Seems okay for him, certainly still some risk for the team if he regresses. Goaltending is volatile after all.
It's probably a million too much in my opinion but it's not that much if he flops and Buffalo has to retain a percentage to dump the contract and if he continues to improve it's a good contractBuffalo doing Edmonton another solid.
Distraction contract.
Or maybe it turns into the Demko deal.Maybe this turns into the korpisalo deal.
Or maybe it turns into the Demko deal.
Anyone who watched UPL/Sabres the 2nd half of last year knows that UPL was amazing. Among goalies that started 20 or more games after January 1....UPL was 4th in GAA and 5th in Sv%. And if it wasn't for one stupidly outlier game against Ottawa in April, he's most likely top 3 in each.
Sabres get bagged for letting their good players go and get bagged for signing their good young players. ok lolBuffalo is the best place to play hockey in the world for a young player looking to cash in. If you have 1 good year you're getting a long term contract. They did it with Cozens and Power as well.
Always appreciate your thoughtful posts in Sabres threads!Most goalie deals come with risk. Merzlikins was young, big and athletic and thought of extremely highly as an ascending goalie when he started to cash in and things went south. But Ullmark is also an informative example of needing patience at times as well and would be pretty painful to let the next Ullmark slip through again because you don’t have the guts to pay UPL fairly for what was a pretty rockin breakout season.
It’s fine to let Levi try to unseat UPL the way Swayman had to unseat Ullmark. Theres a good chance despite the hype that Levi simply doesn’t win that battle and if that’s the case, the Sabres already have their guy locked up. My money is on UPL. Levi is extremely athletic and fun to watch tend net but he will never be the physical presence UPL is. For now, it’s a good problem to have if Levi also breaks out.
Most goalie deals come with risk. Merzlikins was young, big and athletic and thought of extremely highly as an ascending goalie when he started to cash in and things went south. But Ullmark is also an informative example of needing patience at times as well and would be pretty painful to let the next Ullmark slip through again because you don’t have the guts to pay UPL fairly for what was a pretty rockin breakout season.
It’s fine to let Levi try to unseat UPL the way Swayman had to unseat Ullmark. Theres a good chance despite the hype that Levi simply doesn’t win that battle and if that’s the case, the Sabres already have their guy locked up. My money is on UPL. Levi is extremely athletic and fun to watch tend net but he will never be the physical presence UPL is. For now, it’s a good problem to have if Levi also breaks out.