Buffalo could place a claim for one of the many goaltenders that were placed on waivers Sunday
The Buffalo Sabres will be beginning their 2026-27 regular season on Thursday with a great deal of anticipation and pressure after snapping their 15-year playoff drought by winning the Atlantic Division and coming within one goal of advancing to the Eastern Conference Final, but before the season has even started, the club is already encountering challenges with injuries.
On defense, head coach Lindy Ruff was optimistic that blueliner Olen Zellweger could be in the lineup in Columbus for the season opener, and was hopeful that the injury to Mattias Samuelsson would take less time than the week-to-week time frame would indicate. That did not stop GM Jarmo Kekalainen from signing veteran Matt Grzelcyk to a one-year deal late last week.
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The goaltending picture got even more murky after Saturday’s 3-1 preseason finale loss to Pittsburgh, as Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen left early in the third period with what Ruff described after the game as a tweak of a lower body injury. The Sabres lost Alex Lyon in Detroit last Thursday to a shoulder injury, leaving the club with third-stringer Colten Ellis as the only healthy netminder.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on Monday’s 32 Thoughts podcast that it is possible that Kekalainen could place a waiver claim on one of the many goalies placed on waivers on Sunday. (Laurent Brossoit (ANA), Matt Tomkins (EDM), Kappo Kahkonen (MTL), David Rittich (NJD), Vitek Vanacek (NYI), Dylan Garand (NYR), Ilya Samsonov (SJS), Georgi Romanov (STL), Mads Sogaard (TBL),, Nikita Tolopilo (VAN) and Clay Stevenson (WSH) ).
The Sabres could place either or both of Luukkonen and Lyon on injured reserve retroactive to the day of the injury, and have the claimed goaltender backup Ellis until one of them are ready to play, and then place him on waivers. With Topias Leinonen injured before training camp, Buffalo has only Scott Ratzlaff, Matt Villaita, and Talyn Boyko (AHL deal) in the pipeline, so they could use another experienced netminder in the short-term at least.
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