Sabres could once again be haunted by lack of goalie depth

The lack of quality goalie depth may once again come back to haunt the Buffalo Sabres. Something that has been a thorn in the Sabers’ side may lead to more issues this season after last night.

Linus Ullmark got the start last night when the Sabres took on the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. But not long into the game, Ullmark was forced to leave due to a lower-body injury. He just came back a few weeks ago after missing an extended period of time due to a lower-body injury. He seemed to come up slowly after sliding across the crease in the first period.

After Ullmark left the game, Dustin Tokarski came in to take over the goaltending duties for the Sabres. Tokarski had a stellar performance, making 29 saves on 31 shots. The Sabres eventually forced a shootout after a comeback effort, but Tokarski could not make a save in the shootout, and Buffalo left with a loss.

If Ullmark is forced to miss another extended period of time with injury, they could be facing some very thin goalie depth once again. With Carter Hutton still listed as out with a lower-body injury, the Sabres may be forced to have Dustin Tokarski and Michael Houser as the active goalies.

Suppose Ullmark and Hutton are both going to be out. In that case, we could also see Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen potentially be brought up to the taxi squad or even the active roster until Ullmark or Hutton are ready to return.

Regardless of what happens with these injury issues, addressing goalie depth should be a top priority for the Sabres this offseason. They hope to bring Ullmark back to Buffalo after this season instead of letting him walk in free agency. Depending on how UPL develops through the rest of the season in Rochester, the Sabres may want to keep him in the AHL to get more playing time before he makes the jump to the NHL.