Buffalo Sabres Sign Matt Villalta

The Buffalo Sabres announced the signing of netminder Matt Villalta to a one-year, two-way contract. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, nor have they been reported to this point in time.

The signing fills a clear need within the Sabres organization for a true No. 1 goalie for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. Buffalo traded away their previous No. 1, Devon Levi, earlier this week. Villalta’s signing gives Buffalo a goalie who can fill Levi’s shoes.

Buffalo already has three goaltenders on its NHL roster. So, while he would likely take up that role in another organization, Villalta won’t be Buffalo’s No. 3 goalie, barring some sort of transaction involving one of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Lyon, or Colten Ellis.

Instead, Villalta is likely to take up the largest portion of starts available in Rochester, with a very limited opportunity to earn any sort of NHL call-up.

The need for a goalie like Villalta in Rochester was created with the trade of Levi, as Buffalo was then left with two goalies at their AHL level who lack starting experience in the pro game.

Alongside Villalta, Buffalo is set to have Topias Leinonen and Scott Ratzlaff in goal. Leinonen is a 22-year-old second-round pick from the 2022 draft who played in just 15 games last season split between the AHL and ECHL. Ratzlaff, 21, is a 2023 fifth-round pick who got into 28 games last season, also split between the AHL and ECHL. One of those two is likely to back up Villalta next fall.

Now 27 years old, Villalta should be more than capable of handling a substantial workload as the true No. 1 starter in Rochester. He was an AHL All-Star in 2023-24 who has 235 career games played in the league, and has three games of NHL experience.

Villalta has spent the last three seasons with the Tucson Roadrunners, making over 120 starts across that period of time. He has a career .903 save percentage in the AHL, and in his best season (2023-24) he posted a .911 save percentage across 51 games played. Last season, he had a an .895 mark in 33 games.