With Devon Levi gone to the Edmonton Oilers, the Buffalo Sabres’ goalie picture has shifted again, and it leaves the organization leaning hard on what comes next.
Right now, the Sabres are set up for what looks like a three-goalie rotation. Colten Ellis is the youngest of the group at 25, but the team’s current depth chart still has veterans Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon sitting ahead of him.
Ellis showed flashes last season, yet the Sabres have not acted like he is the clear No. 1 option. If they believed that, they likely would have opened a cleaner path to more starts.
That makes the prospect pipeline even more important. For a while, Levi was the name at the top of that conversation. Now that he has been traded, Buffalo has to see whether another young goalie can step into that role over time.
Topias Leinonen is one of the biggest names to watch. Drafted in 2022, he should get more opportunity with the Rochester Americans now that Levi is no longer in the system.
If he puts together a strong season and one of the NHL goalies is moved, Leinonen could work his way into playing time - or at least into a morning skate next spring. His calling card is obvious: he stands 6-foot-5 and brings the kind of size NHL teams covet in net.
Still, size alone won’t carry him.
Scott Ratzlaff is another prospect in the mix, though his game is built differently. He relies more on speed, and he was at Sabres developmental camp a season ago. Beyond those two, Yevgeni Prokhorov and Samuel Meloche are also part of the organizational picture.
The reason this matters is simple: goalie issues have already shown up at the worst possible time. Buffalo’s back-and-forth between Luukkonen and Lyon was taxing on both the team and the goalies during both rounds of the playoffs. The Sabres are young and talented in a lot of places, but this position remains the major question mark.
The contract situation adds another layer. Luukkonen, Lyon and Ellis are all signed through 2026-27, while Ellis and Lyon can become free agents next summer.
Luukkonen is under contract through 2029. If the inconsistency keeps hanging around, the Sabres may eventually have to decide whether to move on from one of those deals.
For Buffalo, the answer has to come from within. They have core players everywhere else, but not yet in goal. If one of these prospects can seize Levi’s old spot, the Sabres could be looking at the kind of goalie foundation that powered their best recent seasons with Dominik Hasek or Ryan Miller.
In Other News...
New Sabres Defenseman Shares Wild Trade Night Moment
Louis Crevier is already giving the Sabres a little more to think about on the back end after arriving in the Bowen Byram-Jordan Greenway deal with Chicago. The 7th-round pick from the Blackhawks has seen his ice time climb there, and Buffalo is bringing him in with a real opportunity to stick on the blue line next season, which is exactly the kind of low-cost swing a team trying to deepen its defense can use.
The fit matters because the Sabres are not just adding another body, they are looking for someone who can actually push for a role. Crevier is expected to compete for a spot on the roster and could end up filling an opening left by Logan Stanley if the veteran does not return, giving Buffalo a bigger, more established option than a pure depth add. For a player whose path has already included a meaningful jump in responsibility, this could be the moment where he turns a change of scenery into a real NHL foothold. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Linked To Proven Scoring Help As Pressure Builds In Buffalo
The Sabres are still sorting through how to replace the offense they lost when Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram moved on, and the search has pushed the front office toward a familiar kind of summer dilemma: trust the kids, or add a proven scorer who can help right away. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen is reportedly weighing outside options while also keeping an eye on internal development, but the need for more production is hard to ignore for a team that wants to take a step forward.
Seattle winger Jared McCann has surfaced in the broader conversation as the kind of player Buffalo would have interest in if the Kraken decide to listen, and his situation makes him one to watch as the season moves along. He is in the final year of his contract, has been part of trade chatter before, and his track record as a reliable goal source only adds to the appeal. The complication, as always, is whether a deal like that can actually get traction once the details start to matter. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Suddenly Have A Colten Ellis Dilemma They Cannot Mismanage
Colten Ellis arrived in Buffalo as a waiver claim before last season, and he made the kind of early impression that forces a front office to pay attention. He got into 16 games and helped stabilize the Sabres at a time when every usable option in net mattered, which is part of why his situation has quickly become more than a depth-chart footnote.
Now Ellis is entering the final year of his contract, and Buffalo has to decide how aggressively it wants to manage his role while sorting through a crowded goalie picture. With a three-goalie rotation already in play and the possibility of adding Connor Hellebuyck hanging over the position, the Sabres have to keep Ellis on a path that protects their leverage for next summer without letting the season get away from them in the process. [Read more 🡒]