really like the position we’re in with having UPL and Devon Levi as still young, developing goaltenders, guys we think are going to continue to grow and get better, that are extremely talented, hard-working, and character people“.
Not bad. Probably more than GMKA wanted to give initially. But anything under $5mil per is good for the Sabres.
WOW! May be a little premature to give him that much term……….we will see.
Too bad his good year did not move Sabers near being a play-off team.
What? Dude’s 25 and had a great year. Other teams are paying up why not the Sabres? You’d rather have him walk and rely on the kid? Not premature at all. He had a great year. Not a great month.
Good point about the playoffs. Sure would be nice if Buffalo could get something rolling in that regard LOL
I think it’s actually quite shrewd of a move and what teams who find themselves with two top goalie prospects should do going forward, IMO. Try to lock them up during their prime years for somewhere around $8-9M combined. I’d much rather roll the dice on two goalies than one bonafide starter and a backup for similar money. If it works out, you have depth. If it doesn’t, or if one guy starts rumbling, you should be able to reset the position in one offseason while adding assets.
It’s a gamble, but it’s definitely a worthwhile gamble in my opinion.
Term is a bit sus, but the AAV is tradeable (probably with retention) if he doesn’t pan out. Smart bet from Buffalo.
Better hire him a therapist. He’s going to get peppered all season.
He’s got one on call. If you remember, he played for the Sabres last year lol.