Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is dealing with a lower-body injury that'll likely force him to miss the early stages of the 2025-26 season. It's an unfortunately timed setback for the netminder, who desperately needs a bounce-back campaign for the Buffalo Sabres.
Jesse Granger of The Athletic provided the results from a poll of NHL experts, who ranked UPL at No. 32 on a list of the league's 38 best goalies based on "true talent." There was agreement the Sabres goaltender has untapped potential but they aren't sure he'll ever reach his peak upside.
"I like the athleticism, and he has improved more than I expected him to, but I think his athleticism is what's getting him by right now," an NHL coach told The Athletic. "It worries me how he reads the game."
A retired goalie added: "He's had flashes, and I think there are tools there, but I keep waiting, and it just hasn't come together for a full season yet."
That consensus uncertainty is not what Buffalo was hoping for when it signed Luukkonen to a five-year, $23.75 million contract extension before last season.
Will Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen ever fully establish himself as the Buffalo Sabres' long-term answer in net?
Luukkonen looked like a star on the rise during a 2023-24 campaign where he posted a 2.57 goals against average and .910 save percentage. Those numbers dropped off substantially last season, however, to a subpar 3.20 GAA and .887 SV%.
So, it'd be an understatement to say UPL was facing a critical year between the pipes for Buffalo. Then he arrived to training camp with a minor injury, forcing him to miss most of the practices, and he suffered a separate injury during his first preseason appearance.
The Sabres haven't provided a firm timetable for his return, merely listing him as week-to-week, and it could take him awhile longer to get up to game speed given his lack of camp involvement.
It's the latest period of frustration for UPL, who's had moments of brilliance throughout parts of five seasons in Buffalo, but the full breakthrough has yet to arrive.
"I love this guy, but he's hurt again, already," a goalie coach told The Athletic. "I think he's amazing, but we just haven't seen it yet."
The question is whether Sabres fans will ever see it, or if Luukkonen's up-and-down play and injury issues are merely part of his reality.
For now, Buffalo is likely to give Alex Lyon the first crack at the starting role until UPL is cleared to return. Alexandar Georgiev, who finished seventh in Vezina Trophy voting for the Colorado Avalanche three years ago before his game fell off considerably, and prospect Devon Levi are the other options.
It's an unfortunate turn of events for the Sabres because the rest of the roster, which has also been struck by injuries throughout the preseason, appeared in a good spot at baseline. Unsteady goalie play has the potential to sink the entire campaign, though.
The Sabres will hope to catch lightning in a bottle with either Lyon or Georgiev initially. If they both falter and UPL's injury keeps him out longer than expected, Levi will enter the conversation despite the team's desire to give him a full year of development with the AHL's Rochester Americans.
Whenever Luukkonen does return, he'll face a lot of pressure to show the high-end potential he's occasionally displayed in the past can become his full-time level of play.
He'd provide a major boost to the Sabres' playoff chances if that happens, and that'd be a welcome sight for an organization riding a 14-year postseason drought.
Buffalo opens the regular season Thursday night when it hosts the New York Rangers.