Sabres sign Topias Leinonen to entry-level contract
The Buffalo Sabres announced Friday that the club has signed goaltender Topias Leinonen to a three-year, entry-level contract to begin in the upcoming 2025-26 campaign.
Through 25 appearances this season with Mora IK of the second-tier Swedish league, Leinonen posted a 13-10-0 showing coupled with a .910 save percentage, 2.31 goals-against average, and four shutouts. Leinonen then made six appearances in the 2025 postseason in which he twice found the win column while posting a .929 save percentage and 2.18 goals-against average.
A 21-year-old native of Jyvaskyla, Finland, Leinonen was originally chosen 41st overall by the Sabres in the 2022 NHL Draft, the first of 20 goaltenders who heard their names called in that year’s draft class.
“How you play different scenarios and situations within a game, that’s where it’s starting to improve and then at the same time, [Leinonen’s] mobility continues to get better, his athleticism gets better,” Sabres goaltending development coach Seamus Kotyk told team reporter Noah Monroe in February. “There are so many different things that benefit from playing more games. So, this year helped him get back on track in the direction that he needed his career to go.”
Leinonen had previously spent part of three seasons with JYP of the top professional Finnish league where through 18 total outings he went 1-10-4 with an .844 save percentage, 3.90 goals-against average, and one shutout. In 2022, Leinonen also joined Finland at the IIHF Under-18 World Championship where he won three of five games while recording an .897 save percentage and a 2.61 goals-against average en route to a bronze medal victory.
With the signing, Leinonen becomes one of three goaltenders under contract with the Sabres next season, per PuckPedia, including starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as well as Scott Ratzlaff, currently competing with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds. The Sabres also have pending unrestricted free agents James Reimer and Felix Sandstrom plus pending restricted free agent Devon Levi.