A lot of Buffalo Sabres fans probably remember when goalie Ryan Miller set the new team record for most wins in a season with 41 during the 2009-10 campaign. That's not the franchise legend's most impressive spot in the club's record book, though.
In 2007-08, Miller played in 76 games out of the team's 82-game schedule, which smashed the previous record of 72 jointly held by Don Edwards, Dominik Hasek and Martin Biron. For comparison, current Sabres starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made a career-high 55 appearances last season.
Miller's Sabres record is tied for the 10th-highest total in NHL history and is just one game fewer than the seven-way tie for third at 77. St. Louis Blues netminder Grant Fuhr holds the all-time mark at 79 set amid the 1995-96 season.
Looking back at Miller's 2007-08 season
An NHL head coach never enters a season expecting a goalie to play in 92.7% of the team's games, but Lindy Ruff was left with little choice because of several variables.
Most notably, the Sabres were trying to withstand the sudden departures of franchise cornerstones Chris Drury and Daniel Briere. Their free-agent exits left Buffalo with far less margin for error than the previous two seasons coming out of the lockout. It was forced into a season-long fight for a playoff spot, ultimately falling short by four points.
So, the Sabres couldn't afford to throw points away and that's essentially was what happened any time backup goalie Jocelyn Thibault stepped between the pipes. Thibault finished his only season with an unsightly 3.31 goals against average and .869 save percentage.
Miller held up well despite the heavy workload, which marked a 13-game increase from the previous season. He posted a 2.64 GAA and .906 SV% with three shutouts. Those numbers were below his usual high standards, but they were enough to keep Buffalo in most games, unlike Thibault.
It's probably no coincidence the Sabres rewarded him with a five-year contract extension during the subsequent 2008 offseason.
Why this Sabres record may never be broken
Goalies simply don't see the workloads they did before the analytics era. A greater emphasis has been placed on rest, especially when it comes to back-to-back situations, and teams with an eye on the playoffs want their starter as fresh as possible for a postseason run.
Last season, Andrei Vasilevski (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets) tied for the league lead with 63 starts. Nobody has hit the 70-start mark since the Edmonton Oilers' Cam Talbot made 73 appearances in 2016-17.
It's just hard to imagine a scenario where a goaltender takes to the net 77-plus times in a campaign, even with the NHL set to increase its schedule length to 84 games as part of the new CBA.
The Sabres also don't have a goalie on the level of Miller or Hasek who deserves that type of workhorse workload right now. UPL is coming off a forgettable 2024-25 season where he posted a .887 SV% and briefly lost his starting role to journeyman James Reimer.
So, it's quite possible Miller's records for both wins and games played stand the test of time, though his place in Sabres history is secured even if those marks eventually fall in the distant future.