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Opinion! Buffalo Sabres should defeat Vegas in the goalie sweepstakes

By Sion Fawkes

UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - JANUARY 21: Eric Comrie #1 of the New Jersey Devils skates in warm-ups prior to the game against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on January 21, 2021 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - JANUARY 21: Eric Comrie #1 of the New Jersey Devils skates in warm-ups prior to the game against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on January 21, 2021 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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In July, the Buffalo Sabres signed Eric Comrie. One month later, the Vegas Golden Knights traded for Adin Hill. Here is why the Sabres should win out.

By all means, there is no way I can critique the Adin Hill to Vegas trade, as Hill was high on my list of potential goaltenders for the Buffalo Sabres. You wouldn’t have found him on my free agency lists, but he was definitely a player general manager Kevyn Adams could have traded for.

However in hindsight, I’m glad he did not. Last season, Hill started 22 games and Comrie, 16. Hill looked good, finishing the year with a 2.66 GAA, but his save percentage dipped to just 0.906, which concerned me even in July when I was scouring goaltenders.

Comrie started just 16 contests, but finished the season with career bests in save percentage, 0.920, and GAA, at 2.58. As for Hill, he has never dramatically improved from year-to-year following the 2018-19 season, when he finished with a GAA of 2.76 and a 0.901 save percentage for the Arizona Coyotes.

Early returns state the Buffalo Sabres can defeat the Vegas Golden Knights in the goalie sweepstakes

Of course, many fans of both teams will look at Hill’s 74 career games and better overall career stats that include a 2.74 GAA and a 0.906 save percentage. Comrie, meanwhile, has a 0.905 career save percentage and a GAA of 3.06.

Hill also showed he can stick with a team long-term, given action he had seen in four seasons with the Arizona Coyotes. Comrie bounced around multiple systems before he eventually ended up back in Winnipeg. But Comrie’s improvement and Hill’s continued stagnation gives me more faith in the former.

There is also the fact that the Sabres needed someone in the net with a greater chance of staying healthy. We saw way too many injuries at goaltender last season, and Comrie fits the bill better than Hill, who recently struggled with injuries in San Jose.

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Early returns on paper show me that the Sabres got the better end of the deal here. No, Comrie does not have the same NHL sample size as Hill. But last season’s dramatic improvement showed that he is capable of becoming one of the league’s better goaltenders. Of course, nothing will be set in stone until we see the two in action. But early returns say the Sabres again got the best of the Knights.

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)

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