Some uncertainty around the Buffalo Sabres’ goaltending right now
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukaukas on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – The Only Thing Bigger Than Hischier Will Be Kaprizov’s Contract episode, on the Buffalo Sabres signing goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, and if there is an injury to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
- Update Michael Augello: Sabres GM Kevyn Adams said that goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day, but it could be longer.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“The other one I wanted to mention about this week is, you know, the Sabers signed Alexandar Georgiev. And you know, I’ll tell you what was really interesting about that one for me, I had, so first of all, credit to Matthew Fairburn. He’s the one who reported that there’s an injury issue around Luukkonen. That is the reason this happened.
Someone said to me, and that they thought it was interesting that Georgiev didn’t get NHL minimum. He got a little bit more. He got $825,000. And he said to me that when someone out of nowhere gets a contract like that, and it’s like, instead of like a PTO right on the eve of the season, and the number is a little bit higher than the minimum, it’s because the organization says, ‘We have to make sure we get this guy.’
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So when Matthew wrote that there’s an injury there, it made perfect sense. Now, from what I understand, I don’t believe, as we sit here on Sunday night recording this podcast, we should automatically assume the worst-case scenario. I think, from what I’m hearing, the Sabers just don’t know yet. They don’t know. Like, it’s still uncertain.
Whatever is bothering Luukkonen, it’s not, like I was warned, don’t come on and say it’s uncertain. And that means it’s terrible. It’s uncertain because I just don’t think they know, and they wanted to make sure. I mean, look like we’ll see, is he on ice at the beginning of camp? Is he on ice early in camp? You know, we’ll know soon enough, but right now, I’ve just been told they’re not sure.”
Bukauskas: “Okay. And it is, I don’t know if it’s worth mentioning, but the fact that he was the Sabers representative at the European media tour. Like usually, if something serious is going on, players aren’t going to those events unless it happened really recently.
Friedman: “Kyle, the minimum salary this year, it’s 775 (,000), so it’s not like it’s a huge number. It’s $50,000 more. But that’s still, that got noticed.
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What it says to me is that maybe he was dealing with something that he thought would be okay. And then once he started skating in North America, it just wasn’t. So we’ll see. I mean, the only other explanation is he got hurt, like a week or two ago.
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