The Buffalo Sabres announced Tuesday that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Carter Hutton and Dustin Tokarski will all be unavailable for the last three games of the season, meaning it’s Michael Houser’s net the rest of the way. He needs a backup of course, which is why the team signed Stefanos Lekkas to a one-year contract today.
Lekkas served as the backup for Houser Monday night on a professional tryout after the Sabres received an exception from the league, but he’ll now get an NHL deal for at least a few days. That’s quite a story for the 25-year-old, who joined the Rochester Americans on a PTO in March and played more at the ECHL level than the AHL this season.
While he still might not actually get into an NHL game, he will become a restricted free agent this summer and can always say he signed a big-league deal. Lekkas, who went undrafted, played four seasons at the University of Vermont and had an .863 save percentage in seven appearances for the Rochester Americans.
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