Buffalo Sabres: Did Luukkonen do enough to warrant a look in 2023-24?

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is a polarizing figure among fans, with some supporting him. Others want the Blue and Gold to look elsewhere. 

The Buffalo Sabres, if all the dominoes fall in a certain way, could have two young goaltenders next season in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi. And while it’s an incredibly faint chance at the moment, the possibility rings until someone else (Eric Comrie, perhaps?) wins a spot to man the Blue and Gold’s net in 2023-24.

One reason the chances for this happening have grown slim stem from Luukkonen’s performance in the net this season. Overall, he’s posted a solid 16-11-4 record in 31 starts, something that made me glance twice when reading his statistics.

Obviously, you can’t judge a goaltender’s overall performance on their win-loss record, as Luukkonen also has a 3.66 GAA and a 0.889 save percentage. With the latter well below the 0.904 league average.

However, despite poor overall numbers, there is some evidence that Luukkonen has done enough to warrant a look. Between December 4th and January 28th, he recorded a 0.911 save percentage, and a GAA of 3.00, becoming the team’s “hot hand” in that stretch as Comrie recovered from an injury.

Buffalo Sabres goaltender has seen waves and troughs in 2022-23

Between February 1st and March 24th, however, Luukkonen has looked like a different goaltender. His GAA (not counting the game he played in relief of Craig Anderson), sits at an ugly 4.18, and his 0.870 save percentage in that span has been one of the league’s worst.

So given the waves and troughs Luukkonen has experienced since December, should he get a serious look for 2023-24? If I were the one making the calls, I’m going to say yes, he should. Unless, of course, I could sign an undisputed number one goaltender.

While Luukkonen has certainly struggled and yes, there have been times he should have stepped up to make a difficult save, his defense hasn’t given him much help. Goaltenders who stick around in this league need to bail out poor defensive play, but it’s easy to forget Luukkonen has just 45 games of NHL experience, so it’s premature to expect too many bailouts.

Overall, and thanks to his tear between December 4th and January 28th, he’s done enough to warrant a look for 2023-24. However, I wouldn’t be so keen to claim that he will stick around long if he earns a spot, but the struggles continue.

Luukkonen needs to step up more as he gains experience. He’s also had a tendency of allowing too many easy saves, poor defensive play or not, and that’s something Luukkonen must also improve.

For Luukkonen to stay here long-term, he will need to improve to at least the league average in save percentage. And that’s going to take a full offseason of improving his weaknesses, especially that glove positioning.

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)

Source: Sabres’ Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen learning to manage ‘ups and downs’ as a rookie goalie by Lance Lysowski, BuffaloNews.com