@boosbuzzsabres
In this series we build the 2019-20 Buffalo Sabres roster one by one leading up to the season opener on October 3.
G--Carter Hutton
33 yrs. old
6'0" 198 lbs.
Undrafted FA (PHI)
Career stats: 188 games | 81-64-22 record | 2.58 GAA | .913 Sv% | 11 shutouts
The Buffalo Sabres organization knew quite a bit about goalie Carter Hutton when they signed him to a 3yr./$8.250 million free agent deal last July. Jerry Forton, director of college scouting, former goalie coach Andrew Allen and former head coach Phil Housley all had a first hand look at Hutton from his time at UMASS-Lowell (Forton) to the Chicago Blackhawks (Allen) to the Nashville Predators (Housley.) All could vouch for the character he brought to the dressing room and his performance on the ice, which was in a backup role at the NHL level.
However, what none of them knew, including Sabres general manager Jason Botterill, was how he would perform as first-time starter for a Buffalo team that was coming off of it's third last place finish in five years and had the NHL's third-worst goals-against average (3.39) in 2017-18.
"There was a real comfort level with him," Botterill told the gathered media at the time of the signing. "He was a guy our scouts had focused in on, our analytics department certainly liked him a lot, and then you get the character check. It allowed us to have a lot of confidence in making the decision to bring Carter into our group."
Hutton was coming off of a season in St. Louis where he posted a career-best 2.09 goals-against average and .939 save percentage while on his way to a 17-7-3 record in 32 appearances for the Blues. His 26 starts that year were second only to the 40 appearances and 34 starts he had in 2013-14 with the Nashville Predators.
It would be hard to recreate those impressive numbers in Buffalo as he had a new role and was entering a situation totally different from the ones he had played in. Both the Blues and the Preds were already built and running smooth with 13 combined playoff appearances in the last eight seasons while the Sabres were in the midst of a seven year playoff drought brought about by a multitude of franchise-altering changes. When Botterill signed Hutton, he wasn't looking for the second-coming of Martin Brodeur or Jacques Plante, what he needed on the ice was some stability in net, which was something Hutton provided early on.
Although his 2.58 GAA and .917 SV% for Buffalo up to the Christmas break last season weren't Hall of Fame worthy, Hutton (and backup goalie Linus Ullmark) were able to make choice saves at the right time to preserve a victory, especially during the Sabres franchise-tying 10-game winning streak in November. Buffalo compiled an 11-3-5 record in one-goal games from their opener to the break and despite their fall from No. 1 in the league at the end of their streak, the Sabres were still tied for fourth-overall at Christmas with 47 points.
Then the bottom fell out and it was reflected in the numbers as Hutton, like the team, endured a miserable second half. From the end of Christmas break until the end of the season he had a paltry 5-15-3 record in 25 games with bloated 3.44 GAA and a .898 SV%.
So what happened?
The team fell apart. Why? We're not 100% sure as a number of factors contributed to Buffalo's plummet to fifth-worst in the league. What we do know, however, is that Housley and Allen are no longer with the team and that they were replaced by head coach Ralph Krueger and goalie coach Mike Bales.
Bales comes to the Sabres after spending the last two seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes. Brian LeBlanc of SB Nation's Canes Country wrote that Bales "earned plaudits from most observers for his handling of the Hurricanes' crease" in 2018-19. Both Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney credited Bales with his management of a goalie-by-committee system," continued LeBlanc, "and coach Rod Brind'Amour regularly told the media that he deferred to Bales to identify the starting goaltender for a given night's game."
Prior to that he was in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization from 2011 to 2017 when Botterill was there and assumed goalie coach duties in 2013. According to Joe Yerdon of The Athletic, "Bales was credited with the renaissance of Marc-Andre Fleury's career in Pittsburgh, as the veteran teamed up with Matt Murray to lead the team to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles."
Yerdon invoked the assistance of fellow Athletic contributor Catherine Silverman who said of Bales, "He's established a reputation as a goalie coach who is willing to take goaltenders and both rebuild confidence and consistency, which could prove crucial for the Sabres after the years they've had of late."
Bales said in the Yerdon piece that the secret to his success is to "make a guy the best version of themselves" concluding that "I don't think there's any recipe that I have or other guys have." Such will be his approach with Hutton as well. "With Carter, he's an athletic guy that likes to play an aggressive game," said Bales. "He's been successful and with a guy like Carter you just tweak around the edges and help him be the best version of himself."
According to Bales, Krueger said he'll also have an expanded role with the Sabres which includes "being involved in some of the defensive play and some of the offensive play" which, ideally, should help the team get on the same page, something that didn't happen post-winning streak. And it showed.
As we've seen in Nashville and in St. Louis, Hutton is heavily geared towards what the team in front of him is doing and in Buffalo we saw the same thing in a Jekyll and Hyde season for the Sabres. Hutton also must be well aware that Ullmark is entering his prime and moving along in his career having paid his dues at every level. Last season we speculated that Hutton would get the bulk of the starts in '18-'19 before giving way to a more even split in 2019-20 and it looks to be headed in that direction.
But as for now, Hutton is Buffalo's No. 1 goalie.
Building the 2019-20 Buffalo Sabres roster:
LW, Jeff Skinner /
C, Jack Eichel/
RW, Sam Reinhart
LHD, Rasmus Dahlin /
RHD, Brandon Montour
G, Carter Hutton
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