After Ellis' Shutout Showing Against Sharks, Sabres Should Be Sitting Luukkonen And Riding Hot Hand In Net

When you’re an Atlantic Division team fighting it out in arguably the NHL’s toughest divisions, you can’t afford to have passengers – you need to go with the players who are delivering. And in the Buffalo Sabres’ 2-0 win over the San Jose Sharks Tuesday, goalie Colten Ellis made the strongest case possible to keep de facto starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on the bench for at least another game, as Ellis stopped 23 Sharks shots to earn his second career shutout.

Now, one good game should not guarantee Ellis of the starter’s job in the long term. And in two of four appearances this season, Ellis has a save percentage of .867 or worse. So while his overall SP of .902 is better than average, the small sample size is a factor Sabres coach Lindy Ruff will have to keep in mind when he’s handing out playing time.

However, how can anyone justify Buffalo continually going back to Luukkonen right now? We’re talking about a goaltender that currently has a .866 SP and a 3.56 GAA in nine appearances this season. Even if we consider that Luukkonen’s struggles can be blamed in part on his teammates in front of him, you can’t keep throwing him out there when the results just aren’t there. 

Ruff has to ride the hot hand between the pipes – at least, until the Sabres build up a cushion in the standings, the way they did last season after a sub-par start to the year. And whenever currently-injured veteran Alex Lyon returns to action, if Ellis is still deserving of playing time and Luukkonen hasn’t turned things around on his end, Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen will have to have some difficult conversations about Luukkonen’s future with the organization.

Indeed, although Luukkonen has another two years left on his contract after this season, that can’t be the deciding element in how many appearances he gets. The 27-year-old has a modified no-trade clause allowing him to veto a deal to one of only five teams of his choice. But that still leaves 26 teams that Kekalainen can move Luukkonen to. And you never know – another team that is also having issues in net could decide to gamble on picking up Luukkonen. Kekalainen couldn’t ask for the sun and moon in any Luukkonen trade, but just freeing up Luukkonen’s $4.75-million in salary cap space would be the point of trading him.

Ultimately, there can’t be a favored-son kind of situation for Buffalo in net right now. The goaltending game is a zero-sum line of work, and if Ellis is stepping up and delivering the results that Luukkonen isn’t, then the decision is easy for Ruff & Co.. The difference between making and missing the Stanley Cup playoffs could come down to only a handful of standings points, so every game truly does matter. And going back to Luukkonen time and time again simply because he makes the most money isn’t a valid rationale for Buffalo.

In seven of nine appearances, Luukkonen has posted an SP of .889 or worse – and in four of those appearances, he’s posted an SP of .867 or worse. That is not going to cut it if the Sabres want to be competitive. So while it’s still relatively early days, and Ellis has to show more consistency, his performance on Tuesday made it clear that he should be playing ahead of Luukkonen until such time that he falters and Luukkonen elevates his game.