Buffalo Sabres Free Agency: Signing Eric Comrie was a good move
The Buffalo Sabres re-signed Craig Anderson and Malcolm Subban, but they still needed a potential Number One goaltender. They may now have one.
It is official! The Buffalo Sabres have signed former Winnipeg Jets goaltender Eric Comrie to a two-year deal with a $1.8 million annual cap hit, per Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. While Comrie has only appeared in 28 NHL games, it is not like he hasn’t seen time in the NHL, as he played between one and three games per season between 2016-17 and 2020-21.
A former second-round pick for the Jets (59th overall), Comrie saw 19 games of NHL action this season, posting a 10-5-1 record and a 2.58 GAA to go with a 0.920 save percentage. And while this is a small sample size, it does show that Comrie can hold things down if prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is not ready for the big time.
The Buffalo Sabres made a smart decision to sign Eric Comrie
Is Comrie the goaltender of the future? Odds are, he isn’t unless he simply excels in the role this upcoming season. However, the 27-year-old, at worst, makes for a great backup regardless if Luukkonen or someone else ends up in the net.
If one thing is for certain, however, it is that Comrie has outplayed Luukkonen on the AHL level, compiling a career 0.911 save percentage, and his GAA has routinely remained under the 2.96 mark, actually hovering between 2.51 and 2.75 in 211 career games.
So how does the Sabres depth chart look like with Comrie in the mold? At this point, he is going into camp as the Number One goaltender, with Luukkonen on the outside looking in, and Anderson sliding in as the Number Two.
Luukkonen could play well enough to surpass Anderson on the depth chart and he may even catch Comrie. If this is the case, look for the Sabres to keep three goaltenders on the roster while dressing two on any given night.
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Or, Luukkonen may prove he needs more time to develop in the AHL. In that case, he will join the Rochester Americans and play ahead of Malcolm Subban, who also re-signed. Regardless, look for Comrie to slide in as the frontrunner for the Sabres top goaltender and my projection is that he will be the guy for between 45 and 55 games this season.
(Statistics provided by Hockey Reference and Hockey DB)