The Connor Hellebuyck saga finally has an ending, and it sends the Hart and Vezina Trophy winner to the New Jersey Devils. On Friday, the deal was completed with Buffalo in the mix right up to the finish, but the gold-medal winning netminder ultimately headed elsewhere in a trade that brings center Dawson Mercer, goalie Nico Daws, 2026 first-rounder Alexander Command, forward Nick Bjugstad, and a pair of draft picks back to Winnipeg.
The Sabres stayed attached to the story until the last possible moment. As recently as this week, Buffalo was still linked to Hellebuyck, and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on Thursday’s 32 Thoughts podcast that the Sabres and the Utah Mammoth were hoping Winnipeg would feel the pressure to move him before his suspension ended on Friday. According to Friedman, those teams were waiting for the asking price to come down.
For Buffalo, the trade also makes one thing clear: the Sabres see Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as their goalie going forward.
"(You) kind of learn to deal with (the rumors). You can't escape it," Luukkonen said after being informed about the trade.
"I don't go automatically to read (trade rumors), but I think anybody who says that they don't see it or they don't read it. They're lying, because you can't really escape it nowadays.
If I'm not on social media, my friends will send it to me. So you can't escape it and I think and it's a stupid mentality to think that ' if I don't see it, it's not happening.'
"
Luukkonen is trying to settle in after an uneven start to the season, with consistency now the big ask. Head coach Lindy Ruff said that’s the next step for his starter, who is expected to make his fifth straight start against Washington on Saturday.
" I think there's been just key saves at key times in the games for us that has really made a difference. We know that there's kind of a threshold (Luukkonen) gets to when he plays a number of games, and then we need to get somebody else in the net."
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said. "I think any time a goalie gets to roll a few games in a row, he gets a little bit of momentum and starts to feel good about parts of his game."
In Other News...
Sabres Fans Need To Face The Truth About Devon Levi
When Devon Levi left Buffalo in the trade to Edmonton, it was easy to understand why the move came with plenty of second-guessing. He has opened the season with a 6-1 record for the Oilers, a start that naturally stands out to Sabres fans who watched him develop in their own system and still had reason to wonder what might have been.
The part that complicates the simple win-loss reaction is that Levis performance metrics look a lot like Ukko-Pekka Luukkonens in Buffalo, even if the results do not. Edmonton has been giving Levi far more offensive support, while the Sabres have asked Luukkonen to work with much less help, which makes the comparison tougher than the record suggests. Levi is also headed toward restricted free agency after this season, so the trade was never just about one hot start, but about roster math and what Buffalo believed it needed to do. [Read more 🡒]
Sam Reinhart Trade Still Defines Floridas Championship Core
The deal that sent Sam Reinhart out of Buffalo still looks like one of the defining moves of Floridas rise. Bill Zito landed the winger on July 24, 2021, and the swap immediately gave the Panthers a veteran scorer who fit into their core and helped change the trajectory of the franchise.
Reinharts run in South Florida has been hard to ignore. After spending 454 games with the Sabres, he produced at a far greater pace in Florida, becoming a key part of a group that reached a Stanley Cup Final and then climbed all the way to back-to-back championships, a reminder of how much one trade can reshape both ends of a deal. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Missed The Goalie Chance Fans Knew They Needed
Connor Hellebuyck was suddenly on the move, and the deal sent him from Winnipeg to New Jersey in a package built around Dawson Mercer, Alexander Command, draft picks and Nick Bjugstad. For Sabres fans, the reaction was immediate and familiar, because a franchise still looking for a true difference-maker in net watched another elite goalie land elsewhere while Buffalo stayed on the sidelines.
The bigger question is why the Sabres were not in the conversation more aggressively, especially with the kind of urgency a team in their position usually needs. It also puts a spotlight on GM Jarmo Kekalainen and the way he has approached big swings, since this is the sort of star acquisition Buffalo supporters have been waiting to see the club make. [Read more 🡒]