With the free agent signing of Alex Lyon, it would seem that the Buffalo Sabres plan for Devon Levi to spend another year developing in the AHL with the Rochester Amerks. There’s nothing wrong with the plan to let the 23-year-old receive the bulk of the playing time in the AHL. We may even see him get a few NHL games this season, depending on how things play out.

That’s not the only interesting part of the goaltending situation this upcoming year for the Amerks. Over the last few years, the AHL club has had a veteran goaltender with Levi as a mentor. This season, however, there are currently two rookie goaltenders on the roster behind him.

Topias Leinonen

Topias Leinonen signed his entry-level contract with the Sabres in March as he’ll transition from Europe to North America to begin his pro career. The 21-year-old was a second-round pick of theirs in the 2022 NHL Draft. He had some struggles in his first two years post-draft, but he put together his best season this past campaign.

He appeared in 25 games for Mora IK in Sweden’s second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. In those 25 games, he put up a 2.31 goals against average with a 91% save percentage. The Finnish goaltender recorded four shutouts as well.

Leinonen played in six playoff games last season as well and performed well with a .929 save percentage.

Nice push and a big save today from Topias Leinonen as he stops 20/22 to backstop Mora to a 3-2 OT victory over Almtuna. Leinonen: 5-4-0, 2.36 GAA, .904 save% 📈 pic.twitter.com/KrsKUSmmsB

— Kris Baker (@SabresProspects) November 16, 2024

It was an encouraging D+3 year for him and put him back on the map with Sabres fans as a goaltender with long-term potential. He has that prototypical size teams look for now at 6’5″. The difficult part for him now will be transitioning from the larger rink size in Europe to the smaller dimensions in North America.

He’ll have to adjust his angles playing the puck, and the speed of the game is faster on the smaller rink. Add in the improved shooting talent in the AHL, and it’ll likely take a few years before he’s ready to make any sort of NHL impact.

Scott Ratzlaff

The other goaltender in the mix is 2023 fifth-round pick Scott Ratzlaff. The 20-year-old has spent the last few years playing for the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL. In 49 games last season, he registered his second-highest save percentage of .910.

Similar to Leinonen, he played six playoff games with the Thunderbirds last season and put up a .919 save percentage.

Great to see Canada’s possible world junior starting goalie Scott Ratzlaff as Seattle visits Langley.

Take a look at his post integration and how he keeps vision on the puck while it’s below the goal line. Good shoulder check + microadjustments after the initial push 👍 pic.twitter.com/51WQjnLwRa

— Gregory Balloch (@GregBalloch) December 2, 2024

Ratzlaff has spent time with the Amerks at the end of the last two seasons, but has never appeared in a game. Having familiarity with the organization is good to have going into this year.

Playing Time and Experience

The complication that arises in this situation is that you’d like to have these two playing consistent minutes to continue their development paths. In a backup role with the Amerks, they’re going to see minimal playing time behind Levi. Once he returned to the AHL in late November, Levi started the majority of the games. He played 46 of the remaining 58 games on the schedule.

One option is that either Leinonen or Ratzlaff could be assigned to the Sabres’ ECHL affiliate, the Jacksonville Icemen. This is what they did with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen when he first came over to North America. This allows one of them to get the majority of the games at a lower level, instead of jumping right into the AHL.

Another factor that keeps playing in my head with this situation is that the Sabres don’t have veteran experience behind a still-young goaltender in Levi. Do they want to have a 21-year-old or 20-year-old rookie on the bench behind him?

What if there’s an injury at the NHL level and Levi has to join the Sabres? Is the plan for two rookies to run the crease for the AHL team?

I keep coming back to the logical idea of having a veteran goaltender join them in training camp on a professional tryout (PTO) contract. We saw Kevin Lankinen take a PTO to a long-term contract with the Vancouver Canucks last season.

A few names are remaining in the free agent market that they could consider. Alexandar Georgiev played 49 games with the Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks last season. His numbers were poor, but he could be serviceable at the AHL level.

The player that I would have interest in is Ilya Samsonov. He’s still only 28 years old and would provide solid depth to the organization. In 29 games with the Vegas Golden Knights last season, he had 1.61 goals saved above expected. That’s below league average, but better numbers than what Georgiev has produced.

Bringing in a veteran would push Leinonen and Ratzlaff down to the ECHL. The two of them could split time and take their development slowly. It would give the Amerks stability at the position and the Sabres depth in case of an injury situation.

Data via: Evolving Hockey