Inside the Buffalo Sabres Vastly Improved Goaltending

As the Buffalo Sabres are flying high on a 9 game winning streak, let’s break down the huge improvement in goaltending compared to last year.

Last season was dreadful on virtually every front for the Buffalo Sabres. The offense was the only team in the NHL that did not score 200 goals and only the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators allowed more goals.

Last year’s primary goaltenders, Robin Lehner and Chad Johnson, struggled throughout the season. Both Lehner and Johnson finished the year with a goals against average over 3 goals.

After the season both Lehner and Johnson were not signed, heading to the Islanders and St. Louis Blues respectively. Of the 7 main free agent goalies that changed teams, Sabres general manager signed Carter Hutton from the St. Louis Blues.

Carter Hutton was coming off a career year in St. Louis in which he led in save percentage and goals against average. Granted Hutton only started 26 games for the Blues last year, but his performance earned him a 3 year contract from the Sabres.

With the departure of backup Chad Johnson, the backup goaltender job would be handed over to Linus Ullmark. Ullmark, the 6th round pick in the 2012 NHL draft, played the majority of the year with the Sabres’ AHL affiliate Rochester Americans. In 44 games with the Americans, Ullmark had a .922 save percentage and 2.44 goals against average.

The new goaltending tandem has been one of the key reasons the Buffalo Sabres entered the week after Thanksgiving only one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division. The key has been Carter Hutton who has already started 17 games and has won 11 games, good for second overall in the NHL.

Let’s review how Hutton stacks up to the other top 6 free agent goaltender signings from the past off-season.

– Jonathan Bernier, Detroit Red Wings, $9 million over 3 years: After playing in 3 of the first 5 games for the Red Wings (including allowing 8 goals to the Boston Bruins), Bernier has lost the starting job to Jimmy Howard.
– Anton Khudobin, Dallas Stars, $5 million over 2 years: Khudobin has served primarily as a backup to Ben Bishop and has a GAA over 3 and a won-loss record under .500.
– Petr Mrazek, Carolina Hurricanes, $1.5 million over 1 year: Mrazek saw decent playing time in October but the combination of injuries and 3 NHL ready goaltenders (Scott Darling and Trevor van Riemsdyk) have resulted not playing since November 2nd.
– Cam Ward, Chicago Blackhawks, $3 million over 1 year: Ward was clearly brought into Chicago to be the backup but his age and horrible numbers so far in 2018-19 make this signing very questionable at best.
– Robin Lehner, New York Islanders, $1.5 million over 1 year: The former Sabre netminder has actually played decently as a backup to Thomas Greiss. Lehner would probably see more action if Greiss was not playing so well. Lehner has the potential to be moved at the trade deadline if the Islanders are not in contention.
– Jaroslav Halak, Boston Bruins, $5.5 million over 2 years: Halak has played the best of all of the free agents, including Carter Hutton. Thrust into action due to Tuuka Rask’s poor play and subsequent leave of absence, Halak has been one of the best goaltenders in the NHL with a 8-2-2 record.

Compared to the first 33 games of last season, the current duo of Ullmark and Hutton are allowing fewer than 0.6 goals a game. Additionally, the Buffalo Sabres are tenth in the NHL in terms of least amount of goals allowed.

Don’t get me wrong, Carter Hutton is not one of the elite goaltenders in the NHL. Hutton’s numbers are actually down a bit from last season. That being said, Hutton’s performance thus far, coupled with the Sabres’ improved offense, has provided one of the sparks for Buffalo’s resurgence.

At $8.25 million over 3 years, Hutton has so far been a great signing. If he can manage the increased workload, the contract will be just fine as Linus Ullmark is eased into the starting role. As of now, the Buffalo Sabres are in a substantially better position in net compared to last season.