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Two players now in the fold. The Sabres at 33 pro contracts |
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By Michael Pachla
The Buffalo Sabres got some contract work done over the holiday weekend inking two players to contracts.
On Monday they announced that they had re-signed Nic Deslauriers to a 2-yr./$1.275m contract.
Deslauriers came from the LA Kings along with Hudson Fasching for D, Brayden McNabb, F Jonathan Parker and two 2nd round picks. The picks in 2014 and 2015 were originally acquired in the trade of D, Robyn Regehr to LA on April 2, 2013.
Deslauriers is a big (6'2" 215 lb.) defenseman turned winger who appeared in 17 games for the Sabres scoring one goal and logging a minus-10 plus/minus. He joined the Rochester Americans for the playoffs scoring a goal and adding an assist in five games as the Amerks were bounced in the first round.
Buffalo then followed up with the signing of G Linus Ullmark to a three year entry-level contract on Tuesday. They needed to sign him by June 1 or they would have lost his rights.
Ullmark was a Sabres 6th round pick (#163) in 2012 and just finished his first full season with MODO of the Swedish Elite League. The rookie finished with a 2.08 gaa and a .931 sv. % while winning the league's Goalie of the Year honors.
According to Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com, he had previously opted to stick in Sweden for another year before planning to arrive in North America for the 2015-16 season.
With Ullmark's signing, the Sabres goaltending pipeline is full right now. It's expected that Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth will be in Buffalo this season.
Nathan Lieuwen will be entering the 3rd year of his entry-level contract and is expected to be the #1 goalie headed into Amerks camp.
Upstart Andrey Makarov and big Connor Knapp are both restricted free agents.
Makarov's strong performance for Rochester in the playoffs all but secured him a spot with the Amerks while, conversely, Knapp looks to be a casualty of his poor performance. It's unlikely the Sabres will re-sign Knapp to a pro contract and the team may end up tucking him away in Elmira with their ECHL affiliate, the Jackals.
Another RFA goalie for the Sabres is 24 year old Matt Hackett.
Hackett was a part of the return from Minnesota for Jason Pominville. He lost his starting AHL job to Lieuwen this past season, but performed well in Buffalo during his call-up.
Sabres GM Tim Murray may opt to keep Hackett in Buffalo with Enroth and Neuvirth creating a three-headed monster. If not, one of the three will probably be on the move.
Also in the pipeline is 2013 5th round pick (#129) Cal Peterson. The USHL product will be headed to Notre Dame this fall to begin his college career.
The signings of Deslauriers and Ullmark bring the number of pro contracts in the organization to 33 so far. The league max is 50 for a team.
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