BUFFALO, N.Y. — There’s been a lot of hand wringing this season that Kevyn Adams did nothing with the goaltending.
As the injuries mounted in the crease, many, many fans wanted to know why he did nothing.
First of all, no team in the NHL is six goalies deep that they will still be rolling out top netminders when they get down to their fifth and sixth string goalies.
The thing that people forgot is the Sabres had a No. 1 goalie, and he got hurt in early November. On Saturday, Craig Anderson reminded us that he was the plan this season. With him and Dustin Tokarski in net, Buffalo got off to a 5-1-1 start.
Anderson returned after almost three months on the shelf and won the Sabres a game in Arizona. Anderson left that game 5-2-0 with a 2.28 goals against and .927 save percentage.
There’s no question goaltending has been a problem for this team between the time that Anderson got hurt and when Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was pressed into action on Dec. 7. They were giving goals up in bunches and never could get the big save.
I can’t tell you if Anderson’s going to hold up or if Luukkonen can pick up where he left off before getting hurt, but the narrative that Adams didn’t do his job or wasn’t prepared is laughable.
People seem to think if the Sabres are in a bind and need a goalie, trading for a top goalie is easy and general managers are lining up hoping to trade a top goalie to Buffalo for a seventh round pick.
Adams has said time and time again that he’s going to leave a lane open for his top young goalies, two of which are two of the best in college hockey.
That’s why Anderson was signed for one year, to help them usher Luukkonen to the NHL when he was ready.
They are not going to be trading for a veteran goalie or signing a goalie with term and stunting the way for three youngsters that have the talent to be the answer.
None of us know if any of the three will be good, but the chances are very good that at least one of them is going to be a very good goalie in the National Hockey League.
Bringing in a veteran to stunt that growth just to make a heroic run for 25th place in the NHL this season would be absurd.
