Colten Ellis is getting the first real shot to seize Buffalo’s crease.
After Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stumbled through the Sabres’ first two games - a road loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets and a home win over the Chicago Blackhawks - Ellis was the one taking starter reps at Monday’s practice. Buffalo is set to face the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, and with veteran backup Alex Lyon still out with an upper-body injury, the door is open.
Ellis already gave the Sabres enough last season to make this move feel earned. Buffalo claimed him off waivers from the St. Louis Blues last October, and the 26-year-old responded with a .903 save percentage over 16 games, including 14 starts, as part of the team’s three-goalie rotation.
He didn’t get a playoff start, though. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Luukkonen and Lyon kept trading the net, and neither did enough to lock the job down.
That’s why this feels like more than just a spot start. Luukkonen is off to a rough beginning this season with a .784 SV% in two starts, Lyon is unavailable, and Ellis suddenly has the chance to push his way into a much bigger role.
The Canadian netminder’s path to this moment started long before Buffalo claimed him. A 2019 third-round pick, Ellis won the Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy in 2021 after posting the QMJHL’s best goals against average with the Charlottetown Islanders. He also put up a .919 SV% over three years with the Springfield Thunderbirds, the Blues’ AHL affiliate.
Buffalo’s interest in him last season was a signal in itself. The move came at the same time Devon Levi’s run in Western New York was effectively ending, and Levi is now battling for the No. 1 job on the Edmonton Oilers’ goaltending depth chart.
The Sabres may still wind up using a rotation again this season, unless a blockbuster trade for Connor Hellebuyck somehow comes together. But Ellis now has the kind of opening that can change the conversation if he runs with it.
Luukkonen has had plenty of chances to grab the job and hasn’t been able to hold it. Lyon, at 33 and headed toward unrestricted free agency, isn’t a long-term answer either. That leaves Ellis as the wild card - the goalie with the nickname, the loose style, and the preseason form that made him look like Buffalo’s best option.
There’s a reason “Colten Chaos” stuck. He can be nerve-racking to watch. He can also make a case that the Sabres’ net belongs to him.
On the bigger organizational question, Jarmo Kekalainen’s handling of the crease is already under the microscope. He spent the offseason praising Buffalo’s current goalie group and passing on an expensive Hellebuyck deal.
There was logic there. Hellebuyck is coming off the worst season of his otherwise decorated career, with a .895 SV% in 57 games, and his $8.5 million cap hit runs through 2031. That’s a lot of risk.
Still, in a summer when Buffalo’s biggest addition was Olen Zellweger, a trade for the Jets star felt like the kind of swing that could have fit. The Sabres have extra top-nine forwards, and Winnipeg has been looking for that kind of help in talks for its three-time Vezina Trophy winner.
Maybe the price was never going to make sense. Speculation that the Jets asked for Zach Benson was, as reported, outrageous. But there seemed to be enough room to keep talking.
Instead, Buffalo is back at the same old place only a few games into 2026-27: waiting on its goaltending to settle down. If it doesn’t, and the Sabres fall behind in a crowded Eastern Conference, the pressure on Kekalainen will only grow.
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