How do the Sabres navigate their goaltending carousel for next season?
The Buffalo Sabres lost their second-round Game 7 matchup against the Montreal Canadiens Monday night, dropping a 3-2 overtime decision on home ice. It capped off a magical 2025-26 campaign for the Sabres, a team that went from missing the playoffs for well over a decade to winning the Atlantic Division for the first time in nearly 20 years.
The team has a number of roster decisions this summer, including whether or not to extend pending free agent Alex Tuch. One solution to creating cap space could be moving out one of their goaltenders in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or Alex Lyon. Luukkonen may be an intriguing option as the 27-year-old netminder makes $4.75 million per year and is under contract through the 2028-29 season.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss the Sabres’ cap situation and whether they would pull the trigger on a goalie trade.
Tyler Yaremchuk: For a team that a lot see as up and coming and one that’s continued to push to go on playoff runs for the next few years, they aren’t exactly flush with cash. They have just $12.9 million in project cap space, according to PuckPedia. That’s 12 forwards, six defenseman and three goalies under contract.
They need to make a decision between the pipes: is Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen your guy? Or if you want to bring Alex Tuch back and re-sign Zach Benson, maybe you like Alex Lyon more and move Luukkonen out?
The decision between the pipes, if you had to guess right now, who is the duo for Buffalo on opening day?
Carter Hutton: I think it’ll be the same two to start, truthfully. I think some of the question marks for the team will be up front: the lack of performance from Peyton Krebs in a contract year, does he get moved out? I thought Jack Quinn was very good in this series, and he’s got another year left on his deal. Maybe he propels himself up the lineup.
There’s so many moving parts, but for me, that question is going to be around consistency goaltending in the Atlantic Division. Montreal is not going anywhere, and you got to expect the Florida Panthers are just taking a one-year hiatus.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…