The Buffalo Sabres currently have three goalies on their NHL roster, and it is probably not something they want to do, but more so out of necessity. To begin the season, the team had Alex Lyon and Colten Ellis as their goalies, and both played very well. They didn't want to risk losing either of those two when Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen returned, so the plan has been to keep all three.
However, a three-goalie rotation is very uncommon and frankly not really sustainable, which is going to force the Buffalo Sabres to move one of them. On Friday, Elliotte Friedman hinted at the possibility that it might be Luukkonen and drew a connection to a division rival in the Montreal Canadiens that needs a goalie.
When discussing the Canadiens' potential trade options at goalie, he mentioned Cam Talbot with Detroit, but didn't believe they would want to break up that tandem with them being in first place. He then pivoted to the Sabres and said:
"To me, the one interesting guy and I wrote about it briefly the other night is to be Luukkonen. Like Detroit, Buffalo still has a lot of goalies there, and you know it's clear they really like Ellis and how he beat Edmonton."
Colten Ellis has pushed Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to be the odd man out for the Buffalo Sabres
As Friedman noted, Colten Ellis has been really impressive to begin the season and is probably the one who has complicated matters the most for the Buffalo Sabres. The team claimed him off waivers at the start of the season, and he was largely an unknown with no NHL career starts yet.
He had an impressive NHL debut with a win over the Detroit Red Wings and won three of his first four starts in total. Ellis started three consecutive games earlier this week and had great games against Detroit and Edmonton. He certainly struggled against the Calgary Flames, where he allowed six goals, but that was collectively a disappointment for the entire roster.
At this point, the Sabres can't risk putting Ellis on waivers because he would almost certainly be claimed by another team. Meanwhile, Alex Lyon has also had a great start to the season and was the primary starter when Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was out with an injury to begin the season.
If all things were equal, Luukkonen would probably be the goalie the Sabres would want to move the most. However, he has a big contract with three years remaining after this season with an AAV of $4.75 million. In addition, Luukkonen has durability concerns as he has already had to deal with two injuries just this season.
Would the Buffalo Sabres actually want to help a division rival?
The other big challenge for a trade with the Montreal Canadiens is that the Buffalo Sabres have to decide if they want to help a division rival. These were one of the teams I recently wrote about the Sabres should avoid trading Alex Tuch to, and the same logic could be applied to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
However, the difference with this is that the positives probably outweigh the negatives more in this trade. The Buffalo Sabres, theoretically, depending on whether they retain any salary, would clear a significant amount of cap space this season and moving forward. It also helps manage their roster by creating a roster spot for a skater, as well as creating a better rotation at goalie.
For the Sabres, there certainly is some risk but if the Canadiens are interested in Luukkonen it is a move they should consider if the return is good enough to make the deal.