Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen broke out in a big way for the Buffalo Sabres last season. The Espoo, Finland native cemented himself as the club’s clear starter, posting a 27-22-4 record, a 2.57 goals-against average, a .910 save percentage, and five shutouts in a career-high 54 appearances. His outstanding play, especially during the second half of the season, was the main reason why the Sabres remained within range of a playoff spot deep into the campaign.
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Luukkonen got rewarded big-time for his breakout season, as he secured a five-year, $23.75 million ($4.75 million AAV) contract earlier this offseason. With this being a long-term deal, it is apparent that the Sabres have tremendous confidence in Luukkonen moving forward.
With this move, the Sabres locked up one of their young, promising netminders. While they did spend a decent amount of cap space to sign Luukkonen long-term, it undoubtedly has the potential to be a complete steal for the Sabres if he continues to trend in the right direction.
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Luukkonen showed in 2024-25 that he can be a legitimate starter. However, when noting that he is still only 25 years old, he still has more time to develop into an even better goaltender. Keep in mind, while he has made appearances at the NHL level in each of the last four seasons, he only has 100 career games on his resume. With that, he was primarily in the NHL for only two seasons.
Overall, if UPL maintains his strong 2023-24 form from here, his new contract is already good. However, if he hits a new level from here, this contract could quickly become a steal for Buffalo.
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