The Buffalo Sabres have recalled goaltender Linus Ullmark from the AHL’s Rochester Americans, sending Nathan Lieuwen back to the AHL club.
This is Ullmark’s first-ever recall, as he’s just begun his first season in North America with the Amerks. It’s expected that Chad Johnson will start on Friday against the Montreal Canadiens, with Ullmark backing him up. There seems to be a chance that Ullmark could see his first NHL action on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.
Ullmark, 22, has spent the past few seasons playing overseas in his native Sweden. He was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres 163rd overall in 2012.
Up to this point, Sabres fans really hadn’t had much of a chance to see what he could do.
But now, with him in North America and playing for the Amerks, it’s the perfect time for Buffalo to recall him and give him a shot at the NHL level.
Ullmark made his North American debut in just the second game of the season for the Amerks, facing off against the Utica Comets.
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He put up a remarkable 38-save performance as the Amerks walked away with a 2-1 victory; he then followed that up with a 29-save performance a few short days later as the Amerks fell to St. John’s 5-2.
Ullmark’s most impressive game so far, however, was his last one; he stopped 43 of 46 shots faced as the Amerks fell to Utica by a score of 4-2 on October 21.
Though three games is obviously a small sample size, it’s clear that Ullmark has made a quick impact in his North American debut, and now the Sabres want to give him the chance to try things out at the higher level. He’s currently fifth in the AHL in saves.
Prior to coming to North America, Ullmark made a name for himself in Sweden, playing mostly with MODO Hockey Ornskoldsvik. He won the Honken Trophy as the Swedish Goaltender of the Year after the 2013-14 season.
Last season in 35 games with MODO, Ullmark registered a .904 save percentage and 3.12 GAA, going 12-20-0 overall.
The Sabres’ corresponding moves of sending Lieuwen down and bringing Ullmark up absolutely make sense. Lieuwen’s basically been sitting around, not playing, for days now. Sending him back to Rochester will likely give him a chance to play very soon – the Amerks host Toronto Friday evening and Syracuse on Sunday.
It also (potentially) gives Ullmark a chance to play in the NHL and gives the Sabres’ a chance to see what he can do. With Johnson right now set as the starting goalie, the Sabres are in need of a backup, and it seems pretty clear that they’re going to stick in-house rather than try to sign someone from elsewhere. If that’s the case, it absolutely makes sense to do a little AHL/NHL rotation and give different guys – especially unproven ones – their fair chance.
So — will we see Linus Ullmark make his NHL debut this weekend? How will he do? Here’s a video that @SabresProspects put together highlighting Ullmark’s time in MODO:
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