'He wanted the net' | Looking back on Luukkonen's breakout season

Lindy Ruff was asked what excited him most about the Buffalo Sabres’ roster, a collection of players that includes 30-goal scorers up front and first-overall draft picks on defense.

Ruff immediately turned his attention between the pipes.

“I think there’s a couple of really talented goaltenders that are working their way up here,” Ruff said. “And goaltending is probably the number one thing that every club needs.”

Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams remained firm in his belief entering this past season that goaltending was a position of strength for the team, with a pair of young but promising netminders in the fold in Devon Levi and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

Levi opened the season in the NHL and has since dominated with the Rochester Americans. The 22-year-old ranked second among qualified AHL goaltenders with a .927 save percentage in 26 games and will look to help the Amerks capture the Calder Cup when their playoff run begins this Friday.

Luukkonen, meanwhile, parlayed his own experiences through the professional ranks – an ascension that began all the way back in 2019-20 with a split season between the ECHL and AHL and had since included stints of varying lengths in Buffalo – into a career year for the Sabres.

Luukkonen started a career-high 54 games for Buffalo and tied for fifth in the NHL with five shutouts and ninth among qualified goaltenders with a 2.57 goals-against average. His .910 save percentage ranked ninth among goaltenders with at least 50 games played.

His goals-against average was the lowest by a Sabres goaltender with at least 50 games played since Ryan Miller – another name Ruff is familiar with – in 2011-12. His 27 wins and five shutouts were also the most for a Sabres goaltender in a single season since Miller.

“I feel like my numbers were good this year and I feel like I had a good number of great games, and I helped the team to win pretty much every night,” Luukkonen said. “So, I think just kind of finding my confidence and being a confident goalie out there was the biggest thing for me this year.”

Luukkonen’s success required patience, both in the big picture and within the microscope of this season. He was the second goaltender off the board when the Sabres selected him in the second round of the 2017 draft and made good on that promise in the ensuing years, dominating in his lone season for OHL Sudbury and during his gold-medal run with Finland at the 2019 World Junior Championship.

He turned pro in 2019-20 but played the majority of his games for ECHL Cincinnati while Rochester utilized a veteran tandem. The next three years were a steady progression: four games for Buffalo in 2020-21, nine in 2021-22, then a leap to 33 games last season.

The workload last season offered a glimpse of what Luukkonen could become. He went 12-3-0 during a 15-game stretch for the Sabres in December and January and was named NHL Rookie of the Month. That run instilled confidence that he could be an NHL starter, a belief he carried into a productive offseason.

Luukkonen returned to Buffalo in the fall feeling primed for a strong season – it just took a bit more patience. The Sabres opened with a three-man goalie tandem of Levi, Luukkonen, and Eric Comrie, and Luukkonen did not play the first six games as a result.

“It wasn’t something where I wanted to be, to start as the third goalie this year,” he said. “So, you know, I kind of learned that anything can happen in this league, and nothing is for granted.”

Luukkonen began to firm his grip on the starting job on Jan. 6 in Pittsburgh with a 40-save performance that included a breakaway stop on Sidney Crosby. He posted back-to-back shutouts against the Blackhawks and Sharks the following week.

Beginning with that game in Pittsburgh, Luukkonen started 36 of the Sabres’ final 43 games. His .919 save percentage in that span tied for eighth in the NHL (minimum 10 games played).

The workload, he said, didn’t wear him down.

“I think that was really good for me and it’s good learning for me,” he said. “I want to be a starting goalie in this league. I feel like I can be a good starting goalie in this league. Kind of going through that this year, it helped me a lot. It helped my confidence.

“I feel like physically and mentally, I was really as fresh as I can be and kind of went through it without any difficulty, so I think that gives me confidence for next year too.”

Luukkonen’s breakout came as no surprise to several of his teammates, particularly those who watched him hone his game for years in Rochester.

“Upie’s a dog,” defenseman Mattias Samuelsson said. “I thought he was unreal. I’ve always thought he was a really good goalie. I’ve seen him since we were in Rochester a couple of years ago. I’m super happy for him, just think he deserves it. He works his butt off. I think he’s a hell of a goalie and he’s really big and athletic, too.

“I’m just excited for him. Next year he’ll probably be even better. That’s good for us, too.”

There is one order of business in the meantime. Luukkonen is set to become a restricted free agent this offseason and said he is open to signing a long-term deal with the Sabres. Adams – who cited his two young goaltenders as a position of organizational strength last summer – reiterated his belief in Luukkonen after this season.

“He wanted the net, and he had an opportunity and he ran with it,” Adams said. “And it was it was great to see. I loved the confidence that he gave our team. I think on the majority of almost all the games he played this year, he gave us a chance to win. And that's really at the end of the day, what you're looking for out of your goaltender.”